This Sucks.

The Wife and Squeaks were due to come today. That was changed to tomorrow.

Now they're not due to come home until WEDNESDAY...

...MAYBE...

Let me back up...

Since we couldn't bring 'em home today, the plan was to take the kids to see Mommy & baby brother when Snoofy, Magoo, & Smooth all got home from school.

(For those who don't know, Snoofy is our oldest girl, age 10, Magoo is second oldest girl, age 6, & Smooth (formerly known as "Baby Boy") is 5. I'll explain the "Smooth" thing later.)

While picking up Magoo and Smooth from their bus stop, I get a call from The Wife. She's crying.

Crap!

It's hard to understand someone when she's sobbing, so I asked her to calm down, we're on our way over.

We get to her room & there's a nurse in there. She asks us to go downstairs until she's done giving The Wife a "test".

A "Test" my pasty white ass.

We come back after getting snacks in the cafeteria, and there are FOUR nurses hooking The Wife up to an IV & doing various other things to her. The Wife is inconsolable at this point. She had finally been able to get up, eat solid food, walk around, feed Squeaks & go to the bathroom by herself & here they were putting an IV -- a medical ball & chain -- back in her arm!

I was starting to get pissed! That happens when someone causes pain to the one I love, as you may understand.

Me: "What the hell is going on here?! You said she was getting a 'TEST'. This isn't a 'test'! WHY IS MY WIFE CRYING!!??"

She said that they had tested The Wife already and found some "abnormalities" in her blood that showed that she has preeclampsia , & if they don't give her more magnesium sulfate for a 24 hour period she could suffer seizures!

Me: (relatively quietly) "Why the hell wasn't I told this at the desk!? I wouldn't have brought my freakin' kids if I had known you were doing this! They sure as shit don't need to see their mother like this! Why didn't you warn me!?"

You see, my problem wasn't that she needed magnesium sulfate, it was that I was told she was getting a simple test that would last for a few minutes & I could bring the kids back after that was done, no big deal.

It was a HUGE deal!

No child should have to see their mother in that kind of pain. Yeah, magnesium sulfate isn't gentle. The Wife was on it throughout her 26 hour ordeal of giving birth & it was a major factor in causing a lot of the pain she suffered.

Anyway, The Wife was crying, the kids were crying, & I was trying to appear calm and calm everyone down. At one point, Snoofy left the room without telling me where she was going. One minute she was rocking Squeaks, the next she was gone & Squeaks was back in his bassinet. So I go to the nurses station and ask, "Did you see a 10 year-old girl with long, dark hair go past?"

Nurse: (a little too laid back for my liking) "Oh yeah, she went out those doors a few seconds ago..."

Me: (a little too pissy for her liking) "You let young girls just walk out of here without their parents? Reeaal smart."

I found her quickly. She was curled up in a chair, crying. I held her and smoothed her hair and explained to her what was going on, that things really would be alright. She calmed down & we went back to get Magoo and Smooth, both of whom had started watching Hannah Montana on the TV.

Things finally wound down -- The Wife resigned herself to her condition (what else could she do), the younglings understood that Mommy needs to stay where she's safest, with the doctors and the medicine, for just a little while longer, & another nurse came to take Squeaks away to be circumcised.

The day pretty much sucked for all involved. At least Squeaks won't remember it...

Now, the "Smooth" thing: He likes to pat down his cereal before he puts milk on it, a habit he picked up from Magoo. Unlike Magoo, however, every single time he does it, he says, "Daddy, I made it shmoooth." He also touches the top of my head after I shave and says, "Ooo, shmoooth!"

I don't call him "Shmooth" 'cause I'm at least trying to get him to say it right.

I'm going back to see The Wife and Squeaks tomorrow morning, but I'm sure as hell not going in blind again, especially with the younglings.

More later.