Smoke detectors

I thought it was uncanny when it happened the second time. But now the third? One of our smoke detectors is low on battery and emitting a beep periodically but regularly until we change it. The uncanny part is how inopprortune the moments are when the smoke detectors stop working.

The first time it happened was the first time Eli had to sleep in our room due to guests. Already I hate tiptoeing around in our room when he's sleeping but then in the middle of the night the detector in our room starts the beeping routine. Tom dismantles it quietly until the next morning when he can fiddle and get a new battery in.

The second time was the night before we were to fly to DC. We had put the kids down early because we had to get them up at 5:30AM. And what do I hear coming from Eli's room? The beep. Every 10 or 15 minutes. Luckily he slept through it and we made it out to the airport okay. We left the detector apparently beeping for the next 8 days while our house was vacant.

Now the smoke detector in either Tobey's room or our hallway is beeping. The inopportuness this time is because both kids are sick, Tobey especially. I've already resigned to the fact that I'm not leaving the house nor getting a shower. Already Tobey woke up last night, puked while taking in medicine and this morning he was burning hot and lethargic. I wasn't sure how I was going to get through the day knowing I can only hold one kid at a time but I'm making it somehow. But the last thing I want to do is change the batteries on these stupid (but necessary) smoke detectors.

Makes me want to take a bat to them. Is there a message I'm supposed to be receiving by these failing smoke detectors? Because they don't fail on just any old day; they have to fail when it's the most inconvenient time to deal with them.