First Shot

Monday Lilly got her first round of vaccinations. In what is supposed to be a big two month shot, Tetanus, Diptheria, Pertussis, Hib, Polio - they break it into two months. So she got one Monday and will get the other at three months. According to Doctor Gorman, I can expect a fit to be pitched at the three month check up. Apparently one of the vaccines feels like its burning to the babies, so it will hurt. I'm like if they know that, why not fix it? She did well with her 1st shot. Cried as Dr. Gorman was taking it out of her upper right thigh, and got a purple bandaid over the injection site. I too (along with my mom) got the combination flu shot (regular plus Swine) and received a blue with white flowers Tweety bird bandaid. Kids bandaids are so much better than adults.

Dr. Gorman said we could expect some fussiness, sleepiness, soreness at the injection site, low fever, and mild swelling at the site. She did great at the rest of her check up - she's at 13 lbs 1 oz and is 23 inches long. She still has the baby dandruff, the cradle cap, so Dr. Gorman said we could get Selsun Blue dandruff shampoo to rub on it, and hopefully the flakes will come off. We tried it last night, and so far, the flakes above her forehead, right on the top of her scalp, are shedding off. Anyway, so we bring her home, she takes a little bit to eat but is really mainly sleepy. So she falls asleep on JJ. But unfortunately JJ had to catch her cab to the airport and then get on her flight. So Lilly was then put into her napper, slept through JJ's leaving at 2, and woke up hollering and pitching a fit around 2:15. I see that her thigh is red, swollen and she's letting out a scream anytime you touch it. Well, it's really hard to get a good grip on the baby, without touching the right thigh. Or at least maintaining the good grip. It seems like she would be jostled a little bit, and cry over again. I thought she might be hungry. Nope. She snacked, more like grazed, and then begin crying. I gave her some baby tylenol, but she didn't like it, despite the cherry flavoring.

And the more I tried, the more she cried. And it's a high pitched, I'm in pain, fix me now, please kind of cry. And I couldn't. It seemed like everything I tried, the angrier she got. I couldn't console her. So at 2:45, I called my mom, in tears, asking her long the baby tylenol took to work (mind you I could have read the box but wasn't that rational at this point). She told me to calm down (all this while in security, I think, and then called me back as she passed security, it was hard to hear because of Lilly's crying) and to try to get her to sleep and take some more gas drops. At this point she's still farting around. But by now, my left arm is holding her between her legs, while the right is supporting her head, and she's fallen asleep. So I say I'll try and get them in her when she wakes up.

At 3, there's a knock on the door. For a split second I thought it was my mom, who had miraclously exited the airport, got in a cab, and arrived back at the house, all in 15 minutes. But nope, it's Rudy, our friend and contractor. Because I got up to answer the door, she got up, and was reminded about how angry she was, and started the whole high-pitch crying all over again. Now, Rudy's coming to the house, because we discovered we have a leak from her bathroom, on the second floor, coming down to the first, through one of the lights. There's also mold on a window, and a potential leak from the outside. And our fans need re-wiring. So I'm trying to show him all this, she's not standing for it (I should mention, I don't blame her, I'd be pissed too). So she's working herself up, she's sweating. Her face is reddening with anger. And poor Rudy is taking it all (though he does have a 14 month old girl but said she didn't get this mad after her first round of shots). He figures out a house plan, helps me warm a bottle, and then leaves.

She's still crying. Wailing. And she's still farting. But because she's not eating anything, I don't give her the gas drops, mind you they can be taken without eating. So we go for the next three hours, her sleeping, waking, screaming, crying, grazing, and then starting the cycle all over again. While sleeping for a good stretch I do manage to watch most of Oprah's education episode and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing the movie, "Waiting for Superman."

So when Mark gets home at 6:30, I am at the edge. I feel like a failure. I am freaked out that she's having a bad reaction, as on page 150 of the old edition of what to expect in your 1st year, signs of a potential bad reaction, including brain inflammation, include persistent high pitch crying for more than three hours( in my mind, it's definitely high pitched, and she's definitely been crying for more than three hours, though she's taken breaks, to sleep), excessive sleepiness and a hard time waking (well, she's been sleepy, though I can wake her). And though I didn't call the doctor to address my fears (probably because I knew they were irrational), I'm scared I can't help her, and listening to the screaming and crying is draining. So Mark comes home, takes her from me (she's asleep), and when she wakes, he gives her a bottle, she eats for a good 3-4 minutes, much more than snacking, and I burst into tears, thinking what a failure I am, that I can't get her to eat, I've been trying for the past 4 hours, and on the first try, he gets her to do it.

She senses the distress, and stops eating, and begins crying herself. Mark get's up and calms her down, I, meanwhile, am still crying. And she is still farting. So I compose myself, get up, measure out a teaspoon for Baby Bliss Gripe Water ( a godsend to ease with gas, hiccups and constipation), get it in her mouth, and she doesn't want to take it, but manage to close her mouth and make her swallow it. And kid you not, twenty minutes later, into the opening credits of How I Met Your Mother, she poops. And it smells. And it's a lot. So we change her, and while changing her (thank goodness for putting the second diaper down) she poops again. And her demeanor changes. And once we put a fresh diaper on her. She's a happy camper. I warm a bottle for her. She takes it. She wolfs 3 ounces down. And with one ounce left, we feel secure about getting her in the car, and taking her over to Aunt Bitsy and Uncle Adam's house, to watch the Saints game (she is after all, in her gold Mary Jane socks and Who Dat Nation onesie, the skull cap comes on for a little bit at their house).

So after kick off, she's in the car, she's happy. No traces of the pissed off, in pain baby from the afternoon. I should have heeded the gas drops call from my mom a lot sooner. perhaps we could have avoided the drama from the afternoon. But you live and learn. And I've just ordered two bottles of the Gripe Water from Amazon.com, should arrive Friday.