Blood Draw #2

Hana and I are in a study of moms who take Remicade for ulcerative colitis during pregnancy. As part of the study, Hana has to get her blood drawn once a month until her Remicade blood levels go below 1.4. This will also let us know when it is safe for her to get some of her vaccines, because Remicade can suppress her immune system (people with suppressed immune systems cannot have live virus vaccines - namely, rotavirus, which she would otherwise get at 2 months). Today she had her second blood draw. It was torture. She screamed the loudest I've ever heard and the tech was slow in getting the needle in and the blood out. It was probably only 1 minute, but it felt like an hour to hear her yelling in pain and fear like that. She is still wearing her gauze pad and tape around her right elbow. :( Hopefully she will not hold it against mom and dad that we are subjecting her to this. She recovered fairly quickly when offered some milk straight from the pump, and now she is sleeping it off in her carseat in the living room. Next week she has to have a few of her vaccines, so I suppose there will be more howling and more tears from her parents.