Worrying

I don't know. I guess I'm being a worrywart, and I so do not want to turn into that horrid friend/relative who bosses the new family around without having a clue and will not freaking go home, so this is probably the only place I'll ever actually say it aloud. But, I am worried.

I think Metro U. is jerking around Caroline and Mr. Caroline. While Caroline isn't the most communicative person on the planet (she's basically a female Mr. Samoa in that regard), what I am getting from her is that they are not giving straight answers as to when she will be able to take Saskia home. They are also, at least to my jaundiced eye, acting like the baby belongs to the hospital and they are ever so magnanimously deigning to let Caroline and Mr. Caroline have her. They're making her take a "discharge class" that goes over things like baby CPR and baby care and stuff. While I can see the value of training infant CPR, why the hell do people need a baby care seminar? If they're like most new moms, that's all they've been studying for nine months! Moreover, if it were me, you would NOT be placing conditions on how I can take MY child home and care for MY CHILD unless there are concrete health and safety issues. And if there are, you would be getting a warrant allowing you to place these conditions. Otherwise, it would not be happening. I gave Caroline a very watered-down response version of the above, and she said, "Oh, well, they just strongly recommend it, you don't have to." "Good", I thought. "Because what would be getting discharged would be my Mag-Lite, upside their skulls, if they dared tell ME what to do."

Moreover, we were talking, and she said, "..blah blah they let me change her diaper today." Whoa whoa whoa. What do you MEAN let? This is HER child. SHE lets THEM do things, not the other way around. Oh, and did I mention they're not giving straight answers?

I wouldn't be so worried, but neither Caroline nor Mr. Caroline are very aggressive people, and I don't want them to get taken for a ride or pushed around because they don't know they can stand up for themselves, you know? The more I think about this, the more I think that I will handle it thusly. I will say something gentle like, "You know, this is your child, and you can make whatever decisions you wish. You are in charge." or something to that effect. I feel, upon contemplation, that she doesn't yet realize that she is basically God in terms of advocating for this child and she and Mr. C make the decisions; not me, not the hospital, not anyone else. Perhaps helping her realize that is what I am supposed to do in the end.