Nurses

Yeah, so I'm supposed to blog after posts like that? Dude. I can't remember my parents' phone number right now (there is medical evidence that a pregnant woman's brain shrinks a little bit) but I'm supposed to write blogs that compare to my husband's? Whatevs (as my bff BMS would say).

So, the nurse from L&D at Mercy Anderson called yesterday to explain everything that is going to happen before, during and after the c-section. Although I truly appreciate the intention to help me feel more in control, honestly all the info she gave me made me feel totally OUT of control. I think ignorance would've been bliss in this situation. Oh well. My mantra has changed from "This too shall pass" to "Don't sweat the small stuff". Small stuff meaning: iv's, catheters, spinal taps (all I can think about is that weird movie Matt made me watch very early on in our dating days in high school), blood work. Stuff like that. Minor stuff, right? Right.

I'm sitting in bed right now, with the windows open listening to my wonderful mom help my 4 year old play basketball in the backyard. I continue to be amazed at how our parents have changed from parents to grandparents. I mean, MY mom helping Faith play basketball? I didn't even know what basketball was, and I'm being completely serious, until probably mid elementary school. Funny that, now that my family and I are such big XU bball fans. ANYway. I love to watch our parents being grandparents! They really just totally rock at it and our girls LOVE LOVE LOVE being with Grandma & Dawg and Grandma & Zayde.

Matt's last day at work is today (see below) and I am so so happy for that. A shout out to Batavia Local Schools for being so great about letting Matt have off to take care of me and the girls and eventually, the twins.

Ok. I really don't have much more to say right now. Later. Steph

More thoughts

Today, I woke up and turned off the alarm and drove to work for the last time as a father of 2. Today is my last day of work. Tomorrow begins what has been variously called my "paternity leave", my "sabbatical", my "tour of insanity" and my "slippery slope of sleeplessness". (Okay, nobody called it that last one - just seeing if I can extemporize with alliteration. Not bad, huh?)

I was going to post this thought Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, but might as well do it now...who knows if I'll have time then? It's funny that it has happened this way, it really changes how you perceive the event. When we really thought that things would be happening unexpectedly, all of a sudden, without warning, our focus was on making sure we had all the stuff we'd need for the hospital, who'd watch the girls, all the logistical stuff. Now we've had time to put that all in place, and instead we're faced with a series of 'last times' that we're going to do things before the twins come. Which is always the way things sink in with me. Don't know if I can explain this, but...the night before my wedding, people kept asking me if it felt weird that I was getting married tomorrow...and the answer was no. It didn't feel weird, I'd been planning it forever, there was no doubt or uncertainty about the decision or about my love for Steph. But that night, it DID feel weird to think that it was the last night I'd ever be single. Now what is the fundamental difference in those two points of view? They're basically the same fact with different phrasing. I don't know what the difference is, but I felt the same way about the birth of our first two children, and here I am again, approaching that moment when I will no longer NOT be a father of twins, in a family of 6.

I suppose it could be this: My entire reality, everything that is 'normal' to me, is one day going to be a whiff of nostalgia. I can kind of remember what life was like before Mari. I can barely remember what life was like before Faith. I have no idea what life was like before Steph. The life that I'm living is obviously real to me, and yet it's about to begin a slow fade into obscurity. I feel like I'm being watched by a future me who is shaking his head with a smirk, knowing all that is about to happen to me.

Whatever it is, it's deep stuff. And it makes it even harder than usual to concentrate on putting together a play for 2nd graders. God bless them, they're doing a great job, and I am doing my best to help them prepare, but I have to confess that just this once, I'm not feeling too terribly awful about the lines they haven't learned, and I'm not panicking about getting everyone to the right place on time. Thank God DP is here.

Anyway, should probably go mentally prepare myself for work. One more day.

Matt

The Couch

Matt said I need to post something. I said I didn't know what to say. He said I need to talk about how I feel. Hm. Yeah, I feel uncomfortable. Really, really uncomfortable. I can only sit for about 15 mins in any one position before I start to hurt somewhere. Lying down? Yeah, I can lay in the bed on my left side. It takes 10 mins to stop hurting once I lay down and then I can only lay for 15 mins before I start hurting again. But it does give my tail bone a rest for a few minutes.

However...there is ONE place that in my mind has rays of light shining down on it from Heaven. Really. And that is the couch in the family room of Matt's parents' house. For some reason, that is THE most comfortable couch ever made and I can sit on it and/or sleep on it for hours at a time and not hurt as much. Sigh. We had to spend the night there for 3 nights (see below) and I ended up sleeping on the couch b/c the guest rm. bed wasn't working for me. Sigh. It totally rocked and I actually got a few 4 hr stretches of sleep at night. It was truly amazing.

