With the swine flu vaccine, that is! Beta and I got up in the middle of the night to go stand in line and get a shot. If it wasn't so important, it would have seemed silly.
The day started at 5:30 when I, well, wait. Let me back up. The day started at 4:00 am when Beta came to our room and said she'd had nightmares and was scared. Could she get in our bed? Since I was scheduled to get up at 5:30, I figured it would be easier to just say yes.
At 5:30, ok 5:40, I got in the shower. Somehow, we managed to leave the house at 6:30. Beta was surprisingly awake and happy. I think it was the promise of breakfast from McDonald's....
At 6:45, with breakfast in our hands, we headed to the Jones Center. Beta commented that it was still dark. She was right. It felt like the middle of the night and like we hadn't slept at all!
We got in line at the Jones Center at 7:00 am. The flu clinic was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. As soon as we got in line, Beta says, "I left Buddy in the car!!!!" This was her stuffed animal she brought to hold while she got a shot. So, I leave her in line, and RUN back to the car. While I'm there, I grab my jacket (good idea). I also realize she didn't leave Buddy in the car. He was in her backpack!!!!
It was cold. And rainy. I forgot this morning that when Jim says it's not cold outside, it doesn't mean it's warm!
Thankfully, at 7:30, they opened the doors and let us stand in line inside. We moved around several times. At one point, some official-looking person came by and asked if anyone had their form already filled out.
FORM????????????????????????
One person did and she got to go to the front of the line......people were NOT happy.
The next time we moved up, we were all given forms. The government can't do anything without a form, you know.
When the people would look at our forms, they would look at me and say "you're pregnant?" I was like, um, the belly? Hello???? (I had worn one of my shirts that made me REALLY look pregnant so there would be no question! haha!) Then they'd look at Beta and say "how old is she?" because they were only giving H1N1 to kids ages 5-18 with underlying conditions. So I repeated the phrase, "Yes, I'm pregnant and she has asthma" about 3 times.
But we got it! Both of us got our shots. Beta did NOT cry! She is so brave. She told me she was going to be brave. They told me she'd need a second H1N1 shot in 4 weeks. I said, "um, are there going to be any?" They were like, um, uh, well, um, just keep calling your local health department.....
I feel better now. I hope these vaccines work and don't harm us. I think I made the right decision. I feel at peace. I hope everyone who wants the vaccine can get it. It's so scary right now with all the reports.
So hopefully we will be pig-free this winter!
2 comments:
We also got ours this morning, but we got there "late" at 7:30. My girls did well -- they cried a bit when they got the shot, but calmed down pretty quickly afterward (the candy I saved for them probably helped). I was tempted to take along an unopened pregnancy test just in case anyone gave me trouble.
I, too, am at peace with getting h1n1, especially for Mila. We've already had to go to the hospital once a couple of weeks ago for her asthma and pray we don't have to go again.
Good for you! Our clinic was crazy; we were there two hours, and the people who got there at 8am were there about three! Everyone was afraid they'd run out. They didn't, at least as of 2pm; my friend who went at 2 got in and out in 30 minutes. They told us Anna would need need another one in a month as well, but Dr. S. didn't say anything about that, so I think I'll check with her office first. (And I was wondering the same thing--are they going to HAVE one for her in a month?)
I think Anna would have done ok if we hadn't come straight from her well-child checkup where she got a shot, so unfortunately she knew exactly what it was and started crying and squirming ahead of time.
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