I never took Communication 101 in college, but I should have...

This morning started off with my niece Haylee jumping in my bed waking me up at 7 am. I thought this was a pretty eventful wake up until I got a call from Ryan saying I need to do him a big favor. (I rarely get calls at this time from him, so I was very surprised to hear from him!)

He said that now his company has said that if my Doctor sends a Red Cross Message saying that he is planning on inducing me on Monday for our first born, that they will send him on Emergency Leave and he should be able to be there for the birth! Wow, what a surprise!

I guess Ryan and I got our signals crossed cause I thought that he decided that it would be better for me to have Eli before he got home, so he would be guaranteed to spend the whole time with him and me, but he was just preparing himself for that thinking that was probably his only option! Communication really is hard when you are like 4,000 miles away! I of course would LOVE for him to be there, so I went to work calling my Doc office and the Red Cross for about 4 straight hours trying to get everything worked out! I don't know if you've ever tried get an incredibly busy OB/GYN on the phone, so you can explain your situation, but it is NOT easy! Everybody kept telling me that they would call me later, so I just hunkered down, but kept calling them back annoying them!

Finally I figured out that it didn't have to be the Doc that called the Red Cross. It could be his nurse, so this made the situation a little simpler. We weren't sure if Dr. Peach would just want to move the induction back, but because of the blood pressure, size, and him not being on call till the next Sunday, he said, No, we need to keep the date for Monday.

So, without sharing ALL the boring details, the nurse was able to give the Red Cross the info, and I was able to tell Ryan his Case number to "pick up the Red Cross Message". He called me throughout the process, and the last time I talked to him was around 8:15 pm his time, and he had not gotten the message yet, but when I talked to the Red Cross later in the afternoon, they said that the message got to Iraq at 8:30 pm his time, so I'm hoping he was able to get the message and get something started on his end. We were extremely frustrated with all the bureaucracy and red tape involved, but it really only took about 4.5 hours from the time I called to the time the message got to Iraq, which the Red Cross said is really unheard of, so I guess we should be thankful for that.

I honestly don't know if he was able to get a flight out that night or not, but he should still be able to come on Emergency leave just leaving later, otherwise, he will take his regular leave come Sunday night, the 10th. The advantage of Emergency Leave is he should be placed in the top category giving him the fastest (the term is relative in the Army) way home.

So, I say all this to say that he may get to be here for the birth! I am really excited about the possibility now that it is a real option! I had just given up on it thinking it wasn't happening, but now that it might, I am thrilled!

Hope all my rambling makes sense!

Can't believe I'll be in the hospital in 2 days!!!