Thursday, July 12, 2007

Vaccinations

Estelle just had her 2 month checkup at the pediatrician and had to get her first set of vaccinations. Not fun. I felt terrible when she cried while getting the shots. Poor thing sounded so pathetic. On the way home though, she fell asleep and napped for a few hours after we got home. I thought maybe I was lucky and wouldn't have to deal with a crabby baby as I'd heard many do. After she woke up though, it was a different story. She nursed as usual but suddenly started screaming. Not her normal crabby cry but an "i'm in pain" scream. Her poor little leg was all red and swollen. After 10 minutes of her screaming, I called the pediatrician and asked if this was normal. They said it was, but that if she were to continue crying for a full hour, that I should call them back. The poor thing cried for 30 minutes before I was finally able to calm her down by laying her on my bed and letting her nurse. That was the only position I could get her in and hold her legs down so she wouldn't pull them up and irriate the spots where she got her shots. As long as her legs were securely down she would calm down, but if she moved them it was back to the screaming. For the rest of the evening she didn't have much of an appetite and would cry anytime she moved her legs.

Then I made the mistake of reading scary vaccination stories on the internet. You know, the ones that talk about babies dying the day after they got their vaccinations. NOT a good idea! For the next 24 hours I wouldn't let Estelle out of my sight. If she so much as whimpered, I was there to soothe her. Who cares if I might be spoiling her. At least this way, if something terrible were to happen, I would have no regrets about what I did. I can't imagine the guilt felt by those mothers who let their babies "cry it out" only to find them dead in the morning. Even though the crying isn't what killed them, just to think that the babies last moments were alone, crying in a crib is enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I've decided that since Estelle is in the age bracket the most at risk for SIDS, I'm going to love on her as much as I can because there's no guaruntee that I'll have her tomorrow.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

what a sad post :( you can't spoil newborns :) its all about basic needs and trusting environments. August 2nd...the day BOTH my kids get shots- ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh