If you were alone (with DC)...

[ThisIsReallyFunny]

And your house alarm went off in the middle of the night?

My OH often works away & I always set the alarm before I go to bed. Thankfully it's never been triggered by anything so I haven't had to get up but it got me thinking what would I do? Leave DC and go down alone? Call police? Call neighbour? What would you do?

I've had this happen! I picked up my phone and typed in 999 but didn't dial, stood at the top of the stairs like a wimp and shouted down "hello" went down and turned alarm off, then searched the house shitting myself and then didn't sleep for the rest of the evening because I was so shakey even though there was no one there and no reason for it to go off.

Oh god! I'd probably do that too to be honest! Then sleep with all of the lights on in the entire house.

Sorry, I know it's not much of a plan of action is it?!

When ds was little and didn't sleep for more than 2 hours at a time, I just put him down and heard noises downstairs. I was convinced I was being burgled, but genuinely thought, fuck it, if I go back to bed now i might get 20 minutes before the burglars wake me I was really surprised next day when tv was still there!

I keep a handle of an old tennis racquet next to the bed in case that happens and hopefully will remember to grab it before I run downstairs to turn off the alarm. Although I think I might scare off any burglars in my old vest and pants

My first night alone in the new house the alarm went off. I have one of those snazzy panels outside my bedroom door that was informing me 'intruder - living room'

.....

I turned it off, wrote a farewell fbook status and got back into bed. It shocked me how quickly I accepted my fate . I did spend a little while on the cctv app on my phone looking for anyone snooping around and couldn't hear a sound so managed to get back to sleep.
Can't believe I was so much of a wuss I wouldn't go investigate!!

Turns out something had fallen off the wall ''tis all.

Sorry I realise this doesn't answer your question AT ALL

When this happened to me, i called my next door neighbour to go round the outside of my house to make sure all the windows and doors were secure.

I've got an upstairs alarm panel, so turning off is easy enough. I don't, however, have a zone list upstairs, so would not have a bloody clue what 'zone14, alert C' or whatever meant. The list is downstairs next to the main box, so I'd be none the wiser as to what/where.

I think I'd turn off the alarm, so as not to wake dc, leave all the lights off, and hope that if said intruder ventured upstairs, they'd fall over the craftily camouflaged baby gate at the top of the stairs (it's pure black mesh, and easy to miss in the dark), and fall back downstairs.

Like a pp, though, it's more likely to be a Lego creation toppling over, or a ballon drifting about, or some other toy pile shifting in some way setting it off in the first place.

When I was a single mom I was in bed one night with DS asleep and I heard a lot of banging downstairs. Was convinced someone had broken in. I text my friend who had a key and he let himself in and searched downstairs. Turned out the hamster had broken out of his cage and knocked loads of things off the cupboard

I think best course of action is phone your DP to stay on the phone to you while you investigate. Or if your kids are old enough wake one up with the instructions to phone 999 if you're not back in 5 minutes.

Lol love these stories! Having dp on the phone while I investigate is a good plan of action me thinks 👌🏼

If DH is on the phone though you can't call 999 as quickly.

I got woken up at 5am once by crashing downstairs, I went down naked armed with a hockey stick, it was MIL. She had a spare key for emergency and had run out of milk so let herself in to get some, she went into a right rant about how disgusting me sleeping naked was, she does not have a spare key anymore

LOL sparkly!!!

Last time mine went off at 2am I found a huge spider sitting on the sensor in the kitchen. Bloody thing nearly gave me a heart attack.