Give Life - Donate Blood

I added a little something new to the blog yesterday- the give life/donate blood badge I found on the Red Cross's website. I have donated blood since shortly after my 17th birthday when my high school held a blood drive. It seemed to be a good way to get out of class for a while and here I am, almost 16 years later, still donating. I have to take a little break now while I am pregnant so I thought maybe I could encourage someone else to go. Some people are not eligible to donate but you can check here to see if you might be. If you do go and get turned down, try again! I was turned down once last year because my iron was too low (usually it is really high) so I went back two days later. I was fine that day and was able to donate. You can make appointments with most or all blood banks so the process for whole blood donation is not very long at all. Don't be scared about the needle- the nurses all do this so much that you can hardly even feel it. It is so easy and a fantastic way to help someone else out- AND you get to eat cookies and ding dongs when you finish!