Power Cuts, Baby Monitors and Mummy Snooping

This evening started like all other Wednesday evenings, He was playing soldiers at the TA and I was charged with making sure that Boo and the Stinkies made it to bed successfully. So at ten to eight when I was about to bath her highness there was silence; we’d had a power cut, and by that I mean a proper one that was down to a faulty generator (or some such electrical jargon) and immediately I will admit I started to panic – no sterilizer I could deal with, and Boo could go one night without a bath but what about the baby monitor?

 

This got me thinking, have we become over reliant on technology when perhaps we should be tuning into our mother instincts?

I know this is purely a first world dilemma and I am in now way suggesting that without technology you are unable to do the best by your baby. Yet why is it that I a perfectly well-informed, educated individual felt real anxiety at the thought of putting my healthy baby down for the night without a baby monitor to listen to her every wimpier and snuffle?

 

The power was restored 67 minutes later and the Stinkies declared they were delighted to be able to read before bed – although somehow I sensed a slight air of sarcasm!

 

For the duration of the power cut I was camped outside Boo’s bedroom door nosing at her falling asleep to the extent that I’m pretty sure I delayed her drifting off for a few minutes.  Also seeing as I didn’t have the internet my mind began to wander: what about the GroEgg? It’s such a humid night surely I need to know if it’s too hot!

 

I must sound like an utter freak banging on about something that in the grand scheme of things is really rather insignificant – but for me as Mummy I was angry at myself, why couldn’t I be able to sense when something was not right? After all I grew her, I should know everything that is of her.

 

The truth is that not me nor any other mother I know is superwoman, we can’t be everywhere at once; throw into the mix other children in my case Stinkies and it’s physically impossible. So yes I’m not ashamed to admit that baby technology has become my security blanket literally it is my eyes and ears.

 

Note one important thing: regardless of how much technology I fill the nursery and indeed the entire house with, my gut instinct will always be what I base my decisions on.  Technology like all other aspects of our lives is a tool by which to aid our daily lives; an enhancer not a restrictor.

 

Forgetting the power cut this evening was a treat, I watched Boo fall sound asleep.