Today I am thankful for getting up enough courage to go give blood for the first time! I have always wanted to but kept putting it off because I thought it would hurt. Now, I have never been afraid of giving blood at the dr’s office, but I knew at the blood drives you have to give a whole lot of blood.
I walked in and had the biggest smile on my face and knew I was going to DO THIS. I took my oldest daughter with me for moral support. I only had to wait about 10 minutes before they called my name to come on back. They checked my iron levels and did my blood pressure. At first she said my blood pressure in my right arm and it was 160 over something… I was like ummm not hardly. I have never had any blood pressure problems. Yes, I admit I was a bit nervous but not that much. So, she took my blood pressure in the other arm. It was 130 over something which still seems high for me since mine is usually 104 over 70. Anyways she said that was good and they could accept that.
I go get in the chair and they prick me which didn’t bother me at all. I sat there squeezing this ball while the blood dripped into the bag. M was like “Does that not hurt mommy”. It sure didn’t. I couldn’t even feel it the whole time. They came by and kept checking then finally said I was done. A nurse came in to take out the needle and try to get me to stop bleeding. After a couple tries they finally had to put more pressure because I was still freely giving blood. Thank goodness they got it to stop and they go to put my arm down and there I went. I told the nurse that I wasn’t feeling too good and that I felt like I was going to pass out. That’s all I remember…I then remember looking up and seeing about five people over me and the nurse telling me to cough, keep coughing, then a guy was holding a fan into my face. They gave me something to drink and some crackers… I began feeling like myself. They had me stay there for a good bit to make sure I was going to be ok. I missed school tonight 🙁 because of this. I knew M would be freaked so I asked where she was and one of the nurses had took her to the back because she was very worried about mommy. She asked me later if I had went to sleep… poor baby girl.
Anywho… I still feel a little weak but its all good. I’m just so happy I finally did this and could help out. The blood levels are really low right now so that is what pushed me to do this. Even after all this, I will go back and do it again. I will be more prepared for next time :).
Congrats for doing this Jen! I wish everyone would take the step you did. I remember the 1st time I gave (I was in college). I thought it was going to be just like giving blood in a Doctors office. I think I passed out when I saw how BIG the bags were. LOL (not really by the way…I didn’t pass out!) But there was no turning back and from that point on I’ve given on a fairly regular basis over the years. It’s the one thing I can do to ‘give back’ to the community/world so I do 🙂 Sorry to hear you passed out – how freaky that had to of been!
inspiring blog site….continue your good work….you inspire people