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I try to have our flu vaccines near the beginning of October. I was stunned to see some pharmacies offering it in early to mid-August, but I still waited.
Yesterday, much to my girls' disappointment, we went for our shots. (Hubby received a free vaccine at work. Lucky!) When I picked the girls up from preschool I was informed by their teacher that they were nervous about their shots. Apparently that's all they talked about all morning. I had told them in the morning in hopes of letting in sink in.
Needless to say, there was lots of crying during the actual process. Sue Sue, ever the actress, went last and was "crying" loudly. When I pointed out that she didn't even have tears, she started laughing and was pretty much still laughing during her injection. She tried to squeeze some crocodile tears, but was too interested in the prospect of receiving a sticker to pull it off convincingly. As we left, she told the entire waiting room "I really liked my shot." Now as long as we stay healthy the tears (and the ice cream treat afterward) will have been worth it.
Now that my daughters are in preschool, I try to have them get their flu shots in mid to late September. Yes, my daughters are vaccinated and receive annual flu shots. If you're here to debate that please go somewhere else.
Anyway, I found a clinic doing shots for $15 instead of the standard $25, so after school yesterday the five us stopped by for shots. Well, the four of them were getting shots... I can get mine free through Hubby's employer. Thank goodness I decided to go directly from school rather than wait until after lunch, which had been my original plan. We received the clinic's last four shots! Oh, they'll receive a new shipment in about a week, but it never occurred to me that there would be a flu shot shortage this year. I guess the H1N1 scare coupled with this particular clinic offering cheaper shots has people rolling up their sleeves. (Yes, I realize this current vaccine does not protect against H1N1, but I'm not sure everyone else realizes this).
I had talked up the shots all morning, explaining to my daughters that it might hurt for a minute but the shot would help protect them from certain illnesses. They seemed onboard with the plan... until the nurse walked in with the syringes. No one wanted to go first. The nurse wanted to do the shots two girls at a time, but being the only one capable of mommy hugs I nixed that idea.
I made Sue Sue go first. She's a tough girl and I hoped she would set the tone. She didn't disappoint. I held her hands and as the needle went in she said "ouch, ouch, ouch" let out a little whimper and then decided the moment had passed. Roo was next. She can be a tad dramatic. She cried, she screamed, she cried some more. This did nothing to help calm Tortilla and Cakes. Roo finally settled down and I grabbed Tortilla. She popped her thumb in her mouth and gave me a pathetic look. I wanted to nix the shot, but knew we had to proceed. She cried, gave me a hug and was fine. As I approached Cakes she looked at me and said "I don't want a shot." I tried to soothe her, told her she could hold my hand and told her she would receive a cool bandage after the shot. She started crying the minute she saw the needle, but Cakes is a trooper. After her shot, she buried her head in my shoulder, gave a few sobs and was done. Fortunately the nurse then handed everyone a sucker. Candy right before lunch? For those four brave girls... absolutely.
Later in the evening when Hubby came home the girls told him all about their flu shot adventure... how brave they were, how they didn't cry. What? Well, I retold the story in front of them and gave examples of each of their cries, which they thought was pretty funny. All this morning they regaled me with tales about how funny it was to receive their shot. Still, on the way to school this morning Sue Sue was adamant... "No shots after school today, OK mommy?"
