 [ Symptoms ] what does it mean when brown vaginal discharge during pregnancy [ Disease ] nothing is wrong we both know that you have plenty of blood it is just a problem trying to get it out the skill of the phlebotomist may be in question using a smaller butterfly needle may have solved the problem some veins are smaller and more elusive so going to a larger vein in the arm should have been easy if your arm is not too large veins are typically palpated felt rather than viewed when it comes to drawing blood if the tourniquet was not on tight enough or long enough the vein may not have distended if all fails many phelbotomists will put a warm compress on your arm and allow it to dangle down a bit