April 07, 2010

Things that Go Bump in the Night

The big room split is almost here. The beds have been ordered and as soon as they arrive it's game on. My biggest concern is what will happen at night. I'm talking middle of the night, Mommy's fast asleep night.
I'm a sound sleeper. I've somewhat been broken of that habit after months of crying newborn quads, but still, it takes more than a slight whimper to rouse me when I'm down for the count. I still have a monitor in the girls' room and it's been a lifesaver (or at least a carpet saver) on the nights they've woken up barfing. I am able to distinguish between a hard cough and a barfing cough. If I hear the latter, I know to run down the hall, flipping on all the lights so I can find the sickie.
So with the room split, I'm in a bit of a pickle. Can dual monitors work? I'm afraid with two monitors, their signals will interfere with one another, even if we set them on different channels. I'm considering putting the monitor in the hallway right outside their doors... but then I'm afraid I'll wake up due to mischief-making felines who won't be able to resist the new "cat toy" in the hallway. I know eventually we have to break away from the monitors, I just don't know if I'm ready to do it. I'm just not sure how to turn off the monitor and still be able to stay on top of any nighttime issues, ranging from potty breaks to illness to nightmares.

7 comments:

MaryAnne said...

We open the kids' doors when we go to bed to solve this problem - but we don't have cats, and all three bedrooms in our house are very close together.

Good luck with the split!

Nicole S. said...

I have heard that two monitors will not work but haven't experienced this myself. There is an alternative, however. I use the video monitor and you can get up to three cameras and they can be anywhere in the house. Naturally, they pick up noise, too. The downside is, you have to pick a channel to have on so for you that may defeat the purpose. But, I've searched the internets high and low, and this seems to be the only multi-room solution.

Quadmama said...

I forgot we have a camera that we've used in their room. That could work!

Losing My Lap said...

We have dual video monitors (by Summer) and have no problem with interference. You can switch from camera to camera without any issue on different channels on one monitor. And because I am a little nuts, I actually have two monitors on two stations right next to each other on my bedside table, one for each room. That way, if I hear any shenanigans, I can figure out where it's coming from immediately without even flipping the switch.

Quadmama said...

I definitely need to re-visit our cameras!

Rachel said...

I have dual monitors one in my 4 year old's room and one in my 1 year old's room. They are not the video kind, but I have it set to switch room every 15 seconds or so so I am able to hear them if they start waking up or getting sick. They don't interfere with each other at all. My husband and I sleep downstairs in the basement and the girls upstairs so this was the easiest way for me to hear them if something is wrong.

Quadmama said...

That's a neat idea! I didn't know you could do that with dual monitors. I'll have to look into it.

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