After getting the wrong vaccination, I freaked out a little. I didn't make a fuss with my doctor, though. When I freak out it often means that I can't help but talk to everyone and anyone about my problem to see if they might have the solution. I admit I can be kind of annoying.

So naturally, I spent weeks talking to every expert I know (as well as my co-workers, my parents, my husband, and anyone else who could possibly advise me). Do I risk the severe reaction to another tetanus shot? Or do I just figure that the chances of getting whooping cough are really low, and that it's unlikely I'd get it while pregnant (which would seriously stink... although it wouldn't harm the fetus)? I COULD just get the shot right after delivery, which could happen anywhere from a year to two years out, assuming I get pregnant within a year of trying (fingers crossed). Would that be a better bet?

While I was getting obgyn recommendations from friends, I decided to ask my primary care doctor to help me out on the vaccination front. I wanted to check my immunity to chicken pox (technically called varicella), and everything else I'm supposed to be vaccinated against. I also wanted to get the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine, which comes along with the tetanus vaccine — it's a combo vaccine that includes Tetanus, Diptheria, and Acellular Pertussis (it's called the Tdap vaccine).

Should have been simple. I mean, here I am, a health writer — someone who has been interviewing doctors for years about the particulars of women's and kids' health (and pregnancy) — so getting my own health in order before conception should have been easy as pie. But of course, nothing is ever that easy.

A little while ago I went to my obgyn for a preconception checkup. I wanted to let him know I went off the pill, and make sure everything was in working order, that I didn't have any diseases, and check that I was up to date on my vaccinations. Oh, and I wanted to get his recommendation on a daily multivitamin with enough folic acid.

Simple. In fact, this is what we recommend in Parenting magazine all the time (because experts have recommended it to us): Go to your doctor for a preconception checkup to make sure you're healthy before you start trying to get pregnant.

Apparently, some doctors haven't gotten this memo.