It's in the genes.

Last week I had to take Woof-woof to the doctor and while we were there I asked the doctor if I could get a flu shot for Sweetie. The doctor was amazingly nice and let us do the shot then instead of making a new appointment.

Flashback Summer 1988 - I (Seamore Tomato) had not been feeling well. My mom took me to the doctor and after pricking my finger to get a blood test determined that I had low iron levels. The doctor prescribed iron supplements and made an appointment for a few weeks later to determine if the supplements were helping.

Two weeks later my mom took me to the doctors office and I DID NOT want to get my finger pricked again to test the iron levels. I honestly don't remember much, but I do remember refusing to get the finger prick. I also remember ending up in the doctors office (not an exam room) because it was taking so long and because I was screaming so much. I vaguely remember threats about all sorts of things that were going to get taken away if I didn't let them prick my finger. (Let me insert here that for the rest of the time that I went to this doctor-which was up until I got married- a few of the nurses told me that they would never forget this day. I was a bear and they couldn't believe that a girl could act that way. I've always been a little embarrassed about it.)

Well, after what I'm sure were hours my mom and I left the doctors office. I was grounded until I was willing to get the finger prick. I missed out on plenty of things, but I didn't care. I was even ready to stay with the neighbors and miss a family reunion(which I loved going to) because I was stubbornly refusing the finger prick.

It took an intervention by my oldest brother to get me to be un-grounded that summer(I'm not sure how much my parents paid him, but it could have been a lot - my mom was really worried about my health). I don't know how long it was between the doctors visit and the intervention, but my memory has it being awhile. My brother came to me one day and told me that he had tickets to the gymnastic trials for the Summer Olympics which were being held in Utah. He said that he had talked to my mom and that she had said that if I got the finger prick then I could go to the trials. Finally I had found something that I didn't want to give up. He took me to the doctor, I got the finger prick and we went to the Olympic trials. I had a great time watching the gymnasts and I'm sure that I had some other fun things to do over the rest of the summer. I think I even got to go to the Family Reunion, but I can't remember.


Fast forward back to last week. Sweetie was talking big about how brave he is and how the flu shot was not going to be a big deal. Well, the nurse came in and said to him, "First I'm going to wipe your arm with this alcohol cloth to get the area free of germs." He was fine. Then she said, "Turn your head and look the other direction and count to three."

Sweetie turned his head, counted to one, and looked back at her. In that moment he saw that she had the needle uncovered and was ready to give him the shot. Well, he flipped out. He started to cry, started to climb off the table, and was almost out the door. I stood up to help in what way I could and tried to talk to him about being still. He was not. So I pinned him between the table and my body, held his head in the opposite direction and told him to count to three(and tried not to giggle too much). By the time he got to three the nurse was done with the shot and out the door. He didn't think that she had done it. He thought that she had just left, but I showed him the band-aid and told him that it really wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be(and I tried once again to suppress my giggles).

Honestly I just sat there giggling in my mind about how much the hatred of needles must be genetic(or universal) and how his reaction was so similar to one that I had years ago. And I had a more than a little empathy for my mom and that she had to deal with me while I was throwing a whopper of a tantrum about getting a finger prick. Hopefully I don't have to do more pinning for shots, but if I do I guess I deserve it!

And let me tell you that my mom had a humongous laugh about this when I told her. One of these days I should get her to write down her side of the story, but I think that I'm too afraid to find out how big of a tantrum I really threw. I'm not sure that I'm ready to face the truth yet....