Newborn Screening

Today, I got up, got Jared ready for school, gave Novalee a bath. The boys left, I cleaned a little, took care of Sadie and even worked on Novalee's Halloween costume.

But at about 10:00am we had NOTHING to do. Or at least there wasn't anything I wanted to do.

So I decided today was as good a day as any to take Sadie to get her newborn screening done.

She must have sensed we were going to do something unpleasant because right before we left, I fed her, only to pick her up and have her spit up a ton, down the back of my shirt, all over the bed and elsewhere.

When we arrived, I no sooner checked us in, when she started crying. (Wait, let it be noted that I JUST fed her, so she shouldn't be crying for like another hour, at least).

Anyways, I picked her up to sooth her since she was crying, only to have her immediately unload in her diaper (everyone knows what that means right?)

So I asked the office person if I could go to my car to change her, which he said I had time to do.

So out at the car...

I get her to the back part of our SUV and lay her down. Only to discover that this is a serious blow out diaper. So of course I have to change the onsie but I'm an experienced mom and luckily thought to bring an extra onsie.

However while trying to change her diaper quickly, she spit up all over her blanket. (GREAT, this "just fed" thing is really paying off.)

But I thought I could handle it until while observing the spit up and thinking about how to keep her warm in the freezing waiting room, I forgot to pay attention to the diaper area and she peed all over the blanket too. Well we're definitely not going to be able to use that blanket now, even if it did cross my mind to have her still use it with spit up on it. I'm definitely not going to with pee on it too.

So two used diapers later, we head back to the waiting room. Where it is seriously freezing. Only to wait another 20-30 minutes with a hungry, crying baby and a three year toddler (who I forgot to bring toys for and while the Smithsonian might be an interesting magazine for adults it just wasn't cutting it for my three year old), who while on her better behavior was still another person to manage.

And while there are Ads for newborn screening that look like this...




It's a lie. It's more like this...



And you leave with blood on your baby's heel, legs, car seat, your hands, arms, and jeans.

Just so you know.