The Glamorous Life

[Rapunzel]

One time, when our second child was in the hospital with RSV, my dh had to go into work anyway. They figured since he was on the Peds floor, he might as well be working.

OK, now that is a time I'd have to go find the program director and/or a few attendings and tell them where to shove it in front of as many other people as possible. That is just very, very wrong.

Jennifer

[Meenah]

That is too funny and as the Southern Catholic Nurse married to the Jewish Dawkter from New York, yes, it is dripping with sarcasm. I loved it. Now I am off to the yard sales and to target (can't even do Walmart)!!!!!
Luanne

[Malpka]

One time, when our second child was in the hospital with RSV, my dh had to go into work anyway. They figured since he was on the Peds floor, he might as well be working.

OK, now that is a time I'd have to go find the program director and/or a few attendings and tell them where to shove it in front of as many other people as possible. That is just very, very wrong.

Jennifer

We had a situation like that also. I was in the ER with a 14 month old with a 104 fever. While I was watching my baby getting a spinal tap, DH was upstairs delivering some ingrates baby.
Even better. Once DS was admitted for a septic workup at 6 weeks at the hospital across town. For a week I was there by myself with my baby. DH would come after work to visit at around 8:30 when he was done with work, and would promptly be kicked out a 9pm when visiting hours were over.
Good times, good times.

[Sheherezade]

When our son was hospitalized, the residency thing was mixed blessing. Since he was in for three weeks, DH worked (of course) all the time. But he was in the same building at least. And - he gave me his ID which made it easier for me to come and go through all the locked doorways. Also - although the hospital took my husband as collateral - we got THE BEST care and were routinely pushed to the front of the line. No waiting rooms at all and the attendings came right away to see us. Maybe that was because our son was a little baby with a bad undiagnosed infection, but I think it was because the patient was the baby of a resident on staff. Even though they made DH work, I was treated like family by every staff member I encountered. Major kudos to JHU. (Sorry to inject praise into a bitter thread but it was an interesting experience with the medical culture. There are some benefits!)

I stumbled on that essay with a google search - it blew me away. I know it is sarcastic, but it does hit on the whole Dawkter's Wife stereotype. How wrong they are, huh?

So many of these "glamorous" moments sound familiar! I particularly like the garage sale underwear and the pawn shop/sleazy loan biz stories best. They have that surreal quality. Yep, you guys are just rolling in dough, huh?

[Sheherezade]

I just thought of another when reading the pregnancy thread. Haven't a lot of us had labor induced so that DH could make it to the births of our children? I know I have with both kids. There was never any question. You want to have DH available, you better plan ahead because you know they can't just drop everything at work and come running. After all, you are only giving birth. That's glamorous.

[Malpka]

I did the first time, but because I was in labor 30 hours ( ) My bad timing still disrupted his schedule, and DH had to take the in-service CREOG's in the middle of my labor.

Let's just say that the second time I pretty much made it known my opposition to this arrangement. I refused induction for their convienance and then went two weeks overdue so they had to wonder longer when their precious schedule would be thrown off. And of course my final snub to the OB department was birthing our baby on the floor of our bedroom with a midwife :>

Wow. You guys are downers! And I was worried that no one would reply to this topic! Thank you all and keep 'em coming!

[SueC]

Rapunzel's post made me think of my stranded on the highway episode. I was driving to Wichita with a toddler and an infant so that my bil could fix my computer. I blew a tire somewhere between Emporia and BFE. I was terrified that somebody would accidentally hit us along the side of the road. I paged dh (who didn't respond because he was on the ICU), and called AAA, who couldn't help me because they didn't know where I was. Finally some nice farmer came along and put my donut on for me. I ended up driving 30 miles to the next town and getting it fixed. I ended up getting to Wichita very late, and paged dh, who never knew we were even stranded.

[Vanquisher]

I paged dh (who didn't respond because he was on the ICU)... and paged dh, who never knew we were even stranded.

This is exactly why I have a paging system with my dh.

Text pages when I am home and just need to relay something brief, but don't need a respone.

Just my number when I would like to talk to him, but at his convenience.

My number plus 555 when I need to talk to him right away, but it can wait if it has to (such as if he is in the O.R.). These pages should be returned as soon as possible, and the O.R. or in a sterile field or direct patient involvement is the only excuse. If you can get away at all, you must.

My number plus 911 means there is an emergency with a child or I am stranded in BFE in a broken down car. Emergency situations. He is to call me no matter where he is and scrub out if necessary.

I think I probably page him too much too. I remember when I used to talk to my husband occassionally. In my defense, I rarely use 555 pages, and 911 pages have happened twice.

[Rapunzel]

I page my husband with 911 when it's an emergency as well. I reserve it for medical emergencies (oh, the irony) and serious situations like, oh, say, giving birth. He's good about answering the handful of 911 pages I've had to send him over the years.

Jennifer

[DCJenn]

That would be great, if the freakin' Army system (ok, that Walter Reed System, San Antonio was fine!) requires that one enter a totally impossible to remember # followed by a beep, then another series of totally impossible to remember #s THEN the home #.

I made friends with the bitchy receptionist and she track him down like a pit bull. Love her. So, yeah, that's a highlight, the only way I can find my husband is to call his receptionist.

yay!

Love medicine.

Jenn H.

[SueC]

We use the "911" paging system as well, but it doesn't work when you are in the middle of nowhere Kansas and don't have good cellphone service!

[Vanquisher]

We use the "911" paging system as well, but it doesn't work when you are in the middle of nowhere Kansas and don't have good cellphone service!

Ah, my condolences. Stupid pagers.

[Amiens]

Hearing-- "What??!! You don't get health care for FREE, because your spouse is a doc?" or better yet "Man your health insurance is high for having a doctor husban."

Crystal

[Vishenka69]

This year was the first time since med school that my birthday was actually celebrated on the day of (meaning I got to have a romantic dinner with my husband), but even then I had to pick him up from the hospital with a suit, so that he could change in the call room and we drove like maniacs to make our reservation. Did I mention that my birthday fell on a Saturday? In order not to miss our wedding anniversary, I make him take vacation that week. I also gave up on V-Day a few years ago because we'd constantly move it around to fit his schedule. At this point it's just a dinner in February.