December Daily 16

Yesterday was a blur. I dragged myself up at 7 to shower and get ready to take Dh back to the hospital. We had a long talk about it and decided that we wouldn't stay with him at the hospital. We didn't know how long he would be there and the kids had been so good up until that point -we didn't think we could push it, especially given that Pk had only had 6 hours sleep. We drove Dh to the hospital on the snowy roads and then came home to wait.

We knew it would be a while. I don't know whether it is standard procedure but at our hospital, if the E.R. refers you to ultrasound or something like that, the E.R. doctor is "your " physician and after the tests, you have to return to triage and go through the entire procedure to get in to a doctor from scratch. I was climbing the walls and so decided that Pk and I would work on our gingerbread house. A great friend gave me a gingerbread house pan and I have wanted to try it. You press the dough into the mould and then it makes the correct sized pieces to make a house. Of course, Pk helped with the dough.

Finally, at 11, Dh called to say that they wanted him to see a surgeon and that she would be coming to see him at two. We agreed that I would call my mother and that she would take the bus up and I would pick her up at the bus station. Not knowing what was going on meant that we kind of had to assume the worst.

The weather continued to deteriorate and by 3, the surgeon hadn't come to see Dh but I needed to get mom so I picked her up (with both kids) and we went on to the hospital. It was wildly busy and there were people with masks on, coughing, all over the place. Not the first place I wanted to have my kids. The surgeon had come and it had been decided that Dh's gall bladder would be coming out later in the day. He had several gall stones and a gall stone blocking his bile duct. He also had a small umbilical hernia that she wanted to fix. Again, after much discussion, it was decided that I would take the kids home, get them supper and mom would stay with Pk and Baby Bean would go back with me to the hospital (I am still nursing and didn't have any pumped milk so he needed to come). At first, we were given the impression that he would come home that night but they ultimately decided to keep him overnight which made me feel better. I didn't want something to go wrong and have to drive in those awful conditions back to the hospital.

He wasn't set to come up to his room until around 8 but I decided to go back to the hospital at 7:30 since I was climbing the walls at home. When I got there, they couldn't tell me anything other than that he had a private room, so I could wait for him there.

It was a very long wait. I sat in the chair and looked out the window at the snow, anxiously awaiting news. Finally, at 9:30, his nurse came to tell me that he would be up shortly and that I would have to let them alone for an exam but then I could see him for a bit. She was so sweet and told me that he already had orders to go home in the morning so it must have gone well.

He was really groggy and quite sore. We chatted for a little while and then Baby Bean started to YELL so I had to go. It was kind of funny - I bundled him up very quickly and we rushed out but as we passed the nursing station, a nurse came running and asked me if I knew which room the screaming had come from. When I pointed out Baby Bean, three nurses at the nursing station visibly relaxed. Again, it was a long drive home and by the time I got calmed down, it was almost midnight before I got to sleep.