We anticipated taking Grace to get some basic medical tests this morning, but she had other plans. When she first woke up, she coughed a couple of times after drinking some water and spit up a little bit on Mommy. She laughed and acted fine so we had milk, french toast, and bananas for breakfast. She acted really tired and a little bit out of sorts after breakfast and climbed onto my lap. She started sucking her thumb (she takes turns sucking either thumb) and started to go to sleep. Mark and I commented on how she seemed sad, then suddenly she sat up and looked at me like she was scared, and threw up all over me. I called for Mark while she hit me the second time. Who would have thought that so much could be in one tiny stomach...I was drenched. Mark picked her up and she threw up two more times on the way to the bathroom. After clean up, she acted happy and kept wanting something to eat...Ne, ne...We opted for some apple Pedialite and after another hour, a piece of toast. She seemed fine the rest of the day and had some chicken noodle soup for lunch with no problem. Maybe the spicy food last night was too much for her.
Well, about 4:30 we decided to go ahead and take her to the hospital, but by the time we arrived, we couldn't remember which urine specimen was from the morning and which was from right before our visit. The hospital said we needed one that was less than an hour old, so we just got a new sample. I had forgotten that blood work was also ordered. As soon as the nurse looked at Grace's arm, she sent us to pediatrics. The nurse was sweet and told us that she was going to wrap Grace in a sheet so she couldn't move, one nurse would hold her arm, another would draw blood, and we would just try to comfort Grace. I was already wishing that we had not decided to do this today as soon as I saw her terrified face when they wrapped her up. Her eyes got big and she looked so confused. (I'm sure this doesn't help us to bond with her!)
When the nurse put the needle in her arm, and missed the vein, Grace didn't make a single sound or move at all. The nurse holding her hand commented that she didn't even flinch or try to pull away. She just layed there looking at me with huge tears running down her cheeks. As she blinked away the tears of pain, she didn't even make a sobbing sound. It broke my heart. She was so brave.
The nurse in pediatrics also pointed out two scars on her upper arms that she called "lines" where they sometimes make a cut and insert needles when they are out of usable veins. Apparently these had been used during previous hospitalizations. Grace certainly has been through her share of doctor and hospital visits. Today I am sad that she has experienced so much pain alone. I wonder whether there was anyone who she trusted standing by her bed when she woke up from surgery. Did she feel like she was all alone so it didn't matter whether she cried or not? I never want her to feel that way again.
After they were all finished, Gracie just looked at her arm and told us "boli me" which means "they hurt me" and kept pointing to her arm in confusion. Mommy kissed it and just held her to try to reassure her. The nurses then brought her two TY full size stuffed animals, a dog and a panda, and told her she was so brave. It was all she could do to carry them to the car.
As soon as she got home she wanted to take the bandage off of her "boli" and wanted to show us and get kisses for her "owy."
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