Today, Tuesday, January 28th, has been one that I would NEVER like to relive...
Actually, it all started last night.
By the time I arrived home after work, I was feeling pretty lousy. I was having all the symptoms of your classic cold... headache, congestion, exhaustion, sore throat, cough, etc. Thankfully, my precious hubby offered to take care of the kiddos which allowed me go to bed WAY early.
While I was in the bed, Landen apparently had an accident while attempting to make it to the potty. He ended up going potty in his pants and on the floor. Keith got Landen out of his soiled clothes and ran the clothes upstair to start a load of laundry. While Keith was upstairs Brayden decided to be daddy's big helper, by wiping the poo up off the floor. Unfortunately, when a (almost) two year old tries to be a big helper, it isn't usually helpful. Brayden managed to smear the poo ALL OVER the floor.
When Keith returned downstairs (he was only upstairs for MAYBE two minutes) he discovered Brayden's masterpiece. Obviously, at this point Brayden needed a bath. So, Keith stripped Brayden's clothes off, threw the clothes in the washing machine, gave the boys a bath, and returned to the scene of the crime to clean up the poo. After that, things seemed to calm down...
Side note: Declen's schedule was TOTALLY off because he had been held by nearly everyone in the family on Sunday, he had a GI scope done Monday (yesterday) morning, then he went to visit/meet my grandmother yesterday afternoon.
Declen fell asleep soon after I got to my parents house to pick him up after work and was out for the night, sleeping through EVERYTHING (diaper changes, car rides, etc). He remained asleep until 12:30 am, at which point he decided to wake up and SCREAM on and off until around 4:30 am. From 2:30 am until 3:30 am, Keith woke up and graciously gave me a break. At 5:00 am I told Keith to get up...
Keith was still asleep when he got up and transferred the clothes from the washer to the dryer. After starting the dryer he looked into the washing machine and saw what he thought was a clump of mud. He reached in bare-handed and grabbed the "mud," discovering that it was actually a wad of poo which had apparently hidden in Landen's clothes. Keith immediately ran to sanitize his hand, but in his sleepy-stupor thought to himself that he hadn't NOTICED poo on the clothes when he put them in the dryer, so they must be fine - totally disregarding the fact that whether they had visible signs of filth, the clothes had been "washed" in nastiness and needed rewashing. When the dryer buzzed, Keith ran upstairs to find that he had effectively cooked the poo into the load of laundry. At which point, I discover the disgusting mess that developed overnight. YUCK!
Oh... and of Keith's two pairs of work pants... one pair was in the poo wash. While Keith was working to fix the mess... I fed the boys and left for work.
There have been weather advisories out for the southern half of the state, but we were supposed to get FLURRIES in Birmingham.
At around 9:00 am, the flurries began. By 9:30 am it was downright snowing. By 10:00 am the streets downtown were white and schools began announcing early dismissal. Around 10:30 am we began receiving reports of roads/bridges icing.
 |
| View from parking deck crosswalk at work |
At 10:55 am, we were given permission to leave work. I called daycare to let them know I was on my way to pick up the boys.
 |
| Roads downtown as we left work |
Upon getting in my car I saw that I only had 1/8 tank of gas, something that on a normal day would have been plenty for me to get home. Because of the weather, I decided I needed to fill up my gas tank. In the 10 minutes it took me to travel to the gas station (8 blocks), cars were already sliding through intersections. By the time I pulled out of the gas station, traffic and roads were a mess.
I made it to the I-65 on ramp and realized what a mess we were all in... the interstate was moving slowly, but the cars on the ramp were at a standstill. The pickup that was midway up the ramp was struggling. Then I saw the door open and the driver step out. As his foot hit the ramp, he immediately lost his footing. The driver was still holding on to his truck and was able to regain his footing, and began evaluating the situation. He took his hand off the truck to get a better look and almost simultaniously lost his footing again. This time, he went sliding to the bottom of the ramp. The truck was unmanned and I knew there was no chance of getting on the interstate here.
