Stumbling Block OR Stepping Stone???

Well, now that the parties are out of the way until Thanksgiving - I'll report on our latest and greatest news and headlines. We went on vacation last weekend and arrived at home in time for my latest check-up (which went well and the doctor said the baby and I are growing as expected - and we heard a strong heartbeat - due date remains steadily on February 5th).

Before leaving, we checked with Garrett's employment to make sure that our insurance (which was promised to start in July) was in order for November. The woman who is able to answer that question was out of the office, so we called the insurance headquarters and they had no knowledge of our having insurance at all. So we called the doctor's office to see what they wanted us to do. When I explained to the woman there the problems we'd had trying to get insurance with Garrett's work and how they had made us wait to sign up until our Medicaid ran out - which involved a month of no coverage so we could have a denial letter that would give us the "window" to sign up at Garrett's work - she told us to be prepared to have our insurance deny us coverage when the baby was born because of the lapse in coverage making us ineligible for any coverage from Medicaid or our insurance.

I, of course, being in a pregnant emotional state, fell apart after the phone call. I called our former Medicaid case worker who sent us to ACS - the billing unit for Medicaid - to see if that was true. Medicaid said that if you're eligible, you're covered, no matter what. So I went to the doctor's appointment. Garrett went back to work Wednesday, the day after the doctor's appointment, and explained the situation to his supervisor (who, by the way, has been fantastic to us). She said she didn't think that was case and checked with HR, who denied that there would be a problem. Garrett and I have a hard time believing all of this considering our problems in the past with the insurance. But it's left to wait and see...

Meanwhile, the nursing department met and decided that Garrett would need to take his 3rd semester exam again (which we knew) and the email said that he needs to take it with the current 3rd semester students. It also explained that he can request a list of objectives to study from.

In order to be ready to pass the test and continue in the 4th term program, Garrett and I feel that he will need to drop to part time status at his work. However, his supervisor told him Wednesday that part-time status was done away with and he has to continue full-time or go to per diem status. Per diem guarantees Garrett at least 1 shift per month. So, now we're in another debate over cutting to per diem, where he'd have to re-apply for employment and start over again - probably on nights - if he doesn't get into school. My whole being believes that he will get into school and we should go with our gut on this. But going thru the months on nights again where I feel like a single parent just doesn't sound fun at all.

So, for anyone that made it thru this lengthy synopsis on our lives, congrats - and please know that we are confident that things will work out for the best. It could be good to not be locked into part time hours when Garrett's back in school. It could be really good for me to drop back to not trying to put in so many hours of cleaning on top of being a full-time mom. The insurance thing could work out for the best. And if nothing works out - something else will and someday when we look back - I'm sure we're see divine intervention's hand in all this and be immensely grateful for how things went. Until then, we continue to take deep breaths and jump...