Friday, February 15, 2008

Fuck it all

I am going crazy.
It's scary.

Last night: Woke up at 10:30 to coughing-to-the-point of vomiting child. Got him calmed down, nebulized, and back to bed but I was worried so I slept with him, waking up each time he coughed.

This morning: Woke up, did all the morning shit, got Bubba dressed and ready for school, drove J. to work so that I could have the car to take Bubba to his 10:30 doctor's appointment. When I climbed into the driver's seat I noticed the gas tank was far down into the red. "Thanks for leaving me some gas," I call to J. as he gets his stuff out of the car. He shuts the door and leaves, not saying anything.

Get Bubba to school and am at my desk by 8:40 or so. Finish work project in time to go get Bubba from school and take him to doctor. Doctor can't hear anything wrong with Bubba's lungs, but since the neb worked last night she prescribes an inhaler and spacer that we can use that will hopefully ease the coughing while he sleeps and also take less time/effort to give him, because Bubba doesn't like the neb so much.

Stop at gas station on way back from doctor's office. Cannot get gas cap off. This is an issue that's been going on for about a year, and about a year ago I asked J. to get it fixed. Since then, there have been occasional mentions of this problem, but no action. I wrestle with this thing for 10 minutes. Call J. to see if there's anything else I can try. He has no suggestions. I tell him that if I can't get it off I will call him back and he will have to get a ride to gas station so that he can get it off because I can't go any further without gas, especially with Bubba in the car.

Another five minutes and I get the thing off. Fill car with gas. Take Bubba, who has fallen to sleep in the car by now, back to school. Go to pharmacy to drop off Bubba's prescriptions. Pick up lunch to go and then pick up J. because he wants the car to go to the library over his lunch hour. He takes me back to work. The stress of the whole damn day pretty much has me in overdrive, and by 1:30 or so I'm starting to have the panicky anxiety set in.

At 3:45 I hear wailing on Bubba's daycare's playground below my office. I look out the window and see Bubba crying. He walks over to the teacher, explains something and points, she talks to him and he wanders back to a sled where some kids are playing. The teachers are standing there talking to one another. Bubba gets on the empty seat of a two-person sled, and is promptly shoved off, twice, face-first into the snow. No action from the teachers. Nothing, even though Bubba is seriously crying.

I truck it down to the daycare and take a minute to peer through the door to the playground before making my presence known. I see the teachers still standing there. Then I see one of them rush over to Bubba, at which point I go out to see what the situation is. I am seriously pissed. I call for them to bring Bubba over to me since I have crappy shoes on.

"Joe...pushed....me...off...the...sled," Bubba tells me in between hysterical cries, coughs and gags. I tell the teacher what I saw and that I was concerned that nobody was handling the situation. The teacher backpedals, saying that Bubba had been pretty much crying since he woke up from his nap 45 minutes earlier and that the incident she just took care of was the first one that period (which I know is false because I saw it evolving). I was so upset I was shaking and could barely speak myself. I reiterated that I was concerned and then scooped up Bubba and went in to get his stuff for the day. I ran into the lead teacher in his room and told her the same story, and she pretty much told me the same story that the other one had, you know, that my kid is sick or crabby and THAT's what was causing the problem, not the other kid or the negligent teachers. I am paying them $950 a month. This is the premier center in our entire town/area. The teacher/child ratio in Bubba's room is 1:4. They should be able to make sure my kid doesn't get shoved into the snow, especially after my child alerted them that there was an issue. The kid that shoved him is alternately Bubba's best friend and worst enemy. I know their relationship is difficult, and the teachers know it too. So wouldn't you think they'd pay special attention when they are playing together to make sure nobody gets hurt?

We always tell Bubba that if he's having a problem with another kid, he should go tell a teacher rather than hit or act out. I saw that that's exactly what he did, and the teacher did nothing. That makes me feel like I failed him.

