Yeah...we're still alive!!

Well...I think we are.

Have I ever mentioned that I have a red head?? I mean a true stubborn, fiesty, hot tempered, "my way or the highway" red head??

Well....I do, and her name is Marina! She's also the baby of the family, which makes it even worse!!

Let me explain...

Starting on Saturday morning, just like clockwork, Day 5 of recovering from tonsils began with a vengeance. The doctor said that day 5 would be the worst...you know what, that doctor knows what he's talking about! All 3 of the kids were in terrible, terrible pain. So bad, that I think they thought their throats were being sliced open. Ryker & Harley did great, though. They understood that as long as they were brave and took their medicine and drank lots of fluids, it would be okay. Marina...not so much!! Of course, Thomas was at school, and didn't have his phone with him. Marina was terrified to swallow, and wasn't about to! She wasn't going to swallow any medicine, juice, water, or spit, and there was no way anyone could force her. See, Marina is too young to really "get" the whole "you gotta just be brave & suck it up and do it" mentality that her older siblings understood, BUT she is also too old to be able to force anything down her throat. Trust me...I tried!! After 3 failed attempts, 2 of which ended up with Lortab Elixer in her eye, I gave up. Even when Thomas came home, he couldn't get her to take anything. Let's just say that Sunday is a big fat Ditto!

We kept telling her that all this stubborness was going get her was an all expense paid trip to the Emergency Room. Guess what, she did NOT care. In fact, at about 1am Monday morning (Sunday night) we finally told her enough was enough, she needed to go in and get some fluids. (We're pretty sure that she only peed once all day Sunday.) Guess what, she did NOT care. So, we loaded her up and drove to the hospital. Not a peep came out of her the entire ride there. She even had this look about her that said she was "calling our bluff!"

So, the doctor comes in, and says, "Well, let's try and see if we can get her to drink something." Thomas & I looked at each other like, "What?" The doctor seriously came back with a cup full of Gatorade and a popsicle, and said let's give her 1/2 an hour to try and drink something. He also explained how he had had to hold his daughter down before and force liquids, and he was sure the new environment would help her to drink. Yep, he saw it all the time. Kids come in dehydrated, and LOVED the hospital juice so much better, so they didn't have to get an IV. Guess what, she did NOT care. In fact, after about 5 minutes of hearing her scream bloody murder because we were trying to force it, he came back in and "Okay, I get that she isn't going to do it on her own. We'll start an IV." All I could think was, "Yeah...ya think!"

The nurses came in all prepared to hold down a 4 year old, that they KNEW was going to be hard to get an IV in. Guess what, she did NOT care!!! That's right, my little girl did not move a muscle, only wimpered a little. Yep, you heard me...she would rather be stuck in the arm with a needle (2 times actually, the first one didn't work...even after they moved it around and around in her arm...ewww!) than drink some juice. I guess that goes to show you how much pain she was in. She finished the hour long IV, and then we were told to get her to drink before we could go home. Nope, not gonna happen. The doctor ended up giving her 2 doses of Morphine, and she STILL wasn't gonna drink anything. After a couple of hours, she finally drank what she needed to to get released. Whew!

On the way home, we had this long conversation about how we did not want to have to do that again, and she agreed that she would be brave and drink lots of juice and take her medicine. You wanna know what she did the next day? You guessed it...wouldn't drink or take her medicine!!! I finally told her that if she wasn't going to let Thomas & I take care of her, that she would have to go and live outside, with the coyotes (yes, there are coyotes here), and take care of herself. I put her on the front porch and closed the door. She screamed for a couple of minutes, so I asked her if she was ready to let me take care of her. Her answer was still a No, so back out she went. After some 5-10 minutes, I finally got the message through. Ever since then, all I have to do is tell her that she is going to have to live outside and take care of herself and she quickly takes a drink!

Guess what....she has been drinking more than Ryker & Harley now!

Whew...after all of that nonsense, I think today we have finally turned a corner! After thier naps, they all woke up saying that they were starting to feel better. Do you know what that means? Ryker is back to being a boy and bugging all of his sisters, pretty much simultaneously!! And with 4 sisters, that's talent!!