Codell: So glad this threads turned positive so quickly. I'm not a praying man, but I'll pray for the health of the Mrs. and the little one. 4lbs is good. 32 weeks is good. Fingers crossed and wishing you the best.
Update (rant about HMOs): Good news is, the wife is pretty much stable and off the MS. The Drs tell us yesterday that she can come home today or tomorrow but that she would need to bring home some monitoring equipment so she can keep an eye on her contractions (she is still having them but they arent real severe). Shell be on VERY strict bedrest (on her back for the rest of the duration). So the Dr. calls my HMO to get approval for this equipment, since it will cost a couple of hundred bucks a day to rent (so to speak). The HMO refuses to approve it at this time. They said that we need to bring her to some kind of "special OB" that has to examine her and deem the equipment necessary. The only problem is, there are only a couple of these "special OBs" in town and they are all down in the med center (wife is at Methodist Willowbrook). Obviously, with her condition and the weather situation, its not a good day to bring her down there, so we decide to wait till later in the week. Not so fast the HMO says. Seeing as how the Dr. said that she could be discharged as long as she goes home with the equipment, the HMO says they will no longer pay hospitilazation costs after today. FRICK!@!!!@@!! So I call them and explain what a Hurricane is to them and the fact that its not good for her to be sitting in a car for an hour (the time it will take to get her from Methodist to the med center). The Catch 22 is, the Dr. will not let her go home without the equipment. So it looks like I am going to pay it myself. Mother*******. I pay these guys thousands of dollars a year in insurance. If anyone of these claims administrators had half a brain between them, they would realize they are saving a ton of money by letting her go home. Instead, they want to **** with me and make things difficult by making her go to a "special OB" in the middidle of a hurricane when the one she has now is perfectly capable of evaluating her condition, seeing as how his practice is one of the largest in Houston and he has been in the business for almost 30 years. Greedy mother scratchers.
Sorry I haven't chimed in with well wishes til now. (Hurt my back. long story) Hope you, the wife, and Houston's newest Rockets fan are doing well. Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Sorry 'bout the HMO red tape. That sux.
Good luck with everything, Codell. It is sounding like the outcome will be positive. Did George Costanza steal the name Soda from "The Outsiders" and the character named Soda Pop? Sure you don't want to name him Jack Daniels? He will be too cool for school then.
