I Just Want You to Know_ Letters to My Kids on Love, Faith, and Family - Kate Gosselin [25]
Then the production company stepped in to say that they were interested in making another hour special and would like to film this as part of the show. They offered to assist in the additional logistical and financial concerns. This dream was becoming a reality.
Just prepping for being away during the surgery was a feat in itself. At the time, I could barely leave the house for work for sixteen hours without major planning. I cooked for two days straight in order to have two weeks of meals during the recovery process after the surgery. Even the decision of who took which kids, which kids got along best together took careful planning. We ended up splitting our kids up between five different homes of friends and family, whom we were so grateful for. But that meant I needed to pack five different suitcases, write fives sets of detailed instructions, and spend a day and a half dropping everyone off. Two days before we left, Jon drove four hours each way to meet my friend Jamie who was taking Cara and Mady. The day before we left, we spent the entire day playing school bus as we dropped off the little kids at four different homes.
It felt very odd, as we headed to New York for the surgery without any kids. This was the first time Jon and I had traveled anywhere alone without any kids since I was pregnant with Cara and Mady, and we were strangely looking forward to it. On the night before surgery as we were settling into the hotel, it finally occurred to me that I was going to have a major procedure and for the first time I started to get nervous. I had been so busy planning for it that I hadn’t had time to really think about having surgery until that point.
The surgery itself went well, though there was more repair work done than originally anticipated. The muscles were so stretched apart, my abs were ripped down the middle, and there was a four inch gap. The surgeon sewed the muscles back together, removed 1 – 1/2 pounds of skin, and repaired two hernias.
Because of all the work that was done, the pain afterward made my C-section pain pale in comparison. My muscles spasmed for a full week.
A week later, when I finally arrived home from my surgery, I walked into the little kids’ room to find them in their cribs. Alexis didn’t quite recognize me because while away I had also changed the color of my hair. She kept saying, “Hi Mommy. Hi Mommy. Hi Mommy.” She was oh so adorable.
I had missed them so much! And to say that was an understatement since I had never been away from them that long before.
Taking so much time to recover from the surgery was tough and took quite a bit of creativity. I wasn’t allowed to lift the kids for two weeks but still had to take care of them. I had put the sides of their cribs down and taught them how to climb out onto a stool, changed them on the floor, and had them climb into their high chairs.
Two weeks after the surgery I slowly started to get back into a regular routine. I still couldn’t believe my belly was on its way to looking normal again.
As you can see, the fringe benefits affiliated with making the second hour special helped us out immensely, and in this case, made it possible for a dream to come true. An additional bonus was that we had yet a second hour of memories captured on DVD.
By the time we signed up to do the television series, we had been filming for a year already. We liked the routine, our kids loved the crew members, and we loved being able to work at home and travel as a family—a win-win all around. Jon and I were in agreement that this was a great opportunity for all of us.
It wasn’t until much later that the price to pay for giving up our privacy became evident—as no one could have predicted how well our show would do.
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