Scream's post made lots of sense I thought :) My father is in a very similar situation Biscuits. He works in finance, with companies that are struggling and going under (think about how many are in the news at the moment; you don't hear about the struggles that go on behind the scenes to try and stop them going into administration - and just how many are in that situation!). He's often in a position where he's made director of a company (or a branch of a company), and has to try to sell off bits of the business, avoid making people redundant etc - and at crunch time in these projects, taking days off for him is almost impossible too, as a day could mean jobs lost, shops or branches of businesses can't be sold etc. He's normally the project leader, in a high position of power, and is the director of his own business, although he does now have a team that work below him and can sometimes help share some of the responsibilities (with no where near as enough experience).
He just had to take days off - or days when he did less work (all on the phone while travelling etc) when his father was dying. Similarly, he was working in the same roles when my youngest brother was born - my mother had pre-eclampsia and was in hospital for some time, and he was pretty premature. I didn't realise at the time, but he tried his best to rejuggle responsibilities so he was in the country (working with some companies abroad at the time), and although my grandmothers came and stayed with my brother and I to look after us for a week at a time, he still managed to be home to see my mother most nights.
I know your DH's circumstances will be different, but it sounds similar in many ways (senior in a company, taking on projects and responsibility etc). There are ways around these things, and as Scream says, life and health has to take priority in the end!
Thanks for the well wishes. I feel incredibly guilty taking time off of work, but I'd rather take one day off now than completely collapse the week before half term. Managed to return to bed until midday, but have had to vacate due to aching hips! The two cats are keeping a watchful eye on me - interesting how pets' become concerned, and very sweet!
Didn't sleep any better either (probably one of the reasons I'm home, rather than playing fun pieces with my favourite recorder group right now!). I don't think I'll mind so much when I'm not working - it's not so much of an issue during the weekends - it's when I get progressively more tired during the working week that it really gets to me.
Thanks for the house hunting advice Too. I think one of the key problems is compromise, too. The house we really like at the moment has a couple of key flaws, which we could resolve over time... but it's still one room niggling away at us! I think we've been spoilt by the lovely place we're renting now (that fails to meet one of the key things we want in a new property - a downstairs cloakroom, or the ability to add one - which is why we're not considering staying here). Think we'll be having a second viewing on this house in the next couple of days to contemplate it further...
Got our mortgage in principal details through the post today though, so at least we've been approved up to beyond the limit we wanted to spend - hurrah!