So anyway, two more days and Matt gets to start being home with us. There are few things that we benefit from as teachers. Having a huge summer vacation and having holidays off are obvious benefits. But accumulating sick days, and getting to roll over those sick days if you move from one public school to another within the same state is one of the big ones. Matt has like 400 sick days and Batavia is being very generous and letting Matt take a bunch for this whole adventure. Man am I grateful for that!

Since I'm on a gratitude kick, I'm also grateful for Matt's parents who have taken over much of the care of the girls for me when Matt can't be here. I feel bad because they are increasing their naps for sure -- a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old are a lot of work! A huge shot of gratitude also goes out to my wonderful mom who continues to cook for us, clean for us AND entertain the girls for us! Heck, my sister freakin' put away and organized the boxes of pantry stuff in the kitchen that we still hadn't gotten around to. We are very lucky!!!

So, the next week or so will be filled with lots of preparations for sure! We'll do our best to keep posting here and there (we have no idea if anyone is even reading this...) if we have anything interesting to say!

Steph

Endgame

Well, the end is finally in sight. If nothing else happens, the pregnancy will end on Wednesday, May 7. A mixed blessing to be sure - glad that there is no more 'indefinite timetable for withdrawal' if you will, but still bummed and burdened by what seems like 8 days on a geologic scale. Steph says she actually had some contractions during the non-stress test, but the nurse, as she put it, "Was not impressed." Great quote.

A.S. and Ma were kind enough to do some major cleaning and straightening up on the house in our absence while the plumbing work was being done (all finished by the way, with only 5-6 holes in the wall and ceiling to speak of) - thanks for that, guys...we would have put the kitchen away eventually, I promise!!!

Meanwhile, work gets harder and harder. My mind is a million places, and none of them are on work. The 2 1/2 days and 1 program I still need to put my effort into this week are like big blank spots in my mind...or a huge "S.E.P." field for you Hitchhiker's Guide fans. I feel blessed, however, that my request to just start my leave this Friday has been approved. So once that curtain drops, I am bolting. It'll give me 5 days to put everything in some semblance of an order. "Bows and arrows against the lightning" indeed. One thing's for sure. I will imbibe on Thursday night.

More later,
Matt

"Water Damage" - cool name for a band

Okay, so Saturday was Faith's birthday party. Went really well. Faith was good, she let Mari and her other friends help her open presents, she shared her new toys that she opened, really as well as you can expect a 4-yr old's birthday party to go.

Then we get the call that while U.G. was working on installing our new dishwasher, there was a problem. A "Houston we have a problem" kind of problem. Except instead of venting oxygen into space, our house was now venting water through our basement ceiling.

So in the space of 10 minutes, I go from the role of dad helping police the kids with the new toys to that of helpless homeowner watching a bigger and bigger hole being cut in the basement ceiling, and watching a respectable amount of water cascade down into strategically placed buckets.

With U.G. unable to isolate the problem, we were left with no choice but to pack up the overnight stuff and crash at mom and dad's - the water had to be shut off.

So here I am, the morning after, wondering if things could get any weirder or any more stressful. In the midst of what is now a plumbing crisis at home, tomorrow Steph has her next round of tests, and I have my first program of the week at work.

My philosophical thought on all this is: Here we are with our amazing technology, our modern houses, our feeling of control over our environment...and yet something as simple and innocuous as water can disrupt our plans and damage our homes.

More as it becomes available...

Another night of nothing

Friday morning - I'm up early as usual. It takes a lot of time these days for me to mentally prep myself for going in to work. It's really pretty hard to leave here every morning - I know how tough it is for Steph to get through a day, I know she's going stir-crazy, I know how hard it can be to care for the girls even for a couple hours before help shows up, I know it all and yet somehow I still have to just drive away to my job every morning. I feel like I'm doing a decent job of staying focused once I get to work, but getting started is becoming more and more difficult. And I also like to have things planned a week in advance anyway, but these days I just can't make myself think that far ahead, so I'm moving day to day. Which for me makes every morning a little like Monday morning.

And aside from that, I also think it's draining for the average person to spend an extended period of time in 'life-changing event mode'. I've thought for a long time that most people (self included) are not wired to be open and attuned to profound revelations or transcendent truth for our entire lives. It's a blessing most of us can only hope to experience a handful of times, and the euphoria that accompanies it isn't something we can maintain for long.

