Angel Needs a Ride

Remote blogging from the inlaws house...

So we packed up and came to town yesterday. Ever have one of those mornings when you just can't get out of the house? (all the mommies are nodding right now!) Yeah, yesterday was one of those mornings for me. Of course, it never fails that when I feel pressured to be somewhere by a certain time, I am always late.

So the plan (and we know how plans go around here) was to get up, have a leisurely cup of coffee and breakfast, and then throw everything in suitcases and in the car and take off. HAHAHAHAHA!!! I don't know where my brain was yesterday morning, but it certainly wasn't turned on at least and I had the most difficult time getting things together. Kiddo wasn't helping much - as soon as I would get him to pick up a massive pile of toys he would either start playing with the toys or pull out something else. Hubby calls and is frustrated that I cannot provide him with an hour by hour itinerary for the next 3 days. Then, my potty-trained-going-on-3-months-now child for whatever reason decided to pee all over the living room floor. And then he didn't even tell me about it! It was so unlike him - he just walked around in soaked underwear for who knows how long before I discovered the puddle in the floor. So I had to take time out to clean that up and shampoo the carpet and throw all the towels and clothes in the wash. My friend, the one having the baby, calls to tell me she had the baby already (and I haven't even left the house yet!!) and all is well. I feel like such a putz for not even being on the road yet. Thankfully she and the baby were doing fine and trying to rest - so I guess it was good I wasn't there yet.

Then, as I finally got everything together, I started to notice some things that would most definitely need my attention. The soapy dishes in the sink needed to be rinsed off and put in the dishwasher, or when I return in a few days I would have a sink full of moldy dishes. The bulk package of pork chops I bought at the grocery store needed to be divided up and frozen or they would be ruined by the time I returned. Then the dang dog came in from the back yard limping (though now in hind sight I think she might have been faking). Then this needed to be picked up and that needed to be set out and well I better just take that with me because bananas don't last that long and Hubby won't eat them..... see how my crazy mind works???

So I finally get us loaded up and ready to go and we stop at the gas station. I fill up, get back in and as I am pulling out, I glance in the rear view mirror and spy a bee in the back window. *sigh* Being deathly afraid of bees, I throw the car in park, jump out and pop the back window and pray that opening it will get the bee out. Thankfully it does and we are once again on our way.

We get out of our town, and in the next town over on a back road come up to a railroad crossing. I have NEVER seen a train on this particular track, but of course, because we are already late and because I am feeling rushed - there is not only a train there, but it is at the front of the train, it is across the track and it is slowing down. Then it stops. Then it sits there for 15 minutes. Then it backs up. Then forward, then back, then forward. I have one hair left on my head...

30 minutes later we are crossing the track and I am feeling better. But of course, the rest of the 3 1/2 hour trip was filled with me catching every stop light, getting behind every slower than molasses car on the road, rolling into town right as school lets out and getting stuck in road construction traffic jams. It was a long drive.

I didn't make it in time to see my friend and her baby yesterday, but I was able to go to the hospital this morning. He is gorgeous! And so small, and fragile and scary and wonderful and my hormones are all in a twitter now. I can't even begin to express how seeing him got me all riled up over having another child. We talked about her four birth experiences and my one traumatic one and all the things that went wrong with it. It was interesting hearing her version of Kiddo's birth. She remembered things in a way that only a mother could - from the doctors' stupidity and poor handling of things to the way we all felt in certain moments. So much of it I have forgotten or repressed.

I am worried about my friend though - this being her 4th child and her not really having any support system here. She doesn't have the luxury of a mom to help her out or even a mother in law capable of helping. She doesn't have any close friends that stay home that could come by with lunch and give her time to take a shower. She has no one. I live too far away. Her hubby works long hours. She will be left alone with a newborn and 3 others under the age of 6. She will have to shuttle the 2 oldest to preschool and tae-kwon-do and tote the 18 month old and nurse the baby and deal with all that on her own. I don't know how she is going to do it. So I am doing the only thing I can. I am praying and hoping and wracking my brain trying to find a solution. There has got to be someone that can help her out. I can only stay in town so long and I can't afford to come back for a while. How I wish we lived closer to her.

Well, this has gone on for ever so I should close. I am going back to see her again tomorrow before they discharge her from the hospital. Maybe on Friday I can bring her lunch at home. There has got to be something I can do.

I am open to ideas if you have them.
Until,
D :)