Pre-Crisis

Pre-Crisis

WHEW!!!! What a night! As you know from previous posts, both of my sister-in-laws (SIL) are pregnant with twins. Last Tuesday I mentioned that one SIL’s water broke. They’ve managed to keep her from delivering the twins because she was only 31 weeks. They are trying to keep her from delivering until 11/18. Her mother flew out from NJ to help take care of their two girls (ages 8 and premie-issues 4). However, her mother is in really poor health. My brother didn’t realize how bad her health was until she got out there. Turns out they’ve had to get a home health aide to come and bathe her because she’s too unstable to step in and out of the tub even for a shower. My brother is in a panic and he called me tonight to beg me to come and help with the girls. I’ve only got nine paid days off left… so he’s going to try and make due with his mother-in-law as long as he can – they’re going to need help after the babies come, too. So, I had a long planning conversation with him tonight.

Then my other brother called me. His wife’s water broke, too. She’s also in the hospital on labor delaying meds. His mother in law came out to watch their daughter, but the mother in law announced tonight that she wants to go home on Sunday and she doesn’t care whether the babies are delivered or not. So, we’re talking about the possibility of me driving up to NJ and bringing my 3-year-old niece back to stay with me. My au pair is on board with this plan… but it could mean that in a few days I’ll be flying out the Milwaukee with two little girls so I can take care of all four little girls. I can’t leave my au pair for an extended period of time with the children (it’s against the policies of the au pair agency; I couldn’t even leave her alone with just Elizabeth.)

Oh, but that’s not all… there are still surprises behind door number three… I’m not sure if you remember, but a couple of weeks back my grandpa had a stroke. Well, the rehab / nursing home where he is staying called my mom and they don’t think he’s going to make it through the night. My mom and my grandma went to the home to see him, but they’re pretty upset. So I could also be taking a trip to WV in the next couple of days. This may sound cold, but the only silver lining here is that if I have to go to a funeral those days off won’t count against my vacation days… so I’ll still have the full nine days to help my brother.

In addition to all this great stuff, I’m putting together dinner for 6 – 8 people at my house tomorrow – of course after working a full day today and tomorrow. I managed to shop for tomorrow’s dinner, get everything pre-cooked, prepared, and put in the crock pot so all I have to do in the morning is plug it in, help Elizabeth with her homework AND look like the sexy-goddess that I am while doing it. So, I’ll gladly accept my Super-mom, Woman of the Year Award. But then again, you might want to hold on to it for a few days… if I really end up taking care of four kids in Milwaukee – than I’ll really deserve it.