Yesterday I went for a physical.* The NP was very nice. She asked if there was anything I was concerned about, so I told her about Cameron's hearing test and about not being immune to chicken pox. She scored me an appointment with audiology in two weeks and ordered up a chicken pox vaccine. She also ordered a tetanus shot (ow!) since I was due for one of those.

She said, "Well, you don't need a pap since you just had your women's exam. Did he do a breast exam?"

I said, "Now that you mention it, no he didn't."

So she did that too. At one point she asked, "Any discharge from your nipples?"

I laughed and said, "Well, I'm still breastfeeding, so yes, there's plenty. But as far as I know it all tastes good!"

After the NP was done checking my eyes and lungs and getting my family history, she sent me over to re-register for the vaccines, and before long I was sitting in another nurse's office getting my DTaP.

There was some consternation about the chicken pox. "It says here you got the chicken pox vaccine before." I explained, once again, how I came to believe that I was not immune. She looked doubtful. "Well, I guess if you had the titer back when you got pregnant..." She let it slide. But then it was, "Well, it says here we should do a urine test to make sure you're not pregnant now."

Normally I wouldn't have minded jumping through this hoop, but my yoga class was fast approaching, and I didn't have time to hang around peeing in a cup for no good reason. So I told her that not only had I been to the fun doctor more recently than I had had sex, but I have an IUD, so if I were pregnant now the chicken pox would be the least of my worries!

Well, that sounded good to her, but just in case, she went and consulted with the NP, who went and consulted with the doc. on call, and he said done, and they all said done, and they got it all worked out that I wouldn't need the urine test, and then right there in the hallway in front of the doc, the NP, and God and everybody, the nurse stuck me in my other arm. Ironically, it hurt way more than the tetanus shot going in, and I stood there in the hallway trying to keep my voice even as I said, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Yikes, that hurts!"

Anyhow, I finally got out of there and made it to yoga class. Later, when I got home, there was a message from the NP on my voicemail: "Since you're still breastfeeding, I thought I'd let you know that it's uncertain how much of the vaccine transfers into the breast milk.... So, uh... you might want to... uh... not breastfeed."

Now what the heck is that supposed to mean, "not breastfeed"? For the next half hour? For the rest of the night? Forever? Sheesh. I did like her, on the whole, but that phone message was pretty lame. I finally called some La Leche League leaders and asked their advice, and they said, "These are the same vaccines Cameron already got months ago himself." Good point. So after that I decided I'd wait till his bedtime to nurse and then I wouldn't worry about it.

Today he turned up with a fever; I suppose it's possible that there could have been some viral shedding. But he also has a stuffy nose, so my leading theory is the new viruses from his new day care. More about that in the next post.

My tetanus arm still hurts.