When my oldest son was born, I remember having a conversation with my sister about how I disagreed with a decision made regarding my son’s care. My sister told me: “Never be afraid to flex that mom muscle.” What great advice. She was so right. Never be afraid to assert yourself. You are your child’s best advocate and you know what is right for you and for your family. I tell that to people all the time. You’d think I would listen to the same advice. I usually do, but, recently, I failed to follow my own advice.
3 weeks ago, my oldest had to have blood drawn for some allergy/immunology testing. His doctor wanted me to use their recommended lab. I really didn’t want to because we (of course) have a lab and phlebotomist we prefer. I gave in, though, because I really wanted to get the results (and in the moment my son was in a major itchy/fussy post-allergy test state). I assumed that using “their” lab would be less complicated despite the fact that I didn’t really want to change labs. The lab visit itself went well, and even without EMLA (lidocaine cream), my son did great. He was super nervous because this was his first stick with no EMLA in a long time. He did fine, though, and was brave.
Last week; however, we got a call that the lab messed up and we needed to come back in for a repeat draw. So, my son had to get stuck again and we are still waiting for lab results. I knew I should have insisted on them sending the lab order to our preferred lab. In some ways, it’s not an awful ordeal because my son is older and handles blood draws better than he did as a toddler, but for kids that get blood draws a lot, going for one more is just no fun.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Stick with the lab you know and love…and never be afraid to flex that mommy muscle.
By Blythe Clifford aka Thyroid Mom