I decided to try a different route. Unfortunately, upon getting to a different on ramp and seeing a car facing the wrong direction, I realized that route was no longer an option either. At this point, I get my dad to give me directions for a third route.
 |
| US 11 - Route # 3 |
My third choice route was relatively successful and I was able to travel 10ish miles in 2 hours with minimal sliding. The roads were white with snow, but it had already frozen and the cars were not making tracks on the roads and the street lines were no longer visible. I reached a point that even when I was idling, my car would slide sideways. I was in a rough part of town and I knew I needed to go a different route. My dad talked me through getting to I-20/59. I was so excited to finally get on the interstate, where the bridges were at least sanded.
I-20/59 was moving very slowly, but for the most part it was steady and people were generally driving decently. Things got much slower as I approached I-459, and it wasn't long before I knew why. The ramp from I-20/59 to I-459 was almost entirely iced over. Every car/truck/semi was sliding all over the place.
*NOTE: I had not been to the bathroom since I woke up this morning and it was now mid-afternoon. I couldn't pull over anywhere and there was nothing I could do. I peed, in my car. UGH! Finally, I made it onto I-459 and continued on my way. Traffic was again moving very slow, but it was moving.
I made it to exit 6 on I-459 and it was pretty clear that I wasn't going to make it home. I took exit 6, initially thinking I MIGHT could make it to my mother-in-law's house, but quickly discovered that wasn't possible. I changed my goal to finding a fire station, but that didn't work either. I knew that it would be getting dark farely soon and I had to find SOMEWHERE to go.
Every business I pulled up to was closed or unreachable. I spotted a CVS with lights on and got SO excited! I knew I could purchase SOME KIND of clean undergarment and I could get SOME KIND of breast pump. (note to self... if you're a nursing mamma and there's a chance of bad weather TAKE YOUR BREAST PUMP!) I pulled into the CVS parking lot and jumped out of the car... only to find that CVS was CLOSED! Utter disappointment does not even come close to how I felt. I completely lost all composure.
My meltdown... there's no where for me to go, my kids are stuck at daycare, my milk ducts are nearing explosion, I'm covered in urine, I've been in the car for 4 1/2 hours, Keith is stranded on Hwy 31, Dad abandoned his car and walked home... it was all too much.
I texted Rachel to tell her where I was and she offered to let me come to her house, assuming I could get back to the interstate to backtrack to her exit.
A glimmer of hope!
I made it to her exit, she talked me through getting to her house, and I made it to the bottom of the hill at the entrance to her neighborhood. That's where I stopped... not by choice... but because there were SEVERAL cars in front of me that were completely blocking the road, due to sliding back down the hill. There was no option of going any further. I was either going to have to stay in my car until the weather broke and the ice thawed or I was going to have to abandon ship.
I rolled back down the street and found a place to abandon the car. I took a deep breath and climbed out of my warm car.
One step into the ice/snow and I IMMEDIATELY regretted wearing smooth-soled dress shoes with no socks. My pants and feet were wet and freezing!! I walked about halfway up the hill and this precious good samaritan man, who had a 4-wheel-drive truck parked at the top of the hill offered to drive me to Rachel's house!!! THANK YOU GOD! We walked up to the top of the hill and climbed in his truck... HEAT!! It was SO WARM! Rachel met me with her car at the end of her street and I transferred over to her car.
I was so cold, it hurt. We drove to her house and at 4:05 pm (FIVE hours after leaving work) we went inside. Rachel, precious Rachel. She let me take a hot shower, fixed me dinner, washed my nasty clothes, gave me clothes to wear, and is letting me stay the night! (not that leaving would be an option, anyway)
For the rest of the family....
Keith made it within a mile of daycare. He abandoned his car and walked the mile, to get to the boys. He's staying at daycare with our oldest 2 kids tonight. Dad abandoned his car a couple miles from my parents house. He walked the remaining distance and is home with my mom and Declen. Our cats are just going to have to be hungry tonight... glad we fed them this morning!
Thank you, Lord! We are all safe and warm tonight.
Update: I reached a point of shear desperation (and PAIN)... we went to a few of Rachel's neighbors and found an awesome woman who let me use her pump! Oh goodness... SO.MUCH.RELIEF!
 |
| 14 oz |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comments!