@muggsd@sawasap yay Ontario! It took forever and a million site refreshes but I finally got an appt for May 8th!! Thats really good to know about the letter, my babies typically come early so ill most likely have a days old baby come second shot right now...
@ladylynn222 I think you made a good choice and many of us went through the same thoughts. I’m finally fully vaxed and very relieved to be. Hang in there.
@muggsd@sawasap@nasalot188 another Ontarian here - not sure what PHUs you ladies are in, but if they have their own booking sites (as opposed to having to use the provincial line) you might be able to find something earlier if you want/if you're concerned about the second shot. Not that early May is really that far off anymore now that I think about it! I'm in York, they released a huge number of appointments yesterday and I'm in for Friday which really surprised me; I could have gone today even if I'd been able to organize babysitting.
@muggsd that letter you're talking about, that's something you can ask your doctor for and bring to your vaccine appointment to try and get an earlier second shot? I haven't heard about that!
@lmcw After I booked through the provincial system, I got a call from my hospital to book through them in my local PHU but they couldn't get me in any earlier. Just over 2 weeks to go now anyways!
I asked my OB for a letter to move up the second shot and was told they don't do letters like that. I have a call in to my GP now, maybe that's something he can do, but not sure if I'm going to be able to get a letter. Which means I've just gotta hope this little guy doesn't want to show up early.
@sawasap Yeah in my mind the middle of May is over a month away...I have no concept of time now that we're in lockdown again. Glad you got an appointment so easily though, I didn't even know until a few days ago that pregnant women could book through the provincial line regardless of the PHU, I thought that because York has their own system I had to go through them, and their system was a bit of a dumpster fire up until this week.
FX your doc can do the letter, I'm about to call mine as well since I need to follow up about something else anyways. I counted the 16 weeks and I'd be getting a second shot mid/late August so I'm not too concerned with babe arriving before my second shot but even a week or two earlier would mean more time for antibodies to develop and be passed on and that would be great.
@muggsd I hope they'll do one for you! Although different people are definitely giving different info over the phone; before the recent change to make all childcare workers eligible my sister (an ECE) and her coworkers probably got half a dozen different answers on if they qualified and what documentation they would need to bring to prove their eligibility to get their shots, so who even knows lol @sawasap my GP is completely unavailable since he's about to go on vacation, so no chance of me getting a letter before my appointment on Friday; I hope the letter makes a difference for you! I counted the 16 week interval and I should still get my 2nd dose 3 weeks before my due date so it's probably fine, and that's assuming they aren't able to start shortening the interval time now that our supply is more consistent. I'm just glad we qualify at this point!
2nd Pfizer shot down! I’m about 6 hours removed and so far feeling great. Hoping it stays that way, though I know most side effects don’t kick in until the next day.
Got my 1st Pfizer shot on Friday afternoon! A bit of back and neck pain Friday evening, plus the usual sore arm, but that was it. More than 36 hours ago now, so I think I'm in the clear
Like some others here, I am also in Ontario. After speaking to both my family doctor and midwife I booked my first vaccine dose, it's on Thursday! It was very helpful talking to both my family doctor and midwife and going over all the info they had. I also have to go into the office every week which was one reason my family doctor strongly encouraged me to get vaccinated. Also, with the high admission rate of pregnant folks who have gotten COVID-19 into the ICUs, I'm personally going to feel more protected and less stressed out. I have really appreciate reading everyone's opinions and experiences here!
for my fellow Ontarians...have any of you booked your partners for their vaccine as your 'caregiver'? I have my husband booked for next week, but I'm just curious if they'll ask him for any documentation or proof. When we booked over the phone they just did it when I said I'm his pregnant wife and he cares for me LOL
@nasalot188 I booked my husband in as my caregiver. I guess I'll find out tomorrow if they need documentation or not, but I have no idea what they could even ask for other than me saying "yes I need him to do things for me". For us, worst case scenario is that he reboots next week when he's eligible by age. But I'll let you know what happens tomorrow! Given what I've already experienced with the vaccine booking system, I'll bet it varies by area too.
