Wednesday, October 26, 2005

The needle and the damage done

We took Milo for his second round of immunization shots yesterday. Now, I've never been one to fear a needle -- they're so thin, and the point of insertion is so tiny, and the blood that comes out is such a pretty shade of prom dress red -- but even I get squeamish when we take Milo for his shots. When compared to Milo's tiny little squishy four-month-old thighs, the needle takes on the relative dimensions of something you'd expect to see stabbed into the haunches of a horse (or a professional athlete hoping for the stamina or muscle mass of a horse).

It wouldn't be so bad if he had to have just one shot, but no, he had to have three -- two in his right thigh and one in his left. Thankfully, his objections were dampened somewhat by the infant Motrin we dosed him with prior to leaving for the health office. He screamed bloody murder as he was given each needle, but recovered fairly quickly. Yet another example of better living through careful chemical management...

All in all, I'm sure the whole ordeal affected me more than it did him. After I'd rearranged him in my arms to prepare him for the final shot in his left thigh, he recovered from the tears caused by the first two shots and looked up at me, wide-eyed. Just as his mouth began to stretch tentatively into a smile, the nurse stabbed him a third time. The look of betrayal in his eyes was far more painful than any stupid old needle.

"HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN TO ME???" it screamed.

Somehow, the "it's for your own good, sweetheart" excuse just didn't seem to cut it. Sigh. I feel like I just gained official membership into the parent club.

Stay tuned for future quality acts of parenting, such as the one in which I tell a much older Milo that Santa Claus doesn't exist....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is actually an entirely out-of-date comment, but I just thought I would let you know that I tried to check your blog from the Internet terminal at YVR and it wouldn't let me because apparently it's too objectionable!

Unknown said...

Yeah. The immunization visits test you. That's for sure. Luckily they have like NO short term memories at this point. So its prick...MOM SUCKS...where's the boob? And all is well with the world once again.

Laura said...

I never understand why in some parts of the US and Canada they do 3-5 pricks. Here they combine it all into one injection. So pumpkin only got once prick each visit. But she did get one at 2 months, 3 months and 4 months. No more till 11 months though. She normally is pretty good. She cries for a minute and then she forgets all about it. I guess I have been lucky. But don't worry, Milo will not remember it at all :-)