Swimming, Haws Olympics & Primary Childrens ER!

SWIMMING!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Wyatt being thrown around by Nic!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Nic and Wyatt swimming together!


Friday, 8 August, 2008: Sam sittin' by the poolside... pondering.

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Lindsay takin' a swim.

HAWS OLYMPICS!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Mercy chillin' with her sweet glasses!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Mandy explaining to the cousins how to play the olympic games.

Friday, 8 August, 2008: What would ever inspire a grown man to wear a nylon on his head??? Only the HAWS OLYMPICS! He's a true olympian!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Mandy and Natalie look so hot with nylons on their heads!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Lindsay and Sam lookin' oh-so-trendy for the Olympics!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Zacky and Benny goin' for the gold!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Wheelbarrow racing was awesome! Nic and I took first place! Wahoo!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: The kids had a foot race! It was soooo exciting!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Nic and me! He's stinkin' heavy!

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Yeah, that's right.

Friday, 8 August, 2008: Wheelbarrow racing gone wrong. Sam, it's okay. You know I'm better than you. ;)

PRIMARY CHILDREN'S ER...

Wow! Our family reunion was a BLAST! I'm posting a few more pictures of all 'o us havin' some good times. It was much needed time away from everything. It was a good thing Nic had time off, because our get-away went from absolutely perfect to a complete nightmare all within 24 hours.

Mercydez didn't sleep a wink on Thursday night, which means, either did I. I'm not one of those weird ones who can live off of zero hours of sleep. My idea of a good nights rest lies somewhere between, oh, eight to ten hours. Of course, since having Mercydez, my idea of a good nights rest has changed to four hours of uninterrupted sleep. Anyway, so both Mercy and I were on edge all day Friday. It was great to be with our family, but talk about exhaustion! I felt like something wasn't right with my princess, but I didn't think anything was terrifyingly bad. Little did I know...

Mercydez was extremely irritable all day Friday. She didn't like to eat, she didn't like to be held. She didn't like to lay in bed, she didn't like to snuggle (which is completely opposite of everything Mercy holds dear. She would rather snuggle then eat... seriously). Friday night, about 8:00pm I just felt like something wasn't right and we needed to figure it out. I had been holding her for about an hours time, so I didn't think her warm body was anything out of the ordinary. I thought I had just transfered heat. Well, we took her temp and she was at 102 degrees!!! We tried calling our doctor... and we tried calling our friend, Dr. Null. When we were able to get in touch with someone we were instructed to get Mercydez to an instacare ASAP. So, Nic, Zac (Nic's brother), and Drew (Nic's daddy) came with us. We saw a doctor at the childrens instacare at Altaview Hospital. The nurse took a rectal temp and Mercy was at 104 degrees! The doctor told us to get her to Primary Childrens ER as quickly as possible. This was hard for us to hear because neither Nic or I love Primary's. It was very difficult to hear from the instacare doc that Mercydez would definitely be admitted to PCMC. On our way out, Nic, Dad, and Zac gave Mercy a blessing. It was beautiful. It was powerful. Nic and I then took Mercydez to the ER. The doctor in the ER was rediculously arrogant. I wanted to throw something at her. She wouldn't hear us, and when she stopped for a moment to consider anything we said, she looked at us like we were moron parents. Urg. It was so frustrating. Our fabulous nurse, Moira, came up to be with us. Thank goodness she was there. She was a great support to us. We were very insistant that Mercydez not be admitted. We have made some very personal, difficult, and sacred decisions in regard to hospitals and procedures. We were okay with a blood draw, a UA, and a chest x-ray, but nothing else. Anyway, to make a long story short, we finally left the emergency room after nearly six and a half hours (by the way, NEVER expect an ER visit to be short) at about 5:45am. We went back to Snowbird, slept for about two hours, got ready and left for home. Mercydez is now home, on IV antibiotics to treat pneumonia, and actually doing very well. The lab results came back and lead us to believe that, yes, Mercydez is sick, but not NEARLY as sick as the ER doctor described. Sometimes Mom and Dad know best. I'm glad that night of true hell is over.

Unfortunately, I came down with something myself. I think the stress behind everything did me in. My beautiful Grandmother had an honorary birthday party on Saturday night that we couldn't attend because both Mercy and I were sick. I am so sad that we missed it. My Grandmother is one of the most influential women I know. She is absolutely amazing to me. She has taught me that standing up for what is right is never (EVER) easy and often very lonely, but it is soooo worth it. I'm going to post a poem I wrote for her birthday, but not until I'm able to give it to her in person. I want her to read it first. Anyone who has met my sweet Grandmother knows she is an angel. She is so strong. She has helped me through months and months of heartache, sorrow, happiness, fears, etc. She stayed with me at my Uncle Verl and Aunt Marilyn's place for about a month after Mercydez was born. Oh, how I love my Grandmother. We have talked and decided that we will be next door neighbors in heaven.

Needless to say, it has been a very hard and busy weekend. Things are finally starting to settle down, but slowly. I feel like I should have my RN by now. Nic is getting some good nursing experience too. We love our little girl more than anything. She is such a treasure. We would do anything to secure her happiness... even if it means going against a doctors demands. Heavenly Father talks to parents. He leads them. I have learned for myself that the correct answers lie not in medical books full of statistics and definitions. Correct answers lie in having faith, in truly listening to Heavenly Father. Knowing the correct answers doesn't make decisions any easier, in fact, with my experience it has made decisions harder. But there is such peace in succombing to what is RIGHT verses what is EASY. I love a quote that my good friend (and fabulous hair dresser) has on her wall. I might butcher it... but I'm sure you've heard it. "The time is coming when you will have to choose between what is easy or what is right." So true.
Saturday, 9 August, 2008: After a loooooooong night in the ER, Daddy and Mercy earned some good snuggle time.