Kurt’s Blog: Surviving 12 Hours of Hell

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Producer Kurt in Kurt's Blog

(above photo: I asked Priscilla for a kiss…umm…she said no)

Over the weekend, Jennifer, the kids, and I headed up to Clear Lake for my wife’s dad’s wedding…which was great…except for the hours of 9:20pm Friday – 9:15 Saturday morning.

We were staying with Jennifer’s sister, and we had a nice room upstairs…it was a little humid & muggy, so we used a fan…I don’t know what happened, but Priscilla did NOT like the fan, well, something was being blown around, and it made her have huge coughing fits (she had a cough going into it, but we weren’t prepared for this one)…her cough kept waking her up every 60 seconds…and of course, that would start waking Dexter up…and then in turn, would wake up their 5-month old cousin, Brooklyn, downstairs.

This went from 10:20 – 1:45…and it was hell. We felt terrible for Priscilla…we tried all of our usual tricks to comfort her…but NOTHING was working…not a thing…just angry screaming & coughing. Plus, it was one of those attic rooms (it was finished, and very nice), but it had that low ceiling that came together in a point…I hit my head on the side of the ceiling approximately 22 times…which would result in me cursing and punching the wall.

Finally, around 2 in the morning, I had enough, and told Jennifer that I’m taking Priscilla for a drive in the minivan…at least she would be propped up, and the van can help her get back to sleep. (plus, everyone else could go back to bed).

So there I am, driving around Mason City at 2:30 in the morning with a now-very-awake-and-curious Priscilla in the backseat. I passed the same McDonalds 3 times before I decided that I might need a Diet Coke to make it through this (which was the best purchase possible…more on that later).

Finally, Cissy fell back asleep, so I returned to Jennifer’s sister’s house….so I reclined the passenger seat, and tried to fall asleep. Yep…sleeping in the minivan. (Of course, Jennifer, later asked why didn’t I just put the back bench back up? Darn it! I wasn’t even thinking about that, that would have been AWESOME).

There was no sleeping…maybe an hour. Priscilla slept, but I kept checking on her over & over…and making sure the van wasn’t getting too stuffy. It was terrible, but darn it, if I don’t love having a minivan, ha ha!

Around 4:45…I had to pee…I didn’t want to leave Priscilla in the van alone by herself for even a second…so what was I to do? Ah HA! The McDonalds cup…yep…back to my college days I go. That’s when I FBed on the Ken & Colleen page about the ordeal.

Someone left a comment on the FB page that I should get a caffeine fix at Cabin Coffee…my wife must have seen this too…as she came down to relieve me in my van duties around 5:30 (also, Dexter had woken up and was very very very ticked that I wasn’t there to wake up with him)…so Jennifer crashed in the van (with no sleep) until 7:00…and then drove off to Cabin Coffee to get a much needed pick-me-up.

We had survived…or so we thought…

Jennifer & Priscilla, who was the flower girl, were to be at the church by 9:15. We were already scrambling….and then I asked, “Honey, where are the van keys?” After searching for a few minutes…we headed to the van, and there they were, locked inside…sitting in Priscilla’s cup holder. D’oh.

I wasn’t mad…Jennifer felt terrible…we had had no sleep….we had literally had the worst night of our lives as parents. Mistakes happen…sleep deprivation is a terrible thing.

Luckily, Jennifer’s sister’s boss has kids, so he came over with his car (and car seats), and Jennifer & Cissy headed to the church.

I make this promise to my wife, I’m done poking fun about the locked-van incident. Stuff happens…whatever. We survived.

Our plan was to spend 2 nights in Clear Lake, as there was a wedding function on Sunday we were going to go to as well. After the wedding on Saturday though, we headed home….we needed to get to homebase. We had to get back to our comfort level.

Sunday morning, we drove back up…and back down. It was a lot of driving, but the kids slept for nearly 12 hours on Saturday night. They fell asleep on the way back to DSM around 5:30…and they didn’t wake up ’til 6 the next morning.

Many parents can relate to this…just survive. Survive! We did. Barely.

On the Plus Side

Look at the World’s Cutest Flower Girl! (Yes, I am biased)

Our son, Dexter, kept calling Priscilla “Sofia the First”