Big vent here!
I'm so frustrated with the military. For those of you who aren't military, or do not have any experience with the military, just let me explain it to you this way: my life is essentially run by the U.S. government. Enough said!!
Our due date is 7 approx. 8 weeks from the date we are supposed to move from this base. In order to get that date changed, we had to apply for a curtailment, which is a fancy word for "move my moving date forward, please!". It is tough to get these approved...the military is all about extending people and making them stay places longer, but they don't like moving people early. Hey, it isn't like I'm making this up or don't have a good excuse! I'M PREGNANT!!!!
So we "submitted" the paperwork necessary for this 3 weeks ago. It is still sitting in the office we submitted it to!!! It is supposed to go "up the chain of command", getting signed by every commander/general/or anyone important. It first sat there because THERE WAS A FREAKIN' COMMA IN THE WRONG PLACE ON THE FORM. Can you believe that? I was unaware that the United States Military actually was also the Grammar Police. Then it was sent back to my husband because one office said that he needed to submit it to another office (loooooong story there). Now it's been sitting in the office for 2 weeks without them even telling us because they were waiting on a form from me THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT. Apparently I needed a justification form from OB stating that I wasn't allowed to fly 6 weeks before or 6 weeks after my due date. Unfortunately the 6 weeks after puts me at the end of November...a good 2 weeks before our actual date we are supposed to move.
Now let me explain what could happen if they deny this application and we are stuck here through the end of the year. On the date of birth (hopefully close to October 14th), my husband will have to frantically run around the hospital and complete all the paperwork. Then he'll have to run around the base and do the same thing. Then he'll have to drive 30 minutes to a town that is the closest town that does the British birth certificates, which is apparently part of the American passport/birth certificate process (since the baby was born here). Then he has to go to the Royal Post Office and send all the info (including OUR passports) down to the U.S. Embassy in London. Once it is received in London, it takes approximately 5 weeks to process, and then it will be mailed back to us. Once we receive it back, we will have to amend my husband's military orders to show that the baby is now "official", then we will be able to apply for the movers to come, schedule that day, sell the cars, schedule flights, schedule the dog and cat to hopefully be on our flight, and officially LEAVE this base.
We have approximately 8 weeks to do all of this. That is, IF I give birth ON MY FREAKIN' DUE DATE. Considering my husband was actually two weeks LATE, I'm freaked that I'll go towards the end of October and then we'll really be screwed. Ugh.
Wanna know how emotional and homesick I am? I watched an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" last night. We are finally getting the new episodes over here on our British satellite television channels, so this was one that probably aired last fall. Anyway, I knew the minute the first showed the landscape that it was the Rocky Mountains, and was probably the state of Colorado, which is where we moved from. The bus took a drive through Garden of the Gods park, which is this phenomenal park with these beautiful red rock formations that sits right to the west of Colorado Springs. I started to cry!!!! I don't want to be here anymore, I can't stand living here, and I'm so sick of dealing with anti-American sentiment from my co-workers and the British people around our housing area (we are regularly vandalized and robbed). And to see the Colorado Springs landscape, I just started to bawl. I so desperately want to go back there, it actually hurts me to think about it.
I'm seriously a sad loser right now.
