Shots suck. They just do.
Actually, baby shots suck. I don't mind so much; I just turn away when they jam the needle into my arm. It's flu season, and I am diligent about getting my annual shot, and Pete and I both had our DTaP boosters before we brought The Boy home. This year, especially, Pete and I have to protect ourselves to protect Finn, who should not be exposed to any upper respiratory infections considering his extreme prematurity. After agonizing over vaccinations while Finn was still in the hospital, we settled on Dr. Sears' Selective Vaccination Schedule, or a modified version thereof. Finn has had DTaP, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (whooping cough). The only disease he really needed protection from in that cocktail was the pertussis, but you can't get it in a stand-alone shot. The diphtheria risk is almost zero and so is his tetanus risk, but there was no way around it. Since that shot, he has had the PC vaccine for pneumococcal disease and the HIB for haemophilus influenzae. We did not do the rotavirus vaccine. Finn is a stay-at-home baby who will not be in day care for his first year, so he is at low risk for many diseases. Due to his XPreemie status, he was eligible for the Synagis shot for protection against Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). It's very common and similar to the cold, but premature babies are at a higher risk for RSV and the ramifications of the virus are worse for them.
The greater vaccination debate will rage on, and we are walking a line down the middle at the moment. I still have concerns about the amounts of aluminum in some of the shots and the long term implications, but mostly, I want to give Finn one shot at a time so that I can monitor him for any immediate adverse reactions. So far, he has done brilliantly with no side effects that we can notice. At his next pediatrician appointment, he'll start the boosters. DTaP on deck! We will go ahead with the other vaccinations such as polio and MMR, but not until a little later.
The shots are awful. For us, especially. He's there in his diaper, smiling and looking at me, and then the nurse jams this giant needle into his thigh. Finn goes silent, turns bright red, his face scrunches up, he cries but no sound comes out right away. Once the bandage is on, I scoop up my now screaming baby and put him right onto the boob. This usually calms him down, and he whimpers a bit and gradually turns back to his normal color. From now until May, he has to get one shot a month--the Synagis once a month and sometimes a booster.
We are getting our flu shots next week, which is just fine. I understand what is going on, and it really does not hurt. I am a big huge person, not a small baby. I know it's probably worse for us than it is for him; he forgets pretty quickly. We get to hold onto that lovely image of our trusting happy baby turning into a red-faced scream machine and feel the residual guilt from putting him through that experience. He gets a flash of pain, a few seconds of screaming, a boob, and a nap.
He's a big boy, though. He had two appointments this week. One at the pediatrician and one for the Synagis shot. He was 11 pounds, 6 ounces at the first and 11 pounds, 9 ounces two days later. I guess I should stop worrying about my production. He's an eater. We were looking at video of him from his first few days, hearing the monitor alarms going off in the background, and... wow. It's been quite an interesting five months. It's hard to believe how small he was and how big he is now. We're pretty pleased, I can tell you.
1 comment:
oi. Good luck to Mr. Finn on all his shots. It's still a part of parenthood that breaks my heart.
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