Wednesday night, our smoke alarm went off around midnight. It wasn’t the stupid chirping sound that happens when the battery is low. It was the “OMFG wake up, there’s a fire in your house” sound. A split second after it started, Benny asked, “What is that?!” He must’ve been still half asleep because there is NO mistaking the terrible, terrible screech of a smoke alarm in the middle of the night.
We both leapt out of bed in a panic. Was it the smoke alarm or the carbon monoxide detector? Am I going to have to jump out of a window? Did the furnace catch on fire? Are we going to lose our house? Ahhhh, OMG stop with the screeching already, we’re awake dammit!!!!!
By this time, my heart was pounding out of my chest. I was in full blown panic mode and I’d just barely hopped out of bed. As we stepped onto the landing of our bedroom, it was literally impossible to determine which smoke alarm was going off. Our house has a huge open space from the ground floor to the 3rd floor (A cathedral ceiling? I’m not sure what it’s called, really) and so sound travels throughout the house very easily. We go downstairs with poor doggy in tow (I'm sure all of that screeching was really painful for her), and we finally find the ballistic smoke alarm. Benny shuts it off. There is no smoke. There is no fire. There is no emergency. Stupid smoke alarm.
We head back to bed and Benny almost immediately falls back to sleep. Jerk. J I, on the other hand, lay there trying to calm my nerves and figure out how a smoke alarm could malfunction like that. I think about all of the possible scenarios that could’ve just played out if there actually was a fire. I think about what that experience would’ve been like if BGJ was asleep in her crib and I begin to feel very vulnerable. As someone who’s never been particularly strong or level-headed in emergency situations, will I be able to rise to the call of duty for my child or will I fall faint? No joke, I'm really a fainter. It was completely overwhelming and a bit traumatizing to feel all of this self doubt over a stupid malfunctioning smoke alarm.
Eventually I fall asleep and when I wake up, I’m still a bit disturbed by the whole thing. Benny makes me a coffee and I follow my usual morning ritual of reading up on my favorite blogs, one of which is called Rookie Moms. I almost choked when I saw the newest post, Creative New Products for Parents.
Holy. Crap.
Jessi I love reading your blog posts, you have an amazing way of writing as if you're sitting in my living room having a conversation. This smoke alarm experience sounds terrifying! I don't know how reassuring it might be to you, but I can tell you that once BGJ is here, all the noises, loud or not, that you hear while you're sleeping, will sound a little like that fire alarm, at least until you learn the baby's language. Those little people have a way of letting us know what they need, we just have to figure out their noises first. But they will wake you up, there's no question about that. And the crib will be the first place you look. That's just a mommy instinct ;-)
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