That is what happens when you take a 4 year old who has been traumatized by medical professionals and bring him for a check up. It was SO much fun — please note the major sarcasm here.
So I took both of the boys and my grandmother with me. She went to help with JSL while I was dealing with NHL. I knew that he was due for 4-5 immunizations going in and had talked to NHL about being a big boy.
So we went there and Nurse C called us in. This part of the story was previously blogged here. In addition to this we found out that NHL is 39 inches tall (30th percentile) and 39.5 pounds (75th perfentile). Oh well he’s doomed on the height thanks to me being a walking, talking, breathing recessive gene! (Seriously I am – both of my parents are 6′ tall and I am only 5’3″ – sad isn’t it?)
So we head into room 3 with a protesting 4 year old. Nurse C then gets him to reluctantly climb onto the table. Here’s where things quickly go WAY down hill. She tries to take his blood pressure and he go completely wonky. I mean screams, kicks, and won’t stay still. Nurse C shows him how to do it on my grandmother and myself, but still he won’t do it. I remind him he’s got this in his doctor kit at home, but he won’t listen.
Meanwhile we have also used 2 stall tactics to get this far. I had to take him to the bathroom two times. He did need to, but still.
Finally we gave up on the blood pressure. Now it was time to sit in the small room and wait for the doctor. During this time NHL was trying to get down from the table to get his shoes to leave. The poor kid was so tired. I picked him up and started to rock him. He melted into me after crying for a while. My grandmother fed JSL during this time. NHL fell asleep 5 minutes before the doctor walked through the door. We were waiting for quite some time.
The doctor comes in and does the exam while NHL is on my lap for most of it. The two of us are able to get him to try things. I was quickly able to explain what had happened when we went for the lead testing at LabCorp. Thank goodness that was negative and we don’t have to do it again for NHL. Everything was good and we talked about the services NHL receives for his low muscle tone. He scribbled a few things onto the physical forms for school (which I later had to call them back about to remove since they were incorrect).
Now the real “fun” was going to begin. Nurse C came back in. NHL knew what was going to happen and he was ready to jet. I met her out in the hall and we talked. NHL needed 4 shots by the age of 6. So she said we should do two this year and two next year before kindergarten. I agreed that sounded like a smart idea – with only a flu shot in between. I also told her that I was going to kick my grandmother out of the room since she was not exactly helping matter with NHL. It was best for her to take JSL out and walk around. So we got another nurse to assist since I knew there was no way I could hold NHL still.
The other nurse came in and held Noah on her lap. I held his head and poor Nurse C nearly got kicked, but the three of us somehow got his legs still. Shot 1 (DTaP was done). Then it was onto the other leg (MMR). The little monkey was strong. Both nurses were amazed with it. Thank goodness Nurse C is darn good and got him (she almost lost the needle control and had to go again).
Phew! We were out of there and told NHL we would go for a treat. It’s not his fault that he’s had bad luck with things lately, so I wanted to do something nice. We went to Carvel. Ah, the childhood memories. NHL got a kiddie cup of twist soft serve with rainbow sprinkle. Mimi and I each had a sundae – it was buy 1 get 1 day. YUMMY!!!
Then we went home to get ready for PreK open house.
The best part, JSL goes back in two weeks for his 4 month check up with 5 immunizations – ACK!
C’est Moi
