Episode 3: She's a "Yes", I'm a "No",....together, we make "Maybe's" - Part 2

     After being laid off from the car rental company, it had taken me a few months to find a job. However, I did find one, and it paid better than the one I had lost. Fast forward to the point where I had been working at that job for a couple of years. Little Ducky was now 2 and a half years old, and the year was 2003.

For those 2+ years, my world (and my wife's world too) revolved around that sweet little girl. She was incredibly well-behaved. If you were trying to do something, like cook dinner, for example, you could sit her in her bouncy seat with a "Baby Einstein" video or something that she liked playing. As long as she could still look up and see you, she was perfectly fine to just chill there, kicking her feet, and seeing how hard she could bounce that bouncy seat. Even if she couldn't see you, a lot of times she didn't seem to mind. (And no, we did not let the T.V. raise our daughter before anyone starts thinking that. But we didn't believe that we had to hold her 24/7 either....although sometimes we did have to keep reminding ourselves of that fact). 

Compared to what we had heard from other parents, and seen from other kids, we had it really easy. We began thinking that a second child would be great. No problem. 

....but that is where God shows that he does have a sense of humor. (many parents, reading this, are laughing right now because they already know what is coming). 

But before we could plan to move forward with that, something happened that changed our plans a bit. 

One particular Friday, I was at work, and my co-workers and I received a memo from the big boss. He said that there would be 2 meetings on that following Monday. One meeting at 7:30 a.m., and one meeting at 2:00 p.m., and everyone was required to attend one of those meetings.

My department did not come in until 8:00 a.m. in the morning, so all of us (including the department manager) thought we were to attend the 2:00 p.m. meeting. 

8:00 a.m. on Monday morning, we had all just arrived at work, and clocked in, when the big boss walks in all angry and asks "Why weren't any of you at the meeting this morning?!"

The department manager explained that since our department isn't scheduled to be here that early, we all thought we were to attend the later meeting. Apparently, we were wrong. 

The big boss then explained that the courier department (which was on the opposite side of the building. I was in operations), had been laid off that morning and sent home. 

"So, I take it that is what is happening to us?" I asked (o.k., it was more like a statement than a question, but....), as he stood just a few feet from me, and looked me straight in the eyes. 

"No, the company has different plans for this department", and he turned and walked out of the room. We all looked at each other "What does that mean?". 

15 minutes later, we were called into a special meeting and basically given our pink slips. 

What was different? 

Well, unlike the courier department, we were not being sent home right then. We were asked to continue working for the rest of the month (by the way, this happened right on September 1st). Then we would get PAID for one additional month after that (October), and would be "on call", but not at the office working (unless needed). At the end of that second month, we would receive a severance check that was based on how long we had worked there. While I was HIGHLY upset about being laid off.....again....at least the deal wasn't bad ....at least not for me (There were only four of us in my department, including the department manager). One of the guys in my department had been there for over 20 years and was losing his entire pension. Another guy in my department had been there for a little over a year through a temp service and had only been made a permanent employee less than a month earlier. They ONLY counted the time he had been permanent). 

The catch was that "our jobs" were opening up at a different company... A company that MY company had just purchased, and as luck would have it, the very same company that my wife currently worked at. We were told that, if we wanted to, we could apply for our jobs at the new company, but if we accepted a position at that company, we would give up our severance check. Not one single person in my department accepted that offer...except for the guy who had only been made permanent less than a month earlier....and he did not pass their EXTREMELY strict background check...so he didn't get the job....and he STILL lost his severance. 

Having been there for a few years, I was set to receive a pretty decent severance check, and just 2 weeks after we stopped working (but were still being paid to be "on call", I started a new job with a different company that actually paid better than the one I was losing. So for 2 weeks, I was double paid, and then got a severance check on top of that. Not bad. 

HOWEVER....let's back up to the month and a half when I knew I was being laid off...but didn't yet have another job to go to. 

As soon as I informed my wife that I was being laid off....again....she immediately called her doctor and made an appointment to get on birth control. She was afraid of getting pregnant again, with me out of work The doctor gave her some birth control, but told her to wait until she confirmed she wasn't already pregnant. 

My wife neglected to tell me that, and also neglected to tell me that she purchased another pregnancy test. She fully expected the test to be negative, and then she expected to start on the birth control. 

Guess what......that's not what happened. 

The next morning she is in the bathroom, and I'm minding my own business in the bedroom like it's just another day....which I THOUGHT it was. 

"OH MY!!!...UM....CAPTAIN!.....COME HERE, PLEASE!"

"What's wrong?" I asked. 

"JUST GET IN HERE!"

I walked into the bathroom, and she held another plastic stick in front of my face. "O.k......what does that mean?" I asked, because my brain simply refused to accept it as reality. 

"I'M PREGNANT!!!!" .....  (THUD!)...."Honey?" she asked, as she looked down at me, now out cold on the floor.

So there we were with me about to be laid off from my job.....again.....and my wife was pregnant......again. (Anyone else feeling a sense of deja vu?)

At this point, I just started laughing. I'm not sure if it was because I was so thrilled at the idea of being a father again....or possibly it was a mild psychotic episode. (That one). Who knows. 

Thankfully, the wait for another job was not anywhere near as long, and before I knew it, I was getting settled at my new job, and we had moved into a new home. This one was a little larger, and my new job was only about 15 minutes away. 

Everything went pretty well except this child already seemed to have a bit more fight in her than our first one did (oh, if we only knew)....and she wasn't even born yet. 

