Earlier today, I googled the sentence, "What animal has the best hearing?" I was just curious.
Out of the many pages that my search led to, most referred to dogs, bats and dolphins.
I think they're wrong. What animal has the best hearing?
Mothers, for sure.
Here is what led to that Google search.
In the wee hours of the morning, I suddenly woke from a sound sleep. Rolling over to check the alarm clock, I accidentally bumped my husband and woke him up.
"What's wrong?" he mumbled.
"I heard something,"I whispered back.
"I don't hear anything. Go back to sleep."
"Shh! There it is again."
That "it" was Maureen, awake at 4AM with a wet diaper. She made a couple of tiny peeps, and down the hall and through a closed door, I heard her and woke up.
It happens all the time. One night, I couldn't sleep so I went down to the couch so my tossing and turning wouldn't bother my husband. I woke up a few hours later, unsure of why I was awake, but quickly realized I had forgotten to turn the monitor on. When I did, Maureen was awake and making small noises. Somehow, my sleeping self heard her and woke up, despite the fact that she was upstairs and I was downstairs.
Mothers can hear the lid sliding off the cookie jar from three blocks away. Mothers can hear whispered plans made by naughty children through walls. Mothers can hear the cry of, "Mommy!" through crowded, noisy rooms.
My husband could sleep through the next apocalypse. Me? One of the kids sneezes in their sleep and I wake up.
It wasn't always that way. I used to be the one sleeping through booming thunderstorms. I had to set my alarm at top volume, otherwise I wouldn't hear it.
But since the birth of my first child four years ago, the days of sleeping through noise are long over. And out of all my senses, I think the hearing is the one that is most changed since having babies. It's fascinating that sirens and noisy neighbors don't disturb my sleep (much, anyway), but the sound of one of the children shifting in their bed can make it's way into my subconscious and prod me awake.
How about you? Are you a light sleeper since having kids?
Out of the many pages that my search led to, most referred to dogs, bats and dolphins.
I think they're wrong. What animal has the best hearing?
Mothers, for sure.
Here is what led to that Google search.
In the wee hours of the morning, I suddenly woke from a sound sleep. Rolling over to check the alarm clock, I accidentally bumped my husband and woke him up.
"What's wrong?" he mumbled.
"I heard something,"I whispered back.
"I don't hear anything. Go back to sleep."
"Shh! There it is again."
That "it" was Maureen, awake at 4AM with a wet diaper. She made a couple of tiny peeps, and down the hall and through a closed door, I heard her and woke up.
It happens all the time. One night, I couldn't sleep so I went down to the couch so my tossing and turning wouldn't bother my husband. I woke up a few hours later, unsure of why I was awake, but quickly realized I had forgotten to turn the monitor on. When I did, Maureen was awake and making small noises. Somehow, my sleeping self heard her and woke up, despite the fact that she was upstairs and I was downstairs.
Mothers can hear the lid sliding off the cookie jar from three blocks away. Mothers can hear whispered plans made by naughty children through walls. Mothers can hear the cry of, "Mommy!" through crowded, noisy rooms.
My husband could sleep through the next apocalypse. Me? One of the kids sneezes in their sleep and I wake up.
It wasn't always that way. I used to be the one sleeping through booming thunderstorms. I had to set my alarm at top volume, otherwise I wouldn't hear it.
But since the birth of my first child four years ago, the days of sleeping through noise are long over. And out of all my senses, I think the hearing is the one that is most changed since having babies. It's fascinating that sirens and noisy neighbors don't disturb my sleep (much, anyway), but the sound of one of the children shifting in their bed can make it's way into my subconscious and prod me awake.
How about you? Are you a light sleeper since having kids?
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6 comments:
Yep, for sure. I do sleep through some things (like the sound of my carbon monoxide detector's loud beep when the power went out the other night, lol) but the slightest kid-noise and I'm in their room to see what's up.
Yep. I hear JJ sneak quietly into my room in the middle of the night and stare at me, hoping I will let him sleep in my bed, every time.
Depends on exactly how sleep deprived I am. I've had times where I'm well rested and wake at the sound of one of the kids rolling over and I've had days when I've been so exhausted that I passed out on the couch and didn't wake up when one of them was calling my name and tugging on me. I think I only sleep like that when I know my husband is around to pick up the slack, and I think I was also sick that time. I felt horrible when I woke up and realized I'd slept through all that.
I'm deaf in one ear and when Chase was born I was so worried that I wouldn't hear her that I think I scared myself into overcompensating. However, apparently over the weekend I slept through car music a couple of doors down that woke up my hubby as well as friends that live half a block away and around the corner but the slightest baby sniffle and I'm sitting straight up in bed.
with the baby still in our room, I wake up to every sound. I'm not quite as sensitive to Gabe's sounds anymore, although I still use a monitor for him even though he's only one room away. I'm often startled awake because all of a sudden he's standing next to me! Scares the poop out of me everytime! it's especially hard to hear him in the summer though. We sleep with ocean sounds playing in Gabe's room and ours, plus there's window air conditioners in each room and usually a humidifier running in my room, and we sleep with both bedroom doors closed. Gabe, however, has gooten very good at coming in my room VERY quitely, because, I swear, Kylie can hear him breath and wakes up! He knows to only come in my room for real emergencies upon penalty of death!! LOL
When the Howler was just 3.5 months old, I woke up, after 2 hours of sleep (and little sleep the night before) in a hot, muggy July 2am, fans blowing, battery dead monitor to *hear* that she was having trouble breathing.
I don't wake easily or well even now, but that night, I know I heard her--with no way to *prove* I had.
Mom hearing? Nope. Angel whispers.
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