Here I am, minus a pint of blood!

I did it! I donated blood for the first time! I did it and I didn't pass out or puke or die or anything!
I went in on Friday, signed the check-in sheet and got taken behind of the little private booths to answer all the questions about my health. The guy who did it was very nice and very patient with me in spite of my many chants of "I'm soooo nervous" and excessive giggling. He promised he knew how to make sure the finger prick to check iron levels didn't hurt and I was unbelieving. By golly, he wasn't lying, though! "Ring finger to the side: The least amount of nerve endings." Once I made it through the screening they set me up the chair and I had to wait for all the equipment to get set up which took forever.
The guy who actually drew my blood was cool. He kept cracking jokes which I found both oddly comforting and mortifying. "I'm just a guy with a needle," he said. He prepped my arm with rubbing alcohol and put a band around the top of my arm and tightened it. He made me squeeze a ball several times, apparently, to find a vein. Then came the prick. It was definitely uncomfortable but not excruciating. I was instructed to squeeze the ball every 3-4 seconds. It was pretty uncomfortable as my arm felt all tingly but it wasn't awful. He said I had a good flow due to good hydration (I better had! I drank like a gallon of water that day!). It was over pretty quickly. Then he removed the needle and told me to go have a snack and hang around for about 15 minutes.
All in all I was fine. I needed a lot of water for the remainder of the day (sooo thirsty!) but I felt fine, though a little tired.
I'll be doing it again, though I won't promise I won't break out into a cold sweat from nerves again next time.