Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Hepatitis B: One Down, Two to Go

It's really not fair when the needle is as long as your leg is thick.

Explanation: Yesterday my daughter had her one-month checkup at the doctor's office. The most notable part of this whole experience was the Hepatitis B booster my poor little girl had to get. This is the first time we've seen her get a shot. For somebody with only one word, she certainly made it clear that she did not like getting stuck with the needle. As an interested observer, it was amazing to see her reaction to it. It is now very clear that she's never been in serious physical pain - her shreik when she got the shot was unlike anything I've heard from her before.

Of course, as a dad I never want to hear that sound again, and I'm still upset that I had to hear it once. In fact, I think I'll put my "interested observer" hat* back on.

*And yes, if you felt so inclined you could certainly liken an "interested observer" hat on a dad to a party hat on a Mouse DeathBot.

4 comments:

Willie Y said...

What amazed me in watching a newborn get a shot, is that the reations. There is the shot, a very short,an instant what the heck was that reaction, followed by the scream.

JCA said...

A girlfriend of mine once was putting her infant daughter into a car seat when she accidentally pinched the baby's leg in the safety belt. The kid shrieked, of course, and my friend was absolutely LEVELED with guilt. Not only had her child never before known pain, *SHE* was now responsible for the kid's first lesson in ouch. At least you can write this off as a medical necessity, and you weren't the one holding the needle :)

Jeremy said...

Yeah, I'll be just fine if she hates that nurse for the rest of her life. :)

Jeremy said...

Not that the nurse deserves it or anything - just that it's better her than me.