Natalie's Sleep Study

About a month and a half ago I took the girls to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor after a referral from their pediatrician. Both have tonsils that are scary big. And both snore like an old man and we can hear them all the way across the house. With Isabella I was most concerned that her tonsils were causing her speech problems because she always sounds like she's talking with a mouthful. With Natalie I actually heard her gasp at night at times in her sleep, which I was pretty sure was sleep apnea.

Anyway, after the ENT got one look at their giant tonsils he was sure that removing them would be best for both of them, however, insurance companies and doctors alike have apparently begun to be more cautious about taking kids tonsils out before the age of 3. Natalie is 2 and a half so the doctor said that before hand she needed to have a sleep study to confirm the apnea and immediate medical need of removal before he would go ahead with the surgery. Last night was her study.

I knew a little bit about what a sleep study entailed and I was very nervous about how she would react to all the wires and such they would have to put on her to monitor her. I worried she's be pulling everything off and not able to sleep. I was very happily surprised with how things went. First of all the lady who was her tech was VERY nice and kid friendly. She was able to get 95% of the wires on her without so much of a fuss from Natalie, and there were A LOT! Natalie was actually laughing and thought it was all really funny. The last 5% of the wires that needed to go on her she begun to fuss and fight, BUT I think that was just because it was over an hour past her bedtime, she hadn't napped that day and she was tired of being drawn on, painted on and poked. This is how she looked at the end just before we took her to bed.

You can't tell in this first picture just how many wires she had on, but you can see that there are some in her hair - I'd say there were 10-15 in her hair, 2 on each leg, 2 on her chest, there are 3 on her chin, 1 on each temple and 1 on her forehead.

When we got her in bed she cried and kept saying"ouchie" as the tech hooked all the wires up to machines by the bed. I think the tape was pulling at the hairs on her head and on her arms and legs. But I snuggled in with her and we read a book. I noticed halfway through the book she had become relaxed, her breathing was deeper and her eyes were very droopy. When I closed the book I asked which other book she wanted to read and she answered but just in the few seconds it took me to reach over to the night stand to get it she had conked out completely, and it was only 10pm (I expected it to take much longer).

Around 1am she rolled over which reminded her that she had a tube up her nose which she pulled off and then she realized she had something on her finger as well which she ripped off as well. The tech just waited until she was back in a deep sleep and put these things back on. This happened 2 or 3 more times and then the next thing I knew they were waking us up at 5:30am to take it all off and send us home. She of course didn't like them taking it all off her and she has many "stickers" and tape left on her now. Hopefully the bath will help those soak off easily with little to no fuss. I'm just proud of how well she handled it and have promised her a trip to McDonald's today for being such a big girl! (then I plan on coming home and having a long nap - I'm exhausted this morning!)