The Heat Goes On....& On & ON..

Saturday-Thursday

That repair man was going to be back out here first thing Saturday morning to re-charge the Freon. I had even let him know that I had a 10 o’clock business meeting and he agreed to be here well before that so that I didn’t have to reschedule it or miss it entirely.

Last night, it was cooler outside than it was inside. My babies cried themselves to sleep in their tiny little beds. All Kian wanted was for us to stand in front of the meager stream of air put out by that tiny loaner window unit with him indefinitely. I had to remove all of their bedding save for their sheets. They couldn’t sleep with their little fuzzy baby blankies and stuffed animals because it was so hot in there. Even with the tiny window unit, it was still way to hot in our bedrooms.

This morning the babies got up at the usual time only to find that it was still hot. Vivie serenaded us with her new “I’m Hot!” wail which really has yet to subside. The stress is starting to show in my husband. When it got to be about nine-ish and the thermostat started rising, he really got antsy. Not only would I miss my business meeting, but he would have to go in my stead, leaving me to wait for the repair man or for a call back from our landlord to let us know what was going on.

The babies are all fussy and rightly so. They don’t understand why it’s so hot in here or why they are so uncomfortable, just that they are. We tried putting them into their stroller and taking them outside because it’s a bit cooler out there than in here.

The mosquito’s starting biting and the babies quickly acclimated to the new outside temperature and were promptly hot again. I decided to take them back inside and try for a nap since it was almost 10 o’clock. My husband, meanwhile, decided to try calling about the repair again, and see if we could find out where that repair man is. I wish we had his direct number.

He tried calling several times, and nobody is answering AGAIN. We have yet to hear anything back at all today, actually. Right now my babies are in the beds, screaming because they are tired and very hot. I don’t know what to do really. If I take the babies and leave, I run the risk of the repair man showing up and not seeing the note that I would leave on the door for him.

I have now missed my business meeting. I had to send my husband in my stead, and will have to suffer the consequences of my not being able to be there. We havent been called back, and we have been without air conditioning since Thursday. I am trying to be patient, but my babies are crying, making it very, very difficult.

I suppose I could take them all to a hotel, but would the triplets really adjust and adapt and sleep that way? If I do, I will have to find a way to take the three feeding chairs, the pack & plays (3), and the stroller. They are not all going to fit into the trunk of my car at the same time, so I would have to make several trips.

I am really becoming leery of everything. I have lived in this house for seven years now. I do not understand how anyone could allow my babies to go without air conditioning for so very long, especially when they know we have three small children. I feel like some sort of delinquent that cannot pay the bills and has squandered all of the rent money on alcohol or something.

I suppose I am going to have to either go to a hotel now, or buy some window units large enough to cool at least our bedroom suite and that of my son’s bedroom. My kids cannot take much more of this, and I am trying to be as patient as I can.

My husband just called from the interstate. My meeting went very well without me, however I had to let him know that we hadn't been called back yet about the repairs and it’s now about 1 in the afternoon. He decided to stop by their house and try and talk to them about our situation.

As it turns out, my husband had to convince them that it was not yet repaired fully and to please call that repair man and give him the authorization to come out on a Saturday and re-charge our Freon. It had been over the 12 hours quoted for the unit to thaw out and he had promised to have someone out no later than 2 p.m. that day, however that work had to be authorized.

Thankfully, the repair lady did make it out and she was able to get our Freon charged back up and the air is now working. She did go on and leave that little window unit with us just to make sure that the babies stayed cool and that the Freon charge holds. She was very sweet about the whole thing.

The Next Thursday

Unfortunately, the blissfully cool air lasted all of about a day. As it turns out, when the outside unit was replaced last summer, the attic unit should have also been replaced as well. The air repair people knew that, and had thought that they were going to be authorized to make that repair last summer. Well, it’s this summer and that much needed work STILL has yet to be given the go-ahead to fix what is really wrong with our air.

Today is Thursday, and it’s been a week. We have had air conditioning for all of about one day out of the last seven. This evening, they actually tried to tell us that as far as they knew, it had been repaired. The repair guy would love to explain to explain to them that it isn’t. Thankfully, we now have the repairman's cell phone number and can call him per our landlord.

The real root of the issue seems to be that our house is being put on the market next week. That’s why they called this evening (not to check on the repair issues.) Later this morning, a realtor will be coming over to take a look at our house so that it can be listed on the open market.

For now, I am frantically searching for a temporary solution to the heat and housing problem. I need at least a three bedroom unit, preferably a house. The biggest problem is, that I can’t just move in a weekend anymore because of the triplets. This is going to take some time. Meanwhile, we are still HOT.