My sister a dentist my brother a doctor

Attempted checkup

ANDREA'S POV

When Austin asked who was going to go first, there was a long, uncomfortable silence. Nobody answered, and I could feel the tension in the room. All eyes seemed to shift toward me as Austin turned toward me, a look of gentle encouragement on his face.

"Mom, why don't you go first?" he asked softly, his tone more of a suggestion than a command.

But it didn't feel like a suggestion to me. I instinctively took a small step back.

"Um, I'm not sure that's the best idea," I replied nervously, my voice shaking just a little.

The thought of going first was enough to make my heart race.

"I think it'll be fine," Austin said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Come on, just sit up here for me."

I hesitated, weighing my options, but I knew there was no way I could avoid it. With a deep breath, I slowly made my way over to the exam table, already dreading every second of what was to come. Austin, being Austin, seemed completely unfazed by the situation. His calm demeanor didn't do much to ease my nerves, but it did make me feel a little less alone.

"Thanks for being a trooper, Mom. This'll be quick," he said with a sympathetic smile, trying to ease my anxiety.

I wasn't sure if I believed him, but I appreciated the attempt.

Austin's next words were as gentle as everything else he'd said. "I'm going to start off really easy, just get your temperature."

Before I could protest, he already had the thermometer in my ear, taking my temperature with practiced ease. He didn't seem to notice how tightly I was gripping the edges of the table, but I could feel my palms starting to sweat. He removed the thermometer, glanced at the reading, and wrote it down in my file. Then, without missing a beat, he grabbed the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around my arm. The pressure of the cuff as it inflated made me tense up immediately.

"You doing alright?" Austin asked softly, adjusting the cuff as it tightened around my arm.

I tried to force myself to relax, but the more I focused on my breath, the harder it became to keep calm.

"Y-yeah," I replied hesitantly, not quite convinced myself.

My heart was racing in my chest, and I could feel my face flush with a mix of nerves and embarrassment. Austin removed the cuff when he was done, hanging it back up on the wall with a soft click. Then, with an ease that only he could manage, he grabbed his next tool. I wasn't sure what it was yet, but I could already tell he wasn't going to let me off the hook easily.

"Can we just skip the rest of the checkup now and get the worst part over with?" I sighed, wishing I could speed up the process.

The anticipation of what was coming next—the dreaded shots—was making me more anxious by the second.

"Mom, I can pretty much guarantee you don't want the shots first," Austin replied, his voice calm but firm. "You're going to want to wait until the checkup part is over. I know it's not fun, but this is the important stuff. It'll be over before you know it."

I looked up at him, my anxiety slowly mounting.

"No, I mean, can we skip the checkup and just do the shots? Let me get it over with?" I whined, my voice a little more strained than I intended.

"If I did that, I wouldn't really be doing my job," Austin said, shaking his head with a soft chuckle.
"The checkup is the easy part. The shots are the hard part, but this is the part that really matters. We have to make sure everything's in good shape before we get to the uncomfortable stuff."

"Other than the fact we have to sit here and think about the shots the whole time," I muttered under my breath, half joking, but mostly wishing I could just skip the whole process.

Austin took a small step back, his eyes scanning the room as if weighing the situation. He turned to look at the others, as if looking for their input.

"Do you guys want to do the shots first?" he asked, his voice still calm, but I could see the small glint of amusement in his eyes. "Or do you want to go through the checkup first and get them over with afterward?"

Scott, Taylor, and I all looked at each other. There was a moment of hesitation, but in the end, we all kind of nodded in agreement. The majority rule won out. Even though none of us were thrilled about the idea, it felt like the quickest way to get things done. Amelia, however, wasn't so convinced. She immediately shook her head and started to whimper.

"I don't want any shots at all," she said, her voice quiet but firm.

Austin seemed to understand the situation. He gave her a small, empathetic smile and nodded. "I get it, sweetie. But you know the drill. We all have to go through this. It won't be as bad as you think, I promise."

The rest of us seemed to have made our decision, but Amelia's reluctance hung in the air. I could tell she wasn't thrilled with the plan, but at this point, we were all on the same page.

"Alright," Austin said, turning to leave the room. "I'll go get Selena, and we'll get started on those shots."

I couldn't help but sigh as he walked out of the room. Part of me was relieved that we were at least taking some action, but I also knew that just because the shots were coming soon didn't mean the anxiety would magically disappear. The reality of the situation was that none of us really wanted to go through this. But I knew that once it was done, it would be over, and we could go back to just being together as a family. The worst part was always the waiting, the anticipation. And now that we were finally about to face it head-on, I just had to remind myself to breathe and get through it, one step at a time.