I'm going to try to add without making this a "
getting-to-know-you" node. It's been a very
long time since I had
blood drawn, longer than I can even
remember.
I have had a fair amount of shots in the past year or two. Now, when I was younger the shots would scare the hell outta me. They were the worst thing you could do to me. But with age, and a long break between getting any shots, I realized that if I didn't think about it, just relaxed and looked into space, the shot wasn't so bad.
The searching-for-a-vein stories that I've heard scare me. Badly. Any amount of time spent in my arm will get to me, I think. Very gory stuff about blood, guts, talking about details of insides, etc. gets to me. I can handle them mentally, usually, but physically I get weak. I have to touch my throat to feel alright. The thought of getting my blood drawn makes me fairly weak and a need to feel safe. I, too, am wondering if birthing my own children is worth the I.V., shots, blood being drawn, and the pain of the kid coming through a not-so-big opening are worth it....
Actually, I know I will deal with all of that. And I'll bet that the next time I get blood drawn, it won't be that bad. The anticipation is the hard part. I'll just lie to myself beforehand about it not hurting or being creepy, and all will be just fine...