Three years on, I still hear the word rotavirus and shudder.
For eight days my son lay on the ground lifeless and pale, verging on needing to be hospitalised for dehydration, after picking up the bug from daycare.
Syringing fluids into the desperately thirsty tot a few mls at atime in a bid to keep it down was heartbreaking.
Granted, it's nothing compared with the illnesses some children suffer, but the galling part was being told he could have been vaccinated against it. In the whirlwind of first-time parenthood, we hadn't thought to investigate optional vaccines.
So when his sister was born one of the first things we did was have her vaccinated against rotavirus. It cost about $200, but after our experience it was well worth it. That the vaccine - as well as one for chicken pox - may soon be part of the publicly available free schedule is good news.
We chose to get both kids immunised against chicken pox too. Kids pick up enough bugs on their own, we decided. Why have them get chicken pox if we can avoid it.
Immunising is a hot topic and whether parents choose to immunise or not is their decision - but it should be made on merit, not on the cost.