@sawasap cool yeah definitely let me know. I know i thought the same, like what 'proof' can he really provide except i tag along with my big belly haha.
@nasalot188@sawasap When I got mine last week I mentioned to the nurse doing my shot that my husband had already gotten his first dose and she commented that if he hadn't he could have come with me no problem; he was eligible before I was due to his own health condition so I didn't have to book him with me, but everything I saw when booking said spouse or caregiver so it shouldn't even be a situation where they want to confirm what help he provides for you; by virtue of being your spouse and presumably living with you they would be eligible to get vaccinated in order to avoid contracting it elsewhere and bringing it home to you. The gov't did make comments about not asking for supporting documentation for any health conditions (which seems a bit naive to me) so I can't see why they would suddenly ask questions when a visibly pregnant women arrives with their spouse lol but maybe if you're worried take your marriage certificate or something, if you don't have the same last name and are concerned? You would have ID showing the same home address too. FX it's all smooth when they go with you!!
@lmcw Thanks! My PHU just has "caregiver" so wasn't totally sure. And again, Ontario is so all over the place that different places could be doing things differently but hopefully it's consistent on this one.
@nasalot188 when I called for my appointment, the girl told me my husband wouldn’t be eligible. Then I talked to a friend in Ottawa and she said she had several friends who booked their husbands. He called and booked as my caregiver no problem! I’m in the camp of, if I’m getting vaccinated, it makes sense to vaccinate our whole house to prevent covid coming in.
First shot down! They didn't ask for any documentation from either of us other than our health card. And I managed to get my second dose bumped up by a week (to August 18) and they gave me an email address to see if I can get it moved any further.
@sawasap I had the same side effects with the first - just a sore arm. My soreness went away quicker with the second shot. I also switched arms for the second shot for what it is worth.
I know a lot of people who had symptoms but I didn’t. I asked my OB how her patients had been faring overall and she said actually pretty well. And that during pregnancy your immune system is dialed down (to not attack that foreign invader in your uterus) and seemingly making vaccine reactions more mild. Found this fascinating if accurate (rather than anecdotal).
@agea Interesting! I normally have a strong reaction to the flu vaccine, definitely had a middle-of-the-road reaction to the Covid vaccine (very tired, sore arm, headache, but no fever/chills). I've heard that the second shot can cause a stronger reaction than the first so I'm curious to see if that's the case...
DH and I have been discussing this for awhile, and a post on another thread makes me want to get yalls thoughts on the covid vaccine/visitors. Will yall be limiting visitors to those who have had the covid vaccine? I really just want to get some different perspectives to think about.
Both DH and I have had the shot and most of both our immediate and extended family have gotten it as well...the exception being DH's mom. I'm going to talk to our pediatrician to get some advice as well and will go with what they recommend, but my first thought was the covid vaccine is a must-have being around a newborn.
@penny624 we are super lucky that everyone who will be seeing the baby is already vaccinated, or has an appointment booked. That’s a super tough situation! Hopefully your doc will be able to give some good advice.
@penny624 For us, if you're not vaccinated, you won't be able to hold him and we'll all be wearing masks. Luckily, my parents and my in laws will all be fully vaccinated by September (MH thinks it's the only reason his mom got the vaccine so quickly, because she knows how we feel about it), so it's just our siblings and niblings who may have to wait.
@sawasap Ok, I've never heard the term "niblings" before so I had to google....totally using that from now on 🤣 I agree...wearing masks is a must either way and not being able to hold them seems like a good middle ground.
@penny624 We haven't talked about it yet, but I'm 100% on the no one gets to meet the baby unless they're fully vaccinated train. I don't think my husband will disagree. All the grandparents and our closest friends are fully vaccinated or will be soon, so I don't think it will be an issue.
