Baby's first date with immunisation

24th October.
The baby is 45 days old and was to have his second date with   immunisation. The first was soon after birth given the next day while in the hospital. We were quite busy with handling everyday issues and with deepavali to add excitement, immunisation looked like a dragon whose arrival can be avoided or atleast deferred.

So it was with D who vehemently opposed the idea of her tiny baby being poked. She came up with enough original excuses to defer the event. Mentally she was not prepared for it, I could make out. She started with , there is nothing so sacrosanct about the 45th day, a few days this way or that should not cause any harm. When I said, no 45th day is sacrosanct, she came out with it is raining heavily, the baby already has enough change in weather to cope, we should not overburden his system. I said, but rains were there till last night.You can see the sun coming out of the clouds, see in the eastern sky. She then tried a highly sentimental angle. Baby's father is here for a few days, he would be heart broken to see his baby suffer the after effects of immunisation. So let us do it after he leaves. I said yes, but look at it from the baby's angle;he baby will feel comforted to be with his father during the trauma of being poked at. She could not agree more.

She had by then exhausted her excuses and then latched on to getting a more favourable location. She said we can get it done in chitti's clinic. But then chitti saw the elablrate immunisation schedule and said it is better to go to the hospital and get the original pediatrician there to administer it. D then told me  let us go to our neighbourhood  so friendly pediatrician.I said but last time we went he said he was going to sabari malai and will come two/three days after deepavali. She said let us check. Check, she did and came back crestfallen. She said the doctor was just getting back from sabarimalai and had a whole retinue of coconut breaking and aarti taking while he was entering his house. She did not want to hail him and ask him if he can take a commercial break from his religious activity and quickly complete the baby's immunisation.

So it was that I called up the hospital and fixed up appointment for 1 pm. Taking an infant out is no easy task and every one of us squirrel like  pitched in (the help squirrels gave in building a dam in ramayana, to be more precise) And off the retinue went with thatha driving.

All was quiet and I quickly grabbed my forty winks. The party arrived back and had nice stories to tell. I could see my daughter was relaxed and the baby was snoozing in his father's arms. D said the baby did not cry when they administered 3 injections in his thighs and also the oral polio drops. They are now injecting painless injections she told me. And also the injections mute the reactions the body's system brings on, like fever, aches and pains. I did not get the science of it , but I am very thankful for any discrease in acute discomfort that the tiny infant will go through. Hats off to the scientists/admin guys and pharma companies and govt which made these innovations possible.

Half a day and a night into the injections, his body was warm he  was having discomfort but was not wailing and crying.He wanted to be held and held close. He was wimpering which broke his mother's heart and put me on duty to hold the baby even after he had slept soundly in my arms last night. He is under so much trauma mummy, please comfort him, she told me. Baby's parents played lots of old tamil songs to soothe the baby and also to soothe themselves! When he is crying for his feed, his wail is more plaintive and less demanding.
Being so 'paavam' does not sit well with his character!