Shots In The Middle Of The Work Day

It is always an odd feeling for me getting up in the morning on a week day and not rushing to get out of the house and on the road. Sometimes it is a holiday and the office is closed while other times it is because of weather. However, Friday was one of those days when it just made more sense for me to work from home due to an appointment right in the middle of the afternoon. Believe it or not, it was time for our son’s one year wellness check and I wasn’t going to miss this one.

As the day progressed and a surprising amount of work was accomplished, the minutes and hours seemed to evaporate. Before I had a chance to stop and assess where I was in the day, I looked up and found that I only had about 15 minutes before heading out the door. With a little bit of time left and about twice that amount of time in work remaining, somehow I managed to power through and get out the door with a couple minutes to spare. Well, that is what I thought.

On my way to the daycare to pick up our son, I couldn’t have encountered more delays if I tried. Between the slow cars (clearly not knowing where they needed to go) and hitting every red light possible, I barely made it into the classroom with enough time to grab all of his stuff from the week, turn around, and try and make up some time on our way to the doctor. Thankfully, our son was quietly watching the scenery the whole was and we did make it to the doctor on time about a minute before my wife pulled into the parking space beside us.

As we checked in and handed the woman at the front desk the forms to transfer our son’s medical record to a new doctor, our name was called. This may have been the first time that we didn’t have to wait since we first started bringing our son to this office right after he was born. While there were a few things that we specifically asked the doctor to check (and yes we actually saw the doctor this time), the great news of the appointment was that our little baby isn’t so little anymore falling within the 75^th percentile in nearly all of the usual measurements. And that is when the calmness came to an end and the needles entered the room.

While the tears began almost as soon as we laid him on the examining table, he surprisingly wanted his daddy when everything was done. By the time we left with a multitude of papers and forms in hand, our big boy had calmed down and was clearly ready to go home. With my wife taking our son home, I was able to get a few local errands done before joining them back at the house and taking the time to play with our son before his abnormally early bed time. It was a long day and an appointment we weren’t really looking forward to but it went about as well as we could have expected. Sometimes, that is the best day especially when the result is that our son is pretty darn healthy!

Monday Morning Puking and Crying

It was an interesting way to start the week as I was fortunate to join my wife for our son’s six month at the pediatrician’s office down the street. We did our best to schedule the appointment early enough so that this would be a possibility and, up until Friday afternoon last week, this was seeming more like an impossibility… thankfully an important meeting got moved without me having to say anything. So, with everything working out logistically, instead of arriving at the office around ten until nine, we were walking into the waiting room watching our son turning his head back and forth trying to take everything in.

Now, I have to be honest about what I feel as we walk into these appointments (beyond the feelings of frustration when they take way too long). I have mixed emotions about going to these appointments. On the one hand I want to support my wife and be there for my son while on the other, selfish hand, I can’t stand seeing my baby boy crying in pain.

While I wouldn’t say that he is happy to be there, he has at least gotten to the point where he tolerates going to see the doctor and he is actually pretty happy and smiling at everyone until one of two things happens... being naked or getting shots. He wasn’t even phased when he threw up on me taking him to the scale or throwing up on my wife as she was bringing him back to the examination room. He is an equal opportunity chucker.

Even with the spewing, it was fun watching my wife’s when the doctor confirmed that he was only half a pound away from 20 and well on his way to being taller than mommy. He is a big boy but, more importantly, he is a healthy baby and one that surprised the doctor by what he is already able to do. While there are a few areas where he is not really excelling in (not really behind either), the doctor was surprised at how advanced his hand eye coordination had become as well as his ability to self sooth.

All of that pretty much went to pot once the vaccine and needles came out. In addition to the nasty taste in him mouth he also left the appointment with two sore legs. But now he is all ready for day care although I don’t think that my wife and I are fully ready for that change as of yet. However, I will say that this time around he calmed down much faster and the tears stopped by the time we walked back around to the front desk. Needless to say, it was a tiring morning for all of us and afterward my wife and son went back home while I made some phone calls on my way to the office.