I listened but heard no toilet flushing or footsteps elsewhere in the house.
Only silence.
Then Noah made a soft snuffling sound in the bassinet, and I reached for my phone to open the baby monitor app.
We had installed the nursery camera before he was born, even though we expected him to sleep in our room for a while. Its angle captured much of the floor as well.
I had used it a few times during daytime naps while folding laundry downstairs.
That night, I opened it mainly to reassure myself that Ethan was in the nursery arranging diapers, cleaning the changing pad, or doing some other random task brought on by exhaustion.
He was not there live.
Then I saw the playback option.
I do not know why I pressed it. Maybe it was instinct or anxiety. Sleep deprivation and hormones had turned a low-level paranoia into my constant companion.
I rewound to the previous night.
