I had to get a tetanus shot and some blood drawn . Now, I hate needles. I hate them so much that I gave birth to a nearly nine pound baby without drugs mainly because I had seen an epidural needle in the past. Look:
I did not want that shoved up my spine, thank you.*
And I get so squeamish when I get blood drawn, it's worse than a shot! So here I was getting shots and blood drawn, with Suzy in the room! Suzy, who has developed a paranoia that doctors and dentists will sneak up on her and poke her with needles. I wonder who she got that from? I knew for her sake I could not be the baby I usually am in such circumstances. As the nurse took my blood, I sang (in my head) "Thy word had promised good to me, Thy word my hope secures. You will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures." That didn't last quite long enough, so I had to repeat it a few times!
Suzy was watching intently. I got really queasy when I saw the vials of blood. But I didn't freak out (at least outwardly) because I could feel those little blue eyes on me. Though I nearly lost my breakfast when the nurse removed the cotton too soon and the blood oozed out a little. I am obviously not cut out for anything in the medical field. Then followed the tetanus shot and TB test. There were no tears or sobs. I imagined I had a poker face, though that was probably wishful thinking.
Soon it was over and the doctor, who is a very nice doctor, came in to fill out our chart. He asked why we were getting physicals, and we explained that we were adopting. He went on and on about how great that was, how completely selfless and what-not. I told Nate later he must have thought we said we were giving our kidneys to strangers. :o)
*Other reasons I had a drug-free birth with a midwife: I didn't want an IV or, dare I say it, an episiotomy. (Don't worry, no pictures of that!) My needle/cut aversion is such that I can only explain it this way: I felt the same way about the prospect of an IV, epidural, and episiotomy as you might feel being told that when you go into labor, they will shove bamboo under your nails and pour boiling water on your feet. I was going to do whatever I had to in order to avoid it! :o)
Oh man, do I hate needles. I had to have my blood drawn twice for the medical because the lab ran the wrong tests the first time. Yay for crossed hurdles!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I raised such a chicken about needles and blood being drawn. It doesn't hurt. Just don't look while they are doing it. And queasy from seeing the blood? I can't believe it. About the epidural needle, I had it with two births, and didn't feel any pain when they did it. IV's are a breeze too. You're gonna have too toughen up a bit. Now if its a broken toe that needs to be bent back to where it was supposed to be, that I can understand fear about. Remember when my little toe was stick out to the right like a flag in a breeze? I sure didn't want a doctor to bend it back or put a needle in it to numb it. Sheesh! Was a chicken then or what? IT was the fear of what was gonna happen that had me so afraid to let the doctor touch me. Just seeing that toe hanging over there perpendicular to the rest of my foot freaked me out. I'm gonna blame it on the pregnancy hormones! I was about 9 months pregnant. :)
ReplyDeleteMom, I gave birth to a nearly nine pound baby without any drugs, and came home the same day. I'm tough enough! :oP
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