Today is Desmond's 2 month birthday. I can't believe he's been on this earth for 2 months - it alternately seems like we've had him for just a few days, or that we've had him forever. And it's shocking how much he's changed already.
Today Des had his 2 month checkup. Which meant vaccinations - 3 shots and 1 oral dose. We looked into alternate vaccination schedules, but ultimately decided to get all the vaccinations and get them on the AAP recommended schedule. We found that it's really hard to find reliable information about vaccinations. I don't always trust the medical establishment, but it seems like every anti-vac article is written by someone with extreme views (super-religious pro-lifer or super-crunchy anti-medicine quasi-hippy) , and there is often very little empirical evidence to back up their claims. So basically, since we couldn't find any truly convincing reason
not to vaccinate, we decided to trust the doctors.
I was nervous. I have heard stories of many a mom losing it as those looong needles plunged into their baby's thigh, and the baby gave them a how-could-you-do-this-to-me-to-think-I-trusted-you look, and began to wail inconsolably. I made Ron stand in the baby-comforting position while I sat back. The nurse gave the shots expertly and quickly. (The needles really were freakishly long, it seemed like they would just go all the way through his little thigh!) Desmond
did wail, but as soon as Ron picked him up he stopped. The nurse claimed that when the parent stays calm, the baby usually calms down quickly. So it was a really good thing that Ron was there, since I started misting up as soon as I saw the needles.
We've been home for a few hours, and so far, so good. Desmond hasn't been any fussier than usual - if anything, the shots made him sleepy - not a bad thing!
Sleeping off the trauma
