6.09.2010
second round of immunization shots, assassin nurses, and heavy cries
Tilda's teething has become more of a focus for her. She drools, wears a bib regularly, constantly has her fingers in her mouth, and if she can get a hold of my or her mom's fingers, she'll have them in her mouth as well. She did just get her second round of immunization shots a couple of days ago and that was hard. I held her little hands again and told her it was ok and before I even knew she was getting the shots, I saw her face turn red, her mouth open and her tongue told me that she hurt. These nurses come in and do these shots as if they're assassins. They come in after the doctor, they administer their doses and leave as if they didn't just provide your infant with one of her more traumatic experiences. I have no resent for these nurses, but the system is a little weird. Tilda, handled it well at first, she cried briefly, less than a minute or two. But a few hours later, the pain in her legs (where they give the shots) caught up with her and she was unconsolable. She started crying just a few minutes after her mom started teaching for the summer session and it was 100 degrees out so I was there with Tilda, lost at the university trying to console her but I couldn't feed her and I couldn't leave with her. This was a hard day, she cried for a while, and when she finally exhausted herself, then she slept, but still, while sleeping she would breathe in heavily and shiver.
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Sounds tough, man. Been there. Something to remember about the nurse assassins is that they work for YOU, you don't work for them. They're trained to crank out about 30 immunizations per day so if you don't make a point of snapping them out of their ninja-like focus, they'll treat your kid like any other slab of baby meat to be poked and proded. After our first horrible experience with immunizations I made it VERY clear to the nurse (in a nice way) that she was not going to touch my baby until I was given a chance to explain what was happening. And now I explain everything as it's happening and the nurse understands that she's just going to have to take a little more time with us than she takes with other parents/children. Things I say to our daughter: "Mommy has to hold your legs now, honey. Daddy's right here. The nice nurse is putting medicine on your leg now before the shot. OK, now the nurse is going to give you a shot and it might hurt but daddy and mommy are here and you're OK..." etc. On some level she must be able to process that, right? Another couple of things that are hit-and-miss for the pain are EMLA cream and Baby Tylenol or Motrin 45-60 minutes before the shot. EMLA is a prescription cream, so you have to ask your doctor about it and the timing of it is important because if it's left on too long it can cause tissue damage(?) or something. It works about 1/2 the time. It's important that you're there for the baby, too, which it sounds like you are. Keep up the good work and good luck! -t. www.TwoNewDads.com
ReplyDeletethanks for commenting .... and I do hold her legs and reassure her. She/they definitely register what we tell them as comfort to some degree. We've been giving her some baby tylenol after the shots, some time after really. I think what we need to do is really schedule those days as hers. That is where we have mostly gone wrong. This last day of her shots was a busy one for us and we hadn't accounted for the idea that she needs to go home and rest after getting her shots. We'll have to do better by her next time. Though, the other day we did take her out at night for some celebratory celtic night at a local pub with music and dancing so maybe that helped get her mind off of things.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they definitely have an uncomfortable recovery period for the rest of the day, so planning to spend more time with her after the next round of shots is probably a good idea. And it's probably better to do the tylenol before the shots so that it kicks in by the time she gets the shots. It's probably also a bad idea to expose her to too many Celtics fans. Go Lakers!! :) -t. www.TwoNewDads.com
ReplyDeleteExpose her to Celtics fans? She is a Celtics fan, Ray Allen fan now. She was big on Dwight Howard and the Magic until they got eliminated and so she's shifted her allegiance to the green team. She really does love watching basketball.
ReplyDeleteSo she's a fair-weather fan? Haha. That's great. My daughter likes football when it's on.
ReplyDeleteFair weather? No, she's just a fan of the game and the right conference.
ReplyDelete