Well, it's been a while since the last time I updated. I have been so swamped with homework this semester that I cannot seem to catch a minute just to stop and breathe. But, we had a totally random and crazy event happen on Sunday so I figured I better make myself blog about it so that we can remember our adventure in the future.
So. (Deep breath) On Sunday we went to my sister's house at about 7:00 to celebrate my niece's birthday. She just turned 11 and I can hardly believe I now have two nieces that will be in Young Women's in less than a year! That's one of those moments where I stop and think to myself, "Holy crap, I must be getting old." :) Anyway, we enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner and then decided we better get home to try and put our little monster to bed. She hasn't been napping well lately so she was very tired by about 9:00. Anyhow, we drive home and immediately after stepping out of our (NEW! I'll blog about that later) minivan, we could smell gasoline. And no, I'm not talking about natural gas or anything like that. It was very distinctly gasoline. But we just shrugged it off and figured maybe a neighbor was having car trouble or something. However, the smell became increasingly stronger as we walked toward our apartment. Suddenly we were a bit more alarmed.
Well, we walked in the door of our apartment and it was like getting hit in the face with a wall of gasoline fumes. It was SO NASTY. We tried to open up the windows and let it all air out. Instead of getting better, it got WORSE. So then Malone and I start walking around inside and outside of the apartment to figure out exactly where the smell was coming from. It was so hard to try to pinpoint a source because by then our noses were so saturated with the fumes. But we did decide it was definitely worse in the kitchen and in the bathroom than anywhere else. After only being there for a few minutes with the worsening smell, I started feeling very sick. Malone's stomach started hurting. My stomach was churning, I was getting lightheaded, was starting to have some sweats, and then I started getting contractions. About that same time we noticed Baby K was doing her best to try to get the front door open and get outside. Malone and I decided we had better act on the feelings we were having and get out of the house.
We grabbed up the diaper bag and left. I went upstairs and started pounding on the neighbor's door. After knocking several times without answer I became worried. But what was I supposed to do, break down the door? We decided the best thing to do would be to call the police. We went to my brother's house a couple blocks away and set about contacting the police department. I think when Malone called they were very confused. They kept insisting it must be natural gas in which case we should call our gas provider. But Malone insisted right back that it was definitely gasoline. He is a Biochemist for heavens' sake, he knows the smells of chemicals. The police officer then agreed that he would be right over and he would have the fire department send a truck. So Malone and my brother went back to the apartment to meet with the officer.
The police and fire department responded so quickly that they were already at our apartment before Malone even got there! They pounded on our neighbor's door to get them out of the house. Turns out, they had been asleep through the whole thing which is why I couldn't get them to answer their door.
Malone and the officers then went into our apartment and they almost gagged at the fumes. The firefighter had a tool to detect poisonous gases in the air and he said that the levels in our apartment were not explosive, but they were definitely not safe. They then set to work seeking out the source of the fumes. They looked inside. It was not coming from the apartment. So then they began looking outside. And what did they discover?
Our upstairs neighbor parks their ancient car right next to the house. Since we live in the basement, our window is literally at the level of their tires. The neighbor had filled his gas tank to the very top (which is something he said he has never done before. Apparently he's never even put more than an eighth or a quarter of a tank in that car.) He was unaware of a big HOLE in his gas tank. That hole leaked about 3/4 tank of gas (or about 10 GALLONS) of gas right into our kitchen window. At this point the neighbor becomes so flustered, he pulls an unlit cigarette out and sticks it in his mouth. Malone said the firefighter almost tackled him. The firefighter told the neighbor not to even think about lighting up right then. He said although the fumes weren't concentrated enough to be explosive, he definitely would have lit a few flames off. Our whole apartment could have burned down!
Anyway, the neighbor moved his cars out and exposed the giant puddle of gasoline on the driveway. The firefighter and police officer got out their equipment to clean it all up. At this point I had called the doctor on call at the hospital and she insisted that I go to the Emergency Room because my symptoms were persisting. So my sister-in-law came with me, we got Baby K loaded into the van, and drove back to the apartment to pick Malone up. The firefighter and police officer stayed at our apartment to take care of cleaning up and getting the fumes out of our apartment. We didn't know for sure whether or not we would be able to stay there that night, but that was besides the point. Malone took me to the ER and my brother and sister-in-law followed to take care of Baby K in the waiting room. We had debated about just dropping her off at their house and letting them watch her there, but weren't sure whether or not she should be evaluated as well. In the end we decided to take her with us just in case.
