I feel like so much has happened since I posted the last time. I need to give updates on the boys but first …
We survived the great power outage of 2012 (barely)!!
Our area was bombarded by a severe thunderstorm on June 29th. The storm was much more severe than originally predicted by the weather forecasters. I was home alone with the boys when the storm hit our area. I had just finished feeding the boys and I was in the middle of changing a diaper when the news came on for the evening. It was 5:00pm. I cannot even remember whose diaper I was changing when I realized the chaos that was about hit our lives. I immediately noticed panic in the voices of the weathermen on television. I never knew a weatherman could be panicked about a storm. Don’t they live for these things? The storm was moving fast at around 75 mph (CRAZY!) and the forecasters were urging people to seek shelter ASAP. There were strong wind gusts associated with the storms. They had clocked the wind gusts to be upwards of 90 mph. We live in a three story apartment unit. I was on the 2nd floor of our unit when the storm hit. I ran outside to pull in our chairs and table that were out on the balcony. I didn’t want them flying through the windows. The moment I set foot back inside the apartment our power went off. I turned to reach for a flashlight out of the cabinet and in those 30 seconds the storm was on top of us. Yes. It was moving that fast. I ran over and grabbed the baby off of the changing pad and tried to think for a moment how to get both boys down to the first floor. It was an impossible task. I put both boys on a blanket on the floor and literally put my body on top of them. You could hear the wind just howling and when I looked out the window the trees were literally touching the ground. I have never been more terrified. Both boys were complete oblivious to what was going on outside. I had my cell phone and I kept trying to call anyone I could think of just so I wouldn’t be alone. I could not reach anyone. The cell service was sporadic at best. I was able to get in touch with my good friend who was still at work during the storm. She knew I was alone with the boys and was worried about us. She stayed on the phone with me during the remainder of the storm. I think I sang “The Wheels on the Bus” to the boys about thirty times during the worst part of the storm. The storm was over just as fast as it had begun. And we were still alive!!! But I quickly realized we were in trouble as it was 95 degrees outside and we now had no power.
My concern … my breast milk!!!
I had several frozen bags of breast milk in the freezer (Most of my freezer supply was actually being kept at my parent’s house because they have a generator. We were actually trying to be prepared for a loss of power situation.) and I also had several containers (about two days worth) of breast milk in the fridge. And we all know how important excess breast milk is to an exclusively pumping momma. I did not want to lose that milk. We had also gone to the store that afternoon and our fridge and freezer were packed with about $150 worth of groceries. I finally managed to get hold of my parents who agreed to come over and get all the food (and breast milk) to take back to their house. This was not an easy task as power was out all over the city and both power lines and trees were littered across the roads. My parent’s actually lost a tree at their house. My parents had also lost power but the generator was hooked up to the fridge at their house. A funny story … My parent’s neighbor is also a new momma and when the power went off she called my parent’s house freaking out about her frozen breast milk. So eventually the freezer at my parent’s house was filled with both of our freezer stashes. It was comical to open the freezer and see such an abundant supply!! I had confidence that power would be restored no later than the next morning so Kara and I stayed in our furnace (I mean apartment) with the boys on Friday night. Because I no longer had breast milk in the freezer or fridge I had to pump before each feeding session. This put a lot of pressure on me overnight. But we survived the night and the boys had enough to eat. The boys slept only in a diaper and did not seem to be bothered by the heat. I was more concerned about them being unswaddled but they didn’t even seem to notice. However, when I woke-up on Saturday morning and we still did not have power I knew it was time to head to my parent’s house for a bit of relief. The generator at least allowed them to run some fans. We got the boys all packed up (I literally had one bag that was half full of my stuff and the boys stuff packed the entire trunk!) and I was at my parent’s house by 8am. Side Note ... Because Kara had to work on Saturday I had to drive the boys to my parent's house by myself. This would be a big deal on any occasion but let's throw in the fact that I had only driven our new car one other time and that was back in March!! I was a bit nervous to say the least ... I was also stinky because I had not showered in two days!! Kara came over in the afternoon after she got off of work. It was a long day but we did manage to survive. The worst part of the day was between 4pm and 9pm when the sun just heated up the house to an oven. But we were able to sleep with no problem. Kara decided to sleep at home with the dogs on Saturday night. It was my first night alone with the boys. My parents were a huge help though and my mom helped me with the middle of the night feedings. We all reached our breaking point on Sunday though …
Our apartment was horribly hot and we knew that we could not let the dogs sleep in the apartment any longer. We debated back and forth about the best plan of action and we finally decided to bring the dogs to the basement of my parent's house. There is only one problem with this solution ... the dogs love to bark!! This meant that either Kara or myself would have to be with the dogs the entire time in order to prevent a barking feast. It also meant another car load of stuff to lug to my parent's house. Kara was a superstar though and she managed to get everything over to my parent's house and set-up in the basement. We were sitting in the basement of my parent's house that afternoon discussing how we could possibly make it a week without power as this was the time frame given to us by the power company when suddenly ... the lights came on!!! We were so excited!! Unfortunately, the power still remained off at our apartment. We decided to once again spend the night at my parent's house on Sunday evening. It was a rough night all around the house (subdued a bit by a couple of beers). I slept upstairs with the boys but Kara slept downstairs in the basement (unfinished) with the dogs on an air mattress. Needless to say she did not get any sleep that night. We started to pray with all our might that the power would be back on at our apartment by the following morning. I had to be at work at 7am so I headed over to our apartment on the way to work (to feed the cats who remained at the apartment) and I was crushed when I arrived to find the power still off. We made the decision to bring the dogs back to our apartment and Kara would just remain at the apartment with the dogs until the power was restored. This was not an ideal situation but we knew Kara could not sleep in the basement another night. Plus the dogs were super stressed being away from home. I had to stop at home after work at noon to feed the cats again and get some clothes for the next day. As I drove up to our apartment building I saw the greatest sight in the world ... our porch light was on!! We had power.
We are sure this is a story we will tell the boys many times as they grow-up. You know ... "Did you know that we lost power for three weeks when you guys were just seven weeks old?" ... of course the length of the power outage will only increase over time.
I will be back soon to give an update on the boys (who are doing wonderful).
Mary
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