Mr. Happy needs some blood drawn for a few tests the allergist wants run, so I took him to the local (won’t say the name) to have it done.
She absolutely tortured my baby!
She told me to sit holding him in my lap. Then she tried the right arm, wiggled the needle around, moved it back and forth a bunch of times, and finally gave up.
I recommended we lay him on the table so we could hold him very still, so we did. Then she tried the left arm, did the same thing only MORE, and the whole time he was screaming his head off!
His little arms are bruised. It’s horrible to look at.
She quit just as I was about to tell her to stop. She was positively terrified of the idea of taking his blood from the minute we walked into the office – I should have just left without trying, simply based on her nervousness.
So, the whole experience has to be repeated! I’ll have to drive another 30 minutes in to town to have someone else try to draw his blood. Poor little bug; next time, I won’t subject him to someone scared to even try.
I really hope we get a phlebotomist that is good at pediatric blood draws next time.
Has anyone else gotten to witness blood draw torture before? What are your limits/rules for blood draws?
Pingback: The Blood Draw (for our New Team) - Cradle Rocking Mama
I don’t know what pediatric clinic you use, but i have been happy with the NWA Ped Clinic. Both times my LO needed blood draws they put him in a papoose, had one nurse hold his arm and talk to him while the other nurse inserted the needle and drew the blood. Both times Logan didn’t shed a single tear, which I was amazed by.
I don’t know if they will draw blood for other Drs or not, but it might be worth checking out if Z continues to need blood draws.
Thanks for the input! I’m so glad Logan had a good experience with his blood draw. I believe that NWA Ped Clinic IS the pediatric office we considered switching to. They are fabulous doctors! But they’re also a strict vaccine clinic and require a doctors note from our specialists if we choose not to vaccinate Zac. That’s a problem. So we’re sticking with our current doc for now. Fortunately, he hasn’t needed any blood drawn since January!