6 vials with a chatty Cathy.

I had my blood work done this morning in preparation for the surrogacy. They tested hormone levels to make sure I'm creating a good environment for an embryo/blast to settle into, and also did the routine drug, HIV and infectious disease testing.

I've had blood work like this done before when we were going through infertility testing but it wasn't this extensive. I'd planned to take my girls along but it just happened that grandma was planning to come over to play with them, so I snuck out on my own. Thank goodness! It was a 10 minute appointment at best, that actually took 45. I sat for 10 minutes past my appointment in the waiting room. Then the phlebotomist had to enter each test into the computer. We made small talk and she commented (several times) on the number of tests that were ordered. There were 15 total. I told her that in this case, you can't be too careful and sort of chuckled. I think it was killing her that I didn't say what it was for.

Then she whipped out 6 vials and a cup. She joked that I ran her out of vials and that she'd just fill up the cup for the rest. (It was actually for the drug screen.) She also reassured me that she's leave me a few drops of blood in order to sustain life.  A little dramatic but she was funny. She filled the first vial. We chatted about her friends. Changed to the second vial. She told me that she wanted to build a tunnel from her house to her neighbor's. Third vial. She talked about how much blood they used to take compared to the amount they need today. Fourth vial. She joked about it being a good thing they didn't have to send the actual blood out east and that it would likely freeze. (No doubt. It was negative 7 degrees at 10:30am this morning.) Fifth vial. I knew she was gathering the courage to ask, and there it was... So it's not every day you come in needing half of your blood emptied into a bunch of tubes, huh?  My answer - that's true. :: Smile ::  But at that moment I felt like I was being mean. It was clearly killing her, so I told her I was going to be a surrogate and that this testing was a requirement before we got started. She was pretty excited about that. Sixth vial. Finally a little silence.  ;).

She did a pretty good job overall, and I don't have too bad of a bruise. She was able to stick me on the first try which is relatively rare. I sure appreciated that. She did scrape my arm with the end of the needle though as she pulled it out. I didn't notice until I pulled my sleeve down and it started burning. Now as the day goes on, every time I pick up my littlest peanut, it burns some more. Really what am I complaining about though? I mean... I'm going to give birth, hopefully unmedicated again. Kind of a drop in the bucket, right?  :)  Ahhh perspective.