This post has been percolating in my head for quite some time, yet I wasn’t sure if I should actually post it. My blog is for client stories, not my own, but after overhearing two moms in the grocery store this morning discussing why they’d never get the pertussis vaccine for themselves or their kids (“No one gets pertussis nowadays,” said one. “Vaccines  are why autism is on the rise”), I knew I had so say something.

I’m not about to preach about vaccines overall, nor am I going to debate the vaccine/autism link (or lack of link), all I want to do is tell our story and hopefully help even one child; help even one family protect their kids.  

My pregnancy with Hailey Paige was anything but ordinary. Her umbilical cord had a large knot in it; I spent months on bedrest, and she had intrauterine growth restriction, which basically meant Hailey wasn’t growing properly in utero. Several times during my pregnancy we thought we had lost her but were thrilled when we delivered a healthy baby girl on November 17, 2005. At 5 pounds 1 ounce, Hailey was bigger than expected and in perfect health.

We brought Hailey home from the hospital four days later, but within a week she developed a tiny cough. We figured it was just a bug her big sister had brought home from nursery school, so we ignored it. At 3 weeks old her cough worsened. Over the next few days, Hailey’s coughs turned into “coughing fits,” and she struggled to breathe. Being a second-time mom I tried not to panic – after all she had already been seen by the doctor – but at the end of that week something was not right.

That Friday Hailey coughed so hard I thought she turned blue. Or was I imagining it? Hailey turned shades of blue again on Saturday, and I spent all of Saturday night holding her as she gasped for air. Was it asthma? Was it something worse? We took her to the emergency room on Sunday morning, and the intensivist on-call said that had we waited even another few hours, Hailey might not have made it. We came so close to losing her. In fact, on the way to the hospital we had had to pull over because she had briefly stopped breathing. Hailey had pertussis – or whooping cough. (Yes she turned blue several times before I acted. I have no idea why I wasn’t quicker.)

I had no idea people still got pertussis, nor did I know it was resurging due to people reluctant to immunize their children. Worldwide, pertussis causes more than 300,000 deaths per year. We were lucky. Children get their first pertussis vaccine at 2 months old; Hailey was only 4 weeks.

I sure hope that mom at the grocery store never has a child who comes in contact with pertussis, they may not be as lucky as I was. 

Pertussis is a highly contagious bacterial disease that can be fatal for infants. Ninety-two percent of deaths from pertussis occur in infants under 4 months of age. And 63% of babies younger than 12 months of age who get pertussis end up in the hospital. Most of the time, pertussis is transmitted by adults who don’t know they need to get the DTAP booster.

Hailey was saved thanks to quick-thinking doctors at a local hospital with an incredible pediatric ICU. I’m grateful for the attention and care we received, and realize others don’t have access to the same care. This is why the RBaby Foundation, which helps organize and fund efforts to improve the outcomes of medical care for infants, particularly those who contract certain viral infections within the first month of life, is so important.

The Sounds of Pertussis campaign has helped raise awareness, and you have probably heard the commercials. I know I can’t listen to it without going back to that very scary place. My body tenses, I can’t breathe, and I often change the channel. 

But I urge you to listen, to read about pertussis, to get the DTAP vaccine. For Hailey. For the babies who didn’t make it. For the millions of babies out there too young to get the vaccine. 

Hailey 2005: