Field Trip

Today, Kaylynn, Granton and I took a field trip to the doctor's office. After signing in at the lab desk, the kids and I found a spot in the corner of the waiting room by the magazines. I pulled out a Sesame Street book for Granton to read called "My First Haircut" and gave Kaylynn some connecting rings to play with. When the book was finished, another patient in the area noticed Granton's new hair cut. He said, "That's the way I used to cut my boys hair." Granton felt his head and responded proud. I looked at his buzzed hair and said, "He won't sit still long enough for anything fancy."

Next, Granton got distracted by a big juicy hamburger (by the way I was fasting) on one of the magazines. I thought he sounded funny as he pointed out each layer of the burger like it was a body part--"onion, pickle, meat..." I said, "Yeah, what else do you see?" Granton said, "lettuce, mato...oh, like Bob the mato, Mom!" He's been real excited about watching Veggie Tales lately. Anyway, I felt desparate to get the boy a hamburger after listening to him.

Then, the time came for us to face reality and do what had to be done. A nurse came out and said that Granton would have to wait till tomorrow for labs, but they would go ahead with mine. So, I packed up our stuff and headed back nervously to get stuck. I sat down in the chair almost forgetting about the two babies I brought with me. When I realized where they were I directed them to sit on the floor in front of me. Even little one-year-old Kaylynn listened to my voice and sat right next to her brother like I expected her to be in kindergarten or something.

I cautiously told the nurse that I wasn't as brave as my two-year-old son--which was no lie. She new Granton from the many times he has been through the lab doors before. But, she didn't know my brain was in panic mode while I delivered my calm understatement. I turned my head away from the four viles sitting on the counter and closed my eyes before she was even ready. Then, I decided to get tough and focus on my little ones as the nurse politely exclaimed that the lab was short-handed today. Oops. When I opened my eyes to watch them I glanced and saw the needle standing straight in the air. Bad move. So, I started all over again with my eyes closed.

As soon as I felt the needle I could hear her say relax your fist now, but I'm sure my face was still grimacing. I was hoping not to pass out like last time, especially with the kids there. However, just when I thought the damage was done I could feel the needle move and a horrible grunting sound came from behind my clenched teeth! I didn't remember having this sort of pain from blood draws in the past. All I could think was "Granton, can you sing Mama a song?" And, that's what came blurting out of my mouth at least twice before I heard my sweet baby's voice. He was still, miraculously, sitting in the same spot singing "Away in a manger no crib for a bed."

I don't even know how many lines he sang, but I recall the nurse saying, "aawww, how precious." You would think that's all I would have needed to press on, but as usual, "the stars in the sky" were spinning all around me now and big baby me fell asleep in the wheel chair they rolled to my rescue. I was holding my head down in my hand thinking to myself, "labor pains felt more normal than the way I feel now!" But, thankfully, God was watching over me and the two toddlers as the busy staff had to leave us on the ultrasound bed until I felt able to walk again. Luckily, I wasn't down as long as the time before (or maybe that's because I couldn't be).

I walked out of the doctor's office so proud of my son for all that he's been through and the comfort he gave me. He was my hero today, and I told him later at nap time, "thank you for singing to Mama when I didn't feel good." He said, "at the doctor's office?" He had just finished eating his big juicy burger from Sonic that I felt happy to give him on our field trip!

Jenni