Monday, February 3, 2014

5 and 3 year old check ups


I thought this visit would be pretty quick and uneventful so I scheduled Gavin and Wyatt’s check-up’s together since they did so well last year.  I didn’t realize that the 5 year checkup includes 4 shots and a blood draw for kindergarten so this visit ended up being incredibly exhausting and stressful. 

Gavin actually did really well with his flu shot last year but this year was full on freak out  (nurse gave him the award for loudest screamer :))and ever since if he even hears the mention of a shot he starts freaking out.  I felt bad because I had told him several times no shots just a routine checkup and then we go back to have them get their height/weight and blood pressure checked when the nurse mentions a blood draw.  Gavin immediately picks up on that and starts panicking and asking about shots.  I try to explain that in order to go to kindergarten you have to get certain tests taken and he wants nothing to do with it and is already professing that he’s not going to kindergarten if it involves shots.  

Then we get to our room and the nurse comes in and asks if we are going to do it all today.  I have no idea what she’s talking about so she mentions that he needs 4 shots and a blood draw and this brings on the hysteria.  First the nurse comes in for the lab draw and he sits on the table really nicely and she’s explaining everything and he’s doing good.  I’m holding his other arm and then she mentions the finger prick and he freaks out screaming at the top of this lungs, kicking his legs, thrashes his arms and throws his body back.  Neither of us were quite expecting that so it was all she could do to get his finger pricked but as soon as it was done we were able to calm him as he watched the little tube fill with blood.  The rest of the time waiting for the doctor involved him going between bawling and giving me threats about what he was going to do if he had to get shots.  I’m not sure where my sweet little boy went but I was told that he would kick the nurse, spit in her face, throw up all over really any threat he could think of if I made him get shots and I spent the time trying to calm him down and bribe him with anything I could think of that might make him relax a little.  Nothing was working!

Thankfully Wyatt was amazing during all this and just sat in his chair quietly.  When the doctor came in he did Wyatt’s checkup first and he did awesome.  He answered all the doctors questions and sat still.  Gavin was a train wreck but the doctor assured me that they see this all the time which made me feel slightly better.  Finally the nurse came back for the shots and was smart and brought 2 other nurses for back up this time.  We had to force him to lay down but I think it helped because I then held his hands and laid on top of his chest which sounds awful but I think it made it better because then he couldn’t see what they were doing.  He still screamed at the top of his lungs but once it was over he was totally fine and the nurses actually thought he did really well considering all the screaming and crying he did leading up to the actual event.  He was back to normal and excited that he got extra cookies and stickers. 

It’s a good thing that they don’t need routine shots again until they’re 11 because even though he told me it wasn’t that bad after the fact I guarantee if I told him we needed to go back and get another shot tomorrow we would get full on freak out mod again.  So probably the worst doctor’s appointment to date for me as a parent but we all survived and thankfully we have 2 healthy boys :). 

Gavin’s stats: Height – 45.3 inches (88%), Weight – 44lbs 13 ozs (75%), deathly afraid of shots J

Wyatt’s stats: Height – 38.5 inches (75%), Weight – 33lbs 13 ozs (72%)

No comments: