The shots. Oh my God, the shots.

Is it bad that I am leaving my kid to nap in his car seat while I am scarfing down string cheese sticks (hello South Beach!) and catching up online? We just got home from a friend's house and Trader Joe's, where I attempted to find some cloth diaper insert thingies (apparently their kitchen towels work as inserts? Because Trader Joe's is all kinds of amazing, didn't you know?) I managed to leave the tub of shortbread cookies at my friend's house (goodbye South Beach!) and I'm sort of regretting that sneaky move. The cheese sticks just aren't doing it for me.

So the shots. Sigh. I may need to go dig a fudgsicle out of the freezer.

All right. The shots were about as dreadful as I thought they would be. There was the added bonus of the nurse informing us that "his cry will sound different with the last one because that one burns" but we made it through. Phillip held Jack, the nurse did her thing, I cowered in the corner with the vaccination handouts over my eyes. The baby howled, of course, but as soon it was over he was sucking down a late afternoon snack and drifting off. Phillip and I swear he even smiled a time or two.

We ran some errands, had dinner with friends and then? When we got home? And took the baby out of his car seat? THE SCREAMING BEGAN.

You people did not warn me about the screaming.

Now, our baby doesn't scream. He bawls and whimpers and occasionally lets out a few spurts of very indignant shrieking, but he doesn't scream. The worst we've ever heard him cry is when he's starving and his idiotic parents are too clueless to figure it out. (What? It was only an HOUR after he last ate!) So after Phillip's attempts to calm him down weren't working, I declared the boy was hungry and tried to feed him. Then, for the very first time in the short history of Jackson Cheung, he did not want to eat. And that's when I began to cry.

We could NOT figure it out! He was FINE all evening! And then we were all, "Duh. He just had his shots." Since I could barely move my arm for days after my last tetanus shot, it should have been clear that my precious little baby was in pain after FIVE SHOTS in his tender scrumptious baby thighs. EVIL MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT.

Poor poor baby. We then went five miserable hours of trying to figure out how to hold him without putting pressure on his legs. He'd fall asleep numerous times, only to wake up from oh so slight jostling and start screaming again. It was awful. Awful awful awful. I don't know how you parents of screamers make it through.

And did I mention that yesterday happened to be the day that broke all sorts of high temperature records in the Pacific Northwest? In other words: we were DYING. We couldn't even go upstairs for fear of succumbing to the awful stuffy heat. Let it be known that it wasn't ME who scheduled our appointment for the hottest day on record at five in the afternoon, HARRUMPH. We had the giant tower fan on full blast and our third-hand air conditioner going in the living room (oh yes, my husband brought home somebody's old beat up 1978 air conditioner and installed it in our dining room window) and we figured we were just going to have to camp on the floor. We were looking at a whole night of passing a hot sweaty screaming baby back and forth until one of us (hopefully the baby) passed out.

We gave him as much Tylenol as we thought responsible. We shushed him and held him and apologized profusely for bringing him into a world with infant vaccinations, but explained that the lack of polio in modern society should make up for it. And then Phillip said, "What about the Moby?"

In case you haven't heard it here before, GOD BLESS THE MOBY WRAP.

I was afraid Jack wouldn't like having his legs stuck in that thing, but he quieted down instantly. It was another 10 minutes or so before he fell asleep- and STAYED THAT WAY. Gingerly, oh so gingerly, I climbed into bed and let him rest on top of me. And after ten minutes of that, I rolled over so that he was still bound up against me, but resting on his side in the crook of my arm. We slept that way (well, one of us slept, one of us tried to not think about how her arm was going to need amputation in the morning) until Jackson emitted a cry I recognized, the FEED ME NOW cry. He went back to sleep pretty easily after that and today? My baby is back to normal. And amazingly enough, still sleeping in his car seat.

He is not going to have any more shots though. I hope the rest of you are immunizing your children so that mine doesn't catch any diseases.

Phillip is working late tonight (is there some kind of Network Administrator Widow support group I can join?) but I have all kinds of Trader Joe's yummies to munch on (like I was going to ONLY buy the kitchen cloths!) and Harry Potter #6 to reread before I get my hands on #7. Oooh, and last night's Top Chef, the only summer entertainment fare I've found digestible. Any suggestions? I almost watched the Real World Las Vegas reunion series, you guys, and I DID watch the absolutely terrible hosted-by-Joey-Fatone karaoke show. Clearly I am desperate.

Comments

[Laura]

Shots are the worst..have that fudge popsicle!!! When we got home they weren't sure about the validity of her vaccinations in China so we had to do them ALL over!!! Oh.my.gosh...I almost died...but Annslee did great. I will tell you I give her tylenol about 30 min before our appt. and I do NOT participate in the "hold down" ...that is what the nurses do. I just stroke her face and love on her. Hope all is well and sleep is good : )

[E.]

I'm with you on the network admin widow thing. Though, yesterday, McH took the entire day off (what with all the kid puking going on the night before). It's amazing how much of his job he can actually do from *my* laptop.
Shots suck, but the aftermath gets a bit better each time. At least it has with my kids. Of course, my girls were mostly screamers regardless.

[carrie]

Those first shots are miserable! (Wait, who am I kidding? They all are! I hate shot days. I get sick to my stomach thinking about them!) I am so glad that he is doing better now, and back to normal.

Hey, do you use pocket diapers? If so, what kind? I use FuzziBunz and I love them. Although I bought them before they raised the prices. Yeek.

[Salome Ellen]

I'm with Laura on the early Tylenol. Get it in BEFORE the shot, and keep it up for 12-24 hours with standard doses. It's not perfect, but it can bring the screams down to a whimper. (And half-vaccinated is worse than not at all.)

[annie]

Shot days are horrible. I agree - tylenol BEFORE you head to the doctor. And then do it again, even if he doesn't seem like he needs it. It helps. Too bad they don't make a drug for the mommy-watching-her-baby-get-stabbed-with-a-needle-numerous-times-in-a-row PAIN that YOU can take before you head to the doctor!