Our pediatrician, Dr. Gin, warned us the day would come. Last month as we finished up our visit, he reminded us that this was the last "friendly" visit and that the following appointment, the girls were to get their first set of shots. So, we braced ourselves, I prepared in advance by arranging to have a second set of helping hands, a teenaged neighbor earning some summer income, and bravely waited for the check up.
Weight is fine (5th percentile for age, non-adjusted) - length fine (same here) - all growth is going well. The crazy white gunck collecting on Tina's tongue isn't thrush (although later on we found out it was!) and the purple-ish ring around Tina's toe is nothing to worry about. Then the shots.... Screaming bloody murder for about a minute, but by the time we get to the car, all's quiet. "Wow," I thought. "Not too bad."
Not too bad until we made it about 2/3rds of the way home. Then, once again, the stereo sound of wailing and suddenly my teenaged helper is really earning her money and probably regretting that she agreed to help out. I can barely concentrate on writing out my check to her the crying is so loud and I desperately plead with my mother to run to the store for some children's aspirin. Both kids are so upset heat is radiating from their little heads and I quickly undress both to cool them down. Mom comes back in from the store with the aspirin. She is saying something and standing only 10 yards away, but over my darling babies' screams, I can't hear a word of what she's said!
I use every soothing technique I can remember: all the "5 'S's'" from "The Happiest Baby on the Block" simultaneously and stripping myself for the skin-to-skin factor, I also throw one baby over each shoulder and jiggle, shush and stand on my head. About an hour later, it starts to take effect. An hour and a half later, it's just mumbles and complaints; two hours later, just some breathy shutters in between sighs. Finally, three hours later, just before Daddy comes home, the babies fall asleep.
He comes in the door... "How was your visit to the doctor?" he asks. Oh, my!
