“I’m sorry, baby”

There are things that you do as a parent that you hate, but you know you have to do them. With my boys, I was always the one who took them to get their shots. There is no worse feeling as a parent than having your child look at you as you hold them down so the nurse can administer the shot. You feel like you are betraying them. It is truly an awful feeling. You know that you are doing what you need to do, but it rips your heart out!

Sam has scheduled most of Ella’s shots on days that she is off work and I work. I have told her that I would take her and she doesn’t need to always be the one to do that. She says she knows, but she feels that Ella “needs her mommy” for comfort after those pokes.

So Ella is having surgery this week to put tubes in her ears. She’s had one too many ear infections and the ENT said tubes will help. Here is the catch, before she can do the surgery, she had to have a Covid test done. It had to be done during a specific time frame, in this case Sunday or Monday. Sam works both days, so I was the one who took her to have it done.

It had to be done at either the hospital or one of the hospital affiliated Urgent Care facilities. The hospital is an hour and 15 minutes from home, where as the closest Urgent Care was about 55 minutes away. So we had to schedule a Virtual Visit with a doc on Sunday, in order to be able to get the actual Covid test done on Monday.

When I arrived they told me to bring her inside, because it would be difficult to do a curbside swab on someone her age. They brought us right back to the room, and Ella began to cry before anything even happened. She’s had enough shots to recognize an exam room and was probably thinking she was getting another one.

When the nurse entered with the swab, Ella began to cry even more. The nurse told me to cross her arms and hold them with one arm. I was then to hold her head against my chest so they could do the swab. Let me tell you, that girl of mine is strong! I had a hard time holding her. She fought big time. As soon as it was all over, I held her and she gave me the “Why did you let them do that, daddy?” look. I hate that look.

I kept telling her I was sorry. It breaks my heart to see her like that. Once we left the building, I held her in the parking lot and calmed her down before putting her in her car seat. I found a light up toy and that made her smile. I was so glad her mood changed quickly. Of course, I had to treat her to pancakes at McDonalds for being so brave.