Torture by Blood Draw

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?