When I first found out I would be eligible for a vaccine during my pregnancy, my initial plan was to just wait it out and continue hiding from people until the baby is born, and go get my shot. I am an introvert and work from home most of the time… And I try to even avoid taking Tylenol now that I am pregnant, much less anything else unnecessary! Ultimately, I ended up getting it (which I’ll explain below), and thought I’d share Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine in case anyone is curious!
At one of my first visits with my midwife, the vaccination was becoming available, so I asked her about it. At that time, they were not pushing pregnant people up on the list, but were saying that whenever it would be my turn anyway, I could ask her about it, but they had so far not seen any issues among those who got the vaccine while pregnant.
At my most recent visit, I knew I was in some ways eligible because I am technically a teacher, so I asked her about it. She said that they are actually now recommending pregnant people as an at-risk group, since our immune systems are weakened, leaving us more likely to end up on a ventilator or dealing with serious complications if we are infected with COVID-19.
So, I talked to Tommy, as well as his sister who is a nurse practitioner, and we ultimately decided it would be the best choice for us, even though Tommy has already been vaccinated, and I really leave the house on rare occasions to walk Q. I have only done about five shoots total since the pandemic started!
One of the main motivations also was knowing that lots of babies whose mothers were vaccinated while pregnant are being born with antibodies, since they aren’t vaccinating children or babies yet. I loved the idea of protecting my baby already!
Initially, I was super excited. I wanted to take a step forward toward being able to travel again, see family, etc – just like everyone else wants!
Then, the day before, I saw this post on facebook:
Oy. Of course, that second line got me.
Again, I brought it up to Tommy and his sister, and they made such great points about how so much on facebook is hearsay, and this is one example of a person whose medical history we don’t know, and that there have been MANY pregnant people who’ve done just fine! So, we decided to stick to the plan!
My appointment arrived, and I unfortunately had a challenging time FINDING the location of my vaccine… This added itself onto the anxiety I already had about the previously mentioned issues, and I definitely wasn’t feeling my best or optimistic walking into the appointment.
And then I heard someone say that the vaccine of the day was Johnson & Johnson, and my heart sank.
As happy as I was to not have to go to a second appointment (I am such a home body), I knew it was significantly less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. 66%? That’s a low D. If I got a 66% on a test, I would not be happy. My visions of hopping onto an airplane with minimal concerns vanished. Why am I even here? Is this even worth the risk to our baby for 66 damn percent?
I ended up crying in the freaking… whatever it was. Expo center? It was a huge room. It was embarrassing, and I probably wasn’t as pleasant with the nurse as I could have been.
In my nerves, I took a SCREENSHOT of the screen instead of taking an actual selfie, hence the squares around my face and that other dude’s. 🤦🏼♀️ And yeah… It is pretty obvious that I was crying.
After the injection, I had to sit for 15 minutes to make sure that I didn’t have any crazy reactions (like they had in CO the day before). I put my sunglasses on and cried more, then went home. I had to teach a class shortly after. I didn’t feel great physically, but wasn’t sure if that was because of the anxiety and its effect on my body, or the vaccine itself.
Gave me a good excuse to snuggle with Q on the couch!
A friend texted me this article, which made me feel better about the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine versus Pfizer or Moderna… And Tommy said he felt better about a vector vaccine being a bit more natural than the RNA one. I was also comforted by the facts that I am generally really healthy, so I probably normally wouldn’t have that much of an issue if I did get the virus, and that the whole idea was to stop major symptoms and complications. I also still am likely to be staying pretty isolated for a long while, and I am blessed that Tommy is tested every day through the NBA and I can get tested twice a week through them.
That night, according to my Oura ring, I did not sleep too well, and I wasn’t surprised to see this the next morning:
Yesterday, I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped, but tried to simply be gentle to myself. I did get in a rune cast for someone, and my heart was warmed by this satisfied reaction:
I noticed a HUGE improvement when I took Tylenol versus when it wore off, so despite the fact that I usually try to avoid medicine, I am going to be taking it when I start feeling icky!
Last night, I slept a bit better. I woke up around 8am feeling great, and even got in a HIIT workout!
29F2750B-AC00-4A0E-9545-F4DB44EC97B6
However, I started feeling tired shortly after that, and then woke up from a nap feeling HOT (and not in a good way).
I went upstairs and turned my chili pad* down to 55 degrees and tried to nap, but it did not go very well!
Since then, I have not been feeling great, but Tylenol has been helping for sure. I am going to go to bed soon, which is early for me, but maybe tomorrow I can make up for not doing much today and yesterday, but I am still very prepared to give myself a lot of compassion as I work toward feeling normal again! Hopefully, I’ll wake up feeling great again, and actually stay that way this time! In the meantime, I have this cute gooberface to nurse me back to health:
So, that is my experience, at least so far, with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine. I should add that another thing that brings me comfort is that most of the people I know who have been vaccinated have the Pfizer or Moderna, and that as more and more people are vaccinated, the fact that my immunity percentage isn’t as high with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine is less of an issue because there are going to be fewer people roaming around carrying the virus!
If you are on the fence about getting it or are indifferent, I would encourage you to get it. While I haven’t felt great the past few days, it definitely beats ending up on a ventilator or passing the virus to a loved one. Of course, do your own research, but I thought I’d share my experience just in case it was helpful to someone.
I also feel the need to say that this post is not intended to shame anyone or to be any type of virtue signaling. I saw another disturbing facebook post where someone was saying that everyone posting their vaccine cards was virtue signaling, and I have to say I disagree. I bet way more people are just excited to be taking a step back toward a normal life, whether that is for social reasons and seeing loved ones, or for economic reasons, or both! Don’t be this person:
Why am I even on that app? This vaccine-related post was much funnier… (the comments especially)
If you have any questions about the shot, or specifically my experience with Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine, don’t hesitate to message me or drop a comment below!
xoxo,
Mandie
|
Mandie Brice
|
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
*I could get in trouble if I don’t say that this is an affiliate link to Amazon, plus I like full disclosure anyway. You get the same experience, I get a little bit o’ change for providing a link. We all win!
Leave a Reply