What's That Smell?

This week has been a wild ride so far.  Sunday I came home from church feeling really weak and tired.  I went to bed and realized later that I was running a low fever.  I was laid out the rest of the day, couldn't eat much or stay mobile for long.  Monday I was feeling a little stronger, but still very tired.  My wonderful neighbor came over to play with the girls for a couple of hours while I took a morning nap.  I napped for almost four hours that day!!  Which explains why I laid in bed that night staring at the ceiling until 2 am.

Sunday when I was feeling so puny, I told J that we had to call somebody about the smell in our bathroom.  It was going on two months and we couldn't figure out what it was.  We thought maybe something had crawled into the wall and died.  You can understand our hesitation to investigate.  J spent a Saturday about two weeks ago taking apart the exhaust fan, hoping that whatever it was could be easily cleaned up from that pipe.  No such luck.  The smell was getting so bad that I was avoiding that room for the sake of my stomach.

Monday I called the pest control guy.  I explained the dilemma and told him I didn't know if he could help or not, but he was the first person on our list of professionals who might could help.  He showed up around 5:30 pm on Monday and said it wasn't anything dead.  He couldn't say for sure, but it might be natural gas. Hello?!!  Let me just say it did not smell like the usual sulfur, rotten egg smell you get from a gas leak, so that was not even on our radar.  Never mind that there is no gas source in that room.  It smelled more musty, earthy....I had cleaned the toilet with a toothbrush about three times hoping I could find whatever speck of bacteria was causing the odor.

J very wisely called the gas company to come check and sure enough, we've been living with a low-level gas leak for the last two months!!  We were both mortified.  God has definitely been watching over us.  It's a good thing we don't make a habit of lighting matches in that bathroom.

They shut the gas off immediately and Tuesday morning began the detect and repair process with the plumbers.  They were here all afternoon yesterday and all day today.  They finished up this afternoon, and the gas company will probably make it out to do the inspection and turn the gas back on tomorrow morning.  (Hurray for cold showers and microwave dinners!)  Turns out there were three slow leaks in the attic where the pipe sealant had started to decay, along with a couple of underground leaks between the meter and house.  So yes, they had to dig up part of the back yard.  Fun times, I tell you.

The wonderful part (no sarcasm this time)?  I felt amazing yesterday and today!!  Turns out the main side effects of exposure to natural gas are nausea and headaches.  It basically keeps you from getting the best oxygen supply you would otherwise get.  So you might also feel a little sluggish.  Who knew you could mimic the first trimester of pregnancy just by inhaling a little natural gas?!  Fortunately, the side effects are very short-lived.  I had my first prenatal appointment this morning and the doctor was not concerned about any harm to the baby and was glad that my symptoms were leveling back to normal range.  I told her time would tell if it really was the natural gas causing such intense nausea or not, but I like feeling so much better for sure!  Here's hoping the rest of the week has a little less drama.