On NBC

I got  an email from the Thoughtful House in Austin with some exciting news. The Thoughtful House is a wonderful recourse here in Austin for families with children on the autism spectrum.

They have doctors, nutritionists and other specialists. It is the one place in Texas where medical care, behavioral analysis and education, and clinical and laboratory research, can be found all under one roof (they have clients that come from as far as Dubai)!

The doctor that founded the Thoughtful House is Dr. Andrew Wakefield. He has done a lot of controversial research into vaccines and the possible link with autism. I know there are TONS of opinions out there about what causes or does not cause autism. The truth, is we are really not sure what causes it. In MY opinion there is definitely a genetic predisposition and then something in the environment triggers it (in some but not all cases). The autism spectrum is huge and each child is different. My professor likes to say “if you have met one person with autism, then you have only met one person with autism”.

I in no way think vaccines are bad, however I do not believe they are one size fits all. I think the vaccine schedule should be flexible and take into consideration the size of the child, their medical history and general health. Some kids may not be able to handle receiving multiple vaccines at one time at such a young age.

Anyway, like I said this is just MY opinion and I am in no way an expert.

All this to say, NBC is featuring Dr. Wakefield and the Thoughtful House for a full hour on Dateline this Sunday night and it should be interesting. Tune in if you can!

Oh, and I promise I will post my week 9 and week 10 belly pictures soon! I have been feeling pretty bad all week, but I got some medicine from my doctor on Tuesday and yesterday and today were much more bearable. I am hoping to get back into the swing of blogging regularly again!

-Lauren-