Chaotic

As my pregnancy draws to a close, there's so much going on to prepare for the baby. We move out of my parents' house and into a duplex. We begin cleaning out everything making room for all the baby stuff. We would send Mission Arlington out of here with loaded trucks. Getting rid of all of my 'STUFF' and then some. Clothes, toys, books, more clothes, furniture, etc.

Joel's behavior at school seemed to get worse this school year. We felt like most of it was due to the anticipation of the baby's arrival. We prepared Joel the best we could for when I would go into the hospital. Told him he would be sleeping at Sherry's house, which he loved. Told him that I was going to stay in the hospital and the doctor would get the baby out of my belly so we could see her and she could grow up and play with us when she got older. I even had my mom take him to the hospital when I was in the doctor's office once. I wanted him to feel as much a part of this as possible. He was with me during my anatomy sonogram. He 'helped' me pick out a name. I stopped working the day before I was to go into the hospital for my C-section. I had my doctor's appointment in the morning and then my pre-op in the early afternoon. I was then going to be going to get Joel and take some pictures with just the two of us. I went to get gas after my afternoon appointment and saw several missed calls from Josh. I called him back and did not get an answer. I didn't think anything was wrong so I just figured he was working and couldn't get to his phone. I was passing by my nephew's Speech Therapy place and saw my sister's van there. I stopped in to check and make sure she didn't have Joel with her before I made the trip up to the school. I walked in and she looked at me weird. I thought it was because she wasn't expecting me. It was that and more. She asked me if I had Jim's number. (It wasn't that strange for her to ask since they are in the same TLC group and he was Josh's boss.) I said no but I bet Josh does, and started to call him. She told me not to call him. So I shrugged my shoulders. Okay, I said, as we left. While in the parking lot she turned to me and gave me her lecturing older sister look so I braced myself. Who knew what she was going to say this time. She said 'don't freak out, Josh was in an accident. All I know is that his truck rolled and they're taking him to Parkland.' um...I'm 9 months pregnant, you're telling me not to freak out and that my husband was in an accident...and you have no details. hello! crazy pregnant woman is picturing the worst right now! I was picturing his truck flipping over kind of rolling! So, I went into panic mode. How am I going to do this? I even thought about cancelling the C-section. My sister sent me to her house while she went to get Joel from school. I sat there in complete panic mode while I waited. While waiting I called my best friend, Tori and told her what was going on. In the meantime I got a call from Josh's dad, who was up at the hospital with him. I talked to Josh, who was obviously on pain killers. I found out that Josh was fine so that helped me relax a little. I waited for Sherry to get home and she took me up to the hospital to get Josh. When we arrived we saw a few of the guys from Josh's work. I really appreciated seeing them. I know Josh did too. My sister went in first to check things out and make sure it wouldn't send me into labor. She then came out and sent me in. I spoke with the doctor briefly and they released him so he wouldn't have to miss his daughter's birth. He was released on crutches and couldn't put any weight on his leg. Eventually we all got out of the hospital and home. When home I had to take care of Josh, Joel, and myself. I still had a to do list a mile long. I had to pack for the hospital, get Joel packed, arrange for transportation to the hospital the next day, I also wanted to get the house cleaned. That didn't happen. So, the point of this little tangent is to describe the circumstances surrounding our home when the baby was born.

The next morning it took Josh 30 minutes to get into the van. When we dropped Joel off we just left him in the van and walked him in. Once we got to the hospital he leaned against a wall for a while until it was my turn to have my baby. (I had to wait for the doctor to deliver twins). When it was time for me to go to the OR and for Josh to get his scrubs on for the OR a nurse had to come in and dress him. Then they had to find a wheelchair for him to sit in during the surgery.

Later that day/night Sherry brought Joel in to visit me at the hospital. He was very excited to see his mommy, though the IV and stuff freaked him out a little, and daddy, and he really wanted to meet his baby sister. That's when their love affair started. I can still see his face and his smile. He was so excited to see her! Makes me tear up to this day.

When we got home I had a lot to deal with. Josh still wasn't able to walk so I had to take care of him, Joel, Addison, and myself. Luckily Tori and Catherine had come over to clean the house up a little bit for me. THANK YOU!

For the first week Sherry would come over in the evening and pick him up and take him to her house to sleep. Then in the morning she would bring him to school and in the afternoon take him to our house for us to spend a few hours together. Neither Josh nor myself were able to drive. I did eventually wean myself off my medication by the end of the week so I could take us to the doctor's office for Addison's first appointment.

After three weeks of Josh not being able to drive he eventually weaned himself off his medication and forced himself to walk. He went back to work the Friday after Thanksgiving, three weeks after the accident.

Then maybe now life can get back to normal?

ha ha...yeah...ok.