Great Grandparents and the GRE Class

I teach GRE prep on Sundays, and this was the only commitment I knew I would need to keep even immediately after the baby's birth because of the way the company's work schedule is set up. They knew I was pregnant and would need to miss one, maybe two classes, but I was still going to need to teach the six week session in June/July. As it turned out, I missed the first class of the session because that was the day I went into the hospital, so I certainly couldn't miss the second day at this point!

Since I only have two students in the course, it was easy enough to negotiate a way to make up the missed time, and they were very flexible. I was a little uneasy, however, about teaching only a couple days out of the hospital. I'm still weak from blood loss and sore from tearing, and my feet are still very swollen, so I need to be off of them as much as possible. I was also uneasy about leaving little Darrell for a little over four hours; since I didn't have a pump yet, we would see if he could go without eating for that time. If not, my mom and Darrell would give him the formula from the hospital, though none of us wanted to do that unless necessary.

In the midst of my anxiety about teaching the first course that morning, Darrell got a phone call while I was still in bed from his grandparents. They were coming through Austin on their way to Arlington and wanted to stop to see the baby... in about thirty minutes. "What?!" That would put them at our apartment around 11 am, just fifteen minutes before he would need to drive me to the class. (We both felt more comfortable with him driving me than me driving myself so soon.)

I immediately began crying and panicking, and he got frustrated and annoyed at me. He said he had told me they were coming to visit on Sunday, but I was certain he had not: I associate Sunday with the GRE classes and would have mentioned it. So he said he had told me they were coming this weekend. That was more possible, and perhaps I had forgotten, but still - this felt so sudden and therefore overwhelming. I adore his grandparents, wanted to see them and want them to see their great grandchild, and ANY day of the week would be fine - except Sunday, or at least Sunday fifteen minutes before I need to leave for four hours!

Nevertheless, I calmed down and calculated the latest we could leave and still get to the class early-ish. His grandparents made good time and got here sooner, so we were able to visit a little longer than 15 minutes. All in all, I was grateful to have them come by because the photo I wanted more than anything was one of my husband Darrell, his grandfather Darrell and our son Darrell. This grandfather was the first Darrell of the Darrell Lee Morehouses, so having three of the four in a photo was a must. His grandfather demurred at first and said we could do the photos when they came back down in a few days, but I insisted. You never know what will happen tomorrow, and I told him he was NOT leaving my apartment until I had a photo of the three of them. I got my photo :) And a bonus: my husband is smiling, a rarity in ANY photo of him!



Meanwhile, the GRE class went fine. The two students are both young women and very relaxed, and we have a good rapport. (One is even an ICU nurse!) I taught nearly the entire class from my chair and didn't feel overly exhausted at the end. I actually felt good that I had taught four hours and enjoyed it. And I felt even better when I got home and found a hungry baby who hadn't had formula!

[Note: This entry was written 6/21/10 and backdated.]