shooting pain

For me and him...though probably more for Rohan....

Rohan got his first set of shots yesterday. Four shots -- two into each leg covering:

• DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus) shot
• Hib (Haemophilus influenza type B) shot
• hepatitis B shot
• polio shot
• pneumococcal (PCV7) shot

The Hib and Hep B were combined into one i think...My inability to fully recall what Rohan got injected with points out two things...my failing memory and my overwhelming trust in doctors and the practice of medicine. They tell us, "these are the shots your baby needs to get," we say, "okay."

Rohan was quite the trooper during the shots....his face turned beet red and he let loose with the loudest scream we've heard yet...but calmed down within a couple of minutes following the last shot.

Once we got home, he did great for about 5 hours, then the pain set in and he went ballistic. Well, ballistic to his parents who have never seen him cry for more than 5 minutes at a stretch (yes yes, we are very lucky). We gave him a little baby tylenol (on the advice of the nurses) for the pain, and he eventually calmed down....We've been excessively nice to him for the past day too -- no bottle,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When one stops to think about what the kid is getting injected with at such a young age...it is a bit disturbing....The chances of a baby catching Hep B, unless the mother is infected, is around zero.

Oh well, what's done is done. We did have the wherewithal to double check that the vaccines did not contain thimerosal which is a mercury based preservative. The FDA asked the manufacturers to phase its use out in 1999, but there is a strong beleif throughout the web that thimersol is linked to the explosive rise in autism. The medical community and drug manufacturers call the increase a conincidence and point out that doctors are diagnosing more than in the past. Nevertheless, we, luckily, don't have to deal with that right now....by the time we get to the MMR, it could be a different story.