Blood Donations...

Well, today was the first time that I was back at the Blood Clinic after last time. I was pumped to give blood today (ha ha, punny), just because it had been so long. Anyhow, it wasn't the greatest experience - yet again. This time, only I was scheduled to donate so J and H tagged along to keep me company. That wasn't a very good idea because Hunter didn't look very comfortable with me hooked up to the tubes, etc... Then, I had a bad donation - too much stress, not enough fluids, not enough protein or a combination of all of them, maybe... The donation itself went well enough, but after, as I was holding the gauze onto my prick, I started to feel dizzy, then nauseous, then cold, then dizzy and I felt all the blood (what was left) leaving my body. I debated with myself over whether or not it was all in my head, but decided to tell the nurse. Then, I was on my side, being fed sugar tablets and juice with three nurses checking on me all the time... looking closely into my eyes, telling me how pale I was, all that. The feeling I had, there, reminded me of how I felt in between contractions when I was in early labour with Hunter (reed "pre-epidura"l). I was just stressed out about the next pain (or discomfort) and just wanting to go to sleep to get out of it. Anyhow, after fourty minutes, two efforts to sit up and A LOT of raspberry juice and Fudge-ee-o's, I felt better. Better enough to walk over to the other table and have more nurses and volunteers check on me and feed me sugar.
After all was over and we were out of there, I still felt really really cold (Justin says that's shock). Great. So we went to have lunch and came to my parents' for a visit before Heather (my sis) leaves for university tomorrow. I lay down and had a nap for 2.5 hours. That is a long nap. I feel better now, though.
Whew. When's my next donation?