My mother-in-law was recently joking about how it’s been such a long time since I have written a blog post. She said, “I guess you don’t have anything to rant about.” I am sorry that it seems like all I do on my blog is complain, but it’s a nice big public place to get annoying thoughts out there and with a lot of hope others will read it and respond. My mother-in-law had a point and today something came up that made me think, “Oh yeah, here’s a juicy one Barbara!” So, this rant is for my mother-in-law…enjoy!

I got to work today and had some papers in my mailbox. The payroll lady wrote me a nice letter in the tone of “I am your god.” The letter informed me that while I am out on maternity leave not only will I not get paid for those five weeks, but I am going to have to pay them $1,240.34 for my health insurance while out. Something is wrong here. If I am not getting a pay check how do they expect me to pay them? And, a whopping $620.17 a month!?! I almost don’t make that much to begin with – how the hell are people supposed to cough up that much money to their employer?? What do the people do when they have a baby but are living paycheck to paycheck? She did say that I could use my sick leave, but then when I got back from the maternity leave I wouldn’t be able to take a day, a hour or even a minute off without being, “terminated.” Wow…

I am pretty strong in believing that women are just as good as men, if not better. I don’t stand for women being “ruled” by their husbands. I am a strong female and I let everyone know it. I also believe that a mother is the most powerful being on the planet and without mothers we are lost. Fathers are powerful too, don’t get me wrong guys, but mommies hold a power daddies will never have. With that I have to let go of life a little to be a mommy for my little boy. Life will stop for him and nothing or no one will get in the way of that. If I had to choose between being a mommy or working the shit-paying awesome job I have, it’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I would pick my son. There is a soccer coach at the high school I work who said, “Life goes in this order: family, work, sports.” I totally agree with him and nothing could ever change my mind because without family life is pointless.

I had thought women had come a long way on their road to freedom, but as Scott said, “The only thing females got was the right not to be fired for having a baby.” No, they cannot fire us and I am sure they would love to! They can make us feel like, “How dare you get pregnant and have a baby?!” Then they’ll take away our paychecks and make us pay them for our insurance. The master plan is to get us to quit because they cannot fire us. I cannot tell you how tempted I am to just give my job the old heave-ho and be done with the stupidest morons on earth. I am the top Interpreter right now, I am the best at what I do among the others I work with and no one Joe could walk in off the street and do what I do. With that, they have no respect for me nor my job. They could care less about the two students I work with daily and show me the door. Gee… ummm, you’re welcome? It’s a sad fact, and the boys I work with should not be in this school where they are simply a number, a testing stat that means nothing. They belong in a school designed for them where they could thrive and grow as the Deaf individuals that they are. There is no place like that here and because I care I stay working at this shit-paying awesome job. I hate it here! I hate how stupid and moronic people are. I am sick of it and want nothing more than to wash my hands of them! But, I can’t. If I leave, then who will advocate for the boys I am leaving? Who will show them the normal life of a Deaf person? I can’t just walk away, but I am being pushed – no – shoved out the front door… and why? Because I pick family over work? If the nation learned the lesson the soccer coach was trying to teach the boys on his team – this would be a better place…

Anyone reading my sad little forgotten blog – please hang in there! I have been non stop busy with very little computer access time. I get a few minutes from time to time, but not long enough to post some juicy thoughts. I want to write about the awesome spring break trip we took this year and how it kicked last year’s ass – but I just don’t have the time. *pout* I want to write about the baby and how he’s grown and new developments, but again there is no time… I need to write about Sammy and his surgery – so here we go….

Monday, April 30th, Sammy went in for surgery to remove tonsils, adenoids and have tubes put into his ears. I tried to prep him so he wasn’t at all surprised with a nasty shot or a scary doctor. I told him that he was going to go in and they would give him a funny little gown to wear, take his temperature, blood pressure and then they would probably give a small little shot to numb an area for the bigger IV shot. He seemed on board with the idea of going to the hospital and getting it done – no fear. Everything was going just as I had said it would – the nurse came in and gave him a funny little gown and took his temperature and blood pressure.

Then the doctor came in and talked to us for a bit. He said that there would be no shots while Sammy was awake – yay! He told us that the anesthesiologist would come in and talk to us soon about what they were going to do. The doctor said that a nurse would take Sammy back to the operating room and they would give him the smelly gas to put Sam to sleep. I was now worried that Sammy would have to go back there all alone and scared! The anesthesiologist came in and told Sammy he had a toy for him back in the O.R. that he was going to be able to play with and try on. Then the man became my hero when he told us that one parent could come in with him and stay until Sammy was asleep. All my worries went out the window – this was awesome! Although, he said that I probably shouldn’t be the parent taking him in because there are gases in the O.R. and he couldn’t be sure they were safe for the pregnancy. So, Scott got to be the lucky one who took him back and waited with him until he was asleep.

They put him on the big operating table and that’s when Sammy’s eyes grew with a little nervousness, they gave him the mask to put on himself and then they told Scott to hold him down a little because the gas smelled yucky and the kids try to knock the mask off their face. Sammy wiggled a little but was asleep before he had any chance of reaching the mask. They told him to “take a deep breath” and he was out. Scott, his mother, my mother and I waited in the waiting room for what seemed like forever! Finally after some breakfast, coffee (decaf of course), and a little computer gameplay the doctor came out and pulled Scott and I into a private room. He told us that the surgery went really well and that Sammy was doing fine. He said that when Sammy woke up someone would come get us and take us back to see him. After a little while a nurse came in and led us all down to where Sammy was scheduled to stay overnight. They were wheeling him in on this giant bed. There he was – the smallest little fella in the whole world. He was telling the nurses that he had to get bigger to go onto the roller coaster. That’s my little guy! They moved him onto a hospital bed and I crawled up into bed with him.

We turned on cartoons and watched TV. They wanted him to drink a lot so when he asked for apple juice they jumped to it! After three cups of apple juice Sammy vomited it all back up – yuck! They changed the bed and got us back in where Sammy immediately asked for more apple juice… They told us to try and get him to slow down, but there was no stopping Sammy – he was thirsty! About an hour later Sammy started to wake up and he found that the bed had buttons that when were pushed the bed moved! Before we knew it he was up and jumping all around – with IV in hand! The doctor had said that if he was drinking and keeping it down and doing well he could go home. The nurse said she thought Sammy was ready to go home – that he seemed like he was doing really good. The doctor came in and saw Sam in action and said that he was definitely doing good and that he could go home. We got home and Sammy played as if he had never gone into surgery that morning. That night he wanted dinner with us, so I gave him some pasta and olive oil – but no! he wanted garlic toast!! I gave him a small taste to see if it hurt and he was not affected by it what-so-ever.

The week has gone by and I am glad I stayed home with him because he has had a few pain issues – not much – and he has been a little clingy. Other than that he is just fine, nothing has changed in the life of little Sammy. He had surgery to remove his tonsils and adenoids because he was suffering from sleep apnea. Immediately after surgery there was improvement in his breathing while he slept – it was the best payoff ever! Already we are seeing improvement in his sleep patterns, and his attitude. Our little fella is doing so much better than before and we are so happy that his experience at the hospital was not a scary one. I asked him if it was scary and he looked at me like I was crazy and said, “NO!” He talks about it all the time and how they told him to take a deep breath. He says he wants to go back… yikes! I smile because most kids freak out at the hospital experience and to Sammy it was just another adventure.

OK folks – that’s all I have time for… Sorry it’s been so long, I will try to write soon… if I can. *smile*