It has been an interesting couple of days. My Dad always says "May you lead an interesting life." I'm still not sure if it is a curse or a blessing.
I'm trying to remember where I left off, I should have read up before I started this...
Jordan had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night because she was not breathing well. Kari woke me up in California, I called in to scheduling and they got me on the next flight home, I got to the hospital and sent Kari home, before Kari got home the doc said that Jordan was good to go home, and I will pick up there.
That was a long night. The night nanny had stayed all night when Jordan went to the hospital and then all the next day to help out. Kari had been up since 5:30 the previous morning and had been up for a total of 42 hours by the time I got her to go to bed. (She doesn't like being told what to do. Even if it makes sense.) Hilda had been up all night and all day. And so with my two hours of sleep I was the most rested and got to stay up with the twins.
Fortunately, the twins were fantastic. With the nebulizer treatment they were both able to breath well for the first time in a least two weeks and they slept like... well, they slept like babies. They both slept from about 1a.m. till about 7:30 a.m. I think I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Now if I could have kept Rylee in bed it would have been a very peaceful evening. Normally I would have stayed up all night, but I knew that I wasn't going to be able to pull that off. I got about 20 minutes of sleep around 11 p.m. and about three hours between 4:00 and 7:00.
Kari got a good solid 13 hours of sleep and was raring to go around 9:45 a.m. so I went to take a nap. I got another 3 hours and even got a shower before I emerged from the bedroom. I have found that once the kids see me, a shower is pretty much out of the question. So I was feeling quite refreshed and pretty upbeat as I emerged from my lair. That is until I found my wife in tears.
Somewhere between the time I got out of bed and got out of the shower the power was shut off and Kari had just spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with the power company, trying to explain that this was a mistake and we have premature kids and have to have power to run their monitors and nebulizer. She got no sympathy there and was very worried. So the good folks at Reliant Energy and Centerpoint Energy were the inspiration for the title of this post.
I do have to admit that we are partially to blame for the situation. Here is my defensive gripe mode. Last month we didn't get a bill from the power company and didn't pay. This month Kari made a payment, but for some reason they didn't get it. So not getting any payments for two months they turned off our power. I thought that we would have at least gotten a notice or a phone call before the shut us off, but the first clue that we had that something was amiss was no lights. So we made the payment and told them that we really needed to have the power back on as soon as possible. "Well it could take up to 48 hours."
"WHAT? That is not acceptable." We ran through the special needs of our children, explained that we just brought one home from the hospital and needed power to give her the medication that was making it possible for her to breath. It was like talking to a brick wall. I called several times, spoke to supervisors, Kari tried tears, and nothing worked. I is very frustrating to hear "We are very sorry" yet hear not an ounce of compassion. Merry Christmas you RAT B@#$@!DS! Sorry about the language, but I was quite put out.
So after resigning myself to the fact that the power was not going to be back on that day I got out the phone book to look for a hotel. (Which I can't afford to do.) So now I am force to call good ol' Papa again for more financial help. And I know that he wants to help and would never make me feel guilty about taking his money, but I find it very difficult to do. I kind of thought that I would be able to take care of myself by now. Know what I mean?
I needed a hotel, I guess. As I am flipping through the yellow pages with a flashlight, Rylee is screaming at the top of her lungs, Reagan is screaming at the top of her lungs, and Kari is on the verge of tears. I was not in the best humor either. I was having trouble finding a hotel close by from just looking at the addresses. I sure was missing my internet connection. So I called Chad, who has an internet connection, and that still turned out to be difficult. While Chad was searching I called the 800 number for Holiday Inn Express and got a room. Sorry Chad, for making you jump through all those hoops and then finding one on my own. I do appreciate the effort.
So I got a hotel room and started making a list of all the things that I would need to take with me. Apnea monitors, nebulizer, medication, formula, changes of clothes, blankets, burp cloths, stroller, car seats, bottles, diapers, wipes, ect. And as I was going through all this and mentally picturing how I am going to get all this and the kids from the car to the hotel room I thought, "This is stupid." I am pretty good about carrying a whole bunch of stuff and two kids, heck we have traveled with two before, but this was looking a little overwhelming. So I told Kari that I was going next door with my extension cord and a child, to help with the sympathy, to ask for a little help. We ran a cord through the front window and hooked up the medical equipment. That done I thought that I should cancel my hotel reservation. Here is how that went:
"Holliday Inn Express, how can we help you?"
"My name is Donald Spencer and I need to cancel my reservation." I said.
"Well, it is after 6 p.m. and we can't cancel your reservation after six."
AAAARGH!
"I just made that reservation less than 30 minutes ago." I said through clenched teeth. I really might lose it here.
"Well, it is after six." This is the same lady who couldn't tell me how to get to the hotel because she relies of public transportation and that her goal next year is to get her drivers license.
"(Sigh!) I just made the reservation and now I am not going to need it. Please cancel my reservation."
"Well, I'm not supposed to do that, but I guess that I could this time. In the future you will have to cancel your reservation before six."
"Ok, Thank you." I hung up before she could tell me about any more of her goals for the new year.
I can feel my blood pressure going up just typing this.
We decided to make the best of things and pretend that we were camping. So after hitting up another neighbor for some freezer space, I ran to the store for some ice and packed the rest of the fridge into the coolers. Well, actually Kari finished packing the coolers. We were rubbing each other the wrong way. I do believe that she thought that I was intentionally trying to irritate her, when it was really the other way around. However, by the end of the night we had made up and were all lovey dovey again. I cooked up some steaks, when you lose power you should eat the most expensive things first, right? We forgot about the ice cream, I can't believe it. If ever there was a time for gorging yourself on ice cream that was it. Boy, did we blow it. Well, next time.
This morning I made coffee on the grill. I was a little proud of my ingenuity. Hilda used the rest of the steak to make tacos for brunch and we all made the best of things. The power was back on by about 1 p.m. and that lifted all of our spirits.
Reflections:
Things that make it all worth it:
Like Rylee and Reagan helping me put up the Christmas lights in the front. Those little feet padding around behind me. The look of wonder in their big round eyes gazing at all those sparkling lights.
Like Rylee coming down and sitting on the couch with me at midnight, snuggling up next to me and whispering in my ear. I couldn't understand what she said, but she thought it was really funny when I blew in her ear and even funnier when I giggled when she blew in mine.
Like when my wife came up behind me this evening and put her chin on my head to read what I was typing. And the smile she gets when I tell her about the funny things that our kids have done.
Like when Madison smiles up at you when you are feeding her and milk runs out of the sides of her mouth.
Now I realize that I am really tired, but I don't want to go to bed yet. As wonderful as those kids are, it is really nice to have some time awake without them needing something. And we don't get to much of that. I also realize that I have not showered in almost two days. And sometimes you are just too tired to care. Even if you have been vomited on (Jordan) and had chicken flatus dumped down your shirt (Reagan) and snot smeared on your neck (Rylee).