How To Spoil A Pregnant Woman

I have new found respect for pioneer women.

As I was getting in my car to go to work one morning a couple of weeks ago, I discovered that our water heater had leaked a bit of water. Since I couldn't see an active leak and I was in a hurry, I decided to check it out in greater detail on Saturday. Bad idea. By Saturday the water from the leak had saturated the drywall on the framed platform in the garage where the water heater and furnace sit. When I disconnected and pulled out the old water heater, it was a mess:

Because of the possibility of mold here in Southern California, I decided to be extra cautious and remove all of the saturated drywall, completely dry out the wall and framing and then redo the drywall. I figured it would first need to dry for a couple of days, we could get it drywalled and mudded after that and the new heater installed the same day we drywalled. But that still meant several days before we'd be able to put in a new water heater. And having no water for several days wasn't an option, especially with Devoted Wife being 9 months pregnant . A contractor friend recommended I bypass the heater entirely and loop the cold water intake directly to the hot water output line. That way we'd have water... just not hot water. So that's what I did:

This temporary fix meant that we only had cold water all last week! Jaime and I handled showering in two different ways. I hit the neighborhood swimming pool locker room shower each morning (I'm sure the neighbors thought I was a homeless person, strolling into the pool each morning with my shaving kit), and Jaime heated water on the stove and took sponge baths. I think I heard her humming "Come, Come Ye Saints" once when she was hauling the kettle of steaming water up to the bathtub.

We'd had a local drywall contractor scrape and texture our ceilings when we first moved in earlier this year, so he came out and got the new drywall hung after work one night after I treated the now-dry timber and wall with diluted bleach to kill any mold spores that may have started to grow. Steve does great work and was a lifesaver, fitting us in despite a full schedule.

The plumber I called wanted about $1,200 to replace the water heater, and the new water heater itself cost only about $400. I think I picked the wrong profession! A friend helped me install the new water heater, and we were good to go! I'm no plumber, but it only took about 30 minutes to cut, ream and sweat new threaded adapters onto the pipe and connect the hoses. I realized that, after subtracting the cost of materials, the plumber's quoted hourly rate for this job exceeds the highest billing partner at the law firm where I used to work. Now if you could do three water heaters a day . . .

Anyway, here's the finished project.

All I can say is that I'm glad I got this installed before we headed to the hospital for Babytime. Bringing a newborn baby and an exhausted new mom home to a house with only cold water would not have been an ideal situation. And while we are nowhere near to knowing the hardships the pioneers had to face, its moments like this that make us grateful we don't have to.