blood draw

i took ayla jo and weston to zeeland community hospital yesterday to get baby blue's blood drawn for a routine lead level check that is required of all babes her age. i know what you are thinking, what an amazing mom. the first day no one is puking and you make her go get poked?! but here is the thing, with this fam you just do not know when the next round of throw up is going to happen, so you have to live life with a seize the day attitude. so we seized.





maxer had school and we were out and about anyway. of course i had lost the work order given me by dr lund three weeks ago so i called in the am to request that the office fax the work order downstairs to the waiting registration nurse. nurse ruth assured me that would be no prob.





prepared as i was going to get, i dropped max smiling and wearing red for red day off to school and proceeded to zch. there we registered and bear beelined it for the drinking fountain. have we really been there enough to remember locations of drinking fountains and toys and whatnot? apparently yes. so wes got a large cup of water while i wandered around with the dolly until two two year old twins and their parents bombarded the waiting area and entertained themselves with my daughter. aylaroo was real tolerant though they were all up in her business chasing her back and forth down the hall. bear joined in the fun and i kept trying to drop large batches of purel on the twins because i no longer see other kids, just other germs.

finally, we were brought back to another registration area where this sweet grandma tried to overlook the fact that bear kept falling off his chair and ayla jo kept pouring wes' cup of water all over herself. i gathered she has 1 grandson named jack who lives in the area, has a photographer as a mom, has many sleepovers with her, and who was really hungry during their last shopping trip thus becoming a monster child. i think that last tidbit was her way of suggesting i try feeding my kids once in a while in hopes they would become less monsterish. thanks.

we were then whisked to the blood drawing area where two girls, at least 20 years my jr, had all four of their hands full with my fam. weston made himself at home on a bed in the room while i squeezed sister between my legs and bear hugged her while they took several attempts at locating her sweet little vein. i prayed out loud constantly "jesus be near! guide her to the vein lord, protect baby ayla" etc. seriously, painful to watch. at last the blood was drawn and i look over to weston, very concerned that he will be scarred for life after watching his sister traumatized by this bloodwork. he speaks into the chaos " hey, do you have any stickers?"

they had stickers.

we left with several bambi stickers, a little less blood, and with the knowledge that we made quite an impression.