Twin babies and storms--not so fun

I don't know that I am looking for any specific advice, but I am feeling very stressed out and thought you all would understand.

I live in an area of the southern U.S. where we get A LOT of storms this time of year. My husband often works a night shift, and so when the storms come in the evening it's just me here with the 8 month twins, and it can be pretty scary. We don't have a basement, so when the sirens go off the safest place for us to be is in the bathtub. But it gets kind of hard keeping 8 month olds entertained for very long in a bathroom....especially if it's after their bedtime. Last week they were bawling their eyes out and all the while the sirens kept going off. It seemed like as soon as our area was in the clear another warning would be issued and the sirens would go off again. Thankfully we were all okay. I had some hail damage to my garden, but no one was injured where we live. Sadly that was the not the case in other nearby areas.

By the time all the storms had passed I felt kind of like I could lose it. The whole episode was so hard because they were just so upset because they wanted to go to bed, but it was unsafe for them to do that, and so they were just sitting there screaming in the tub, and I was trying to console them but nothing was working, and the winds were loud and the storms...and uggg, you get the picture. I have a bit of a storm phobia to begin with, so I have to work REALLY hard to stay calm for them.

It looks like we may be in for a night of storms again....which means I may have to actually wake them up and get them to the bath tub, and I KNOW that's not going to be pretty.

For all you other moms who find yourself alone during storms, how do you handle it?

 

We've only had to do this twice and thank goodness DH was home both times. The first time, we lived in a manufactured home with no basement. We just had my oldest DD and we had to huddle in the bathroom. Luckily between the two of us, we were able to entertain her and hold her. The second time, we were in our current house and we do have a basement now, so we just brought everyone downstairs and put the TV on. A couple things I can think of: Can you fit a pack and play in the bathroom so they can lay in it while you have to be in there? What about If you have to be in the tub, how about bringing their bouncy chairs into the tub? Do they have any interest in things like Baby Einstein or soft music? You could bring a portable DVD player in that's already charged up to play something or some music. I'm sure it gets very tiring and stressful for all 3 of you.

 

Wow. I remember the days when we were in Oklahoma, luckily no children yet. Now that we are in California, have to deal with the earthquake...
It must be stressfull with the twins in the bathtub. Hope that good weather is coming your way soon.

 

:hug: That is so stressful. We live in FL so we have nasty t-storms and tornado warnings on occasion. I have had to take them all in the bathroom in the middle of the night. Luckily they all stayed asleep and then I transferred them back to their cribs. Do you have family nearby that you can call in an emergency?

 

Oh my goodness, i so feel for you
I am not a storm person at all, and i freak out too, especially if it is in the day and DH is at work, i can't even imagine how i would feel in your shoes
If your bathroom is big enough, could you put a trunk full of toys that they could only have in those instances, and maybe a battery operated radio or dvd player to watch baby einstein during the storms, and it might make you feel better as well kind of distracting from the storm noises. Maybe it sounds crazy but perhaps their bouncy chairs could help too? There was once a big storm with tornado watch here a couple of years ago, i was so freaked out, i brought the boys to the basement (didn't have the twins yet) and watched dvds on the laptop.

I hope tonight goes ok and storms die out a bit

 

Thanks for the suggestions and understanding. It's just nice to talk to someone who understands.

The storms were not bad at all tonight! Yippeee! We are supposed to possibly have some more tonight, but it looks like they won't be severe.

Unfortunately, our bathroom is so small that it just barely fits the boys, myself, and our two dogs. To get us all in there I have to have the boys in the bathtub, the dogs by the bathtub, and then I sit on the toilet seat. lol. So there is no room for a pack and play although I might possibly be able to set up the computer on the toilet and play a DVD that way. lol! I might be able to squeeze on the floor with the dogs. It's so tiny in there it's crazy.

I could set aside a few toys reserved for only stormy nights. That's a great idea!I could just keep them in a trunk elsewhere and bring them out once they are in the tub.

I don't really have anyone who lives close enough that they could come over quickly during a storm, although I do have a relative who has invited me to come stay at her house anytime there are reports of bad weather and I am home alone with the boys. It would be too dangerous to drive after the storm starts, and I have always felt kind of silly about taking her up on it because I would have to drive out there before the storms (she lives just about 10 mins outside of town) and then they turn out to be nothing, you know?

But it would be nice to have someone there for moral support. Plus, the boys are so much more easily entertained when they are anywhere besides home.

I also know of other people who would probably let me ride the storm out at their house....I guess I just feel silly asking them to come over, you know?
I feel like I should just handle it on my own. I am really insecure about asking for help in situations like this.

What do y'all think? Would it be weird to go to someone else's house for a while on stormy nights? Is that silly?

 

You already got great advice. I just wanted to say that I know what it's like. Thankfully I just moved from an area with a lot of severe weather and now only have to deal with hurricanes. (Those at least have more warnings!)

I will never forget when the kids were 2 months old and putting them in their car seats and bringing them to our "tornado" closet. It was time to eat and they were screaming. But the spotted funnel was really close to our house, so I didn't dare move. It ended up hitting less than 1/4 mild from us. It was so scary. I never want to relive that night!

There was also the time when they were 13ish months and they jus screamed and cried bc they hated being in the closet. I tried everything I could think of, and ended up just sitting in there and crying with them!

Storms are no fun!

 

Ugh, I feel for you! We don't have storms like that here, but I grew up in Alabama & HATED the storms. It's the one thing I do not miss about living there! You've gotten great advice, nothing that I can add since I haven't lived there since before I had kids but I can imagine how you must feel. :hug: I'm glad the storms last night weren't too bad.