To Get the Shot Or Not to Get the Shot?

I won't keep you in suspense...I got the shot.

This whole story started last week when I got an e-mail from my brother asking if I had gotten my flu shot and whooping cough vaccine, and if not, could I please get those before I come and visit them this weekend?  My initial reaction:  Ummm...excuse me??  To explain...My brother has a new baby, born three weeks ago.  This coming weekend is his oldest son's Bar Mitzvah, which I am flying up for.  I'm planning on spending quite a bit of time at my brother's house with the family, and this is the first time I'll be meeting my new nephew!  I've never gotten any shots before seeing the other kids when they were babies (this is number five), but Eliyah was sick last week, so I understand the precautions.

Understanding the precautions is one thing.  Wanting to get the shots is another.  I haven't been getting flu shots in the last few years since they became all the rage.  I'm healthy, and I don't fall into the old or young category.  And I'm not real keen on getting shots or medications that I don't really need (live virus, or dead).  My initial reaction to my brother's request came in very mature form:  I don't wanna!!!  I actually had this huge tantrum on the phone with Donovan about how I hate being forced into things or being told what I have to do (also very mature, I know). 

My brother told me that whooping cough vaccine is included when you get a tetanus shot, so if I was current on my tetanus shot, then I was fine on that front.  Here's the thing about me being current with my tetanus shot...I'm four years overdue!!!  I got a tetanus shot in December of 1997 when my Dexter kitten bit my finger.  In 2008 the doctor figured out I was overdue, but I was training for triathlons at the time, and it didn't work for me to not be able to train for three days (in case I got the super-sore arm thing).  So I kept putting it off and next thing you know, here we are in 2011 and I still haven't had one!  I sheepishly admitted to my brother that it was probably a good idea for me to get a tetanus shot, so we were covered on the whooping cough front.

The choice became mine to make.  Get the flu shot (even though I didn't wanna) and get to hold my new nephew and hang out with my family, or don't get the shot and have to stay 3-4 feet away from the baby at all times.  I pouted for a while, and then I remembered (partially thanks to my husband) that family is hugely important to me, and getting the shot would be very much in line with my values.  I called the doctor and made my appointment to get the shots.

So now I have a band-aid on each arm, one of which is sorer than the other (damn you, tetanus!).  And in just a few days, on Friday, I will get to hold my baby nephew Eliyah for the first time!  :)

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