“Courage is one step ahead of fear.”
I’ve never been fond of needles…or pain, in general. I avoid it when I can.
My daughter, however, seems to face it head-on every day. She is the most accident-prone person I’ve ever known. She ends up with bumps and bruises all over. She falls and trips, over nothing a great deal of the time, which causes scrapes on her knees and hands. This happens at least once a day. My clumsy little girl.
Even so, she doesn’t stop for anything! Sometimes she will cry, other times she yells “I’m okay!” and keeps going. With her, you just never know.
Just over 2 weeks ago she had her yearly checkup with our family doctor. The nurse mentioned we could get here school shots this year since she just turned 4 or, if we wanted, wait until next year once she turns 5. I thought for a minute and decided to wait a year like we did with her brother. Just figured we could give her immune system another year of development to take on viruses before her shots…in case of any reactions that may arise since she’s younger than her brother was when he got his.
Alas, this is not what she seemed to want. Thus far, one would think, ‘Oh! She didn’t want the shots, period, right?’ Wrong. She told me and her nurse that she wanted them right away. “No, I want my shots! I’m so brave! I’m brave, Mommy!” and shows us her muscles. I asked her if she was sure, 3 times, and she kept telling me yes and she was brave. I even tried to tell her a few times that they take a very large needle and stick it in the leg, she just kept saying she knows and she’s going to be so brave! I thought about it a little more and decided maybe it would be better this year (due to one other personal reason) than waiting for next year. So, the nurse put in for her to receive her shots that day and had the doctor come evaluate her beforehand.
Once the doctor checked her over, he noticed she had swollen lymph nodes and decided to wait 2 weeks to let whatever was going on with her pass. I told him she was just getting over a small cough/stuffy nose (most likely a little cold), but he just wanted to make sure it was gone before she received her immunizations. Fair enough, sure. So, we scheduled a return for 2 weeks from then.
Well, that day came…and without the usual call the day before to confirm the appointment. Her cough was completely gone as was her stuffy nose. We pulled into the very empty lot, which gave me a bad feeling. I took Oliver out of school a bit early to make this second appointment and I was 98% sure it wasn’t going to happen. We go in and tell the secretary what we were here for, and she told me our doctor wasn’t in and we couldn’t do immunizations without him. She said we should have gotten a call the previous day to let me know he couldn’t come in that day. I told her I never received any calls from them. So, then she tells me I can just bring her in any day that he’d be there, and she’d fit me in…so I told her that I had the next day off and would like to do before noon and she said that’d be perfect! Phew!
The next day, I got her dressed in one of her new favorite dresses (easier to access her legs for the shots!) and we headed out. They got us in about 5 minutes later and already had the shots ready. We got her on the table, had her lie down (this is where she began to panic!) and I held her hands as they began. Boy did she scream! Her hand got loose, and she tried to stop them but I grabbed it so they could do the last one and she was so upset! They finished and gave us time to calm down. My brave little girl cried and told me she didn’t want her shots anymore. I just held her and said, “They’re already done, baby! There aren’t any more to get.”
Finally, I got her to calm down and grabbed my stuff. She didn’t want to walk. I didn’t blame her and so I carried her to schedule next year’s checkup. We got back into the car to head to the store before going home.
She was so very brave up until the needles went in. Personally, I feel she was quite brave even after! Her legs are still sore now but she’s been running around and playing since we got home yesterday. In this mama’s eyes, for a 4-year-old, that shows courage! <3
I know, I know! Most kids are pretty resilient and bounce back quite easily. That may not be that great to a lot of people, but I’m sure we, as mothers, find it quite amazing. I know I do.
Share your stories of your brave little ones, no matter the reasoning!
*Note* These are just the normal immunizations for kids her age. 🙂
(This was a post from my old blog site. Originally posted: October 23, 2021.)
