Going Home...Sort Of

...so there we were, a new family of four, packed and ready to go home for the first time...when we received a note from our friend Ahmet that we might actually not want to come home after all.  In fact, we might not be able to go home because the marina, for the first time in at least two years, might have to be evacuated due to the high winds predicted with the blizzard.  He suggested we book a room in the hotel next door, like many of our friends and neighbors just to be safe.  So we booked a room and made our way there.

The drive over to Charlestown was quite hairy.  The weather had deteriorated rapidly and everyone in the city was trying to get home before it got worse.  Traffic was horrible and our babies were in the back seat crying.  We'd heard that the mirrors you put on the back seat so you can see your babies were dangerous, so we opted not to get them...that caused us major stress.  Not being able to see if the babies were breathing when they were quiet was too much!  Yes, we pulled over on the snowy road to check.  Yes, we know this is because we're first time parents.  After this trip, we decided the risk was worth it, and we purchased the mirrors once the snow cleared!

Traffic

The ride home

Our bridge.  Almost home sweet boys.

Earlier in the day we received an email from the marina telling us that we couldn't park in the middle of the parking lot because of snow removal.  But by the time we arrived home from the hospital, all of the outer spaces were already taken.  Thankfully our dockmaster is cool and he allowed us to park in the main lot, even though we were in that restricted area.  After what seemed like hours (it actually did take a little over an hour to get home...it usually takes 15 minutes) we finally made it to the hotel.

Maybe it's because they saw the stressed out, new mom, we just drove in the car with two newborns and oh my God we're really parents, look on my face, we were upgraded to a suite. I'm not sure how we would have survived those first two days at "home" without a kitchen and living room to be honest. 

Welcome "home" boys...

Hotel Lobby

In addition to getting a suite, we were lucky enough to get a room that overlooked the marina, so we could periodically check to make sure our boat was OK.  (It was.)

So close to home, yet so far away!  S/v Just Married, in the middle on the left, just waiting for her family to come home!

The calm after the storm.  And before the next one.

I have to stop here and say once again how wonderful it is to live in this community.  Not only were our friends looking out for us by telling us about the evacuation, they were waiting for us when we got the hotel.  Within minutes, Brian had help unloading the car which was no small feat considering we ransacked the hospital and had several bags of groceries (thanks to my in-laws!) in addition to our duffel bags, the diaper bag and two babies.  They really helped make a stressful, overwhelming situation a little easier to bear.   

Thank you Ahmet, Walter, Jeff, Roxy and Dora...

Though the hotel was nice, we really just needed to be home.  Twins require structure and we hadn't yet had a chance to figure out what that structure was.  That first night on our own (without the nursery and nurses to help!) was rough.  Really, really rough.  It was the first time I wondered how the hell I'm going to manage this when Brian goes back to work.  (Which, by the way, is Monday!  Yikes!!)  When I woke up on day 2, I knew I needed to organize everything we had to make things run more smoothly when the boys woke up.

I laid out the diapers and the Vaseline packets (for their circumcisions):

I set up the feeding stations (Because we were in a hotel, we covered the surfaces to protect them from spit up):

 

and laid out the bottles and breast pump parts:

It did make things run more smoothly.  But we were still dumbstruck with how hard it is having twins.  And I wondered how it's legal to let new parents out of the hospital with twinfants without more training!  (And we both have always felt pretty comfortable around infants.)

Here are our first family photos:

...And finally, we were really going home!