Saturday, January 3, 2009

Bennett the Pin Cushion

Last Monday, I had to take Bennett into the Pediatrician's office to do some routine bloodwork and catch up on some vaccinations we have delayed (b/c he is more fragile than "normal" babies, we can't do too many at one time). We've been doing the "preemie labs" every month or two since he was discharged - testing his alk phos level (shows how well his bones are developing), calcium levels (again, for bone development), electrolytes, and hematocrit (b/c he was VERY anemic). The GREAT news is that all his bloodwork came back normal!!!! YAY! This means this was the last set of preemie labs we have to do unless something comes up that concerns us.

I can't tell you how HAPPY this makes me. Bennett's veins are very difficult to tap. For some reason, the "good" veins sit a little more deeper than is usual. So, they have to go for less desirable veins. Monday was TORTURE. It took them nearly an hour to get the minimal amount of blood they needed and they had to stick him in 4 different places just to get that! Every time they'd hit a vein, the blood would come and then stop b/c the pressure would collapse the vessel. This is VERY painful and the poor child was screaming his head off the entire time. I shed my share of tears too. So yeah, I'm beyond happy that we don't have to repeat this again any time soon if EVER.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness this is the last set of lab work for a while- if ever! Sorry to hear how hard the experience was- what matters is that it's behind you and you can look forward to a healthy future! :)

Ann said...

Thank God for this good news! January is starting off very good for Bennett! I know one thing - he looks so healthy in the pictures! There was one that I thought he looked exactly like Ace!