Here's the story of how my daughters' annual checkups went, last Fall. I took Sunshine by herself one day while her older sister was at school. She was due for a vaccine and a blood draw, which needless to say was not pleasant for either of us.
About a week later, I took Love-bug for her checkup. Sunshine was with us. Love-bug kept asking if she was going to get a shot, but I reassured her that she wouldn't this time. However, she did end up needing to get blood drawn. Love-bug was not happy, but tried to be brave. Sunshine was growing increasingly concerned. She went from sitting in a chair by herself to sitting in my lap whimpering, as I sat next to Love-bug on the examining table holding her hand.
Their pediatrician had Love-bug turn her head right when she was about to insert the needle to draw the blood. I guess she thought it would be less traumatic if Love-bug didn't watch. I started to tell my daughter that she would feel a small prick, but I didn't get to finish before she felt it for herself. It surprised her and she started crying. Immediately afterwards, Sunshine started crying. I imagine she remembered what it was like for her and empathized with her sister’s pain. Now both girls are crying. Loudly. In stereo.
When the drawing of the blood was over, the pediatrician wanted to re-culture my daughter’s throat for strep. She’d done one prior to drawing her blood because her throat looked a little swollen, and it was negative, but felt she didn't get enough of a sample and wanted to get another to send to the lab to confirm. Sunshine saw her coming towards her sister with the swab and started screaming “No, no!” and started crying again. Love-bug knew it wouldn't hurt, so she was cooperating, but little Sunshine was worried that the doctor would hurt her big sis once again. I spent as much time consoling Sunshine as I did Love-bug, and this wasn't even her checkup.
After I calmed down from the stress of it all, I reflected on how happy I am that they are so close to each other. I was also thankful that as dramatic as that morning was with my daughters, they were both found to be in good health. However, I made a mental note to take them to checkups separately in the future.
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