First Blood Test Outside of the Hospital

July, 2008

The pediatrician called around to the different labs in our area to see if anyone specialized in or had experience drawing blood from newborns. Thursday morning, the day after our appointment, he called and gave me two locations and the names of people with experience. Feeling the urgency of not knowing, I wanted to follow directions as quickly as possible. My mother went with me that day to get Sarah's blood drawn.

We walked in, presented the paperwork to the man behind the counter, and requested the name of the person with experience with newborns. The paperwork stated something about genetic disorder across the top (I can't remember exactly what it said). I sat back down and started to breastfeed Sarah using the breastfeeding cover (we had rushed to the lab thinking they might have a lunch break and we were trying to get there before it). The man called me over and asked to see Sarah. Considering I had walked over while still breastfeeding, I ignored my modesty (what little I had left after giving birth) and just lifted the cover to show him Sarah. As I walked back to my seat I contemplated why he might want or need to see Sarah and I decided it had something to do with the "genetic disorder" paperwork, like maybe he thought Sarah was deformed or something.

I brought my, at that time, 7 pound baby back into the room to get her blood drawn. The man from behind the counter followed us back and there was another man. I stated the name that the pediatrician had given me and looked at the other man expecting him to confirm his identity. Neither man acknowledged my words. The man from behind the counter started to stretch out Sarah's arm, his ethnicity did not match that of the name given to me by my pediatrician, so I said the name again in the form of a question looking at the other man who ethnically looked to match the name. That guy shook his head no and said the other man was "the boss."

The Boss had me hold Sarah's body down while he held her arm and drew the blood. I'm not a fan of needles. During my pregnancy, I got more relaxed in dealing with needles. But still, I'm not a fan of them. I was able to hold her body down while shushing in her ear farthest away from the needle. Sarah cried. When The Boss declared he was finished, I looked over at Sarah's little tiny arm and saw the larger than I expected vials of blood he had just drawn and blurted out, "How much blood does she have?!" This question was left unanswered as I thanked them and departed with my exhausted daughter.