I will be setting up a conference to talk to his teachers about this. Anyway.

I take Bubba up to my office and call J. to come get us (he has the car so he could go to the library, remember). I wait 15 minutes or so then go down to meet J., who is wandering around looking for us at the daycare (he can't call me because he hasn't gotten a new cell phone yet...another bone of contention since he hasn't had one since September and it causes a lot of problems). We get in the car and talk about the incident. I am shaking, sick to my stomach, crying but trying to hide it from Bubba, in the midst of a full-blown panic attack. It's 4:15 p.m. on the day that J. is technically supposed to get off of work at 3:45 p.m.

"Please tell me you're not going back to work," I say to him.
"I have to. I didn't shut anything down or anything and I have stuff I have to do."
"But isn't this your early release day?" I ask.
"Well, it just didn't work out that way today."

Nevermind that I spent three hours of the morning with Bubba/doctor/pharmacy, and now I'm leaving an hour early due to the playground incident. Let's not let that infringe on J.'s day at all.

So we get home, J. finds the time to get Bubba settled before racing back to work for another hour. I take an anxiety pill and vent, rather crazily and panicked, to LilCherie while Bubba watches a movie. J. gets home at 5:45 p.m., 15 minutes before the pharmacy closes. I give him a blank check so he can run up and get Bubba's meds (and mine, which I also had refilled). You see, he couldn't pick them up on the way home because he has no fucking money, even though he never gave me one dime from his last paycheck.

He gets home and I go lay down. I only intended it to be for a couple minutes, but the pill conks me out. I wake up at 11:30 to Bubba coughing and throwing up in his bedroom. J. is in there trying to get Bubba calmed down enough to take a neb treatment. Did J. think to give Bubba a neb treatment before bedtime? Nope. Did J. take the new spacer out of the soapy water I'd put it in to let it dry so we could use it? Nope. Did J. wake me up before Bubba's bedtime to get the spacer and inhaler together and give it to Bubba? Nope. Bubba coughed and threw up for about 15 minutes before he could calm down enough to have the neb, then had to watch a movie for awhile to settle back down for bed. Meanwhile, I'm starving since I missed dinner, and because I am the only one who buys groceries, and I haven't gone for a few days, there's not a damn thing in the house to eat, so I go to the store at midnight and buy $140-worth of food.

And here I am now, sitting in the living room, listening to Bubba's terrible cough and stressing out about it. I haven't eaten anything yet because I'm going back and forth between nausea and hunger and it seems like so much of an effort and nothing sounds especially good.

I hate my life, oh my god I hate it so fucking much. I am trapped. I can't live like this and maintain my sanity. I can't check into a hospital because I can't leave Bubba in the care of my worthless husband. I can't kill myself because of the same reason. Fuck.

Don't feel like you have to comment. I know it's getting old.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know this might be full of assvice and you might just want me to shut up but in reading this, I had two thoughts:

1) It is time to leave your husband. Does your company offer EAP as one of the benefits? The offerfree legal advice so if they do, you could make an appointment and get all of your questions answered and have a legal plan to get out with custody.

As an aside, I was once in couple's counseling with a boyfriend (I know, we weren't even married!) and one thing I remember the counselor saying was when you start focusing on who didn't pay for what, when money becomes that much of an issue, the good will is gone. Even without the money, it sounds like the good will is gone from your marriage and there is really no coming back from that (in my opinion).

2) You did not fail Bubba - his teachers did! What you wrote infuriates me. In your parent teacher conferences, which you should demand to have, you should tell them how exactly you are trying to teach Bubba not to take his anger out on other kids but to go tell a teacher when he is wronged and that you watched him do that and that they just didn't do anything. I think knowing they are watched is a big deal, plus seeing how they failed him as a teacher might get it through to them that they need to do more than they are doing. Be blunt, be honest. If it doesn't improve, maybe time to check out the other places in town. They might be better even if yours is the premier one, you never know!

