After years of weighing the pros and cons of immunizations, both my kids got a shot today. I decided Meningococcal was deadly enough to warrant the relatively minor reactions commonly experienced. It was my test drive. I managed to stay relatively calm while talking to the doctor through their check-up. The same nurse I had spoke to about my concerns last week was the one to give both shots. They sat on my lap in turn and had the shots. Aurora went second, and was more tense, so had to have a second attempt in a softer part of her arm. All seemed fine, then Jaiden says "I feel funny." So we lay him on the bed. Then Aurora says "I feel funny too." Not long after I feel her go stiff, and make the low growls and whimpering noises she does when she passes out. Now I start crying, while reassuring the nurse that this is a stress response, not an adverse reaction. The poor kids got my genes, which goes with an overreactive sympathetic nervous system. I try to speak calmly to her while she wakes up. She is lying on me with her back to me so I don't see her face all this while. That is for the nurse to see. A little while after she wakes up and is still lying back she throws up all down the front of herself. Now the nurse goes to get the doctor and the other nurse comes in, who was speaking with me last week. "Oh no she says, not again." Referring to my son's adverse reaction to the MMR. "No, different child this time." I am surprisingly still calm, though upset for my daughter to be feeling so bad. We stayed till she looked less green and pale. In retrospect I should have taken them in separately, but I thought she would have been comforted by Jaiden being so brave. I have a feeling none of those nurses will be rushing to immunise my kids again though. The positive side of this is that she actually had her episode in a medical facility. The nurse commented to the doctor, that it was definitely a faint, not a fit. Since Aurora is the hardest to watch (out of both my kids and myself) when we faint, I am glad that someone else has seen it and not had suspicions of other illness. I was given seizure medication for the same behaviour at around 12 years old. Which I still believe was unneccesary, given my EEG indicated that I didn't have epilepsy. Time to organise dinner now though, and probably an early bed for Aurora.