I'm Still Pregnant, the Washing Machine is Still Broken, and the Closets are Still Being Repaired

I'm breaking my vow of radio silence to provide a quick update for anyone who was wondering if I'd rushed off to the hospital. I haven't; I'm still here, and still pregnant. And the washing machine is still broken. I put one load in after the repair guy left last Monday and then proceeded to start vacuuming the basement. When I got into the laundry room, I could hear the washing machine making a loud clicking noise over the sound of the vaccum, so I turned off the vacuum cleaner to investigate. That's when I noticed the motor sounded like a toy whose battery was running out.

I immediately dialed the number for Sears and stood in the laundry room, listening to the washer, while I waited on hold. By the time they got through to the local repair center and ascertained that the technician would not be able to return that day, I'd begun to smell the faint burning odor that had hearalded the demise of the motor two weeks previously. The operator told me the technican could return on December 1.

About five minutes later the technician called and said he'd gotten a message to call me, but without any details. I explained about the noises and the burning smell, and he said, "that's the motor overheating. You need to go stop the cycle, let the motor cool for about 30 minutes, and then run the Drain and Spin cycle to get the water out. I can't get back there today..." "I know," I said, "they scheduled me for the first." Him: "The first of what?" Me: "December." Him: "WHAT? When is THAT?" Me: "Um, a week from Wednesday." Him: "No, no, no. We're working tomorrow, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday this week. Call them back and tell them to put you on the schedule for tomorrow or Wednesday."

Long story short, after several phone calls between me and Sears, they finally agreed to schedule us for Friday the 26th. A different technician came out that day, and surprisingly, he had absolutely NO information on what had happened so far. "All I got was a message that 'technician said he wanted to come out tomorrow.'" Useful. I told him the story, he poked around for about an hour, and then—that's right!—declared that he'd have to order a part, and he'd be back next Friday.

DAMN THAT BABY SOCK!

I wasn't feeling well that day, so Al helped me take the four loads of laundry that had piled up over the past week down to the laundromat (we drove, thank god—I don't think I could have pushed my little old lady cart down there). It only took about half an hour to get everything washed, but of course it took the remainder of the afternoon to get everything dried (we did that at home). All I can say is that that damn washer better be fixed by the time I have the baby.

Speaking of things that need to be done by the time I have the baby: I can't remember if I mentioned here that we were having some work done on the closets in the master and guest bedrooms as well as having the front door replaced. We actually talked to the contractor about doing the work back in September, I believe, but scheduling and supply problems on his end meant that the work didn't start until November, when I explained the whole deal about the due date being more like a window of opportunity, and that the window of opportunity to get the work done would be closing as soon as I brought the baby home from the hospital.

So the work on the closets is continuing this week, the front door will hopefully go in this week or next, the washing machine will be repaired—cross your fingers—on Friday, and I'll be back with a birth announcement and a follow-up post with all the gory details as soon as I can after junior arrives.

We now return to radio silence.

Posted by Lori in pregnancy at 8:57 PM on November 28, 2004