So here I am, totally preparing myself for this incredible event that is going to happen to us for the last time. I'm trying to be tuned in, I'm trying to be totally aware, so that I can take it in for what will be our final time down this road. And when the contractions started last Sunday night, we both really thought that this was it, and we were ready, we were in the right place. And now it's almost 2 weeks later and I'm desperately trying to keep myself open to the magic of it all, but the longer it goes on the harder it is to not fall back into the daily grind of work. I don't want to have this happen and have me not be able to be fully present. So the only way I can do it is to continue to think of work as the 'other' and my home life as my true reality. I said to someone the other day that right now, I feel more at home in the doctor's office and at the hospital than I do at work. So I guess I'm doing my best.

So, I continue. I find the best balance I can - being a professional and doing my best job at work, but still managing to keep my mind and soul prepared for the coming changes.

Enough blathering. Off to work I go.

Matt

Hello coworkers

Nothing new at home, but today I went ahead and gave the blog address out at work, so people there could check in on things without me sending a bunch of unsolicited emails. Hey all yall. Post a comment, leave a note. Oh, and Mrs. K, I'll definitely come up with something for making the first row more visible. =)

Meanwhile, we've moved to the point now where whenever Steph calls me on my cellphone, the first thing she has to say is "Nothing's happening" so that I don't get my hopes up.

Gotta run, might post more later. Thanks for stopping in.

Matt

Bed"rest"

It's weird to think that the last time Matt posted before today, I wasn't even pregnant yet! Wow. Rollercoaster doesn't even begin to say what all has gone on since then! I'll give what I'd call the "Matt Version" (meaning: less is more):

End of Aug -- started school, got pregnant
Early Sept -- put our condo on the real estate market
Mid Sept -- found out we were expecting twins!
Immediately -- lowered the price on our condo
Early Jan -- found out we are expecting a girl and a boy
Always -- Steph's belly grows exponentially
Always -- we do what we can to help Steph's family get the "new" house ready
Late March -- we move in to the "new" house (Steph is 32 wks pregnant)
Thurs. April 10 -- Steph is admitted to hospital due to low amniotic fluid, sent home next day and is put on modified bedrest
Mon. April 14 -- Steph is admitted to hospital due to irregular, but strong contractions -- it is too early for the babies to be born at their most healthy, so Steph is sent home on a drug to keep the contractions away.
Now -- the contraction drug is finished and the babies are sitting tight for the time being

Revamping the Blog

Well, this thing has sat idle for most of a year. It's time to put some new life into it...literally.

The twins are coming soon! And even though "Matt and Steph Plus Four" doesn't have any kind of a ring to it, we know there might be some people who might get a little perverse enjoyment out of seeing us stumble over ourselves while we frantically try to keep our heads above water raising two dramatic daughters as well as newborn twins. After all, no matter how bad that wreck on the highway, some people just can't look away.

So we'll be re-imagining this blog as a "Life with twins" look-in - and we'll try to update more than every 8 months now.

And when will this insanity begin? Well, no more than 2 weeks from now, but hopefully sooner. Check back for updates on that as well.

Of course, for a wonderful look back to a simpler time, feel free to dig back through the archive for the 2007 Road Trip posts. How easy things were back then...

More soon,
Matt

The worst time of year for teachers...

At least for ME, is the last week. The beginning of work is looming there on the horizon. I've sat down and done all the planning I can reasonably do. And now my mind fluctuates between thinking that I should be doing more work to prepare, and thinking that I should be enjoying my last days of freedom more. This sort of LIMBO is worse for me than the first morning - at least then I can use a defiant confidence to turn my anxiousness towards positive action - the unknown becomes real and I can face it head-on. But now, if I get myself worked up, I have nowhere to send that energy.

What usually ends up happening is that I end up rehearsing my first lessons over and over again because I manage to convince myself that I'm not as prepared as I think I am.

Of course anyone who doesn't know any better thinks that it sounds like I dread going back, and that's not it. I do love my job, but as a good friend once said, "If it was fun every day, they wouldn't call it work." And for someone with a natural tendency to laziness like myself, just getting used to having a schedule again is a stressful event.

At the end of the day, I find solace and joy in several things. 1) I've spent enough summers searching for a job to know that I'd much rather be going back to work than not having work to go back to. 2) I'll never again have to face the fear and stress of the real, actual first day of the first year of teaching. This is NOTHING compared to that. 3) My job, once I get back into the flow of it, is really a lot of fun. I am going to make a concerted effort to focus on the good students, the fun ones, and not stress so much about the headache brigade this year.

That's all for now. More later as I think of it.