Sleep Study

{May 8th}

Braxton's ENT doctor recommended we get a sleep study done.  When you have a cleft lip/palate, there are often other syndromes that become more common and the Pierre Robin syndrome is one.  A small chin means the tongue can be pushed back further in the mouth, creating breathing problems.  They haven't diagnosed Braxton with it, but they (his ENT and cleft palate surgeon) are still concerned about his breathing.  We haven't experienced any problems when he sleeps, but he can get pretty restless and the ENT informed us last time we were there that that wasn't normal. 

A sleep study is where they hook up a ton of sensors all over your body, face and head and measure all kinds of things while you sleep (they also video you).  I don't think its normally that big of a deal but it was a pretty traumatizing experience for a baby. 

We weren't scheduled for one until June 20th but they called at noon and said they had an opening for that night.  We should have just waited so we were prepared but I honestly just wanted to get it over with.  They only allow 1 parent to come and stay due to space limitations in the room so it was hard wrangling all of our stuff and handle the Nug all by myself.  He did awesome when they started hooking up the sensors on his body...didn't make a peep.  When they started putting sensors on his face/head, they dipped the sensor in a glue paste and pressed it down really hard on him for it to stick.  That's when he lost it.  It was so sad to hold him down when he freaked out!  After all sensors were placed, they wrapped his head in gauze to keep him from pulling them off and then came the oxygen tubes, followed by more sensors taped down to his face. 

{right after they wrapped him up}

It looks worse that it was, although it was a really crappy experience overall.  We had a less than personable nurse/sleep tech who was pretty insensitive the situation.  I had to sit in his ghetto hospital crib and hold him to calm him down and get him to sleep, but he passed out pretty quickly since it was already 9:30 at this point.  I think he did really well all night except for the fact he woke up fussing/crying every 45 minutes or so all night long (which means I woke up every 45 mins all night long).  I think he would just get scared when he went to switch positions or move and he would feel his face all wrapped up.  Thankfully he was pretty happy when he woke up and did great when they removed all the wires from him. 

We'll find out the results in about a week or two when they analyze all the data.  If there are issues, there is a chance they'll recommend some kind of operation to add on to his cleft surgery later this summer... but hopefully its just something we can correct by having him sleep on his tummy.

 

{happy boy again in the morning}