I usually wake up once in the middle of the night. Most of the time it’s 4 or 5am. I think it’s my bladder waking me up, but I ignore it and try to eek out every bit of sleep I can until Lydia decides to start her version of cockadoodledoo—“MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!”.
However, this morning I woke up at 1am. And I smelled smoke. So, I got out of the bed, went to the bathroom, continued to sniff and was certain I smelled smoke. I poked Les and said, “Do you smell smoke?” He was completely asleep but managed to halfway sit and sniffed a few times. Then I made him he went into the kitchen to make sure we’d turned the oven off. I even heard him open up the door to the basement to make sure something didn’t ignite in that scary dungeon of ours.
He came back to bed and said he didn’t smell anything. Well, I did. I smelled smoke and couldn’t go back to sleep. Then Lydia started coughing. And then my mind started going crazy…
I was thinking about wires in the wall slowly catching fire…I wondered if there was a kind of smoke that might not affect my body, but might hurt the body of a 25 pound baby girl…I wracked my brain trying to think of scriptures about protection…I was wondering if I should get up and make sure Lydia was ok… I pictured an angel coming into our room to tell me to get up and rescue our daughter from the fiery furnace…I thought about laying on Lydia’s floor and listening to her breathe…I figured it MUST be a sign from God that I woke up at 1am instead of 4am, so I could save Lydia…I wondered if her room caught fire, would she wake up and see it?…Would I be able to get her out in time?
Then I remembered last night. Kristen came over to watch Amazing Race. We made this really yummy pizza from Rachael Ray. And when I was cooking the garlic, we got kinda lost in the Snowflake Wedding pictures and let it burn.
And that’s what I was smelling at 1am.
The remnants of burnt garlic.
I swear I am not a fearful person! I’m more of the “do not let your hearts be troubled” kinda gal. But for some reason, in the middle of the night listening to Lydia cough and smelling burnt garlic, I went crazy! I can still remember what I felt like and it was terrifying!
I never did this before Lydia. I guess being a mom makes you have all these totally irrational fears. Yikes. Tell me I’m not the only one who’s imagining crazy scenes like this!
I’ve done the freaking out in the middle of the night thing as well. But never before having children.
I’ve done that before too! I’m sorry you had a frightening night!!
Yeah, I’m a total nut job since Woggie. Though I think HH might contend that I was a nut job before! 🙂
Now you know how I felt when I woke up after “the dream”!!
I think most moms have done this… It’s the true proof that life really is different now! Bless your heart…
Scary stuff. If nothing else, it’s reassuring to know that your brain will wake you up in the event of trouble.
Plus, of all the burnt-something smells to wake up to, I’d say garlic tops the list. At least it wasn’t burnt popcorn or hair.
Becoming a mother does add a whole new level of awareness, that’s for sure! Funny that you could smell it but your husband did not. Men! How is it that they can sleep through a crying child in the middle of the night???…or is it that they are just playing ‘sleep’ until we get up and take care of it?! hmmmm
Man that pizza was good! Sorry that you were still smelling it at 1 am. Also sorry it almost gave you a heart attack! I know that feeling!
You are oh so so so normal, a. I’m just glad nothing was really wrong. 🙂
OMG, so I have not done that in the middle of the night thing, but thanks now with hubby deploying soon I am sure I will!