Yesterday was Isaac's 6-month checkup. Only we'd missed his 4-month checkup due to the wedding in San Diego, so the pediatrician took his 6-month information and then gave his 4-month shots. (Fortunately, there are no scheduled shots for the 9-month checkup, so we'll get all caught up in November. This is, apparently, Not Really A Big Deal)
The visit went pretty well. Isaac was his usual content self in the waiting room, and while he didn't particularly like being turned this way and that (Let's see if he can sit up. Look at that! Now what happens when we put him on his tummy? Oh, he doesn't like that...) he was overall cool with everything that was going on. He's like that.
Then came the shots. Man, was it ever sad. The nurse laid Isaac down on the little table, and he was all giggly and smiling up at me, and then she pinched his chubby little thigh, (10th percentile for length but 50th percentile for weight + 90th percentile for head circumference = rolly poly boy!) and suddenly his face just distorted into a mask of sheer agony. The wailing happened a moment later. And it didn't really increase in fervor as she stuck him twice more (two in one leg, one in the other) because he really couldn't be any more upset than he was during that first injection. And the look on his face wasn't only one of pain. There was a lot of sadness there, too. He had no clue why this was happening to him, and it had come out of nowhere. It was one of the saddest things I think I've ever seen in person.
Fortunately, the nurse worked quickly and then (just as quickly) left the room, leaving me to try to comfort my terror-stricken child. I picked him up, patted his back, and said reassuring things to him as he continued to scream as loud as he could. Eventually, he did calm down, but he still clung to me shirt with a death grip. We waited another fifteen minutes before the doctor came back (I guess they have the nurses do the shots so the kids won't develop an unhealthy fear of their pediatrician) and asked if we were waiting on anything. I told her no one had told me we were free to go yet. Surprised, she said, "Oh, you can go! Sorry about that!" The nurse had skulked so quickly away that she hadn't remembered to dismiss us. She even gave a somewhat guilty-looking smile as she left, which was a bit surprising because I figured once you've done this professionally for a while, you've developed a thick skin against babies looking at you as if you were the Betrayer himself.
Anyway, Isaac was pretty worn out by the time we got out of the building, so he slept the whole way home. All this had happened during his usual lunch time, so when he woke up he was starving and still mad, so he was so upset he didn't actually finish his lunch. I got him to go to sleep again for a little while, but he woke soon after with a fever. I gave him some baby Tylenol and a bottle and he finally started to calm down. He even went down for another nap. It seemed he'd slept pretty much all day.
Up until bed time, that is. Not surprisingly, he slept fitfully, and at about 3 a.m. (when I was finishing cooking up some burgers for tonight's dinner--hey, if you're gonna be up at 3 a.m. you may as well make yourself useful!) Kim brought him in the kitchen because he was wide awake and would not sleep. (This was just after Robbie had unexpectedly awaken, groaning for a drink of water) I spent quite a bit of time getting Isaac to sleep, and as soon as I was done with him I heard Robbie crying again (now it's 4 a.m.). Robbie had taken the cup I'd brought to him earlier, taken it into his bed with him, and spilled it everywhere.
I fell asleep at about 4:30 this morning. (I should mention that I was already so exhausted from the day's drama that I had accidentally dozed for an hour or so while putting Robbie to bed earlier) So really, nobody slept regularly last night, and everybody was tired today. Isaac was still fussy and kind of feverish most of the day, and Kim came home from work early so I could get a bit of an afternoon nap after sleeping fewer than three hours last night. Needless to say, it was a weird 24 hours.
And then Will and Jada Smith split up and there was an earthquake on the East Coast. The world has gone mad since these shots. Mad, I tell you!
All right, my head kinda hurts, and I got my chores for tonight done, so I'm going to go ahead and turn in at a nice early 1:30 tonight. After all, I've got a fairly busy day planned for tomorrow.
