Someone I read years go (Ayoob I think) suggested putting a glowstick attached to a house key (kept in your bedroom) that you could throw out the window for the police to pick up (after telling the dispatcher about it). He was envisioning a master bedroom on the second floor for an ideal situation but it could work anywhere there is a window. I think your instincts to not walk through the house unarmed were exactly right. Make the cops come to you, they are trained and paid to clearn houses.The bedroom window opens into our carport area near the backyard and the officer did visit the window to assure me it was the police outside before I opened the door.
You need to fix this. A bigger threat than intruders is fire and smoke, and you need ways to exit the house easily other than he front or back doors. Yes you can break the glass, but it is dangerous to do, and dangerous to crawl through a broken window. Even little shards can do you a lot of damage.Pretty much all of the windows in the house are either stuck or need a lot of force to open, and I have yet to crack the bedroom window open unfortunately. The only one that opens easily is the bathroom window and there's not an easy way for me to access it without giving away my location to an intruder.
Overall I think you did VERY well, tell hubby to stuff it.
