And now I remember why I don't go to the doctor very often

First let me preface the following story by saying that I am not a wimp when it comes to taking my kids out by myself. At least I don't think I am. Take yesterday for example. I took all 4 kids to SeaWorld by myself. If you think that's easy, you are c-r-a-z-y! But it's doable and the kids love it. We met up with helpful friends and we all had fun, so that was worth it. I've taken them to Chuck E Cheese, the zoo, restaurants...lots of places on my own.

Hopefully that gives me a few brownie points...

The kids had their yearly check-ups today. Now, it was the first time that either boy had been to one in 2 years, but the girls had their 9 month Well Baby visit a couple of months ago. They are 14 months old, so even though they are a couple of months late, that is pretty good for me!

I anticipated that this could be a day filled with drama, so I hired one of our babysitters to come along and help me. And let me tell you that it was worth every penny and I am so glad that I thought ahead to do this. Between undressing two babies, trying to keep two babies from crying because they are tired, filling out tons of forms for all four kids, answering Caleb's million questions, answeing stranger's questions, and trying to keep Luke off the floor and from touching every germ filled surface - we really needed an army of people. Yeah, I was thrilled to have another set of hands.

We were there for 2+ hours, the girls missed their morning naps so were exhausted, and the boys had used up all their "excellent behavior" and were quickly going through their "good behavior." I could seriously see "bad behavior" on the horizon!

And this is when we are ushered into a room so that they could do a "quick anemia test." I had no idea what to expect since neither of my boys had to do this. I know what I wasn't expecting and that was a blood draw!

Um, excuse me...did you not get the memo that I don't do needles? I don't like needles, and I r-e-a-l-l-y do not like needles and kids!!! At all.

My anxiety level went up. I had stayed quite calm through all the drama until this point.

So, they do Ella first. Three nurses hold her down while Ella and I cry our way through it. Lily Kate starts to cry after a while, so my sitter holds her and takes her out of the room because she kept watching her baby sister. It was terrible. Caleb started crying because he can't stand it when the girls get hurt. And Luke. Sigh. Luke was fussing because he couldn't hear the tv in the room. Seriously, like that is even remotely on the radar of my concern!

I hold Ella, get her calmed down and then switch with my sitter and carry Lily Kate to the torture chamber. At this point my anxiety level was sky high. And then, they poked her and missed her vein and then spent the next (I don't know how long because to me it felt like a lifetime) however long digging around looking for a vein.

This is the point where Lily Kate reached hysterical and I was really close behind her.

And then I did what I am known for doing at the hospital, I refused treatment and made them stop. Lily and I were done.

And now I remember why I don't go to the doctor very often.