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Guest Essay

By Margaret Renkl

Ms. Renkl, a contributing Opinion writer, reports from Nashville on flora, fauna, politics and culture in the American South.

It’s full-on spring here in Middle Tennessee, and the world is suddenly blooming with infants. There’s a new baby in my family and three more in my small neighborhood alone. All winter, the babies were tucked safely away at home, but now the sidewalks and the parks and the malls have filled up with strollers.

My first child was born during flu season, too, and I well remember the stern admonitions to keep him home till infections waned. But that was 1992. There was no reason for his pediatrician to warn me that........

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