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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you sit or stand when you have the jab?

379 replies

Remoulade · 11/07/2021 12:30

Not had my first jab yet and going today. Pregnant and incredibly anxious about it. Want to minimise touching anything with any part of my body (yes I know I am over worried, saying it really won't help) and was wondering if you stood up or sat down when you had yours? The thought of sitting on a possibly covid infested chair is making my skin crawl.

Also, if you're meant to sit, can you ask to stand?😐

YABU - I was sitting down
YANBU - I was standing up

OP posts:
babynameneeded · 11/07/2021 13:42

People have varying levels of feeling anxious

There is generally anxiety which is fine, and then there is OPs anxiety levels which are not healthy and are limiting enjoyment in life

MouldyPotato · 11/07/2021 13:42

I sat and it was over and done with really quickly. Very efficient. If you want to stand then just ask, they are so friendly and will do their best to make you feel at ease. If you get there and you are super anxious just tell someone at one if the many desks and checks you go through and they'll do their best to help.

jakalaka · 11/07/2021 13:42

Yes, these are not reasonable fears unless your husband is much much older than you.

Age is the biggest risk factor, by far, by FAR. For a, say, 40 year old man, his chance of dying in a car accident is higher than his chance of dying of coronavirus, even accounting for severe and brittle asthma, which your husband does not appear to have.

But that's sort of by the wayside. Even if your fears were reasonable, you would have to rank them against the consequences of living such a limited life and being consumed by this sort of anxiety, both for you and for your baby.

Spidey66 · 11/07/2021 13:43

I get your anxious especially with being pregnant, but do you never sit down while out of the house? Do you never use public transport, cafes, restaurants, pubs, cinema?

babynameneeded · 11/07/2021 13:43

@QuestionableDanceMoves

I imagine it’s pretty similar to the chances of dying from falling down the stairs. Or having a car accident.

Let’s hope OP lives in a bungalow and only walks to places…

Oh wait

MauveMavis · 11/07/2021 13:44

I sat.

Both the people who did my injections were quite little and I think they would have struggled if I'd been standing... they were however after 4 months of vaccination programme ace at giving IM injections! One medical student, one dental student.

The place was run like a miliatry operation very little hanging around and lots of cleaning between punters.

MouldyPotato · 11/07/2021 13:44

Also way back in the start of the pandemic I was wearing one set of clothes to my hospital appointments and then would take it off as soon as I got back in. Would something like that put your mind at ease a bit?

Original poster
Remoulade · 11/07/2021 13:44

And I will be just short of boiling myself in the shower when I get home, have no doubt.

I won't say how far gone I am as I have said so many different things on the forum that could be linked to me irl and "everyone" has been told about it.
Have no fear, baby is very safe and and I will feel safer in the coming weeks having had our first doses. Will not put myself in any settings I don't have to until double jabbed though. So if I have to go into work I will, and I will go for my appointments. Luckily she knows me well and knows just how stressed I am around germs so she will be very accommodating and just have a bit of a chuckle about my interrogations about what's been cleaned and what hasn't.

OP posts:
jakalaka · 11/07/2021 13:44

Pressed send too soon and my comment seems super harsh. I meant to also say: it must be difficult. It sounds a really hard way to be living. Please do think about it and try to get some help. I hope you get through this, sincerely. Flowers

HelloDaisy · 11/07/2021 13:45

I can understand your anxiety, especially with your hormones running riot at the moment.

Why don’t you take a cardigan with you and and use that to put that on the seat before you sit down. Then you can put it in a bag in your car and straight in the wash when you get home. Anxiety relieved for you 😊

Sandinmyknickers · 11/07/2021 13:47

@igelkott2021

The thought of sitting on a possibly covid infested chair is making my skin crawl

This isn't rational OP but you aren't on your own - remember the hysteria about sitting down on a park bench during the first lockdown and local councils taping off benches so we couldn't sit on them with our covid-infested bottoms. Now they are saying they have no money - well maybe they should have managed their resources better (digressing I know).

When you go for your jab say you're concerned and no doubt they will manage the situation for you.

