The quiet check at night belongs to labor that daytime visitors may never see.

Care runs all the way round the clock, and only part of it is visible. The turning, the checking, the light left on, the sitting up with somebody who cannot sleep: none of it appears when a visitor arrives at three in the afternoon and finds everything calm. What looks manageable in daylight is often held together at four in the morning.

If you visit someone doing this, ask about the nights specifically, and offer to cover one if you can. If the nights are yours, they count as labour even though nobody writes them down.