A bleeding heart
I took Teg to meet her new pediatrician yesterday: a super guy who I think we will like as much as we liked her previous doctor! She was weighed and measured (10.2kgs, 28 or so inches long... 80th and 85th percentile for weight and length, and 100th percentile for head size?!?!), and given a flu shot - which she didn't even blink at. Dr O also suggested we do some tests for lead levels, given the age of the buildings we live in, and Teg's propensity to chew on things...
So yesterday afternoon I took her off to have a blood sample drawn. It was, quite possibly, the most traumatic 5 minutes of my life. The phlebotomist couldn't find a good vein, and I had to hold my screaming, arching child still while she poke-poke-poked around in her arm with a needle. After poking in one arm for some time with much bruising and no success, she repeated the procedure in the 2nd arm and rooted around with her needle for a good while before finally finding a vein. I sang every nursery rhyme I could think of, while my shirt grew wetter and wetter from the pool of both Teg and my tears. And then it was over, and Tegwyn wanted to snuggle a bit... and today I doubt she remembers anything. But I still feel a little fragile.
Honestly, I don't know how the moms of really sick little kids do it. Which would be worse: the knowledge that your kiddo is really sick, or having to go through all that painful treatment with them, unable to console or reason with them - but just have to be the person that they trust, holding them still through the pain. I didn't know it would hurt so much to see my baby hurt.
So yesterday afternoon I took her off to have a blood sample drawn. It was, quite possibly, the most traumatic 5 minutes of my life. The phlebotomist couldn't find a good vein, and I had to hold my screaming, arching child still while she poke-poke-poked around in her arm with a needle. After poking in one arm for some time with much bruising and no success, she repeated the procedure in the 2nd arm and rooted around with her needle for a good while before finally finding a vein. I sang every nursery rhyme I could think of, while my shirt grew wetter and wetter from the pool of both Teg and my tears. And then it was over, and Tegwyn wanted to snuggle a bit... and today I doubt she remembers anything. But I still feel a little fragile.
Honestly, I don't know how the moms of really sick little kids do it. Which would be worse: the knowledge that your kiddo is really sick, or having to go through all that painful treatment with them, unable to console or reason with them - but just have to be the person that they trust, holding them still through the pain. I didn't know it would hurt so much to see my baby hurt.
posted by Bronwyn at 10:03 am
3 Comments:
When Nellie was born she spent 2 weeks in NICU (Neo-natal ICU). Because she was prem, there were complications, so she had to have bloods taken at least twice a day on most of those days. They took the blood from her heels, but even that hurt. Fairly quickly she realised that when someone grabbed her foot pain would follow, so she would start screaming. Her heels soon resembled a pink pin cushion with little black scars from every prick she had. It was just one of the horrible things we had to endure. It broke my heart every time, even though I knew it was for her own good.
(With lost of loving foot massages though, she fortunately hasn't developed a phobia about her feet.)
I hope Teg doesn't have to go through that again and hopefully it was a bad day for the phlebotomist. It's sad, but sometimes those with small veins will live through a lifetime of the "fishing for a vein" procedure (as I can attest to). Maybe Daddy will have to take her next... which if I remember correctly is not till she is like 5 years old.
Those of us who have small veins will certainly be able to relate here...I hope she will get a more experienced nurse who won't spend as much time "fishing for a good vein" on your next visit.
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