"I Don't Want it to Rain in My House Anymore"

Let me set the stage for y'all. I'm 36 weeks pregnant and have three weeks to go until my induction date. That means that we have a maximum of 21 days before the coming of a new baby and the craziness that comes with that. Today, ironically, we were supposed to have our carpets steamcleaned. I love steamcleaning day. I spent the morning vacuuming all of the carpets and thought that I would clean the bathrooms while I was already in cleaning mode. I tossed the boys in the bathtub and got to work. I finished our master bathroom, got them out and dressed and started working on the bathroom in Owen and Eli's room. When I finished the toilet I tried to flush it and there wasn't any water in the tank. Weird, but I just thought that maybe the boys were messing with it or something. So I reach behind the toilet and slightly turn the valve to see if it was turned off when it SNAPS OFF IN MY HAND!

There is water shooting across the bathroom clear out into their bedroom. Think fire hydrant strength water. It's pouring probably a gallon every two seconds and I sprint downstairs into the garage to search for the main shut-off to the house. I'm frantically searching, sure that I'm missing it and bordering on hysterics the whole time. I sprint back upstairs to see if there was at least another valve to turn up there... nothing. Sprint back down... nothing. Have I mentioned I'm 36 weeks pregnant?! I called Charlie probably 10 times in 5 minutes with no answer. NO ANSWER!? Don't you remember that I'm pregnant and could potentially be in labor?! So I call my mom, because that's what I do when I'm hysterical and start screaming through the phone that there's water pouring through my ceiling. Oh yeah, the bathroom is on the second floor and all these hundreds of gallons of water are now coming through the ceiling fans, light fixtures and air conditioning vents, not to mention running along the seams of the drywall, coming out through the walls and creating a lake in Owen and Eli's room. Thankfully, my mom suggested (near hysterical herself) to call the fire department. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have thought to do that myself in the state of mind I was in.

So I called 911 for the first time in my life and waited most impatiently for the firemen to arrive. Good thing I called them because there actually wasn't much of anything I could have done myself. The main shut-off is outside by the sidewalk and they had to use some kind of wrench tool to shut it off. By the time they came into the house I was practically hyperventilating and coughing like I had just run a marathon. I think they wanted to offer me oxygen at this point. Owen and Eli had curled themselves into the fetal position and closed their eyes in the middle of the living room, shutting out all the chaos around them. They were pretty shellshocked - so much so that they didn't even budge at the sound of the fire engine or the eight burly firemen who came walking through our house. Terrified. That's where Owen's quote of the day came from 'I don't want it to rain in our house anymore.' Me neither buddy!!

The home restoration company has been there all day, as well as the insurance adjuster. They will be drying out our house for the next five days while we stay at a Homewood Suites down the road. Once everything is dry they can begin to make an estimation of the damage so we can start getting things fixed up.

I had been anxious to meet this baby... but I think he can stay put for a couple more weeks! There's enough to worry about at this point! More updates to come...