Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Better be the last Beta-M shot...

Okay, so I got that final betamethasone (I think that's the real way to spell it) shot today. Technically yesterday, taking into account that it's 1am Wed. now. It really, really, really hurt. No lie. Probably not as much as actually having these babies will, maybe that can help me put it into perspective...

Anyway, the nurse -- Nurse P -- who administered this shot was not quite as, umm, comfortable with the procedure as the others were. Seriously, it was probably her second time. She was very nice, but I hate when I draw the "practice patient" straw. Wait! The girl who did it last time had to have been newer! I just remembered she had to be talked through it by a second nurse, but, oh, was it better than this one!

The other nurses did it nice and quickly, and in the fleshier part of my tush. Nurse P is talking herself through it, all under her breath, and says, "Okay, find the hip bone," At this point I'm wishing I hadn't prematurely exposed an entire cheek, since she's lingering very conservatively near my hip. Then, " measure down..." and about 2 inches under my hip -- a considerably less padded area than the aforementioned rear end -- she starts doing the alcohol swab thing. I'm a bit apprehensive. This doesn't bode well. It is not in a nice, padded spot. Then, THEN, she says, "I'm going to do it slowly, so it can seep into the muscle." WHAT??? She has obviously never had a betamethasone shot, it buuurrrrns. I can sure drag out a 2 sentence retelling, can't I? Anyway, Nurse P sticks the needle in -- she does that slowly, as well, why I'm not sure...in fact, I thought she had started injecting the liquid, but no, the needle burn going in was not quite up to the drug burn level. I immediately recognized the moment of initial injection.

As any good nurse would do, she tries to distract me from the intense discomfort of the moment. We have a decent little conversation as she slowly burns a path of pain through my hip. The funny thing is, the other two times I got this shot, there was no time for a conversation, just a quick clenching of the teeth, and then a vigorous tush rub to help dispel the meds. But this time, oh yes, enough time for an actual conversation. But, it's done with, and I really shouldn't have to get anymore of these shots. And yes, they're worth it to make sure the babies have all the advantage they can get.

Then I went to Erin's house to see Liam in his pulled-together fireman Halloween costume, very cute :) He wanted to go out and get candy in his little jack-o-lantern bucket right then, but we convinced him that Brigit needed to have her costume, too, so he reluctantly agreed to wait. Brigit's going to be a little dalmation, and Erin and Rob will be some sort of fireman-related thing/s...Rob a ladder, perhaps? We will see.

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