Friday, February 04, 2011

Award-Winning Man (stay or go? give your opinion)

I'm proud of my husband. :)
He's a hard worker, and he is being recognized by that at work.

The company he works for recognizes employees quarterly and annually, per region, for "MVP" employee. Co-workers, bosses, etc have to nominate & vote for you.

Patrick won the final quarterly for 2010, and it was recently announced he won the annual for his position/region. Go Pat!!
Seriously, I am very proud of him.
What's even nicer is that his boss's boss, when giving a little speech about him, acknowledged that he is responsible for more markets than his counter-parts, went through a job release/rehire when no one else did, AND completed his MBA.

Kudos, Pat.
It's nice to know others see what we see in him.

So here is where we need your opinion.
Winning the annual MVP means he won a trip to Puerto Rico (for 2) at the end of March.
However, it's not a free-for-all trip.
It's with the other employees who won, from many different states (he doubts he's even know anyone else). It's booked well in advance die to the large # of people (over 100), as well as there certainly IS free time, but there are banquets and work obligations, too.

The timing can't be changed because it's not a trip for JUST him.
The timing...falls 4 weeks after I am due.

Recovery-wise, I've never been fortunate to recover well quickly.
Each post-partum period has results in 2 UTIs for me with high fevers, along with the obvious soreness and trouble sitting, etc,.
Obviously if I wind up having to have a c-section (please God, no!), he'd stay home.

But this is 4, hopefully 5 weeks after delivering.
I will do my part to heal as quickly as possible physically.

I feel he should go. I am not going to go w/ him and bring a newborn on an airplane, to a different climate, germ central, etc. (and who wears a swimsuit 4 weeks after having a baby? Other than celebs?!)

I feel he earned the acknowledgement.
He deserves the trip, the nice hotel, etc.
Most of all, I feel he should go because this would offer him the opportunity to meet some higher-people in the company he would never otherwise cross paths with. Career-wise, it could be a good move for him.
I don't think he'd get frowned upon for not going, but if he wound up staying with this company longer in his career, this could be quite beneficial.

Do I want to be home alone w/ the boys & newborn by myself for 5 days? Of course not.
Yeah, it makes me nervous. But it IS doable. I can plan for rides for Aidan to & from school, I can have a sitter on standby if I need to nap, I can use only paper plates/cups to avoid the clean-up work.
We could make it work.
And who knows, maybe this baby will be a good baby, good sleeper, etc.

I so appreciate Pat's hesitation.
I can see why he'd stay.
I don't know that me wimping out of being alone w/ all 3 at that time are good reason for him to not go, though.

What do you all think?
If it was your spouse, you having your 3rd around 4 weeks before the trip, what would you do?

2 comments:

Kasia said...

We just had our third 2 weeks ago and my husband was gone for 4 days this past week. It was tough. And he's leaving when the baby will be 4 weeks old, for 9 days! ugh! Not looking forward to that.

That being said, I would ask my pediatrician, who we love and trust, what she thinks of Puerto Rico, and then I'd try to go with him!!!

But if your recovery is so awful, maybe not. I can recommend a few things to make it go better...

Vicki aka Diva Mom said...

No way I'd expose my newborn to a plane. They are flying petri dishes.

Dan had to perform at a jazz festival 9 days after Christopher was born and was gone for 4 days. Since C was my first and I could literally just lie in bed with him (after an emergency C) no problem (plus we needed the income).

But a vacation? With a 4 week old at home and 2 older brothers and no immediate family in town to help? No way Dan makes it to the airport ALIVE! LOL!