Thursday, March 6, 2008

Screamin' Demons


I'd be willing to bet my life on the fact that the screams and shrieks of my trio could be heard from the first floor to the fifth floor in the medical suites that we visited today. It would be safe to bet that the bystanders believed that my children were being tortured... something like having their fingernails pulled out forcefully.
Although I would not agree that they were being tortured, I'm sure they would contest. It was vaccination-update-day, in preparation for the beginning of kindergarten in the fall.
Worst of all, it was meet-the-new-doctor-and-nurses-day, as we have changed pediatricians, effective March 1. Although I was completely impressed by the office staff and pediatricians, I'm pretty sure they were not impressed with us!



It happened as sort of a snowball effect. Before the nurse even got her whole body into the exam room, Bella had begun to whimper. Within seconds of seeing the dreaded needle tray, her whimpers turned to shrill shrieks. Moments later, Angel joined the chorus. And not to be left out, Isaac added his lungs into the mix.



The nurse looked at me, puzzled, as if to say, "How on earth am I going to get these three needles into skin that is moving about so erratically?"



Thinking on her toes, she escorted the two children not being poked, along with their baby sister, out the door to choose a sticker. Immediately, the noise level in the room lessened by two-thirds.



We dragged terrified, defiant children in and out of the exam room like dogs being dragged into a bathtub. The bigger they are getting, the more difficult it is getting to hold them down. Needless to say, in just 4 short minutes, I burned more calories than I did in my morning walk!



I felt all eyes on me as I walked my tear-stained-faced children through the office. I think I heard the faint sound of applause as the door closed behind me!



As was promised, to ease a bit of pain, the kids all got treated to a happy meal and a chocolate shake, for as we all know, chocolate has a weird way of soothing the soul!

2 comments:

Celtic Kitten said...

The Kindergarten shots are by far the worst. It always includes a "Happy Meal". My three haven't needed a shot since. When my nephew got his shots for Kindergarten, around the 3rd shot he said, "Mom, I don't think I can take anymore". That was almost 14 years ago and 6 feet of height added to his frame. At least they don't have to walk to the doctors like we did. In the snow. Up hill. Both ways.

A Perfect Pandemonium said...

ahhh...poor kiddos! I hate shots. I had to take my three year old to get his shots last week and so I talked to him about it before we got there. Warned him what was going to happen. I got him all scared but he was going to be brave he said. The doctor pulled out his records and said, "oh, he's all caught up, he doesn't need a shot" Oh thanks, I scared my child for nothing!