A Pee and a Poke

Thursday was a day full of fun...NOT! I left for a while to get some school work done and my husband was nice enough to try and collect a urine sample from Margaret and James. Now keep in mind these children are not potty trained. We were given these plastic bags with an opening that is sticky. You peel the sticker off and attach it to the private part area. All this being said it seems to work pretty well for boys, or so I thought, and for girls I had NO idea how this was going to happen.

I apply the collection bags first. Margaret was so unhappy that she was screaming and flailing around but I got it on her. Then I put her diaper back on and hoped it would work. I then put one on James and I thought that went pretty successful. So then I left and let John do the first collection.

When he checked the bags had come off and spilled any contents into their diaper. So round 1 was a bust. John placed another bag on them. When I got home tow hours later I checked the children. Again the bag detached from the skin and allowed the contents to leak in the diaper. So yet again Round 2 was a bust. We tried one last time and waited until bedtime. Round 3 a bust! If anyone has any ideas on how to get a urine sample from children who are not potty trained and have limited verbal ability I would LOVE to know. :)

Since the urine collection did not work I thought I would still take Joseph into the lab to get blood drawn.

So Friday morning I was suppose to get up early and so was John because the blood test Joseph had to do was fasting. We over slept though and did not get up until 8am. Joseph was in a good mood though so we went ahead and left. I needed to get blood work done too so I thought we could "kill two birds with one stone" by getting us both tested. We got to the lab (Quest) and signed in. I thought we would get in pretty soon because we had fasting tests but little did I know how wrong I was.

I brought a bottle in the diaper bag for Joseph so i could give it to him as soon as he had his blood drawn. Joseph was his "good" baby self though and he crawled around on the floor entertaining himself by crawling/hopping like a frog. The people around us thought he was adorable. He crawled/hopped around and under the chairs of various people. Then he "hopped" across the floor and would just bump into people or furniture before he would stop. Again, the people there were really kind as we waited and did not mind.

After 75 minutes passed we were called up to the desk. I handed the woman Joseph's lab slips from the neurologist and the geneticist. The tests for the neurologist she was able to process because he had used a lab slip and the tests were all coded. The geneticist on the other hand wrote the lab order on the prescription pad. There was at least one test she could not find so she told us to sit down while she called someone to see if the could do the test and determine how it was done...lol.

So more waiting in the chairs. Joseph, still having not eaten, was being a good boy. He was crawling around bumping into people and furniture. About 15 minutes later I was called back up and we were officially signed in. Just an hour and a half after we first arrived.

So more waiting and we were called back another hour later. I went into the back and held Joseph. I was SO proud of him! They checked his right arm and could not find a vein. I told the people that he was a preemie and most all his veins were shot. They tried the left arm and found a tiny vein deep under the skin. I was worried for him because I know this could go VERY wrong.

The woman there knew what she was doing. She put her gloves on and Joseph whined. This was the first time he had made any sound besides some happy babbling. I held him tight and she poked him with the needle. Joseph did not even cry. He just whimpered for a few seconds and he was done. She did such a good job sticking him that she was able to get all 7, yes it was that many, vials of blood out without having to move the needle around or anything. Yea! By the end I had Joseph laughing. To make things even better momma went next. I had my blood drawn too. Then we went to the lobby where I let him lay in the floor and drink his bottle. It was a little after noon and I knew he had to be starving! After he had his bottle we went home. What a long day and it was only noon!

I hope to have the results of all the blood work back on Wednesday. The MicroArray DNA test will be another week after that. Can't wait to see the results!