Got a cold? Stay away from the babies!

I'm about to have my first child which is a very exciting event for anyone. While at a routine Doctor's check up recently my doctor asked "Are you and your husband vaccinated against the whopping cough?"
I was all O.o "I don't know"
My doctor advised that there is an epidemic of whooping cough going about and this is dangerous for newborn babies.

I'm a very well vaccinated person. I've travelled all over the place and I got every jab and drank every potion possible in order not to contract some terrible disease on my journeys. This conscientiousness came from my experience working with a medical assistance company for travellers overseas. So many times had I received a phone call from some guy in the middle of No Where Africa or South America or Asia to hear they had been infected with a entirely preventable disease but didn't take precautions because "Hey that can't happen to me amirightorwhat?"

So upon returning home I looked in my very well filled in travel vaccination book and found that I do indeed have an updated whopping cough booster. My husband doesn't. He will. Most people don't realise that their whooping cough vaccination needs to be updated every ten years. It's true!

For you, me and Joe Blow down the road whooping cough can be a royal pain in the butt however it isn't deadly for us. For infants it is deadly. Here in Belgium the first vaccination against whopping cough occurs at the age of 2 months. Before that the child is at risk of contracting the disease from anyone in the open community who is ill from it. You might not have a clue that you are ill from whooping cough and are unwittingly infecting others.  In fact the following scene is entirely plausible;

Enter sniffing, red nose relative clutching a balled up kleenex in one hand, stinking of vicks vapor rub

"Congratulations on your new born baby. Oh me? Just a cold. Let me hold little Gary."
*cough splutter into baby's face*
"Oh how cute he scrunched up his face hhihihihi"


Whether or not you are for or against vaccination please keep away from newborns if you're at all sick. I really don't care if you think you're been rude by staying away and I really, really don't care if you just can't help yourself because you're irresistibly drawn to tiny people. I really really really care if my child gets sick and I think all parents, for or against vaccination, would agree with me on that point.