This is how Monstrosity begins...

I've put off this post for a long time now. Mostly because the last thing I want to do is think about and rehash these moments. But it is something that needs to go down in the family journal. 

On December 27th I woke up to a horrible smell. I checked the  kitchen sink and the refrigerator thinking maybe some spoiled food was causing the smell. Everything appeared fine and the longer I smelled the more I realized this was NOT a normal smell my family produces. The scent was only amplified by my super-sonic pregnancy nose. At that point the one thing screaming through my head was- SEWER! I ran downstairs to the basement bathroom only to find things looking just fine. I checked the laundry room floor and found that the floor drain had indeed backed up and floor was covered in awful, black sewage. We knew that we were no match for this stuff when it came to cleaning things up so we decided to file a claim with our homeowner's insurance and they sent out trusty Paul Davis Restoration to get things cleaned up. If only we knew at that point that we would get to know these folks on a first name basis over the coming months!

We called a couple plumbers and had them come take a look at things. They were able to clear a toilet paper blockage. Before we could breathe a sigh of relief it happened again the next day. Once again Paul Davis came back and some plumbers brought a camera to scope the line. They thought things may look a little flat but nobody seemed overly concerned. The blockage was cleared, the laundry room floor was torn out and the insurance company gave us a check to replace the laundry room floor. After several opinions from plumbers we decided to proceed with life and hope for the best. Things were just fine until mid-February--right before Matthew was born--when there was a small pool about 3' in diameter that appeared on the laundry room floor. We cleaned this up ourselves as if it were an overflowed toilet, and soon got caught up in all the happenings of Matthew's birth and the changes a newborn brings to a family. April came. And then things really started getting stinky. More details and pictures to come.