The Trauma of Shots

Lisa gave up on taking the kids in for shots a long time ago. It was one particularly bad series of shots that Ellie had to get that did it, and I can’t say that I blame her. It’s rough. It’s also one of the reasons why Evan isn’t getting circumcised (in addition to it being a largely pointless “tradition” and cultural expectation).
So I had the pleasure of taking Evan in for his latest set of shots: 2 in each leg, plus one oral vaccination. Evan got weighed first. It’s really not that hard, but somehow I think the nurse screwed it up. The scale, I believe, prematurely “locked” his weight at 10 pounds, 12 ounces. After the appointment was over, I reweighed him on the same scale and got 12 pounds, 15.8 ounces! The inital weight put him in the 25th percentile, and just looking at him, you know he’s not a 25th percentile weight kind of kid.
The doctor did the normal exam soon after, and confirmed that he has both testicles. She also confirmed that what we figured was heat rash was pretty much just acne, and it should clear up eventually. The kid is just sweaty, so it’s hard to keep that kind of stuff from cropping up.
Then it was time for shots. So we waited. And waited. Good thing he didn’t know what was coming, because the suspense was killing me! Finally the nurse came in with the shots. Don’t doctors usually tell you to relax your muscles when getting shots to keep it from hurting so much? Well, the nurse pinned his legs down prior to giving him the shot, which probably didn’t help much. I understand the need to keep him from kicking the needle, I just have to think there’s a better way. The poor kid was bawling his eyes out from shot #1, and to her credit, the nurse did a good job of quickly delivering the other 3. She also did a fine job of getting him to swallow the oral vaccine for rotavirus. He was bawling so hard I didn’t think he would ever choke it down, but she managed it somehow.
Thankfully, after the shots were done, he stopped crying nearly immediately after I picked him up, and quickly fell into a deep slumber. It’s hard work being a two month old getting your shots.
In another two months, we got back to the doctor for more shots. I bet they will be surprised at his “growth spurt” when he’s no longer in the 25th percentile and up above the 75th!