When our upstairs toilets are flushed first thing in the morning ( or after a long time) I can hear a dripping sound in the ceiling between the first and second floors of my house. I don't think there are any pipes in the area of the house where I hear the drips though. It stops after a minute or so. If the toilets are flushed again a few minutes or a few hours later no strange drippy sounds. It is cold where I live ( about 40 degrees at night). Please tell me I don't have big puddles of water up there and I don't need to cut big holes in our ceiling / floor. There is no water damage on our ceiling, by the way. My house is 9 years old if that makes a difference.

Thanks for any help and reassurance you can give.

This might be a long shot but I think you noise is pipe expansion rather than dripping water. Dripping water would evetually find its way out and you would see some damage. Water sits overnight and gets quite cool in the pipe. When you flush the new water is warmer and heats the pipe causing slight expansion of the pipes. When pipes move inside walls it can sound like little clicks or drops of water.