[OT] Rough week

This is way off-topic from my normal technical content, so you may just want to move along. It just doesn't feel right to write about technical content and pretend like real life doesn't exist.

We had a miscarriage this week. It was a lot harder than I would have thought in just about every way. We've got two healthy, happy children, so we can't say we're anything but blessed. We're sure that the third will come, when it's time. This wasn't the time.

Times like this show us how wonderful our family and friends are. We've been overwhelmed by the support of all kinds - kind words, prayer, taking care of our children, etc. I've always felt so much futility when trying to comfort others with nothing to offer but kind words, but this experience has showed me that kind words mean quite a bit.

I've gained a deeper understanding of how hard a miscarriage can be. I wrote, re-read and deleted several paragraphs on what we went through - the OB's requirement that we save the passed "tissue" so they could know if a D&C procedure was required, a frantic drive to the hospital emergency room when my wife was passing out from blood loss, the successful D&C last night, the dread I felt about breaking the news to our 5 year old daughter.

So, it's been a rough week but we've grown through it and we're ready to move on. I think this small tragedy will give us some insight in helping others in their times of need. We're reminded that life's uncertainty makes it that much more precious.

And if you haven't read about Scott's recent scare, I'd recommend it. Helps put life in perspective.

Now that all that's out of my system, we'll resume our normal nerd programming...