The 1918-1920 influenza epidemic was a particularly deadly variant of the disease.

We haven't see such a deadly variant since.

And yes, we have vaccines for it now.

Even so this year's winter influenza surge in New Zealand appears to be roughly twice as deadly as the average, and yet absolutely nothing like 1918-20.

Imagine being pregnant, again and again, and knowing that maybe a few might live.

That's some serious physical and emotional trauma.

We are only a couple of generations of women expecting to have most of their children survive.

This is a huge shift.

If you were to ask any woman pushing a designer stroller in Noe Valley right now, do you think your baby will die within 5 years? They'd look at you as crazy

In my family (couple generations back) there were two brothers called Antonio and Antonio Segundo (Antonio Second).

As the first one never died, the second son was always called Segundo his whole life.

He was the backup son. To make sure the oldest son carries the important family name (Antonio). No matter which one the oldest was. If the first one died, they would have started calling the second Antonio.

It was absolutely normalized.

But I'm guessing that a lot of these sweet babies would have lived, if they'd had vaccines.

Offhand I remember one of my grandfathers had two siblings that my mother knew, and 4 more who hadn't survived to adulthood.

It was common in my grandparent's generation. This was common for much of human history: you had to have 10 kids to hope for maybe 3-4 to survive and have kids.

When did this change?

With vaccines.

Vaccines combined with reliable Birth Control have been the biggest improvements to everyone's quality of life and human rights.

Editing to add: Antibiotics! too!

Ouch. No wonder there is so much family trauma.