We had another long sleep session from 11 p.m to 5:15 a.m. After the normal 25 minute burping session with Emma over my shoulder, we took a long nap until about 9:30 a.m. She woke me up immediately with her " the world is going to end if I don't get a bottle" cry, so I got her bottle ready as fast as I could, which is never fast enough. I get her diaper changed while her bottle is warming up and then proceed to dress her in eating gear, a.k.a bib. We got about half-way through her bottle when I started hearing the fire alarm to the building go off in the hallway. I quickly put Emma down in her chair and looked outside the door and didn't see anyone coming out, so I went back inside to finish her bottle. The alarm was odd because it kept turning off and then start back up again, so it almost sounded like they were performing a test like they do on occasions.I really didn't think anything of it as Emma drank the rest of her bottle until I heard the sirens of a fire truck pulling in the parking lot. Things just got interesting! I quickly jumped into action as I grabbed the stroller out of her room and the portable oxygen tank. I put Emma in the car seat of the stroller along with her apnea monitor and oxygen and then put Chloe's leash on. I thought about grabbing the cat but I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle her with my hands as full as they already were. I wanted to be able to asses the situation first downstairs to get my number one priority safe and then go back to retrieve everything I can carry. As soon as we get in the hallway to the elevators we see that they are unavailable at this time, so we'll have to take the steps. This should be fun!
I ditched the stroller in the hallway and grabbed the car seat, oxygen tank, and apnea monitor along with the dog. The whole time I walked down the stairs all I could think of is "where is the fire?" and felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Call it a "spidey sense" or some kind of adrenaline side effect but I was focused on getting down those stairs in the quickest amount of time. When we got outside, we saw a couple of fire trucks in the parking lot already. The small crowd of residents outside was slowly growing as more people realized this was NOT a drill. I heard different stories from everybody of what they saw or heard and what they thought had happened with several different opinions of where the actual fire originated. I remember getting the feeling you get when you've lost your wallet or something similar but 10 times greater. All I had were the clothes on my back and a couple of Emma's items but other than that everything else I owned was up on the fifth floor in our condo. It was too early to understand what was going on yet but we couldn't see any smoke coming out of the building. It seemed like the entire police force and multiple fire departments were at our condo building. After about 30 minutes, one of the fire fighters came over to the group of us and proceeds to tell us that the cleaning lady mixed ammonia and bleach together and of course, caused a chemical reaction (shocker!). Ten minutes after that, they told everyone that didn't live on the ground floor that they can go back to their units. Wouldn't you know, they hadn't turned the elevators on so back up the stairs we go. The only thing I kept repeating in my head was "I can't believe all this is happening before I've had my coffee".
As we returned to the condo to get the little one settled in from all the commotion (she slept the entire time!), I got my well-deserved cup of coffee. I remember thinking to myself that anytime a day starts off like this, it is pretty much a lost cause. I decided to reflect on my emergency preparedness by taking naps with Emma and switching through BBQ Pit-Masters and re-runs of Fresh Prince of Bel Air for the better portion of the day. I like to call these kind of days "zero days" where you do what needs to be done and that's it. I felt pretty lazy throughout the day and at times regretted not using the day wisely, but I think it's nice to be able to give yourself a mental break every now and again. I believe everyone needs these and should take one at least once a month to cleanse your mind. I really think there is a lesson to be learned from this experience that we had today, and that's don't mix ammonia with bleach. DUUUHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Emma, Thank you for being so brave today and keeping me calm. I can't even imagine what it would be like if all of this happened before you got that bottle.
No comments:
Post a Comment