We love our doctor! Evan had his 4 month vaccinations and thanks to our great doctor, I was less nervous than I normally would have been. Medical visits are very different here in Italy, but thankfully, the Pediatrician we use, says just the right things to help put our minds at ease. She is very detailed and precise, plus she has a "gentle touch" when it comes to vaccines. She is a mom too, so she said she always gets anxious when vaccinating babies. Not because she doubts her ability, but because she feels bad for the babies. In Italy, most Italians go to the public health clinic for vaccines, so administering vaccinations is not an everyday thing for our Pediatrician here, but we were thankful that she was willing to do it for us, since dealing with the public health department may have been too confusing for us.
In order to obtain one of the vaccines, the pediatrician had to call all over the country just to find a Farmacia that was carrying it. Due to the swine flu, many Farmacia's weren't carrying regular vaccines, just the swine flu primarily, so she said most Italian kids were going without for a bit, while the country worked to obtain some from Spain. Thankfully, again, our doctor was diligent in her efforts, and managed to find a Farmacia down in the "heal of the boot", who was able to ship it up to a town closer to Naples where we were able to pick it up. I'll be calling our Seattle pediatrician next week to find out what Evan will need for his 6 month shots, so that the doctor here will have enough time to locate those vaccines too.
Our doctor had opened her office off of her normal office hours just to accommodate us and to give Evan his shots. She was so gentle, and I cried before Evan did. I had warned her that I would, and she apologized that I cry every time I come to her office. Oh well, motherhood has turned me more into an emotional basketcase I guess, but as a mother herself, she totally understands. Evan was a trooper, getting a shot in each thigh, plus one vaccine administered orally. Mid-shots, the doctor gave Evan the Italian version of infant tylenol (via suppository..the preferred way to administer baby medicine in Italy, so I had to learn how to do that), and after a few crying moments, Josh was able to quickly comfort Evan in his arms, while I consoled my self and blew my nose and wiped away my own tears, while sighing a big sigh of relief.
We hung out at her office for about 30 minutes after the vaccines to make sure that he did not have any allergic reactions. She checked his temperature by putting her lips to his forward--"her technique" she said, and double checked the injection points for redness, but he was fine. Yeah..now we are all set, at least until we have to repeat this in another two months. Ugh!
Today is the day after his vaccines, and I'm happy to report he seems to have had no side effects. I've been giving him baby tylenol almost every 4 hours to stay ahead of any possible soreness in his legs, and it's working great. He is his usual, smiley self!
His stats on his visit: 16.5 pounds and 26 inches long--he's a big boy. No wonder the Italians always comment "Molto Grande" whenever they see him!
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