Chicken Pox

Wendy went up to Breckenridge last weekend with some girlfriends while I stayed home. After a week in the woods hunting, it was refreshing to just hang with the kids. On Sunday we got slammed with two things: 10 inches of snow and Chicken Pox! Two weeks ago Wendy brought all the kids over to a friend’s home to play with their son who had the Pox. Lydia was the only one who didn’t go, and Cynthia had the Pox as a baby. Every single kid (except Lydia and Cynthia) has spots all over themselves. Isaiah, Micah, Noah, Tabitha, Keilah, Hannah, Josiah, Havilah and Joshua have Chicken Pox. We expect Lydia to breakout in a week.

We also have a ton of friends coming over with their children to get a dose of the natural “vaccination.” It has been 14 years since any of our children contract Chicken Pox, and the older children get the more dangerous the sickness can become. While most doctors stand behind the Chicken Pox vaccination, the same medical consenses agrees that the verdict is still out of how harmful the vaccination may be. While Dr. Alan Greene vaccinated his youngest child (the older three already contracted Chicken Pox), he admits:

For the environment, the risks increase the more effective the vaccine. If chickenpox — an old, familiar opponent with which we have developed a stable relationship — were eliminated, this might create a niche in the microscopic environment for a new, unknown, more virulent, human virus.

I’m not one for fear mongering, but I am not convinced that the Chicken Pox vaccination is worth the risk. Dr. Greene’s article does a good job explaining the benefits of the vaccination, and the only one I can see of value is the economic savings of a week of work/school. On the other hand, running the risk of contracting the virus as an adult (which is still a risk even when vaccinated) can lead to many more harmful effects

For my family, we’re putting up with a week of rashes and scratches.

Christine

OH NO!?!? When my two oldest had the chicken pox a friend of mine had two boys and they had chicken pox. She had to go to school to finish finals and knew that my boys had it so she asked if I would watch her boys while she went and took the test and came back. My boys had it so bad and her boys had it real bad too. So I asked her what she did for the itching. He told me that she put them in a cool/warm bath with just regular old oatmeal oats. About 1 cup of oats with enough water in the tube to cover their butts. Her kids were older (6&9)and mine were younger(2&9mon) so I asked them it helped and they said yes. I did it with my kids and it seemed to help.My two youngest got the chicken pox shot and never got them. Just thought I would pass on the advice. Hope it helps. What ever you do don’t keep them to warm it will only make them break out more. Good luck to you all. Thank you for sharing your life with the internet world.
Beth

None of our children received the vac., we opted to let them get the pox when they were young to get it over with. So sure enough as soon as a friend of ours children got it we hurried with our children to their home to get it, then we had friends come to our house to give it to their children. I remember having it when I was a child and I dont recall it being too bad, granted I was comparing it to poison ivy to which I was allergic to..so the pox was nothing compared to the poison ivy!
http://tinymama.blogspot.com Brea from Texas

I pray the recovery period is short and mild! I wish y’all lived closer, we’d come invade your house and try to steal your pox germs. Several of my friends and I have been trying to find someone with the chicken pox for a while now; most of us don’t do vaccines.

If any of the younger ones get sores from scratching, a tea made from comfrey (soaked on a rag or gauze pad) will really help the sores heal quickly. My daughter tends to pick mosquito and fire ant bites until they’re huge wounds, and we use a rag soaked in comfrey to encourage faster healing.

Love your blog, by the way! So inspirational for me. God bless!
Lori H

Hi Jeub family! We have 8 kids here in Denver and they all got the Chicken Pox at the same time.

I just wanted to exort you to watch out for skin infection. With that many spots, it can get out of hand quickly, which is what happened to us.

Lord bless you as you take a rest from normal activity!

Lori
http://www.myspace.com/aliciaannjeub Alicia

I got Isaak the vaccine and he got them anyway! Granted, it was only like 6 spots and they didn’t bother him at all, but I still had to keep him home for a few days till the spots started to go away.
Barb

One other thing to note – the chicken pox vaccination is one of the vaccines which was incubated in aborted fetal tissue. This does NOT mean new babies are being aborted, or that new fetal tissue is needed – it was it’s initial incubation/creation which occured in aborted fetal tissue. Regardless, I am not comfortable w/ this and I believe MANY others who choose to vaccinate would NOT want to use this if they knew.