Upon arriving, the ER nurse wasn't concerned about Kyrsta since she wasn't acting funny or having any symptoms. BUT, they sent me straight up to the Labor and Delivery floor. Let me tell you, I was very disappointed to be there. I have been so determined with this pregnancy that I would not end up in Labor and Delivery until I was full-term and ready to pop out a baby.
Nevertheless, when I was debating about whether or not I should go to the ER, a thought popped into my head: There was one other time I wasn't sure if I should go to the hospital to get checked out for something that I thought was probably no big deal. But I went and got checked out anyway. I was in an ambulance less than an hour later and rushing to a big hospital in St. Louis. My son was born 3 days later. I will always be glad I acted on that feeling. Even though at that point they could do very little for me, they were able to postpone my son's birth for 3 days. And who knows? Maybe that extra 3 days in the womb is part of what allowed us to have a week with him before he passed away.
Anyway, with that thought in mind, I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. I stripped down, put on the gown, and laid down on the hospital bed. The nurse came in and started getting me all strapped up. First she put on the sensor to monitor the baby's heartbeat. She put the sensor on... No heartbeat. She moved it... still no heartbeat... She moved it several more times... No heartbeat. By this point I was freaking out internally. Why couldn't she find my baby's heartbeat? I am 30 weeks pregnant, shouldn't it have been easy? I am sure Malone could sense my uneasiness because he voiced that when I was pregnant with Baby K, the nurse always had a hard time getting her to stay still long enough to catch her heartbeat. And suddenly! The nurse found the baby's heartbeat.
Thank goodness! I felt like I could breathe again. Anyway, she finished getting me all hooked up to the wires, put an oxygen mask on me, and then instructed me to wait patiently and try to relax. (HAHA) So I laid there. Those beds aren't terribly comfortable, by the way. :) Anyway, some contractions started showing up on the monitor. But as I laid still and calmly breathed in the oxygen, I could feel my stomach start to settle and my head start to clear. Better yet, the contractions slowed down. After having about six contractions show up, the monitor went calm. I had a few Braxton Hicks after that, but no real ones. The nurse came in and said that since everything looked to be under control, the doctor had given the go ahead to release me with the instructions to just not strain myself for the rest of the evening. Hooray! I was so glad to get out of there.
After that we went and rescued my brother and sister-in-law from Baby K in the lobby. They had gotten her to watch about 10 minutes of a cartoon after which she became restless and wanted to run around like a wild child. (No surprise there) By then it was already past midnight and the poor kid was so slap happy she was alternating between bouncing off the walls and throwing temper tantrums. We got home to discover that the officers had cleaned up the whole mess and our apartment was almost completely aired out. You could still get a whiff of fumes in the kitchen occasionally, but the rest of the house seemed to be fine. HOORAY! We didn't have to go stay in a hotel! I was so happy to know that I could sleep in my own bed that night.
After getting some windows shut, we quickly rushed through Baby K's bedtime routine and put her to bed. She was out seconds after her head hit the pillow. Poor kid. By then it was about 1am. She has NEVER gone to bed that late before that I can recall. Malone and I decided we should leave a couple windows open for another thirty minutes though and unwind.
(As an aside, our neighbor felt horrible about this whole mess, but it was totally an honest mistake. We don't hold a grudge. And it's not like we're out a ton of money because I am on two insurance policies, so I won't have any out of pocket expenses from the hospital. Truth be told, the neighbor probably got the worse end of the deal. Have you seen gas prices lately? Poor guy was out upwards of $40 from losing that much gas.)
So that's it. That's the whole crazy story. As Malone and I sat together in our bed and counted our many blessings from the night, we couldn't help but feel mostly grateful. It was crazy. It was definitely inconvenient. It was stinky. But it definitely could have been a lot worse. We were so thankful that we were all ok, all we could do was offer a prayer of gratitude.
