Tuesday - November 19, 2013
This morning as the kids and I were getting ready for school, there was a news story about carbon monoxide at an elementary school. The kids wanted to know what carbon monoxide was. So, I told them what I knew about it and showed them that our smoke detectors were also carbon monoxide detectors. After our conversation, I walked into the kitchen to make breakfast for the kids. And that's when it happened. The fire alarm went off, but it didn't sound the same as we were used to. The pitch was a little different, but it was still loud and just as annoying. As soon as the kids realized what the sound was, they all took off running out the front door. They were all still in pajamas and had no shoes on, but they didn't care. They were scared and just wanted to get out of here. I didn't race out the door. I was confused, because I didn't see any smoke or anything, I almost thought maybe the sound was coming from something else. As I was looking around, a voice on the alarm said, "Warning! Carbon Monoxide! Warning! Carbon monoxide!" That it went back to it's regular long loud beep sound. That's when I realized that the alarms upstairs were also going off. I grabbed a blanket for the kids and went outside with them, leaving the door partially opened. The kids were really scared and cold, so I took them to a neighbor's house. As we stood in the cold, waiting for them to answer the door, we could still here the loud alarm going off in our house. I kept wondering how the neighbors on either side of us weren't hearing it. Anyways, so we got the phone number for the police department and I called for them to come check it out. They told us to wait inside the neighbor's house and that's where they would come and find us when they arrived. They asked if any of us were feeling sick. Alissa woke up with diarrhea and my tummy hurt a little, but I thought it was probably just from something I had eaten the night before. So, they sent and ambulance, a fire engine and a couple police cars. The EMT's came in and checked Alissa while the firemen checked our house. The firemen came to get us and tell us they didn't detect any carbon monoxide. They said, that when they went in the alarm had stopped. They guessed that it was the batteries or something that caused it to go off. So, I'm glad that we are all okay and there was no carbon monoxide, but I wish the alarm would have stopped before I called the police. I felt really stupid having them all come and it was nothing.
The whole experience was really traumatizing for the kids. When we got back inside and everyone had left, they all just broke down and cried. They ended up missing their bus' to get to school. When they all calmed down, they said they wanted to go, so I called a friend and she drove them to school for me (This is one of those times that it would have been really nice to have two vehicles).
When the kids got home from school, they wouldn't leave my side. They were scared that the alarm would go off again. It was hard to get them to sleep tonight also, the alarm, just scared them sooo... bad.
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