Toxic Gas in Your Home (A Mommy post)

This is Caleb's mommy, and I'm writing a guest post this week regarding carbon monoxide. I'm certain everyone who reads this post knows about carbon monoxide and that it's bad for you. I just wanted to remind everyone at this time of year to check their carbon monoxide detectors and make sure they work. Did you know you should have a carbon monoxide detector on each level of your home, and most especially near the bedrooms?

The reason I felt compelled to post this is because I just read an article in our University newspaper stating that Nebraska leads the U.S. in carbon monoxide deaths. I don't want anyone I know and care about to be one of those statistics.

Some of you know, it was just about this time of year, 3 years ago, that both Caleb and I were saved by our carbon monoxide detector. In our old house, our furnace was much older than we'd been told (it was 30 years old, we'd been told 15) and one night while Mark was away at band or guys' night, the CO detector went haywire. I was 6 months pregnant with Caleb.

The furnace had pretty much decided to die, and was pumping CO into the house. Due to us having a CO detector, I was able to get myself and all our pets outside into the car and call 911. I shudder to think what Mark might have found when he got home late that night, had we not had a functioning CO detector in the house. Even if I survived extended CO exposure, the likelihood that Caleb would have sustained brain damage from lack of oxygen is high.

Please, please, make sure you have a CO detector for every level of your house and that they work properly. They really are life-savers.