What I did to make myself feel better

It's been one of those days. Well, mostly it's just one thing -- the flu. No, I don't have it. Neither does anyone I know. But it's ALL people can TALK about, especially when you're pregnant. Will you get the vaccine? Will you not? What's in it? What's not? What's best? What's going on? What the hell??

It's got me worried, which is silly: most cases here have been mild. As far as we can tell, anyone around here who HAS had complications or death has had some underlying health condition. The complications rate has been less than 1%, and 70% of those have been people with underlying issues.

So basically the chances of me getting life threatening complications (and that's IF I even get sick) are about one third of a percent (JS, if my math is off and I have a greater chance ... please don't tell me!) And the chances of my having a healthy baby at this point are 98%, and most pregnancy books and doctors treat that as close to a sure thing as you can get in pregnancy. Odds are greatly, greatly, greatly in my favour of getting through this flu season unscathed AND having a nice healthy baby in May.

But I admit I've been a little twisted in knots even so.

And so I sat down this afternoon and wrote nice things in my journal, and took it easy. Joked with a colleague. Relaxed. Reminded myself how lucky I am to be pregnant and how grateful I am. Reminded myself that I have a good plan in place for the flu if the worst does happen, and by the end of the month I'll be vaccinated and all set. Reminded myself of the odds that are in my favour.

And then I got some good -- great -- news from a friend back east, and THAT made my day. And I'm reminded that there's lots of good in the world.