The point of the pregnant sister?

One of the drawbacks of this film was that it tried to encompass too many social issues. So the characters represented just about every kind of person: the rebel, the gay, the deaf, the black (within an otherwise white family), the bitch, the beauty, etc. Susannah was the one completely normal one of the bunch, and they had to have one of those. Additionally, she provided the means for introducing a child into the mix.

Yes the movie covers all the token people, but one of the movie's major plot points was life and death (circle of life)... Susannah brought the means for Sybil to have known a grandchild (with another on the way). The scene where Susannah goes into Sybil's room and lays next to her... there are three generations involved in that one scene... She is holding her dying mother while 'holding' her unborn child. Her character is so subtle, and Reaser does an awesome job bringing the character to the movie and making her believable. Her character the most 'traditional' of the Stone children; Thad was living a neo-traditional life; him and Patrick were in a committed relationship and starting a family, but in the 'traditional' sense Susannah was the character to bring that aspect to the film. Susannah also has the scene with Mr. Stone while she is watching the movie; it brought the heart into the movie. Susannah might not have been most important character in the movie, but she was necessary.

I must have missed something--where was her husband? Were they separated or was he in the military or what?