It took me a two-hour turned four-hour round trip and a huge hassle with the after hours operator at my OB’s office, but I finally got my H1N1 vaccination today. I think Georgia is the only state that has yet to receive the vaccine in injection form, and I found out about this small shipment by a fluke. I emailed my MIL to ask her to keep an ear out for when the injections arrive in her county, and she told me she had heard on the news this morning that a small shipment had arrived in a county south of Atlanta.

I debated the venture during my rheumatologist appointment. I really wanted to get the vaccine so I could feel more secure about being in public (since with the arthritis and pregnancy affecting my immune system I basically don’t have one now), but it would take me between an hour and an hour and a half to get there. Plus, I didn’t have a guarantee that there would be any doses left when I arrived. But, after Joe told me that one of his good friends at work, who we went out with recently, is out with H1N1, and knowing that he definitely had been exposed and I may have been directly exposed, I decided to take my chances.

About 20 minutes down I-75, traffic came to a stop. And it was stop and go the rest of the way. I have no idea why. There were no wrecks. There was no construction. Traffic going northbound was stop and go as well. When I got off the interstate, the road I had to take was shut down in both directions because of a crash. Needless to say, as the clock ticked past 1 p.m. (and I was told to try to be first in line when the health department reopened at 1), I was getting more and more worried that I had made the trip for nothing since I didn’t know how many doses were left.

I arrived and rushed in, and I was taken back with the third group of 10. What really bothered me was that there were only four of us out of more than 50 who were pregnant. Now, granted, I don’t know the health histories of everyone else, but they sure didn’t look like they were in the high risk category to me. And, the woman we spoke with at the health department said they were giving the shot to anyone, not just those in the high risk category. I guess the CDC’s categorizing of people doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.

I thought I was in the clear once I got back to the second waiting room, but as I was called back to get my shot, the woman who took my paperwork at the door said, “Oh, wait, you’re pregnant. You need a note faxed by your doctor.” Why couldn’t she have told me this before I sat around and waited? And why weren’t we told this during one of our, what, 20 phone calls to them this morning checking on the supply?

So, I called the office only to remember it closes at noon on Fridays. An employee told me to go ahead and just let it roll to the after hours operator. When I did, I was told that this wasn’t something they were going to page the doctor for. Now, I realize it wasn’t a real emergency, but it was only an hour after the office had closed. It’s not like I was calling at 10 p.m. for this. The operator told me to have a nurse call back and they would page the doctor for her. So, I did. And they told her they wouldn’t page the doctor.

Sigh. Eventually, the operator said she would call to the back of the office, and if anyone was there they could fax my note. Otherwise I was out of luck. The nurse told me she would save my vaccine, but I really didn’t want to make the drive again on Monday.

Luckily, one of the doctors I’ve seen a few times was there and faxed it over, though it took another 30 minutes or so of waiting to get it since it apparently went to a fax machine that wasn’t being watched and it took the woman who I had encountered at the door seeing me and saying, “Oh, you don’t have your fax yet?” to get it.

So, in two minutes I was out and headed back home. And, after another two hours of stop and go traffic (mainly stop) northbound on the interstate I arrived back in town . . . just in time to be stopped at road blocks for the homecoming parade.

But it worked out. I got my vaccine, and now Lucy and myself are protected. And, at least I now have a fun story to share. Now, if I can only find the seasonal flu vaccine somewhere. . .