Vomit, tantrum, and full-price vaccines, all in one visit!

Yes, that was our day yesterday at the doctor's office. (I know, it had been a whole five days since we had been to a doctor!)

I tore our house up looking for my insurance card yesterday. The pediatrician requires visual confirmation of New Baby's coverage by the two-month visit. I'm pretty sure that the nice front desk lady at a doctor visit a week or so ago kept my card after xeroxing it. (Who can keep up, really?) So I didn't have it. My insurance coverage hasn't changed, we have just added a new little person. But the front desk lady at yesterday's appointment wouldn't budge. Or call the insurance company. I told her that if we didn't have insurance I wouldn't have bothered coming in. I would have been too busy selling my possessions and possibly one of the children to pay the Duke bill for Baby Girl's surgery. (Okay, I didn't really say that out loud.)

So there I am, agreeing to pay for the office visit in full. Sam at this point is still being good. He has really been just great lately. Until about 2:30 pm yesterday. We were back in the exam room waiting for the doctor to come in and give Charlotte two months worth of shots (because why not double up on vaccines the day you're paying out of pocket?) when Sam started unraveling. Then Charlotte threw up all the milk she had ingested two hours earlier. Some of it got on my shirt; most of it got on the only blanket I had packed.

Sam decided about this time that he needed to wash his hands. I gave him two baby wipes. He wanted soap and water. I didn't have any. He threw the baby wipes at my head. He screamed at me. He took off his shoes and put his socks on his hands. Since the doctor was in the room, I decided to let him live.

Since Charlotte went and missed her first well baby checkup (she was busy recovering from surgery, you know) we had combined the well-baby with the four week checkup. So the doctor at that visit didn't give her the first round of vaccines. So she got the first and second round all at once yesterday. One oral and five shots. She did great. And so did my Visa debit card when I got to pay for both rounds. In full.

We will be reimbursed. But still. Tim's birthday is Sunday, so I told him that I got him a fully-vaccinated baby as his gift.

When I went in to get Sam up for his nap yesterday afternoon, the first thing he said to me was, "I'm sorry I yelled and cried at the doctor. I'm sorry I threw at you." Oh sweet boy, all is forgiven. (And he has no idea that his three-year checkup is a mere four weeks away, and that he has his own round of shots coming.)

And just so you know, Charlotte is growing well. She is now 9 pounds, 10 ounces. I won't be so thrilled next month when they put Sam on the scale. He got on ours at home yesterday, and he is 26 pounds. He's so little! But that's okay - I can still tote him around.

I am going to play blocks with my guy now...