Anger to Relief

We had to take Andrew to CHOP (in Philly) this past Monday to get more labs done. Previous labs were done at the CHOP outpatient in KOP but we didn't want to wait for an appointment since they're so backed up. First of all the reason why we didn't go to our primary ped office is because the lab tech there is like 15 years old and she didn't feel confident in poking a baby so young. My question is this: If your only job is to draw blood at a pediatrician's office, shouldn't you be competent in drawing blood for ALL pediatric patients? That's like saying that I can only give consults to hospice patients that are between the ages of 70-80. Anyways, because of that we had to fight rush hour traffic to get to the city.

So after registering and waiting, we finally get to the lab. The lab tech that was drawing his blood was horrible. She had no problem finding a vein in his hand but after she poked him, she neglected to keep the needle in place and it came out. So now she had to find another site to get blood which ended up being his foot. At this point I'm a little upset. He already has so many veins that are shot b/c of all the blood draws.. he didn't need an incompetent tech making things worse. Anyways, she found a vein and was getting some blood but instead of keeping the needle steady, it kept on moving around while the needle was still in there! I was so mad! And it's one of those things where if you say something to her, she's going to take it out on Andrew. I kept my mouth shut and by this point I think she realized that she can't do it and got someone else. She was able to come in, find the 3rd vein with no problems and got all the blood needed for the tests.

Andrew normally doesn't cry. The only time that he may cry is when we change his diaper. Even during his cicumcision he just slept through it all! During this visit, he was just wailing and screaming so much like never before. This was the first time ever that I saw tears coming out of his eyes.. Poor kid.

With all this said, his labs came back looking a lot better. His jaundice is going away and his ped didn't think he had to see a hematologist. Praise God! We'll be going back to the primary in 2 weeks for another check up and more labs. I wonder if the tech does blood draws for an 8 week old..