Home Intruder

Now I can elaborate on the details of what happened when Duane was working one of his night shifts this week...

Because I have an overactive imagination, I lock all of our doors the nights that Duane works his shifts at the firehall.  My thoughts have gone every place imaginable including scooping up the kids, climbing into the attic and screaming for the neighbours... keeping a knife by the side of the bed... you name it.

My husband does not like any wireless devices in our home and DECT cordless phones are among the worst!  But in this old 100+ year old home, you can understand that telephone jacks are few and far between.  We do not have one in our bedroom so I have often pleaded with him to let us keep a cordless in our room.  His logic?  What?  EMF's right next to our heads for hours at a time??  I think not!

Sigh.

The day I had taken Anika to Children's Emergency, Duane was scheduled to work a night shift.  I was exhausted, Anika was not getting any better and we'd spent the last few nights up with her.  Rather than risk having her wake Ethan up with her cries, moans and yelping that she's wet the bed, I decided to have her sleep in the bed with me for that night.

At 3:00 a.m., she woke up with an alarmingly high fever again so I put her in the bath and gave her more advil.  When I could see that her eyes were not so glassed over, I took her out and placed her back in bed with me.  I have the fan running in our room as a nice white noise and it was working well in filtering out the constant noises Anika was making.  However, just prior to either of us falling asleep, I thought I heard the front porch door creaking...

My heart stopped as I jolted up to put my head near the door so as to hear better.  Anika yells "MOMMY!  WHAT'S WRONG??"  As I rush to her to hush her.  All our bedroom are on the second floor and the creaking is so ridiculous up there that there will never be worry about our kids "sneaking out" at any point in time!  Heck, there are times the creaking has woken them up from nap!!

Here I was, fearful that someone was in our house as it dawned on me the front porch was the only door I forgot to lock!  And that the nearest phone was in the bedroom across the landing from ours and there would be no way for me to "sneak by" and get it without notifying everyone in the house (and possibly the neighbours) that I was awake and aware that someone was in the house.

I was getting angry that despite my stupidly over active imagination, I did NOT have a solution procured for THIS scenario! 

Then again, maybe I was just hearing things...

Until I heard the creak of the first step on the stairs... and my heart began pounding.  What will I do?  Do I jump on this person & claw at his face?  Do I start screaming now?  Do I try to get Ethan and bring him back to our room so I can have my babies locked in the room with me?

Second step creaks...

Finally, all I can think to do is yell "WHO IS THERE???"

And Duane comes rushing up the rest of the stairs to say "It's me!  It's me!"  And I burst into tears from the relief and release of the fear that had been clutching at me.  He spends a few minutes consoling me before it even dawns on me to wonder why he is even home!

And it is in that moment, that my husband looks into my eyes and tells me that his father passed away at 2:00 a.m.

And then different tears begin to flow.

Duane's father suffered a stroke three years ago this past August.  We have watched him suffer the effects these last three years and more achingly, we have watched mom diligently stand by his side and care for him day in and day out non-stop seven days a week all these three years.  The last two weeks have been especially challenging for him as his breathing was much more troubled and the inability to breath was scary to him... to all of us, really.

Duane shared this news with me not filled with grief but rather filled with compassion and relief that his father was finally freed from his suffering.  And the love for his mother shone through, too, in that he was relieved that she would not have to watch her husband suffer anymore either.  And the added peace of mind knowing that everyone was there with him at his passing... mom, Duane's four sisters (and two in-laws) and Duane himself.

So our week thus far had been greeted with a very sick child (who is still fighting fevers today, although she was willing to actually eat some food today) and the passing of a great man.  But it does not end here.

Last night, my water broke.  Three weeks early.  And I am sitting here typing waiting for labour to kick in.  I have had contractions (especially when going for brisk walks) but they cease as soon as I come back in the house.  And because I am exactly 37 weeks pregnant (technically tomorrow), and have NOT been swabbed for strep B yet (was going to at the midwife appointment this Wednesday), the baby is now considered at high risk.

If labour has not properly set in within 24 hrs of my water breaking, I will have to be induced.  I have opted for the intravenous antibiotic given the baby's risk for Strep B.  I just want this little one to be born sooner than later as I do NOT want to miss my own father-in-law's funeral!

My scheduled midwife took off on holiday this morning so I am going to have a different woman help us out with this process.  And our respite worker (who never takes a day off in her life!) booked off for the long weekend and cannot help us with Isabel's care as originally planned... thankfully, Isabel's dad is willing to look out for her but not without letting us know of plans he has had to cancel.

So prayers for a swift and SAFE delivery would be much appreciated.  Prayers for Duane's family at this time... prayers for our Anika who is still quite sick despite four days of antibiotics... and prayers that life STOP throwing us these dodge balls all at once!

Hope this finds you all enjoying a slightly less hectic schedule in your own lives at this time!  And hopefully the next posting you see will be of our darling little one who has come to join our family!