Sick and Snuggly

My 5 year old son received 5 immunizations on Friday. He was all “I’m a big boy, it won’t hurt, I won’t care” until he saw the needles. Poke #1 – “That hurt, why’d you do that?” Poke #2 – “AAAGGH! Don’t do it again, I don’t like that!” Poke #3 – the anger turns to tears. Poke #4 – Tears turn into all-out bawling and screams of agony. Poke #5 – I held him down so the nurse could finish. For the next 20 minutes, my brave, strong little man bawled into my shirt sleeve with his arms clutched around my neck. It sucked for him to be in pain, but the feeling of my baby needing his mommy was pretty empowering.

The afternoon and evening went well - a little fever, a little sore - both to be expected. During the night, it hit him. About 2:30 we heard coughing. We raced into his room to find him holding his throat and crying. He was having an immunological reaction to his shots. He suffers from an immune deficiency where his body doesn't make antibodies on its own. So to put 5 live viruses into him just overwhelmed his system. Although his doctors approved the shots, I was ready to punch someone over it.

After calming him down and lots of cold water, he relaxed and went to sleep on the couch. Hours later, he began vomiting. Then he was out cold for several hours, fighting a 100-102 fever. With my husband out of town, I sent my daughter to Grandma's so I could focus on the little man. All afternoon and evening, this poor little thing suffered, his body overcome with pain and sickness, all to avoid getting sick - ironic isn't it?

It was one of the best days I've had with my son in a long time. We snuggled in the chair and watched movies, we laid on the couch and ate grapes, he took a long bath and wanted me to just sit with him. I had the rare opportunity to just talk with him, watch him sleep, hold him and cuddle. When bedtime came, he pitifully asked "Can I sleep with you?" and climbed into bed next to me and snuggled as close as he could. I woke up every hour to check his temp and look him over, and he was the most peaceful little person you could ever see.

I hated seeing my child sick. But it gave me the chance to really spend time WITH him, and that was pretty wonderful. He's recovered now and back to his ornery self. It'll be 10 more years before he receives 5 shots all at once. I hope it's not 10 years before we get another day like that. When I told him I was sorry that he had such a bad day, he said, "That's ok" and hugged me. Maybe he felt the same way as I did. At least I hope so.