Welp! It's Official....

....and no we didn't run off and get secretly married for insurance reasons or anything.

I'm officially selling my body for my wedding. 

Yes, you read that right, I'm whoring myself out for all those little extras I want, but couldn't justify as part of the wedding budget.  But not my body really....just part of it.

Today I went to the plasma center to donate plasma.  I'd be lying if I said I was doing it solely for the purpose of saving lives.  Yes that's a very good reason, but you can also make 50 bucks a week.  And for a broke-a$$ college student like me that worked a non-paid internship this summer instead of a job...any little bit helps.  So I went in with social security card and ID in hand and started the rigorous process of registering.  And boy is it rigorous.

I went through about an hour and a half of questioning and a physical and peeing in a cup, and all sorts of good stuff.  Oh and lots of waiting.  And a finger prick....I swear that part hurts more than when they stick a needle in your arm.

Then they brought me back to a really comfy chair and started me through the cycles of separating the plasma from the red blood cells.

And then I threw up.

And then I fainted.

And then I almost fainted again.

Insert picture of me being all pale and woozy looking.

Oh wait, there isn't one...and I definitely wouldn't share it if there was!

I love you guys, but just not that much.

It was really quite wonderful.  Apparently all the waiting and filling out forms, and physical stuff took so long, and I must not have eaten enough that there wasn't enough food in me by the time I started donating.  The nurse told me it was probably the anti-coagulant that they mix with the blood cells before putting them back in you that made me sick.  As soon as they turned off the machine and I threw up, I was good to go.  I thought so anyway.  I did the whole slowly sitting up, slowly standing up and letting my blood pressure return to normal.  Then I walked across the room to get my money (I still got paid the full $30, even though I couldn't finish the whole thing!) and my vision started going in and out and I tried to go sit down, and before you know it, I woke up laying on my back.  It was one of the weirdest things that happened to me, I've never fainted before.

So we did the whole slowly sit up, slowly stand up, drink lots of gross orange powerade and proceed with leaving.  Except I started to black out again.  So I sat down for another 30 minutes before I could finally go home.

Like I said...it was pretty wonderful. Ha!  But I would probably do it again...because any subsequent turns I can just go right back to donate, immediately after eating a nice large meal, and I shouldn't have a problem.  So after my 8 week deferral is up (they couldn't return the last cycle of blood cells to me) I just might have another go at it.  I mean it does save lives after all.