Pregnancy and Neighbours Car Horn

Person_one

AndrewB3 wrote: »

This is the first time I have any experience of pregnant women, so i have no idea what harms/doesn't harm the baby. I am just assuming that being woken up is bad.

I'm not using it as an excuse, I was just hoping for some empathy that this is a stressful enough situation as it is.

I don't think I am making a big deal out of this, maybe I should come to your house and ring your doorbell every morning at 3am? then you can tell me whether it's a big deal or not :rotfl:

Thank you for your suggestions anyway.

I hate to break it to you, but fairly soon you're both going to be regularly woken up through the night by a crying baby.

It's very inconsiderate, and it's not on, but the pregnancy is completely irrelevant.

merlin68

You can get your own back with a screaming baby, just open all the windows. One of mine used to scream all night and sleep all day.

browneyedbazzi

AndrewB3 wrote: »

Just so you are aware though, use of a horn other than to alert other road users is completely prohibited and use of a horn while stationary is completely prohibited, regardless of time or place.

Just so you are aware, you are wrong.

You must not use a horn whilst stationary on a road or whilst driving on a road between the hours of 11:30pm and 7am.

If your neighbour is on his drive then it is not a problem unless it becomes a statutory nuisance or anti-social behaviour.

MothballsWallet

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

Just so you are aware, you are wrong.

You must not use a horn whilst stationary on a road or whilst driving on a road between the hours of 11:30pm and 7am.

If your neighbour is on his drive then it is not a problem unless it becomes a statutory nuisance or anti-social behaviour.

The part about only using your your horn to warn other road users is correct: I remember seeing it in the Highway Code (I did read through it when I was learning to drive).

alias*alibi

I live by a local airport; flights are not supposed to come in before the hours of 7am; however flights regularly come in at 5am swooping over our rooves and scaring the bejesus out of me. Try living here; I'd swap that for a little pip on the horn any day!!!

Seriously, if you only plan to stay for a short while was it really worth having bad feeling with neighbours which could potentially ending up causing more stress to your partner than a pip of a horn?

Brighton_belle

I don't know how many rooms you have in the property you are currently living in, but is there any way you can get creative - stop seeing them as 'this room has to be the bedroom and this room has to be 'x' and perhaps swap them around?
For example, we have our sitting room in what traditionally would have been the main bedroom (so we can let out the room downstairs) and sleep in a small room at the back that is full of bed and not much room for anything else, so we avoid the noise at the front of the house.

kingfisherblue

Although the car horn is annoying you, you don't say whether it is annoying your wife - she might be fine about it. In fact, she might even be sleeping through it (as you go out to work at 3pm, you don't really know). I am assuming that the information has come from your wife as you aren't there, so for the sake of it, I will assume that the horn is annoying your wife. In that case, she should go round to next door and have a polite word with the lady of the house. It's your wife's problem, not yours.


As for being pregnant, as others have said, it is irrelevant. Speaking from personal experience, being woken in the night (although 6am is the start of the day for many of us!) isn't pleasant, but it is something that you get used to. You'll find that out when baby arrives! If your wife isn't working, or works part time, then she can always have a lie down during the day if she feels the need to. My daughter is pregnant and has quite an energetic job. She also has a medical condition that means she tires easily, and has had to stop her medication whilst she is pregnant. As a result, she is exhausted most of the time, so she naps when she can. Fortunately, her medication can begin again after her baby is born and the condition is expected to be short term.


Over the years you will learn to pick your battles.

Tropez

It's curious that everyone seems to dismiss sudden awakenings from sleep.

According to research in Japan, being repeatedly woken suddenly, especially if during deep sleep cycles, can be hazardous to one's long-term health. A study from 2004 linked sudden awakenings such as those from traditional bell alarm clocks to elevated heart rates and a significant spike in blood pressure (this is due to the way blood thickens during sleep states as no fluids are being ingested). There is evidence which suggests that if this is allowed to continue over weeks and months the effects can cause increased levels of stress, leading to sleep disorders, depression and strain on the heart. There are also implications for memory and cognitive function, which grow more pronounced the longer that such awakenings continue. Occupational accidents occur with more frequency in people who use traditional bell alarm clocks, or are otherwise frequently awoken by loud, sudden noises.

