I'm Thankful For...

Home Teachers who bring me the Sacrament when I'm homebound.

We are trying to follow the advice of our children's doctor, so I won't be taking Annabelle to church until she is 6 weeks old. It's really wonderful that the home teachers are able to bring me the Sacrament. When I was having my leg surgeries, I missed a lot of church. I was just too weak or in too much pain to go to church most of the time. But not once in all those years was I brought the Sacrament. I'm just so grateful that my bishop and my home teachers realize how important it is to me.

Along with not taking Annie to church, we are supposed to avoid having visitors or visiting people who haven't had flu shots or a recent Pertussis booster. We have to keep her covered with a blanket whenever we go to the store or anything. But I can take her outside for short periods of time as long as she is dressed warmly enough. We weren't given any of this advice when Joseph was born and he was born in the winter, too. But I think we were blessed that he didn't get sick. I've been doing a lot of research and the flu, RSV, and Pertussis are all on the rise right now. Those illnesses will probably just make us feel miserable, but they would hospitalize and possibly kill Annabelle. It scares me a little to think that I didn't know any of this when Joseph was born. None of us had flu shots or anything and we started taking him to church and everything immediately. Some people would say that since nothing happened to him, then nothing would happen to Annabelle, but I don't want to take that risk. Heavenly Father will protect us, but He expects us to use our common sense and to listen to the knowledge of those around us. It will be nice once she is 6 weeks old, though, because we won't have to worry as much. And she'll be able to get her first Pertussis shot in January, so that will be nice, too.