Wednesday

Counting down...

Today is Sweet Pea's last day of school this week. I know I already posted that, but man I can't wait to have tomorrow off.

Turned out Slipshod completely forgot that he had agreed to keep The Bug home OR be in the waiting room with her while Sweet Pea got her shots, and he had a conference call this morning, so I had to take both girls to get Sweet Pea's shots. We were a little late (I had figured on either only getting Sweet Pea ready, or having help getting both girls ready, argh) but since the shot clinic is in a separate room from the doctor's office we were the only people there and the nurses weren't too bothered - or if they were, they didn't let on.

Besides getting Sweet Pea her full kindergarten panel of shots & tests (3 shots, a TB test & a finger prick to check iron level in blood) we had to play catch-up with two more shots, so UGH. I could have opted for a couple shots later, but the nurse said it is safe to get them all at once and I figured we might as well just get as much done today as possible.

For some reason I thought Sweet Pea would just cry a little bit but not have too hard of a time. The reality, unfortunately, was that she COMPLETELY freaked on me and I had to fight her to get her shirt off with the help of the nurse, and then hold her screaming, thrashing body while the nurse quickly gave her all the shots. Sweet Pea SCREAMED and fought and SCREAMED and shouted at the nurse, "STOP THAT!" It really, really sucked, especially since her being so tense and screaming, etc. caused her more pain with these shots than she would have otherwise had. One of the injection sites was bleeding a lot after the shot and had a bruise within two minutes of getting the shot. That's the one that's hurting her the most.

The nurse suggested putting ice packs on the injection sites and giving Sweet Pea Motrin to help with the pain. Sweet Pea has turned down Motrin so far but I am really going to try to get some into her before taking her to school. But the nurse said that tomorrow is when she's really going to feel the pain from this experience. That's why I'm really glad we're not doing anything or going anywhere tomorrow.

I felt awful about the situation while it was occurring, and I still do. I have to believe, though, that getting her those shots was the best way to go. As it is I already feel like I was an asssistant in her torture, and I fear she will always remember this and she has been scarred for life by the experience. There she was, yelling and screaming for the needle poking to stop, and what did I do? I held her down for the nurse so she could poke her some more. Well, I didn't actually hold her down. She was sitting on my lap but I had to hold one of her arms at a time because she was trying to fight off the nurse with whichever arm that wasn't getting the shot at the time (she got shots in both arms).

Ugh.

The one thing I keep telling her, which I hope will help her not be scarred for life by this, is that she will never again have to have 7 shots at one time (well, 5 shots, a finger prick and a TB prick). She will still need shots, but from now on it will only be one or two at a time.

Sigh.

While we were at the dr's office I set The Bug up with a little notebook and some crayons but she was too curious to stay in the chair once Sweet Pea started screaming and squirming. She came over and stood next to me asking, "why are you crying, Sweet Pea?" and eventually, after nobody answered her and the screaming and struggling continued, she began to cry a little bit too, out of nervousness or worry or just plain empathy for her sister. The Bug is very easily pulled out of these things, though, by the offer of a lollypop from the nurse. She doesn't hold grudges. Sweet Pea remembers, though... she was like, "to hell with your lollypop, lady; Mom, get me the frack out of here NOW." I bought her a smoothie (I know, we're Jamba Juice fiends) and brought her home and put her on the couch and turned on her favorite cartoon (currently Peep and the Big Wide World) and she's been chilling out there ever since.

Unfortunately, I had such a difficult time getting the girls ready to go that we did not get Sweet Pea's hair brushed or put up before leaving the house, and all her crying made her nose run, so she's got snot in her hair that I have to wipe out now before brushing her hair and putting it up. Sigh.

Guess I should go do that now. I was going to try to get The Bug to nap before school time but she didn't go for it (I did try). Now it's too late & she has to wait until after we drop off Sweet Pea. This is one of the reasons I'm so looking forward to not having to take Sweet Pea to school and pick her up during the summer: The Bug will be able to nap at the time of day that works best for her, and stay asleep when she needs to take a longer nap. None of this waiting to get Sweet Pea to school and having me wake her up to go back to school to pick up her sister.

Okay - The Bug needs lunch. Off I go.