ever since ellie’s 12-month well baby exam one month ago, ryan and i have been going back and forth about whether we wanted to have her blood drawn per her pediatrician’s orders. we usually do things by the book when it comes to medical-related stuff like vaccines, but just the idea of holding a baby down who is constantly moving from the moment she wakes to the moment she falls asleep seemed traumatizing enough.
most parents of older kids (older as in adult children) i’ve asked say they don’t remember having to have their child’s blood work done, especially not at 12 months old, but apparently these days it’s a precautionary measure to rule out iron deficiency anemia. my gut says ellie doesn’t have any issue with iron levels, but i’m no doctor and we trust our pediatrician very much, so i took her to the lab yesterday after holding my breath all morning.
just as i suspected, she screamed bloody (no pun intended) murder from the moment they tied the rubber band thing around her arm. what made it worse was they couldn’t find a good vein on her right arm after poking around for a good two minutes, so they took off the band and moved to her left arm. this was followed by even more blood-curdling screams until they stuck the needle in and she started making puke noises! luckily nothing came up this time like it did after the horrible round of vaccines she received last month. as her blood filled the capsules i held her tightly on my lap and told her to look out at the cars passing by on the street. “OH LOOK, THERE’S A TRUCK!” i said, and she seemed to show interest for maybe a nanosecond before going back to gagging on her own cries. it was so, so sad.
later that night after she watched me take off the bandage they had wrapped around her little arm, she ran her finger along the indentations in her skin and made a scowl. she looked up at me and babbled something very serious in her own little language and went back to playing with her toys. she may have remembered last night, but i like to think she’s forgotten the entire experience by today :)
Poor baby! It is a wonderful thing that their memories are so short lived. Somewhere around 2 that changes…beware. I get asked about going to Disneyland on a daily basis. :)
I am so sorry mama!!!! Our pediatrician doesn’t do that. But we did have to get sinclair’s blood drawn because I thought she had blood in her stool. It ended up being watermelon:)HA!
I hope Ellie has forgotten :O)
@kori: remembering disneyland must mean they remember the doctor’s office is where they get SHOTS, TOO! noooooooooo.
@summur: watermelon, aw! i hope she’s forgotten her experience by now, too :)
Poor Ellie! Aww, my heart is breaking for her! They just tested Josh for anemia, but it was a simple finger prick that didn’t even make him cry. Is there a difference between testing for anemia through a finger prick versus drawing blood with a needle?
i have no idea why ellie’s doctor chooses to go the whole nine … but i hope we never have to do it again!
Ellie is two weeks older than she was when you previously posted. You Lacks are slacking!
HEY we were out of state, give us a break! still, very nice to know we have fans :D