Shots

Yesterday Seth had to get some immunizations and I had a lot of mixed feelings. He was very aware of what was about to happen to him because we had tried to really prepare him. Plus, it didn't help that this was our third attempt at this over the last several weeks because the doctor kept running out of the medicine. But, this made him very scared and it was breaking my heart but I was also thankful at the same time.

I had flashbacks to when I was a child and how much I hated going to the doctor. In fact, this distaste for the doctor's office carries on today. But, one of my mother's favorite stories of my childhood is about one time when she took me to the doctor for a well visit. She had me in the "well kid" waiting room and I'm sure all I could think about was the fact that they were either going to take my blood or I was getting shots that day. This stress led me to throw up while we were sitting in the "well kid" waiting room and my mom says all of the other moms stared her down for bringing this sick kid into the "well kid" waiting room.

I tried to relay this story to Seth to show him we had all been through this and things had turned out just fine but he was having none of it.

But, then as I heard his screams and cries and saw the tears, I was also very thankful for them. When Seth was born he was a preemie and had several health issues as a result. This led him to have to go through numerous tests and procedures. He had a variety of sensors attached to his body and nurses and doctors were always poking and sticking him with something. I remember when he finally got to a point where he wouldn't even flinch or cry when the poked him with something. This broke my heart that my little boy had to go through these things.

So, yesterday I was thankful that getting shots to him is something he doesn't experience very often.