Disastrous Move

Today’s move…well, it was an unmitigated disaster. Suffice it to say that we are still not finished…I don’t even think half of the house was moved. I’m so exhausted, frustrated and angry about it that I cannot see straight.

The good news from the day…we worked out the commode issue with the hospital staff. It was one particular nurse who did not want to deal with it, but after I spoke to him at 3:30 am…I think he realized his attitude was a problem. Mom is definitely coming home on Friday. She seems to be doing well, but they have not identified the cause of her nausea/dizziness.

Our mover arrived late this morning…no real shock, since he is usually late, but I had asked him to be careful about time because I wanted everything finished by 7:00 for the children. He said “no problem.” He arrived at my parents’ house at 9:30 to pick up a few things, and then they headed straight for the rental house to unload. They were out of the house at 10:30, so I expected to see them at 10:45! We waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. It was 12:15 before they arrived at our Bethesda house. I was quite unhappy, but he assured me they would have everything finished.

I again reiterated the importance of being done tonight and early because of the children. By 1:30, they had the first load packed up, and we headed back to the rental house. The lead guy said he had to run a quick errand and he would meet us there. Unfortunately, that was the last time I saw him until after 7:00 pm, and the move went terribly wrong in his absence.

The guys unloaded the truck fairly quickly, and I did my best to quickly unpack as many boxes as possible. They were ready to head back to the house at 2:45. On our way back, they decided to stop for food. I made it home by 3:15, but did not see them again until after 4:00. Over the next 2 1/2 hours, things quickly deteriorated. I sent Micah up to the new house with Megan, and I realized they would never get everything finished.

They were packing up all the things I had asked to be left behind. I had spent HOURS sorting through hand-me downs and give aways, separating the clothes, and sorting maternity clothes for a friend who was pregnant…and they dumped everything together in one big box and put it on the truck! I was LIVID. They kept apologizing, but I was outraged at all the wasted time…both for them and for me.

All I know is that it took them 2 1/2 hours to pack up Micah’s room and our closet…one small closet, one big closet, and his furniture. I cannot for the life of me understand what took so long. It took them less than an hour to pack up twice as much stuff the first time around. In the midst of all of this, I was handling some other problems…mom’s equipment delivery. The hospital bed arrived…without the air mattress. The wrong commode was delivered, and the lift was incorrect. The other equipment was missing. We spoke to the social worker, and supposedly this will all be corrected in the morning. We’ll see – I don’t have a lot of faith in anyone getting these types of things right. We also learned that they were going to release her tomorrow, but later than we had hoped. There was a problem with her medicine prescriptions (thanks to Heather for telling me to check!) but we got that corrected.

At 6:30, they were ready to head back to the rental house. I was inside the Bethesda house, trying to nurse Maya, figure out what things I needed to take and how to get them in the car with the baby. I was overwhelmed. I sat in the house trying to gather myself for the next 20 minutes. I spoke to my parents and to Elliot, and I was so upset that it was so late and we were nowhere near finished. When I finally gathered myself, I realized that the guys had not even left with our stuff! They were still parked in the driveway. I yelled at them, went back inside to start pulling my things together, and then I left. I arrived at the new house around 7:00…and the truck was nowhere to be seen. It was nearly 8:00 before they arrived.

They quickly unloaded and left again, this time with Elliot to monitor the packing up at the house. Elliot also needed to head out to Gaithersburg to go pick up the ramps for our house, too. Since he was gone, I had to deal with putting two cranky children to bed. I went to Micah’s room, and I realized I had to unpack it first! I emptied 6 boxes while he watched Sesame Street. I made his bed, I hunted down his pajamas and medication, and I tried to make things perfect for him. Unfortunately, there was no way for Elliot to be back to put him to bed…and Micah much prefers Daddy at bedtime most nights.

My father showed up and kept Maya busy while I got Micah ready. He wailed and cried and hollered and screamed. I had to decide whether to let him stay up with me and wait for Elliot, or see if he could cry it out. I opted for crying it out…I hope it wasn’t too traumatic for him. He cried for about 45 minutes, on and off. Every time I thought he was quiet, he started again. A few times, I let him know I was here, but I thought that going back in to his room would just make it worse. My father left to go home sometime around 9:30 or 10, and Micah finally crashed. The baby intermittently slept and woke, too. Elliot got home around 12, and he still had to unload the car. I heard him setting up ramps, but I was asleep on the couch for a few hours, only waking to nurse and cuddle the baby a few times.

The movers never returned again last night. I have no idea if they finished packing up the house, or when/if they’ll show up with our things. We need our food and dishes, our offices, and our carpets. There is still an entertainment stand, 2 couches, an ottoman, and a glass table that need to come over, two more bathrooms that needed to be packed up, the kitchen, and we have to drive out to Germantown at some point to pick up a dining room table. I have a feeling a ton of stuff we were leaving behind is going to show up here, and somehow, the “important” things will be left behind.

I spoke to my mom a number of times today – she sounded better as the day continued. I know that Diane and Joey stopped by to visit, by I have no idea if she had any other visitors. I was a little caught up in the drama here.

All I know is that tomorrow I’m going to be racing against the clock by myself trying to unpack and put everything away here. I think Christin, our Friday babysitter, will be here to help with the children. My father and Elliot will have to go without me to go pick up my mother – I just don’t see how this house will be ready if I go, too. I’m frustrated – I wanted to be there to talk to the doctors, make sure everything was set correctly and say goodbye to everyone. I have a feeling a bunch of things will be a mess at check-out because I’m here. I am hoping that the health care company will drop off the rest of Mom’s equipment, and I’m hoping that the mover will show up with the rest of our stuff.

The only other good news today? Verizon delivered services as promised. We have working television, internet and phone service at the house. Elliot and I were able to port our home number to the rental house, so our contact information remains the same. My cell phone, however, is on the fritz…I cannot answer any calls right now. So, call me at home for now! I’m going to try to get back to sleep. My allergies are killing me…moving is not good for dust. We need to do a lot more cleaning in this house, too, but hopefully we can make it manageable for Mom by tomorrow.