Anyway, I am sorry if this is all too "you should do this" and "you should do that" - I don't intend to be an ass but wanted to say something.

Cate said...

Ditto. Drop the dead weight and you will be much happier.

Melissa said...

I hate that you're hurting.
The teachers sound like dolts.
Sounds like you need to decide if it's better for you to be alone and happy or married and miserable.

Melissa said...

Sorry - I should have said "independant and happy" ;)

Melissa said...

To begin with, I don't think you're crazy. You do sound trapped, but that doesn't have to be permanent.

I agree with Meredith. It seems like it would be easier for you to be a single mom because essentially you are anyway. You're paying for most things, you're handling most of the childcare. To me it would feel worse to have a husband you can't count on than none at all. And I totally agree about the money--I actually don't get keeping money separate when you're married. Sorry if this is too harsh or blunt, but you deserve better.

And the daycare thing is outrageous. The teachers totally dropped the ball.

Please hang in there. What ever happened when you went back to see your psych by the way?

Anonymous said...

gives you a big hug....karmagirl.

Tingle said...

Oh man, the gas thing would have made me fuming with anger! Not only did you not have gas and had to get it, with Bubba waiting, but couldn't get the gas cap off!!!! GEEZ!

Having been a pre-school teacher, Bubba's day infuriates me! We were forbidden by the director to stand around and talk to each other. When she saw any of her teachers doing so, she had a talk with them about it and explained that parents were paying us to be present and paying attention to the children at all times.

You are right not to put up with it, and you would think that the teachers, knowing you're right upstairs and can see the playground at any time, would keep an extra special eye on Bubba!

I'm glad you're setting up a conference, you shuold bring this post (at least the part about the incident) because you said it quite well and I absolutely think your expectations are beyond reasonable for any daycare center worth their accreditation and $950 a month!

So, apparently the teachers think it's OK for another kid to push Bubba down if Bubba is sick? Yeah, that makes sense. Blame the victim, lovely.

I agree with Meredith - tell the teachers that you are trying to teach him to go to a teacher instead of going with vigilante justice. Maybe even throw in that if they don't respond to his needs, you're going to start teaching Bubba how to fight, kick, punch, and bite so he can defend himself since apparently the playground is run "Lord of the Flies" style.

Others comments are good - I like the idea that you can choose to be married and miserable or independent and happy - only IF being independent would make you happy. You'll need to decide that. At this point, I think you're right that you probably would be better off by yourself - besides, you're pretty much doing that now already!

Cass said...

I think it is good that you are getting other people's opinions. I tend to be a bit close to the situation. I have been friends with both you and J as long as you have been together, so it is hard for me to be objective enough. The more I think about the facts and that J has been seeming to get more and more distant and less respectful to you, you should get out of your situation. I hate to see you being treated the way that you are.

thrice said...

I'm sorry that I haven't been around sooner to offer support, but as you know I've been having similar crap of my own.

I don't know what to say. I don't know why these guys can't parent and it disgusts me. It's one thing to treat me like shit, but to treat my kids like shit? I have NO tolerance for that.

You asked me how I do it without getting desperate? I think it's a couple of reasons. I do it for my kids, because I grew up with a mother that ONLY thought about herself and I can't be anything like her. I do it, because I know that I am going to get out within the next year or two. Either I make it or I go the public assistance route, which would be so ridiculous, give my past earning ability, but wtf? I will not succumb to this asshole. And mainly, I make it, because I have a nanny who helps me get most of the grunt work done, including carrying home the grape juice that I can hide in my closet. And also, I try to focus in on the kids, I love them, I'm very lucky to have them and the truth is life could be much worse, like I could be stuck somewhere as a sex slave or something. Not to say that our lives don't suck right now, but try to find ONE thing that makes you happy every day. Do that and clear out your mind of all the clutter and build from there. If anything, don't let J. win. Do whatEVer motivates you.