Baby Monitor Troubles

The last four nights, my baby monitor has not been working properly. When Samantha was a baby, I was so worried she would need me, I found I actually had to turn the monitor off. Any time she rolled or squirmed, the monitor would click, and I would sit straight up in bed, listening for her cries. Not very conducive to getting any sleep. Once I turned it off, I was able to sleep through her small noises, but woke when she cried. When Ella was a baby, I was less nervous about everything and found I could keep the monitor off. I easily woke when she cried, but still managed to get a good night's sleep.

Now that I'm on baby number three, I'm very laid back, and tired. I do not wake up without the monitor. Penny is now only getting up once a night (not bad for a three month old), but I will sleep right through it without the monitor.

The first malfunction of the monitor was me forgetting to turn it on. I woke up in the morning, and thought Penny had slept the whole night, only to realize I hand't turned on the monitor. Poor Penny! She probably woke hungry and cried and cried and I was too comatose to hear her.

The next night, I made sure to turn the monitor on. I double checked the little green light was on. I awoke the next morning, and again, realized Penny had not fed the entire night! I felt so much better about the night before. She really was sleeping through the whole night. Then I checked the monitor, the little green light was not on, the batteries had died overnight. Oh, no! I thought. Poor Penny! Crying and hungry two nights in a row. My poor neglected baby!

Sean changed the batteries for me the next night and I made sure that green light was on. At three thirty I was woken by Ella coming into our room. As I groggily reached down to pull her into our bed, I realized Penny was screaming, very unlike her to make that much noise. I looked at the monitor, the green light was off! Crap, the stupid thing must be broken, I thought. I'll have to go get a new one in the morning. Off I went to feed Penny. I told Sean about it in the morning, and he said he had put in rechargeable batteries, and they were probably old. So he put in brand new batteries yesterday for me.

This morning, I was again woken by Ella climbing into our bed and again heard Penny screaming. I looked at the monitor, the green light was on. What was going on? The volume was turned off. Sigh. Off to feed Penny, after turning the volume back up. We'll see if I can get it working correctly tonight, or if Penny is going to suffer through another night of crying out in hunger to no response.

**Note: The girls and I are going to Grandma's for little vacation later today, so I won't be writing for a few days. (Not sure if the vacation is for us or for Daddy.)