Even in one-off situations, the effects of some of these awakenings were detected in people for up to two hours after they had been woken.

And yes, mothers - one study suggested that mothers dealing with newborns who go through the sleep-wake-repeat cycle might as well be getting no sleep at all as the effects of eight hours of regularly interrupted sleep counts for less than four hours of non-interrupted sleep.

A study in Germany has even linked alarm clock bells and other such sudden jarring noises awakening people to obesity, and rather controversially suggested this might be a reason why some new mothers have a few problems shedding those... pregnancy pounds.

It may be that the best thing you can do is try and adapt your wife's sleep cycle and buy her a non-jarring alarm (sleep experts recommend natural sounds - rivers, rain, stuff like that) to wake her up before the peeping pillock next door makes his morning noise. At least that way the short-term effects on her mood and strain on her body shouldn't be quite so adversely affected.

duchy

AndrewB3 wrote: »

This is the first time I have any experience of pregnant women, so i have no idea what harms/doesn't harm the baby. I am just assuming that being woken up is bad.

I'm not using it as an excuse, I was just hoping for some empathy that this is a stressful enough situation as it is.

I don't think I am making a big deal out of this, maybe I should come to your house and ring your doorbell every morning at 3am? then you can tell me whether it's a big deal or not :rotfl:

Thank you for your suggestions anyway.

Is your girlfriend also concerned that getting woken up will do harm to her or the baby......or is she just anooyed by getting woken up.

I understand that you are in protective mode but reading a few baby books to educate yourself about real rather than imagined risks in pregnancy might stop you worrying about stuff that is an annoyance rather than an actual risk.

You sound very young and immature (as illustrated by the silly 3am comment )you made-perhaps it's time to grow up . As a parent you need to know when to pick your battles-and when not to make a bad situation worse (like not starting a war with the neighbours when your girlfriend is likely to be spending time there alone when you are working in late pregnancy)

alias*alibi

Tropez wrote: »

It's curious that everyone seems to dismiss sudden awakenings from sleep.

According to research in Japan, being repeatedly woken suddenly, especially if during deep sleep cycles, can be hazardous to one's long-term health. A study from 2004 linked sudden awakenings such as those from traditional bell alarm clocks to elevated heart rates and a significant spike in blood pressure (this is due to the way blood thickens during sleep states as no fluids are being ingested). There is evidence which suggests that if this is allowed to continue over weeks and months the effects can cause increased levels of stress, leading to sleep disorders, depression and strain on the heart. There are also implications for memory and cognitive function, which grow more pronounced the longer that such awakenings continue. Occupational accidents occur with more frequency in people who use traditional bell alarm clocks, or are otherwise frequently awoken by loud, sudden noises.

Even in one-off situations, the effects of some of these awakenings were detected in people for up to two hours after they had been woken.

And yes, mothers - one study suggested that mothers dealing with newborns who go through the sleep-wake-repeat cycle might as well be getting no sleep at all as the effects of eight hours of regularly interrupted sleep counts for less than four hours of non-interrupted sleep.

A study in Germany has even linked alarm clock bells and other such sudden jarring noises awakening people to obesity, and rather controversially suggested this might be a reason why some new mothers have a few problems shedding those... pregnancy pounds.

It may be that the best thing you can do is try and adapt your wife's sleep cycle and buy her a non-jarring alarm (sleep experts recommend natural sounds - rivers, rain, stuff like that) to wake her up before the peeping pillock next door makes his morning noise. At least that way the short-term effects on her mood and strain on her body shouldn't be quite so adversely affected.

That's really interesting as I must admit, if I am woken by a damn plane coming in to land at 5am, my heart rate is immediately elevated and I feel in a heightened state for quite some hours after.