The banning sitting on benches I thought wasnt because people thought covid was on the bench but because it encourages loitering, socialising at a time when you couldn't meet others outside even for a walk or coffee, and you should only have been out for exercise. It was the same if you sat down on the grass for too long... I know it's not the point of the OP, but I dont think there has ever been any inference that you could get covid from seat....
Liverbird77 · 11/07/2021 13:47

Sat for first, stood for second. Both fine.

MouldyPotato · 11/07/2021 13:47

Oh and if there's any traffic lights where you have to press a button then you could use your key. I saw lots of people doing that at the start.

Just trying to think of ways to help you to that first appointment.

They clean everything after each person at the centre too.

MouldyPotato · 11/07/2021 13:49

The banning sitting on benches I thought wasnt because people thought covid was on the bench in our local park it was definitely in case there was covid on the bench. It had a sign on it telling you not to sit on it and if you really had to to take your clothes off as soon as you got home and put them in the machine.

Crowsaregreat · 11/07/2021 13:49

You'll be fine as far as the jab goes, they won't care if you stand up. They just want your details and your arm.

I'm worried that your health anxiety will worsen or impact on your child's development though. Small children are massive snot and filth factories. You won't be able to avoid colds unless you keep your child isolated, which is a bad idea for them.

It's fine wanting to avoid covid and I hope you do, but if you're generally anxious about health you might want to get some help.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 11/07/2021 13:51

@Remoulade - the person giving you the jab has a set of questions to go through, and information to give you, before they give you the jab, so you might find it more comfortable to sit down.

As a former nurse, I would say that the fact that the chair is swabbed down between patients, plus the near impossibility of the virus being transmitted via a hard surface like a chair, should reassure you that sitting down will be completely safe.

You could change your clothes as soon as you got home - have a change of clothes waiting just inside the front door, and strip off as soon as you get in, then put the discarded clothes straight in the wash.

But the bottom line is that you should do whatever makes you comfortable, and if you prefer to stand, then the centre will let you do that.

If you are driving yourself home, you will have to wait 15 minutes before you do so, in case of any side effects making it less safe for you to drive - but there is nothing to stop you waiting those 15 minutes in your car, and going back in in the unlikely event you need some help.

Original poster
Remoulade · 11/07/2021 13:52

Oh, traffic lights. I've been using my sleeve to press those buttons since I was a teen 😂 I really don't trust other people's hygiene in the least.

OP posts:
RosieRabbit17 · 11/07/2021 13:56

I found the vaccination centre was being cleaned a lot more regularly in terms of sears being wiped down etc between every use than the hospital was when I've been for scans! See what you think when you get there.

TwoZeroTwoZero · 11/07/2021 13:59

What are you going to do when you're out and about and your baby needs changing if you daren't ever use public facilities? Btw I've rarely come across public toilets in as bad a condition as you describe.

Please get help for your anxieties or else you risk passing them on to your child.

Chikapu · 11/07/2021 14:00

@Remoulade

Oh, traffic lights. I've been using my sleeve to press those buttons since I was a teen 😂 I really don't trust other people's hygiene in the least.
None of this is normal or funny.
Original poster
Remoulade · 11/07/2021 14:03

No one in my family or DHs family presses those buttons without a sleeve or tissue. Pretty fucking normal in our circle 🤷‍♀️

OP posts:
babynameneeded · 11/07/2021 14:04

None of this is normal or funny.

Agree. Absolutely fine if it’s just you and it isn’t impacting anyone else, but you’re bringing a child into the world who is likely to see and copy your irrational and unhealthy behaviours

ilovesooty · 11/07/2021 14:06

@Remoulade

No one in my family or DHs family presses those buttons without a sleeve or tissue. Pretty fucking normal in our circle 🤷‍♀️
I don't know anyone who does that. It might be pretty fucking normal in your circle but not everyone has your levels of anxiety.
MouldyPotato · 11/07/2021 14:06

I'd focus on getting to the vaccination centre for now and then once that's been done think about seeing (or phoning) a doctor re your anxiety. One step at a time.

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 11/07/2021 14:06

If you have a camping chair that folds up, bring it with you. Or some sort of waterproof groundsheet type thing to use as a chair cover? Tie a cardigan round your middle to sit on?

You'll have to wait 15 minutes for observation afterwards too, and might feel woozy, so standing the whole time might not be a good idea.

Maybe ring the place where you are having it done and explain that you are very anxious.