The line stretched all the way to Terra Haute...

In the whole “swine flu” pandemonium I have been unable to get the coveted vaccine through my doctor or Katherine’s second dose through her pediatrician. On Thursday Wake County announced that they had received more H1N1 vaccine and would be holding clinics for priority groups on Monday. We were lucky that one of the clinic locations was in town. Hallelujah!! I made the executive decision that K and I would start our day a bit later on Monday so that we could head over to the clinic and get our shots (flu mist for K.). Katherine loved that she got some extra time to sleep in and play in her pjs.

I stupidly thought that we would be in and out of the clinic in a jiffy based on my previous experience with her first dose. I neglected the fact that since then the media has been saturated with stories on H1N1. I had planned on leaving the house at 8:30 just in case but ended up getting out of the door at 8:50 thanks to a little girl that would not cooperate with getting ready and had to be sent to her room for a time out. Had I known what awaited us I probably wouldn’t have worried about that time out. We had to park up on the street because the parking lot was full. Line out the door and around the side of the building…all the way to Terra Haute and we were at the end of it (yes it’s almost that time of year again!). It was clear we weren’t getting out of there any time soon. K. sensed right away that something was up and asked to go home. But once we were in the line I made the commitment that we were in for the long haul, for all I knew this may be our only chance to get the vaccine for a while. Thank goodness I thought to bring milk, snacks and blankie, originally meant to appease someone after her dose but suddenly became convenient for passing the time. Twenty minutes in we made phone calls to Daddy and to Gram, heck I would have run down my whole contact list to keep her happy but it was clear Miss K was not interested in gabbing. She brightened up when the little girl behind us offered to share her lacing game with K. Forty five minutes in and I estimated that we were halfway there.

When we hit the door of the room, K definitely knew that something was up…she’d been in there before…and it wasn’t pretty. It didn’t help that we would hear the occasional cry from a little kid. Next thing we knew we were filling out the paperwork and waiting for our turn. K went first. I honestly thought the flu mist would be easier than the shot for her…I think it’s a toss up. Once she was on my lap, she knew what was going on and smartly curled up in a ball and buried her face in blankie. Unfortunately that meant we had to pin her down…never a good thing…me with her arms, one nurse stabilizing her head and the other nurse giving the dose. Screaming and crying ensued…then the “I wanna go home!” Stickers did not soothe her this time around. She did get a kick out of watching me get a shot though… “Mommy, you’re not crying!” However, she refused to hold my hand for moral support…pin me down and shoot some stuff up my nose, you’re on your own with this one lady.

So an hour and a half after arriving, we were out of there. I decided to see how she would do at daycare since I’d rather not take a full day from work if I didn’t have to. We’ll just say that drop of was rough…R.O.U.G.H. Probably the worst it has been in a long time, especially at this school where we get a smile and a wave most days. The teachers assured me she would be fine and she was. In fact I left her crying with Ms. Wanda on the playground and by the time I went back through the building and out to the front I didn’t hear her crying anymore. The day end report was that she had an excellent afternoon.

All I can say is…boy am I glad that’s over with!!!!