Just what the Doctor ordered
This past Thursday, something crazy happened. Again, like the many other things I promised I would NEVER do... (seminary, marriage before 30, babies this soon in marriage)... well... it happened... I am a minivan driving mom. :)
On Thursday Mil, Pil, the girls, & I took a quick road trip up to Lynchburg, VA to check out a minivan. I was 25% hesitant, still clinging on to what little vanity the girls have left me with... and 75% pumped bc getting two carseats in and out of our current vehicle when there are cars parked on both sides has proven to be more difficult than I imagined (1st world problems... I know). My OBGYN warned me, he and his wife have twins and on my first visit with him he gave me a list of "twin necessities" and minivan was the top of the list (have I mentioned that I love my OBGYN docs??? because I do). I balked at the idea, but he quickly advised that once you get sleep deprived and are attempting to load up a car with your sleeping twins and you have to turn one carseat on its side to squeeze it in due to close parking quarters... thus waking your sleeping baby, which then wakes up your other sleeping baby... that'll be the last straw and into the world of automatic sliding doors you will run towards gladly.
Well, He was right. Over the past few weeks I've had to get the girls to dr. apts and holy moly... I concede. Minivans are God's gift to moms.
So Thursday, the Mister's parents (Mil and Pil) and I took a little trip to VA so I could join the minivan mama club. And I have to admit, we got a lot done on the girls' first road trip.
First off, feeding twins while not at the house is a new adventure. Never tried it before other than at the hospital/doctors (with a team of lactation consultants on hand). So I knew it could get interesting. Plus we still have to be careful about exposing the girls to germs in the public so we had to get tricky in feeding/changing them while on the road. My Mil is brilliant and she came up with a great strategy... three words: Cracker. Barrel. Rockers. BAM! Great right?! So we found ourselves a cracker barrel, and Mil and Pil stationed themselves at the VERY end rockers (minimal traffic to avoid people wanting to touch them) for a feeding session while I attempted my first pumping in a public restroom experience.
Now lets just talk about that for a second... Pumping in public restrooms... I don't know what I was expecting... but really... it was a lot more complicated than I initially thought. Doable - and I'm sure I'll get better with time - but complicated. So I walked in confidently to the restroom thinking it'd be a breeze and my first hurdle was realized. Where the heck was I going to sit? I don't know what I was thinking!? hahaha. It's a public restroom, I can't just plop down on a toilet, lay all my supplies out on the floor and go. So I walked into the stall, looked at my dripped on option, and did a sanitation run through: Wiped down the seat and TP holder with disinfectant wipes, covered both with LAYERS of toilet paper, then germx'd my hands, set up shop on the TP holder, and then was ready to go. Whew. So I FINALLY got situated, got milked, and then as I was leaving the stall with pump/bottles/gadgets in hand a herd of cute college girls walked in gayly giggling and stopped and looked at me terrified like... "WHAT the HECK is that???" and then continued on. So as I'm cleaning my supplies at the sink, triumphant that I have accomplished the goal, it hit me... with a minivan... I can pump in the back seat.... without terrifying perky college girls with a picture of what's to come... GLORY.
Then onto the diaper change... All I'm saying is that after seeing the state of the bathroom there was no way I was dragging my babies in there. Besides, even if it was SUPER clean, it's cracker barrel. Which means that there are at least 3 dozen elderly people in the waiting area ready to pinch & kiss some baby cheeks. Don't get me wrong - I cannot WAIT for the day when our girls can bring joy to others in that way... but until they hit 44 weeks (6 weeks away!!)... I'm shielding them from their future. So we plopped them down on a blanket in the back of Pil's truck and got down to business. I thought I was doing good until I was finished and found pooooo shoved in my fingernails (how??? I don't know... I'm still baffled) and all over Noel's leg... My b. But the point is, they both got fed and diapered, I got milked, and we all survived.
So after all that, we met up with the sweetest lady with the mini and Mil stayed in the truck with the girls while Pil and I took it for a test drive without the kind lady. Long story short - Pil and I probably should not be allowed to do anything by ourselves. Thus far our trips have been quite adventuresome as one (or both) of us usually has a clumsy streak. So I was driving... and I may or may not have taken us down a road that doesn't allow you to turn back onto your initial path, which led us to a different road and I got a little turned around. No problem right? In this day and age we have cell phones... we can call someone or use our gps right?! No... turns out BOTH of us had left ours in the truck with Mil & babies. Whoops. Anyways, we were just roaming around Virginia taking a nice scenic view of Lynchburg until Pil got us back on the right track and we got back to the lady to tell her that yes indeed we would buy the van and sorry for the extra miles. Just kidding - it wasn't that many extra miles... :) but still.
All that to say... I'm officially a mini van driving, baby feeding, diaper changing, pumping in the back seat of a van mama. And I'm 100% thrilled about it. The Doc knew best and I'm glad we followed his (and our families) orders. If you see me rolling around town with the windows down, music bumping, and babies in tow... don't be too surprised...
Much Love,
