Boom In the Night

For any of you who know me you know that I live in Omaha, NE... one of the biggest storm hubs in the nation. Now I absolutely hate storms and tornadoes especially. If you watched the news this year you will know that the Midwest got hit with a few tornadoes every week for about a month straight. During these weeks I was between 34 - 38 weeks pregnant and about 40 pounds heavier. My husband seemed to have plans every weekend to dash to a bachelor party, go on a fishing trip with buddies, or head out to the lake to install boat lifts, docks, etc. Meanwhile I was left home with a 90 lb. lab at my side. Multiple weekend nights I would wake in the night to the ear piercing roar of the tornado sirens and Murphy(the dog) and I would scramble (aka waddle) downstairs and sandwich ourselves underneath the stairs where we would sometimes sit for a couple hours where the whole time I would pray to God that I did not go into labor, since they always say bad weather can sometimes send pregnant ladies over the edge. Now this was a darn tight fit since I was so large and he is naturally over sized. But we were prepared... I packed an emergency kit down there that included 6 water bottles, granola bars, a radio, backup batteries, and two pillows. One night I woke up to the wind blowing so hard that when I sat up in bed I saw our tree in the backyard almost bending over. I did not wait for the sirens but quickly rolled myself out the side of the bed and headed downstairs with Murphy at my heels. That night a tornado touched down just a couple miles away from our house. So needless to say my nerves have been shot this past spring/summer... which brings me to the other night.
I heard the news warn that there was going to be thunderstorms rolling through but really did not pay much attention since we are out of the tornado season. I climbed into bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep. Honestly, the next thing I know our house was shaking and I had gone from sleeping straight on my back to standing next to the bed in a football stance with my hands out to the side ready to move one way or the other. Accompanied with the house shaking was a deafening boom and our smoke detectors sounding through the entire house. My first thought was that we were in an earthquake, second though was we were under attack. All of these thoughts literally came in such rapid succession I was not sure if I was awake or still sleeping until my husband sat up looked at me and told me it was just a thunderstorm and he had already been up shutting the windows. He then stared at me in amazement taking in my legs shoulder with apart with my hands spread wide open like I was going to start running with high knees in place. Then he said "wow you were up in a shot!" Now I started to realize that I was in fact STANDING next to the bed. I glanced to my left and saw my beloved dog in the same alarmed stance on his bed. The two of us were partners in the wrath of Mother Nature while my husband, not a part of the survival squad, laid calmly in bed. Murphy and I soon came to our senses and both plopped back into our respective beds, a little shaken up but thankful no immediate action was required. Best news was that our new baby on the other hand never even batted an eye. Disaster averted.