@penny624 My husband and I haven't properly discussed this yet, but I suspect we'll be leaning the same way. Part of the issue for us is that the vax rollout in Ontario has (until now) been a lot slower than in the USA, and 2nd doses are being booked 16 weeks out from 1st doses. By the end of this week everyone in our immediate families except one SIL (no clue what she's doing) will have had a first shot, but 2nd shots may not happen until later in the summer or early fall. There's a strong likelihood that 2nd shots will be moved up since supply is increasing, so I'm hopeful that by the time this babe is born everyone will be 2 weeks post-2nd dose.
The only other wrinkle for us is that the SIL I mentioned had a baby about 2 months ago and was very vocal about how she trusts us all, anyone can come and hold the baby, she didn't care it's fine. So I know that if we are more hardline we will definitely hear "well I mean MY baby was fine..." from her if we decide that no vax = no baby snuggles.
@penny624 I’m not sure what we’ll do. I think it will depend on what is happening in September. My one SIL who is baby crazy and my one sister are the two who I don’t think will be getting vaccines, or at least haven’t yet. Or my dad. DS1 is going to be in kindergarten and I’m worried about germs in general from there too.
@penny624 We are only allowing vaccinated visitors for a while. Luckily, everyone in our immediate family is vaccinated. If necessary, we talked about allowing meetings with unvaccinated people if they are outdoors and masked with limited holding/close contact. It would probably also depend on whether we trust that person has otherwise been practicing good mask wearing/social distancing before the visit.
I'm glad you all started discussing this because I hadn't really given it thought yet. All of my immediate family and close friends have been vaccinated, with the exception of my MIL. I'm hoping, for her own benefit, she may change her mind by September, but we'll see! She is a total hermit, so regardless, I feel her risk of exposure is incredibly low. And from what I have read, the risk of severe illness in infants is also very low (plus I'm crossing fingers for those antibodies coming through in my breast milk from my own covid vaccine 🤞). Not sure it's worth causing family strife over with my MIL.
Re: COVID vaccine plans?
@muggsd that letter you're talking about, that's something you can ask your doctor for and bring to your vaccine appointment to try and get an earlier second shot? I haven't heard about that!
I asked my OB for a letter to move up the second shot and was told they don't do letters like that. I have a call in to my GP now, maybe that's something he can do, but not sure if I'm going to be able to get a letter. Which means I've just gotta hope this little guy doesn't want to show up early.
FX your doc can do the letter, I'm about to call mine as well since I need to follow up about something else anyways. I counted the 16 weeks and I'd be getting a second shot mid/late August so I'm not too concerned with babe arriving before my second shot but even a week or two earlier would mean more time for antibodies to develop and be passed on and that would be great.
@sawasap my GP is completely unavailable since he's about to go on vacation, so no chance of me getting a letter before my appointment on Friday; I hope the letter makes a difference for you! I counted the 16 week interval and I should still get my 2nd dose 3 weeks before my due date so it's probably fine, and that's assuming they aren't able to start shortening the interval time now that our supply is more consistent. I'm just glad we qualify at this point!
It was very helpful talking to both my family doctor and midwife and going over all the info they had. I also have to go into the office every week which was one reason my family doctor strongly encouraged me to get vaccinated. Also, with the high admission rate of pregnant folks who have gotten COVID-19 into the ICUs, I'm personally going to feel more protected and less stressed out. I have really appreciate reading everyone's opinions and experiences here!
Edit: we both got Pfizer
Both DH and I have had the shot and most of both our immediate and extended family have gotten it as well...the exception being DH's mom. I'm going to talk to our pediatrician to get some advice as well and will go with what they recommend, but my first thought was the covid vaccine is a must-have being around a newborn.
The only other wrinkle for us is that the SIL I mentioned had a baby about 2 months ago and was very vocal about how she trusts us all, anyone can come and hold the baby, she didn't care it's fine. So I know that if we are more hardline we will definitely hear "well I mean MY baby was fine..." from her if we decide that no vax = no baby snuggles.