The Worst Part of Motherhood

I know, you think I'm going to write about how much I hate laundry. While I do find that laundry is the bane of my existence as a mother, the worst part of being a Mom is taking my kids to get flu shots. Yep! Flu shots. La Nina has asthmsa, therefore, we all should get annual flu shots. The following is my version of the happenings in the Pediatric Injection Clinic at Kaiser today.

11:00 Pull into the Kaiser parking lot. The minute we parked the car, La Nina is suspicious. Her reaction was not unlike this post .

11:05 Enter the Pediatric Injection Clinic. I handed over two Kaiser cards and signed some forms.

11:09 Get escorted into the clinic. Since Maggie needed a couple of immunizations beyond the flu shot, the nurse and I determined she should go first. This was a critical error.

11:10 La Nina started sobbing that her sister is going to get shots. She is yelling that we're going to hurt her sister. She makes it sound like we are administering so some of evil torture on her sister. Kind of sweet, but at the same time, I really didn't want her sister to hear that shots were going to hurt.

11:11 The Magster asked why her sister is so sad. I fumbled for an explanation, but really can't find a very good one. Let's face it, the Magster was about to get 3 shots, not La Nina.

11:12 La Nina began hysterically begging not to get a shot. We've never mentioned she is next. She's just put it all together. The two Kaiser cards, the talk of a flu shot. She figured it out and her melt down intensified.

11:13 The Magster's shots are completed and she selected a Pooh sticker as a prize of her bravery. There were no tears, no whining, no complaints. Just worry about her sister.

11:14 While I'm admiring Maggies sticker, La Nina makes a run for it. Really, she sprinted from the clinic. Made it as far as the lobby and stopped. Thankfully, she got confused about where to go. However, the confusion didn't leave her tongue tied. In the lobby, she screamed, "I don't want to get a shot. They hurt me. I'm scared of them." Every single mother in the clinic glared at me. I can't say that I blame them. Their kids are all wide eyed at the spectacle La Nina is creating.

11:16 I drag my 40 lb daughter who is wearing pink cowboy boots (and is kick her feet madly) back into the clinic. Every parent in the lobby hates me. Three kids in the lobby start to cry. I want a shot of something pretty darn bad, myself. And I'm not talking about the kind that the doctors give you!

11:17 A nurse wisely closes the door thwarting any further escape attempts and joins me in my attempts to get La Nina on the table. It takes two adults but we do it.

11:18 The one shot is administered with 3 grown ups involved. Me and a nurse are holding La Nina down and a third nurse is giving her the shot.

11:20 The shot is over, but La Nina is sobbing. Her arm hurts. She holds it away from her body at a 45 degree angle and slumps her shoulders like she's been seriously wounded. I offer to take her to Mc Donald's for a Happy Meal. For the first time in her life she refuses. So, I offer her a new Barbie. Her response: "Can I get the Happy Meal too?" The nurses fall over laughing.

The nurses reassure me that this is fairly common behaviour in the shot clinic, among the 4-5 year olds. They are old enough to remember shots and old enough to know they can hurt. Of course, this doesn't make me feel any better.