Family Feuds·
THE OVERWHELMED DAD
During a mother's collapse, a husband freezes as four kids crowd the bathroom, and a narrator's scathing outburst tests a fragile friendship and family dynamics.
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A mother collapsed in her bathroom while her husband stood frozen outside the door, unable to keep four small children from crowding the scene.
The family looked ordinary enough from the outside. The narrator's best friend and her husband had four kids, 8, 6, 4, and 3, and the husband was, by the friend's description, a "great dad when someone is there to help." But when he was alone with all four children, he "gets overwhelmed and freezes."
A few weeks ago, the friend came down with what everyone thought was a bad cold. The narrator brought dinner over. They all sat down to eat, trying to keep things normal. Then the friend got up to use the bathroom, and the 3-year-old followed her. A moment later, the little girl came running out yelling that her mom was "throwing up."
Everything happened at once. The children, the narrator, and the husband rushed to the bathroom. The narrator helped clean up while the husband fetched nausea medicine and a thermometer. The narrator told him to get the kids out of the bathroom so she could have some space. Once the room cleared, the narrator took the friend's temperature: almost 104.
The narrator went for Tylenol and water. By the time they came back, all the kids were in the bathroom again. Their dad could not keep them away.
The narrator gave the friend the Tylenol and water. Almost immediately, she vomited again, then passed out.
From there, the bathroom turned into a scramble. The narrator tried to get the friend into recovery position, keep the children out of the way, and call 911. Her husband just stood there. As the narrator got everyone out of the bathroom, he kept interrupting with questions: Should he call the nanny? Should they go to the hospital? What about the dishwasher? The sippy cups?
When the friend regained consciousness, the questions kept coming. What about bedtime? Pajamas? Screen time? Stories? The sound machine? Milk?
That was when the narrator snapped. She told him his wife could not hold his hand right now and he had to figure it out. Then she called him a "useless piece of shit."
Nearly a month later, he still acts "all pissy" whenever the narrator stops by. The friend says he'll get over it. The boyfriend says the narrator was "unnecessarily rude" and that the husband was "trying his best." The husband himself said he's not usually the one who deals with this.