Stubborn She Is

When Emma was born, we were told by numerous people that she would be sweet and loving. We were not warned just how stubborn she would be. We realize that Emma is a typical 3 year old in most of her behaviors, but I am pretty convinced that her extra chromosome gave her a little extra umph in the stubborn department.

Emma recently went into the hospital to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. She also had a bronchoscopy due to a couple of cases of pneumonia she had earlier this year. We were told that Emma would stay at least one night for observation, but possibly several. I did not question the doctor when he said this because Emma has had issues in the past with her breathing after she has been under anesthesia. The smirk on his face should have told me he knew what was going to happen after the surgery. Note: He knows Emma pretty well....

The surgery went well and as expected she had some breathing issues, but once she bounced back she seemed ok. I fully expected Emma to get released the next day, but she had other things in mind. The doctor said she had to be drinking before he would let her go. Of course, she refused to drink, but she had no issues eating ice cream and pudding.

Emma also freaked out when anyone in scrubs walked in. Homer, Emma's care partner, was the only person that she would allow to take vitals. He actually got her to the point of holding her arm out for blood pressure reads without throwing a complete tantrum. This was very sweet, but I was ready to get home and didn't care for Emma to think the hospital as her social outlet.

Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has a great volunteer program. They really make an effort to make families and patients feel comfortable. Every night, someone with a guitar would come by and play music for Emma. Being that she loves music, this went over very well with her. In fact, she looked forward to it each night with the exception of the guy that sounded awful, and midway through the song she loudly announced, "ALL DONE!" That was embarrassing, but kids always say it like it is.

Day 5 rolled around and Emma still refused to drink. I finally convinced the doctor that I would get her to drink once we were home. I explained to him that she was being the STUBBORN Emma that we all know and that she was trying to win this game. He finally agreed to let us go home, but explained how important it was that she was drinking.

We get home and she still won't drink! We tried everything. We have been down this road with her before so we knew it was going to be a battle of the wills. Emma loves her Uncle Andrew and will usually imitate whatever he does so we got him to come over and help us with getting her to drink. They played a little game together where he took a drink and then Emma took a drink, except that Emma would not play the game once she realized how happy we were that she was taking sips.

The next day we were on our way back to the hospital because you guessed it, Emma would not drink! As soon as they admitted her and she was back on the same floor as just the day before. She started jumping on the hospital bed in excitement! WHAT?!? She is excited to be here? Oh no! I was not having that! All of Emma's nurses and Homer came by to say hello and Emma was thrilled to see them. Her doctor came by and gave me the "I told you so" look and then proceeds to tell me that record for a hospital stay after a tonsillectomy was 9 days. I quickly decided we were not breaking that record! The musician came by and played Emma her private concert, and still Emma would not drink.

A few days later, Emma still would not drink, and I was about to lose my mind. Stubborn was the word of the day from all of the medical professionals. STUBBORN! I had a discussion with her doctor and begged him to let us go home. He agreed to let us go home later that day if she would take a small amount of fluid, even if it was a milkshake. I put my game face on and prepared to win this match! Me against Emma! Now most of you that know Emma, realize that she can usually get what she wants. However, I was not losing this time. I started offering her everything that would count towards her fluid intake. I was all but pouring fluids down her throat. Once I reached the intake number, I had the doc paged. He came to the room and said I was one of the most persistent people he had ever met. Is that a nice way of calling me a B*&^h?? Who cares, just sign the discharge papers for Emma.

So we get home after spending way too long in the hospital, and the moment we walk in the house Emma says, "JooSH", meaning juice. Of course, she started drinking like a fish. She better be glad we love her and her stubborn self so much!!