Coming Up For Air…

Kendra at 35 weeks pregnant!

Kendra and I gambled a bit and bought a new house, knowing that we would be closing at the end of July. Even though the twins aren’t due until August 28th, most twins are delivered before 35 weeks, so moving into a new place as Kendra hit week 34 was definitely cutting it close. We seemed to be in the clear, until six days before the move when Kendra went to the doctor’s for a regular check-up. They discovered she was having contractions, and after a 6-hour visit to the hospital, we were sent home with orders of strict bed-rest.

Somewhat panicked, we started making phone calls while in the hospital to get power of attorney paperwork in place just in case neither of us could make the closing for the new house. Our friend Meg offered to notarize everything for us, which meant stopping at her place on the way home from the hospital. Fate intervened, and while driving to her house, we realized the lunatic beeping at us on Storrow Drive was Meg. We both pulled over onto the sidewalk (in front of a fire hydrant), she hopped in the back of our car, and after a quick flurry of stamping and signing, we were good to go!

The next day, our mortgage broker called to apologize because they had messed up the appraisal of the new house and she wanted to let me know that we would probably have to push the closing another 30 days. WHAT?! I really could not put into words how I was feeling. To have this woman be so nonchalant just four days away from our closing, three days away from when I had to move us out of the old house, was infuriating. Her only response to the predicament in which she was placing me, my bedridden wife pregnant with twins, and our three year old, was, “I apologize.” Really? What good does that do me when I have to be moved out of my old house? Where would I put our stuff? Where would we live? And what the heck would I do when we became a family of five while in-between homes? Luckily, our good friend Beth (and realtor) came to the rescue, spoke to a lot of people, and helped us close on the 31st. Crisis averted.

My last week of teaching summer school coincided with our moving week, so that Monday I picked up the 24 foot moving truck (yes, I am butch enough to drive a big truck – 15 years of driving a rowing shell trailer will do that – they are way bigger), taught class, then spent until 11:30pm loading the truck and cleaning the house. Thank goodness for friends and family – I had a lot of help.

On Wednesday afternoon, I went to the closing solo, and signed the paperwork in 45 minutes. I was a woman on a mission – to get to the new place by 3pm so that I could get the truck emptied and returned on time. Again, thanks to a lot of really awesome friends and family, we had everything unloaded and moved into the house by 6pm.

It’s just over a week later, and I finally feel like I am coming up for air. For the first few days we were in the house, we had incredible help unpacking! I am done teaching for the summer, the house feels like our home already, and the twins’ room is ready for them to come home!

And the names are…

Kendra is still on bed rest, but doing an amazing job keeping the babies in despite contractions every 15 minutes. They are scheduled to be delivered on August 21st.

I am tired. We are all tired, but happy to be settled into a new place, and looking forward to our next big adventure – being moms of three!