we put the girls down sunday night and because it’s been in the 90’s, had the windows closed and a/c on.
zach went outside to work while a friend and i chatted and cleaned up dinner.  out of no where, the shrieking beep, beep beep.  
the smoke detector started going off in the girls room.  
i flew in their room…nothing.

i couldn’t figure out how to get the alarm to stop, so i had my friend go get zach who happened to be working across the field.  i yell for him and he comes home to check what’s going on.

something just felt off.  i knew the battery wasn’t dead and that it was probably nothing, but i couldn’t ignore that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. 

i went back and forth.. call 911? sound like an idiot? i know, i’m over reacting. i’ve turned off alarms before, probably too many times to count. but it was in their room and i knew i wouldn’t sleep if we ignored it.

so, we made the decision: go get the girls, take them outside and call 911. 

the fire chief came first and then the fire truck.  the chief went in with zach to make sure there wasn’t any trace of carbon monoxide. 

and there was.

we had carbon monoxide in our house.

that alarm i almost ignored probably saved our lives. 

we had opened the windows so the readings weren’t as accurate as they would have liked, but there was enough down in our basement for them to identify that it was coming from our water heater because it wasn’t burning correctly. 

we have one CO detector in our house, which happened to be in the girls room. 

that will be changing tomorrow, along with getting a new water heater. 

the only reason i even thought twice about the alarm was because a local family recently fell victim to this silent killer… a very sad and tragic accident.

so, please, take our story as a reminder. make sure you have CO detectors in your house. and don’t ignore them.  it’s too easy to think you’re overreacting. but on the chance that you aren’t… just call. it could save your life.

a few things you need to know about carbon monoxide:
CO can’t be seen, smelled or heard, but it can be stopped
each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning
have your heating system, water heater, or any other gas appliances serviced each year.
install battery-operated CO detectors near every sleeping area in your home and make sure they are working properly.
in adults, early symptoms of CO poisoning mimic flu-like symptoms including vomiting, dizziness, headache which can then lead to passing out or death.
infants, elderly and people with heart disease, anemia or breathing problems may be more susceptible to severe symptoms which can become more severe, more quickly
NEVER ignore an alarm and always call for CO levels to be inspected if you or someone in your house is experiencing symptoms. 

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, there is something to be said for trusting your mom-gut. thank God we had a detector in their room and thank God it was working.

my stomach hurts thinking of what could have been had i just turned off that alarm. 

so for now, i will praise God that he was protecting our most precious gifts.

xoxo,

Lindsey