A Labor Story

As I was standing at my kitchen sink last Monday watching the rain fall inside my house, I was sure that this would be exactly how our labor story would start. Thank god it was simply how week 37 started and nothing more.

I woke up a little after 5 am last Monday and I couldn't get back to sleep, before long I could hear a dripping that was not coming from the downpour outside but was instead coming from our kitchen ceiling. Upon further investigation I found that not only was our kitchen leaking but it was literally pouring in Isabelle's windows.

Let me back up, about a month ago we noticed a bubble in the paint on Isabelle's wall one night while it was raining. I left a note for our landlord and then I never heard another thing about it. Friday I came home and there was a work van in our driveway and a team was on the roof stripping it, apparently there were wood shingle under the other shingles so the whole roof needed to come off. The roofers left Friday night and left their mess behind.

We never saw them again. They were supposed to come back first thing Saturday morning but they never did and despite the four days of rain in the forecast for the next week, they didn't bother to put any sort of cover on the roof. So Sunday night/Monday morning when the downpour came, the only thing protecting the inside of our house from the outside world was some thin pieces of plywood and our attic.

Sadly neither of those held up. So Monday morning Brooke and I found ourselves standing in Isabelle's room watching the rain, inside. It was coming in her closet, the three other walls where wet, the kitchen ceiling was dripping in some parts and pouring in others and the living room ceiling was wet. Thankfully our bedroom and the bathroom were the two areas of the house that they hadn't removed the roof yet.

I called our landlord and thankfully he didn't answer because I was livid at that point. Brooke, who was sick, was less concerned about the water and more concerned about people coming over while our house was messy. So while he went back to bed I used my frantic energy to clean. By the time the landlord showed up shortly after seven, the house looked nice, with the exception of the water still pouring in. I used every trash can and pot that I could find, unfortunately we do not own any five gallon buckets.

By nine am the landlord had been on the roof trying to get it tarped, he was soaked and dirty, his maintenance guy had brought in ten five gallon buckets which were filling rather quickly and a portion of our kitchen ceiling had fallen. All of our towels were soaked, Isabelle's ceiling was sagging and I was standing in the kitchen crying, just knowing that this was going to be how our labor story started. We would have a baby but no home to bring her to....

Brooke ordered me to pack our bags, he didn't want me to be anywhere near the debris from the attic. So we packed our clothes and food and moved out to grandma's house.

That was nine days ago. They took down about 40 percent of our kitchen ceiling and 100 percent of Isabelle's ceiling. They also pulled up all her carpet so they moved her bedroom into our living room, man that kid has a lot of stuff. When they pulled up her carpet we saw that she had hardwood floors. Knowing that she has a pretty severe dust mite allergy, we asked the landlord to leave the hardwood floors. They are too much of a mess to get refinished so he is putting vinyl hardwood in her room instead.

We are still living out north. It is making both of us a little batty not to be in our home especially with the baby looming. She seems to understand what is happening and is quite content to stay put for a little while longer. Last night I went over so that mom could use our computer and I could check on the progress. I got all of the towels folded and the few dishes that were in the sink washed but it seemed like such a hollow victory.

I have sent so much time over the last month working on our home, making it feel more like a home, cleaning and nesting away. All of that has been undone. I cannot see how our kitchen will ever recover. I am looking forward to putting Isabelle's room back together in a more organized way. Currently I cannot see the forest for the trees. I feel anxious that we have a deadline ticking away over our heads and while they have made tremendous progress on the house they have a long ways to go. The new ceilings are up and have been mudded but they are not sanded or painted. Isabelle's room needs so much work, her walls have been treated but need to be painted and they still have to put in new flooring.

I guess that you really should be careful what you wish for. While I never meant for the lack of action during this pregnancy to be seen as a complaint I guess that mentioning it enough got results none the less. This past week and a half has been more action then I needed, ever.