God bless you all during this somewhat challenging time!

Much love,

The Schaefers in N. Idaho

=========================
FYI: I (Chris Jeub) did some research to validate the claim that the Chicken Pox Vaccine is often created using the remains of aborted babies, and found it to be true. I was not aware of this before the Schaefers posted. You can read more about it at
here and here.
Tiffany Boyd

You are right. I contracted the pox at age 18 and was hopitalized for 3 days with them. They caused pneumonia for me! It’s definitely better to have them at a younger age. Hope everyone is much better soon!
Kelly

Egh! I’m sorry your kids are sick with the chicken pox. I was 3 when I had mine and my mom said I didn’t even realize I had them when they came. Just make sure kids get a lot of orange juice and that they don’t scratch the spots. I heard that you can get infections from that.

Hope you guys get well soon.
Michelle

Greetings Jeubs! Sorry to hear you are all spotted up, but better to get it over with now. My 3 oldest had them years ago (@ages 4,2, and 5 months) and their friend (who had the vaccine) had them also. I was forced to realize that I would have to get the vaccine for our newest baby because she would have no exposure to it, but now I think I won’t. thank you Schaefers for posting that info. The shot was brand new when my oldest “required” it, and I talked with my Pediatrician for 45 minutes about it. He told me if I wasn’t comfortable getting it for her now, we could wait and if she never got the chicken pox we could do the vaccine at 13, to protect her into adulthood. But everything I had read said it offers higher protection for adults, but not TOTAL.
We will be praying for you all, and Wendy. I know most Dr’s warn women against exposure to chicken pox and 5ths Disease while pregnant.

In Christ,
Michelle
Sheila

Oh, can I bring my kids over? My oldest 2 had them a few years ago, but the three youngers haven’t (ages 1, 2, and 5).
Sheri S (from PC)

I wish you luck and patience. My oldest son had them when he was still in diapers. Ugh!!! I did the oatmeal treatment too, but I put the oatmeal in an old sock and tied off the end so the oatmeal didn’t go down my drain and paste it up. He had a blast squeezing the sock and I didn’t have the big clean up afterwards. Now I am waiting for my youngest to get them (2yo). Joy.
Sandy

I’m like the rest may I bring my 5 month over?? LOL I had them at 13 and it was a fun week off from school for me, my brother and baby sister.

When do they try and give your child this shot?? I want to make sure I go in to the office armed and ready to say NO!
michelle

None of my 6 children have had chicken pox yet. I wish we could come visit you guys right now. It doesn’t sound fun, but I think it’s better to get natural immunity to it. So do you skip all vaccines, or just certain ones?
Carol

Good luck in healing up!! I had pox when I was 7, and my husband when he was 17. I defenitely had the easier time with it. The oatmeal bath is wonderful!! Hang in there!
http://www.simplelivingak.wordpress.com Jason & Anna Wilkinson

I had chickenpox 7 times. Each time was a lighter case. The Dr said I had to build up e resistance to it. My sister had it 3 times and my second sister her twin only had them once.
We got the shot for our son. And now we regret it. Now we know about the aborted Fetal Tissue that is used. Also they say now he may need a booster. When we got it they said would be good for life. They proved they dont know as much as they think. Now we do not know if he will get it when he is older and be in more danger. Our three daughters since then, have not had the shot. Before the third daughter was born the older two daughters had the pox and it wasnt to bad, we made it through it.
KelliSue -MOMYS

Oh Wendy! My mom had 12 with chicken pox at one time, and I was one of the two who had them already. I wanted to move away from home with all the whiney brothers and sisters. Four are of micronesian descent, so they had worst breakouts than the caucasian children, and were just miserable.
I was a child, so my sympathy goes to the mom who does all the work looking after them, and you were very pregnant at the same time. Bless your soul.
KelliSue
http://www.babycareindia.com baby

Great website!! Keep up the good work!!