I'm gonna feel like a teenager saying this, but……OMG!!  Today we had a 3:30 appointment to get the boys their flu mist for this pesky upcoming winter season. Ugh.  Suffice it to say that this appointment did not go anywhere near as good as I thought it would go.

I was sure that by opting for the flu mist instead of the shot, I was guaranteeing cooperation from the kids.  WRONG!  We arrived at the pediatrician's office and made our way up to the second floor.  N was literally pulling the other way as I grabbed his hand to make our way into the office door.  All the while he was shouting out, "No! No!! No, I don't wanna go in there!"  I just kept wondering what the heck he was so worried about.  It's not like we haven't been explaining the flu mist to him for literally weeks now.  He's known that it could be much worse – we could've opted for the shot.

So we finally made it into the office door where I quickly signed us in and the nurse asked us to make our way into the first door on our right.  We went right in and I sat the kids up on the exam table.  Things seemed to be fine by this point, though N was still insistent that he didn't think he needed the flu mist.  I kindly explained to him this would prevent him from getting very sick for the cold season and would ultimately help avoid having to come back here.

The nurse came in shortly thereafter and had me initial on some paperwork.  In her hand she carried a small tray with two little tubes and two Dum-Dums lollipops.  Completely harmless.

First, it was W's turn.  She asked him to do a practice sniff and he did.  Then she stuck the little tube up his right nostril and he sort of flinched a bit but no tears or yelling. Then the nurse proceeded to do the left nostril and he did that just fine too.  Afterwards his eyes were a little watery but he managed to still remember the important things.  He quickly pointed to the tray, looked at the nurse and asked, "now I get pop?"

Then it was on to N.  As the nurse made her way over to him, he began crouching into the corner and covering his nose and mouth.  You would have thought she was carrying a dagger and lunging toward him!  It became apparent that he was not going to do this without putting up a fight.  I was completely dumbfounded!  After all, it was only a tiny mist, not a shot!  I couldn't believe his reaction, especially since he'd just seen W do it in just a few seconds.

The nurse suggested we lie him down and she could get to him that way.  He of course fought me the entire time I am struggling to pin him down.  He's screaming and kicking and at one point, grabbed the mist thingy out of the nurse's hand and flung it clear across the room and it hit the exam room door.  I was so embarrased and apologized to the nurse but I'm sure she wasn't surprised.  I just remember I kept saying to N to just stop and calm down and that it wasn't a big deal!  I was finally able to hold him down for about two seconds with N's left side of his face leaning on the exam table.  The nurse then quickly shot the mist up his left nostril and it was over.

He continued to cry and yell out, "I never wanna come back to this place!", which was quite comical.  The nurse insisted that he got enough of the vaccine in his nostril but I have doubts about that.  I am sure that he'll end up getting sick now and I'll have to try hard not to be upset the entire time because he could've just avoided illness by cooperating.  Sheesh, kid!

Here's to cold and flu season. ♥