I've been very lucky with the weather this summer, as it's been fairly cool and not too humid, thank goodness. We have air conditioning in our upstairs only, and on really hot days, Charon and I hibernate up here.
We did have three days in July that were awful. On the third morning of the heat wave, I braved our oven-like kitchen to make us breakfast, then came back upstairs as fast as I could. I got Charon set up with her food, then sat down to eat my cereal and check email. I took a first bite and then ran to the bathroom to throw it up.
I called Pete at work, telling him I thought Charon and I should skip swimming lessons today and just stay indoors. I was a little emotional about it and cried a bit: "I don't want her to miss a lesson just because of me!" He was so sweet, reassuring me that all would be just fine if Charon missed one day of her lessons. The weather report promised cooler weather the next day, and I kept checking online to look at the temp predictions and dream of feeling normal again. Thankfully, the report was correct, and I was back to my usual pregnant self the next day.
We drove up to the cabin last week, where my parents live in the summertime, and I always love it up there because it's absolutely gorgeous. We are surrounded by woods, on a lake, and it's usually cool and peaceful. I woke up early on the morning we were to leave, excited to get ready. Pete would be working a half-day, and I needed to get Charon and myself packed. I walked across the bedroom to the bathroom and on the way discovered a huge path of water soaking the carpet. I expected to open the bathroom door and find something - the toilet? the sink? - overflowing, but all was quiet. I came back out to look at the puddles on the carpet again. Charon was just waking up, and I asked her if she'd gone to the bathroom. Nope. She fell asleep easily again, so I knew she must not have been out of bed. I went down to get Pete before he left for work, so that he could see what was going on.
We called our insurance company, and by the afternoon, Service Master was there to see what needed to be done. They assured us that we could still leave town while they worked on the clean-up, and we gave them a key to put in a lock box. They turned on some blowers before they left, and they were so loud that I was glad we would be gone.
We spent four nights at the cabin, and when we got home, our house was a furnace. The blowers were still going, both upstairs and in our living room where some of the water had dripped through the ceiling. The air they blew was hot, and heated up the rooms in order to dry out the dampness. We decided we'd better set up camp in the basement for the night. Service Master told us they hoped it would be dry by tomorrow, and that they could then reinstall our carpeting. I was very tired, and hoping it would be possible to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night.
The next day turned out to be horribly hot. Pete saw my crankiness descending again, due to the heat and the mess and the craziness, and he sent me off to "anywhere you want to go that's air conditioned." I spent the morning picking up our mail, and then going to Borders bookstore to browse and then have lunch while I read. I came back refreshed and ready to help with reorganization.
They were still working, of course, and after about a half hour of the heat, I couldn't take it again. Pete didn't seem to be bothered by the heat at all, and I explained that it was magnified for me at least ten times in this pregnant state, and that I don't like the heat in normal circumstances. Pete wanted to stay at the house and work at getting things back to normal, so I tried to coax Charon to go to the library with me, but she wanted to stay with her dad. We decided I should go by myself, but I felt really badly that I was so useless and couldn't help Pete out. We gave Charon one last chance to change her mind, and then I started to leave.
Charon called me back. "Mom?"
"Yes, hon?"
"Would you get me some Pokemon books at the library?"
What? I replied angrily, "No! If you want books, you need to come with me and pick some out!" She started crying, Pete looked at me stunned, and I felt miserable. I went out to the back deck.
A few minutes later, Pete came out to tell me I should just get out of here and go somewhere. "But I want to help you out! I want to be a family!" I started crying. Anything Pete suggested I do - a movie? the mall? - made my head hurt. I couldn't think about doing anything anymore; I just wanted everything to be fixed and done and cool.
Pete called my parents, who were in the city at their townhouse for a couple of days. My mom came to get me and took me back to their cool oasis, and we talked Charon into going with us, too. We stopped at Dairy Queen and had drippy ice cream on the way.
Pete stayed at home and did an incredible amount of work to prepare our upstairs for sleep, and for Penguin. Service Master finished up their work by the middle of the afternoon, so Pete started the air conditioner and brought a fan up, too. He vacuumed twice, emptying two canisters of dust and dirt. (I think pulling up the carpeting created an incredible amount of debris.) He dusted, moved our furniture back, thinking of Penguin-friendly positions for everything, and made it our home again.
My dad drove Charon and me back that evening. It was still hot upstairs, but I sat down in front of the air conditioner, and it felt incredibly good. I decided I'd sleep best in my own bed tonight, as long as I had dibs on this prime position. Charon lay down on her bed and was comfortable, too, happy to be home. I was amazed at how much Pete had done in the heat, and in such a short time, to get it ready. I told him I couldn't believe what he'd done in this weather, and he shrugged it off. He really, truly is not bothered by hot weather. My pregnant brain cannot comprehend it. Amazing. And thank goodness. He takes such good care of us.
