A pathetic new way to get to see hubby during busy months!

[SueC]

Today I discovered a way for the girls and I to get to see their father--we took 3 dozen donuts up to the unit he is on this month. They literally haven't seen him all week (and this weekend doesn't look any better!) so I asked him this morning if it would be okay. So they got to see where daddy has been all this time and got to meet the other doctors and nurses he is working with this month.

I did that constantly during the first year of residency. I'd drive 40 minutes to bring him dinner on Q3 call nights and hang around the hospital for a while hoping to eat with him on the rare occasions that happened. (I learned to bring a book with me everywhere I went so I wouldn't be too bored waiting, and still keep it up today.) Crazy, yeah, but I missed him so much...

[houseelf]

Sue,

Hang in there...I'm hoping that the next rotation gets better. The doughnuts sound like a great way to sneak in a daddy fix for the girls.

Kelly

[mommax3]

Sue,

We did stuff like that all the time during residency, for the same reasons. We made a post-trick-or-treat visit on Halloween two years in a row, and spent two Christmas afternoons in the call room off of Labor and Delivery, as well as countless dinners of Subway, Taco Bell, and Burger King at one of the two hospitals where DH worked. The kids always loved it and I think DH really appreciated the effort. As for me, it made the evenings go by faster and they became something fun instead of sitting at home wishing he wasn't on call.

Good for you! Anyone who hasn't done this, try it sometime.

Sally

[SueC]

I have offered countless times to bring him dinner and he pretty much always declines (though I used to do it all the time before we had kids). I don't know if he feels like we are too much of a disruption with a 3 year old and a 20 month old in the ICU (gee, why would he think that? ). But the other day, our visit was very brief and the kids behaved great so I'm hoping we can do it more often.

[peggyfromwastate]

Sue, when I was a kid and my dad was doing strange shifts at the ER I remember going to visit him at the hospital. No matter how busy it was, and usually it was really busy, Dad seamed happy to see us and I remember feeling really really cool. 8) I was hanging out (even just for 5 minutes) at the hospital and I knew that my dad was hot stuff there and all the nurses were nice to me, etc. 8) COOL I tell ya. So keep it up--- you'll give your kids neat memories!

We did this during Eric's intern year and it was a great way to get out of the house, let him have a shot at a decent dinner, and show Bryn where exactly her dad went all the time.

Another bonus to bringing food (with lots of extra to share) and/or kids into the hospital when they're on call is that the nurses tend to be much nicer overall when they can see another side of the residents----see them more as a real person with a family. They are much nicer when spouses bring in food to share, as well. And let me tell ya----at 3:00am, it makes a difference when the nurses are trying to decide which resident to wake up first to deal with a problem. Some docs--especially surgeons we've known, are really not very nice to the nurses and those are usually the first ones to get woken up. My husband had a friend who had annoyed a few nurses and they didn't let him forget whenever he was on call-----paging him for every little thing all night long.

[Rapunzel]

Last year when Jon had to take call I tried taking the kids to the hospital to eat with Daddy in order to have a chance to see him. Sometimes it worked out well and sometimes it didn't. On the nights when the hospital happened to be slow it was a wonderful chance for the kids to have a half hour to be with their dad. On the nights the hospital was busy I felt that we were just distracting to Jon and were in the way no matter where we were. The other residents and staff were usually happy to have us around on the slow nights but the mood was much more stressful and annoyed when we happened to come on a busy night. Overall I really didn't like going up to the hospital beyond seeing where he worked. After all of my kids' experiences in hospitals I really don't like hospitals very much! It was usually a very good, positive, reassuring experience for my children, however, and that was what was most important.

[PrincessFiona]

pathetic?

Pathetic, Sue? Naaahhh! We did this for his entire residency and fellowship. There were times when we did feel like we were in the way...but for the most part, it was a really good experience. We also celebrated birthdays in call rooms and had Christmas dinner in the cafeteria I think that it is a creative way to keep the family unit together during residency!

Kris

We have done this too, and I agree with Kris, it isn't pathetic! It is reality! If you want to see your spouse and let your kids see them "in action" it is a great thing. You can't always make it the perfect time while you are there, being as it is a hospital and all, but the couple minutes mean tons to the worker bee!!

I have a hard time coming home, since DW works at a Children's Hospital we(more like my son!) has found many, many things to do on the way to the car. The first few times, there were tears, but after he found all the other cool things in the hospital (all geared to children) it is a battle just to get out of the building!! We have also made many new friends with some children that are stuck in the hospital. That has been the best part, other than seeing "Momma's hospital".

[SueC]

This is off topic Matt, but have you been to that really cool park by Children's Mercy? I've only been there a few times and would like it more if it had a fence surrounding it, but it has tons of cool things for kids to climb on. I can't think of the name of it right now...

Yes, I can't think of the name either, but it is a blast! They have a keyboard that the kids can dance on (ala- Big). It is just such a neat place, the park included!

That park is where they take the resident class pictures every year, on the play ground equipment!