Blood, sweat and tears

We headed out this morning to the local hospital to complete the blood tests ordered by Abby's doctor.   We arrived  at the local hospital annex to find a packed waiting room at patient registration.  Abby sat down to watch the television, which was showing "Animal Planet" and had a large sign that instructed us not to touch the tv.  Animal Planet was showing Jeff Corwin, which should have served as a nice distraction for Abby, except that Corwin was tagging seals...with a big ol' needle.  I waited for Abby's reaction, but she only once gave me a quick look with raised eyebrows, a look that I interpreted as "Seriously?"

After waiting 45 minutes, we found out that they do not accept Abby's insurance.  So we headed to another location and walked in to no line and immediate service.  Abby had requested that her dad be with her and that I could wait outside with the baby so "I don't scare Lucy with all my crying".  A giant blow to my ego to not be her requested support person - but when you want to squeeze someone's hand, I guess there is no one better than Dad.

But Dad was parking the car, so I was the one.  I explained to the nurse that Abby was very afraid and Abs told her "I'm very scared - I'll probably freak out."

3 minutes later, 2 vials of blood were drawn and 7 tears were shed.  2 tears belonged to Abby and 5 belonged to me - so proud that she didn't scream, faint, freak out or any of the other tragedies she predicted.

My little girl is growing up.