When the time came to have the ultrasound, to find out if it was a boy or a girl, we had an opportunity to get one of those 3D ultrasounds done. It was absolutely amazing. I got to see my baby's actual features. I got to see what she looked like. I even got to see her smile (O.k., I know it was just gas or something, but let me have this). I was over the moon, and so was my wife. 

The thought of having a second child had originally kind of scared us. We loved Ducky so much. How could we continue showing her that much love, and also show that much to the new baby? We thought that there was only a limited amount of love to go around. Thankfully, we were wrong.  

To make it even MORE fun, just a short time after we found out my wife was pregnant, my older sister ALSO found out SHE was pregnant. Her baby ended up being a little boy. 

My sister ended up going into the hospital, and giving birth to my second nephew, just 4 days before we had our daughter. So in one week's time, my mother and father both had 2 new grandchildren. (By the way, this was grandchild number 5 and 6 for them...just from me and my older sister.  4 from my sister, and 2 from me). 

For our new edition to the family, we had to have a scheduled C-Section since the delivery of the first baby had been by C-Section. So, I knew in advance exactly when I would get to see my NEW baby girl (Sassy). I took some vacation days from work, and we got ready to add to our growing family. 

My wife's mother planned to come down from Minnesota and stay with us, so she could see the baby, and help my wife around the house afterward. However, the night before she was supposed to come into town, my wife started having contractions. 

Long story, short, we ended up spending all night with my wife having false labor. Then the next morning, Sassy just went "JUST KIDDING!" and the contractions stopped. (Are you starting to understand the name yet?)

My mother-in-law arrived, and we prepared to go have the scheduled C-Section as originally planned.

 Side note: On the way to the hospital that morning, my mother-in-law ran through the Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop drive-thru and bought a dozen donuts.....which kinda felt mean to my wife...who couldn't have any. 

We had dropped Ducky off with my father-in-law and stepmother-in-law the night before. 

At the hospital, they took my wife back to prep her for the surgery. They then gave me my scrubs to put on over my clothes, so I could go into the operating room. "By the way, Mr Squishy," the doctor said. ("That's CAPTAIN Squishy" I thought) "There will be no flashlights or choir music allowed with this birth, understand?"  AWW, SHE REMEMBERED ME! I was sooooo excited. It felt like I had waited to finally meet this little girl forever, and here I was FINALLY going to get to see her and hold her. I kept thinking about how great it would be when Ducky got to come up and see her too. 

Then, finally, the moment arrived when they came and got me, to bring me into the room. I looked at my beautiful wife all strapped down to the operating table. She had been given an epidural, and couldn't feel anything, except that she was cold. They gave her an electric blanket to help warm her up. 

Suddenly it was just like when we had Ducky all over again. There I was standing up to look over the little curtain, and watch, as they pulled my little Sassy out, for me to finally see her. I thought Ducky was the most beautiful baby in the entire world....but now she had competition. Sassy was a perfect little roly-poly baby. She weighed a little more than Ducky had at birth. Both babies were over eight pounds, so I dubbed my wife's lower abdomen the "Wonder womb".  The doctor had to fight with Sassy a bit to get her out...which seemed a little odd for a C-Section, but leave it to a child of mine to be stubborn, even in birth.

Then came the moment when the doctor tries to get the baby to cry, in order to clear out their little lungs.....but Sassy had other ideas. She did not WANT to cry right then. They tried everything, and she would just grunt.  My wife said "You better watch it...I have a feeling once she starts, she's going to be a little pistol, and not want to stop".......my wife was downright prophetic with that statement. 

When Sassy finally cried, it was a WHALE of a cry, that almost shattered glass.....and she didn't stop for about the next several months. (She had colic). 

O.k., that is a slight exaggeration. 

She did stop...occasionally....and when she did, she was absolutely adorable. When she did have her colic bouts, we tried all sorts of things to help. We gave her medicine that the doctor had given us, we ran the vacuum, took her for car rides, and did anything else we could think of, or that anyone said might help. 

However, just like her sister, when Sassy smiled, it lit up the whole room. You just could not help but smile too, no matter how bad your day was. 

In time, the colic stopped, and we started to get a better feel for little Sassy's personality.....and OH BOY, did she have some personality. If you turned on any music, that child would start wiggling and trying to dance.  

She was tough, too. Rough and tumble. Into everything. Which was the opposite of her (then sweet and dainty) older sister. We were sure that Ducky would grow up to be the girly girl, and Sassy would grow up to be a little bit of a tom-boy.....(instead, they went and switched on us by the time they got to middle school).

It was about 3 years later when little Sassy's personality REALLY showed itself. She was about 3 years old and my sister had brought her kids over to our house on Halloween night to go trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. That neighborhood was a madhouse on Halloween. There were so many people walking around the neighborhood that if you opened your front door and looked out, it looked like Woodstock. It was insane.  

As we were walking around the neighborhood with the kids trick-or-treating, we came up to a VERY decorated house, that was made to look very spooky. Sassy stayed right beside my nephew that was born just a few days before her. The two of them were (and still are to this day) like the best of friends. 

As we walked up closer to that house, a man dressed as a werewolf jumped out of the bushes after us. My nephew jumped back and screamed and started crying. Before anyone could say anything my little 3-year-old spit fire stepped up between the werewolf man, and my nephew, with her pointer finger up in the air and a "mean" scowl on her little face. 

"NO NO NO, DAT NOT NICE!!!" she yelled at the man in the werewolf costume. 

Immediately the werewolf man, me, my sister, and everyone around us began laughing. I knew right then and there that I had a little fireball on my hands.....and she has never proven me wrong yet. 

(To be continued)