Freak out!

This is the email I sent to Geoff about or catastrophic trip to the pediatrician yesterday. It was so bad I had to call my own Mama for comfort. 

Oh, man. it was bad.

First, someone messed up the order of appointments, so instead of us being seen at 10:30 (they're usually really prompt), the dr didn't come in until 11. By then Cora was already getting fussy and asking to go home. Good sign there.

So they offered to go ahead and give Cora her flu vaccine, which I would have taken her in for at some point anyway, so I said yes since we were already there. The Dr said the nurses prefer to give the flu mist to children instead of the shot. Whatever, no big deal to me.

Naturally, it took another 20 minutes for the nurse to come back with all the shots and things. By this time Rhys is fussy, so I've been bouncing him for about 10 minutes while Cora runs around the room screaming and attempting to run into the hallway (she was both hungry and tired). Finally the nurse arrives and Rhys has calmed down. We try to give Cora the vaccine. No go. We show her how Douglas (he favorite stuffed animal) takes the vaccine. She laughs. Nurse brings it toward her nose, she FREAKS OUT. She finally gets the vaccine laying across my lap with me physically restraining her arms and head, along with the nurse holding her head still to get the nostrils. Cora screams the whole time and takes a good few minutes to calm down to only sobbing.

She stops sobbing when we show her how Rhys gets to eat one of his vaccines (rotovirus). Then the nurse takes Rhys to get his shots on the exam table. I tell Cora how Rhys is going to cry and she needs to be a good sister and tell him it will be okay and that he is all right. She's okay until Rhys starts to scream. Then she screams about 5 times louder. The nurse picks up Rhys because I am still holding Cora, and he calms down almost immediately. But not Cora. She cries and screams even when we tell her Rhys is okay, he isn't crying anymore.

So I sit on the bench and get her to calm down some. Tell her we are going to go home, and I need to buckle Rhys into his car seat (the nurse had sat him in it, bless her). Cora will not let me put her down. So I sit on the floor next to the car seat and buckle him in with one hand. I ask her to stand up so that I can stand up. She screams. So I somehow manage to stand up holding her without falling over. She finally stops crying when I wrap Rhys's blanket on her back. She carries Douglas and a book we brought while I carry her, the bag, and Rhys.

Get to the front desk, can't remember if I'm supposed to schedule his next appointment. Blanket slips off, Cora screams. I tell the desk clerk that I'll call about that appointment and leave. Clerk opens the doors for me (bless her too). Carry Cora to the car on the far end of the parking lot, spend a few minutes standing there calming her down. Hold her hand the whole way home, so now my left shoulder is sore. Repeatedly Cora keeps saying how the people had hurt Rhys, then she starts crying again. 

Eat fruit snacks, which I had promised her way back at the Drs office (why oh why did I not have any in the bag???) while watching Tangled. Make mac and cheese, then watch some more movie. Put her down for a nap about 1:30, because Rhys got hungry as soon as we got upstairs. Rhys is fussy, so I sit in the floor holding her hand through the crib and rocking Rhys. She falls asleep while I'm singing.

My arms are tired from carrying/holding these two so much, and my back is sore from all the rocking! But, ice cream is made, the floor is swept, and the dishwasher is running. I am not doing any more cleaning this afternoon, I think I need/deserve a small break!

BTW, Rhys is 13.5 lbs, 23 inches long. Right in the middle of the growth chart for length and close to the top for weight.