The day breastfeeding wasn't enough to comfort Isaiah and the heartbreak it caused.

Okay, that's a bit dramatic.

Monday I took the kids in for check-ups. Isaiah had his first shots. I suppose he had his Vit. K at birth, but as I was half dead from the c-section still, I don't remember that. I don't do Hep B shots so this were his first vaccines. I hate the whole vaccine issue. I'm not brave enough to say no completely so my compromise has always been to get them all but Hep B and chicken pox but to space them out farther. So, Isaiah got his first two shots.

He was fine at first. He screamed at first of course but calmed down quickly after. He nursed for a few minutes and then fell asleep. He stayed pretty sleepy until after dinner time. Then the screaming started. I've never really heard Isaiah scream and cry before. He's not a big cry-er. He just kinda lets us know he's unhappy usually. But this time, he was screaming. The hardest part for me was that he did not want to breastfed at all. He seemed to be calmed a tiny bit by the skin to skin contact and having the boob right there, but he wouldn't stop screaming long enough to actually eat. He'd finally scream himself out and start to almost fall asleep, but then he'd stretch out his legs (like he does when he's sleepy) and then that would make him scream and scream again.

I tried everything I could think of. I tried to walk with him but it was too hard to hold him comfortably without hurting his sore legs. I tried a warm bath (which he usually loves) but not this time. So after a few hours of this, Andre called to get the correct dosage for tylenol and we gave him some. That seemed to finally help, and he started to slow down a little. I laid down to nurse him so his legs were free and we both finally collapsed.

Oh ugg. What a night. I'm not used to breastfeeding not being the cure-all. It can come in handy sometimes, he goes to sleep easier than the older kiddos ever did. But with them, all I had to ever do was whip out the boob and they'd stop crying (this does not include Aiden's colic phase... ).

The new stats that we learned at the doctor, by the way, are 14 pounds and 24 inches. Gotta love chubby chubby breastfed babies.

The doc was telling me that most breastfed babies respond better to vaccines that formula fed babies. I found that so interesting. I've never heard this benefit before. I found a good site that explaned this further. It basically says that since the baby is getting so many immune factors from the breast milk already, that it's body is able to respond to the vaccine even better and that they will have a longer lasting immunity. How cool is that?

Now, two days later, he still has the shot bumps on his legs but is otherwise back to his chillbilly self.