Stay Calm..... and Hang Up the Phone

Originally Written Between 2017-2020      

 

March 1975.  1:00 in the morning during a raging snowstorm.  The snow is piling up in the driveway.  So much snow that it will take hours to shovel the driveway when the storm ends.

 

I finally get the kids to bed.  The first three – ages 9, 6, and 4 - went to bed at their normal bedtimes and are sound asleep.

 

I am three weeks’ out of childbirth with our daughter, Rebecca.  She is not well.  Born with two heart defects, Rebecca is very weak.  She has no strength to take her bottle.  Even with a special preemie nipple, it takes her almost an hour to swallow two ounces of formula.  I finally get her to sleep and tuck her in the bassinette next to our bed.

 

Finally!  I can get some sleep before Rebecca wakes up again since she only sleeps a couple of hours between feedings.

 

After 20 minutes or so, I hear someone crying.  I look over at Rebecca and she’s still sleeping.  David – our six year old – comes into my room and tries to crawl into bed with me.  He is still crying – very loudly.  So loudly that he wakes up Rebecca.  Now I have two children crying. 

 

I ask David what is wrong.  He said that his ear hurt.  Great!  An ear infection!  Just what we need at now 2:00 in the morning.  During a snowstorm.  I try to calm him down while looking for my Dr. Spock childcare book.  Dr. Spock isn’t much help.  I give David an asprin and put a heating pad on his ear and tuck him in my bed.  

 

None of this helps.  He’s screaming now and insists that I take him to the doctor.  Boy, he must really hurt if he wants me to take him to the doctor.  Instead, I take him to the window and show him that we are in the middle of a snowstorm and I wouldn’t be able to take him to the hospital because I can’t get the car out of the garage. 

 

He doesn’t care.  He wants to feel better.  I try to cuddle with him and hold the heating pad to his ear while, at the same time, I hold Rebecca in my other arm and feed her some milk.  Finally, they both fall asleep in my arms.  I put David in my bed and Rebecca back in her bassinette.

 

Now – you are probably wondering where Norm is during this whole ordeal.  Well, Norm is in Mexico.  Or rather – in Brownsville, Texas.  Just a few steps away from the Mexican border.  He is there on business.  Yes – the State of Minnesota’s Employment Service had to send my husband to Texas during a snowstorm here in Minnesota.  The poor thing!

 

Anyway – I really needed Norm.  I needed him to be there with me to help me take care of our four children.  And so, being sleep deprived, weak, and exhausted, I decide to call Norm – right then and now – to tell him about my terrible night and to get some sympathy.

 

Yes, it is 2:30 in the morning.  I don’t care.  I need someone to tell me that everything will be better in the light of the day.  I need someone to tell me that he loves me and that I’m the best mom our kids could have and he wishes he could be there with me to help me.  The phone rings and rings.  He finally answers.  Well, it turns out that Norm had just gotten in to his hotel room.  Seems he and his colleagues had spent the evening in Mexico and had a really grand time.  I told him all my troubles and he said……… wait for it:  “Oh, well, I’m really tired so I’ll call you in the morning.”

 

What?  HE’S tired from partying in Mexico and has to get his sleep?  He has to get his sleep?  Did I hear him correctly?  Sleep?  Sleep?  What is sleep!!!??  I certainly don’t know.  I haven’t had any for days!

 

So, what did I do?  I hung up on him!  Just slammed the phone and broke the connection.  I then – calmly - took the phone off the hook so he couldn’t try to call me back.  All I needed was to have the phone ring and wake up Rebecca again!

 

The moral to this story?  Stay Calm – and hang up!