Sleep Study

Yesterday during nap I got a call from the sleep clinic saying that they had a cancellation and asking if we could come for Justin's sleep study that night.  I am beginning to wonder if anyone actually has their study on the originally scheduled appointment time.  Anyway, we were out the door and on our way in record time.  (I am getting good at last minute packing jobs...)  We had time for dinner with Daddy at Chick-fil-A and I left Travis with him before Justin and I went to the hospital.  You will be very pleased to note that unlike last year, I remembered my camera!

Here's brushing our teeth to get ready for bed.

Here are all the supplies ready to go.  The sensors are the wires laying across the front of the table.  Very multi-colored!

Cheri, our nurse, put on Justin's leg sensors first, the ones that check for leg movement.  She asked which I thought she should do first, head or legs.  I said I didn't think it mattered.  I was wrong, it did.  He did NOT like the sensors on his legs, and they didn't even hurt.  She marked the spots with the grease pencil, cleaned them off and then attached they with a waxy glue.  Then they got tape and purple self-stick wrap.  (You'll see that in a later picture.)  Then she set to marking his head.  He was too into Barney to pay much attention, but you'll notice the red, swollen eyes from earlier tears.  Most of the head spots were easy!  The lines down his shirt go to the leg sensors and EKG monitors.   

Here's the grease pencil and scrubbing to prepare for the sensors.  She did each spot several times so she would have to push too hard and bother him.

All the head sensors are on.  She switched to cotton balls to hold on the sensors.  I didn't get it, but they stayed on so who am I to question?  She then moved on to the spots on his forehead and chin.

Almost all done.  Here's the stocking hat/ski mask cover.  She didn't cut it down the middle and make ears since we planned to use the CPAP machine during the night and it doesn't fit over the ears.  Again, not questioning...  Here you can see the purple tape on his legs.

Cheri gave him a mirror to check himself out.  He stared very intently.

Very intently...

Here's all the lines coming together at the back of his head.  Cheri put a stocking over all the lines so they wouldn't get tangled during the night.  Really good plan!

All the lines attach to this box that then feed the information to her computer in the room behind ours.

All ready for bed!  Now he also has on the nose cannula for carbon dioxide output and the temperature sensor (that's what makes his nose glow!)

She checked his pulse ox reading on his finger since his toe was reading low (96%).  It checked out the same so that might be something to watch.

And then the lights went out.  I haven't been to bed before 9 pm in forever, but I guess I needed it because I think I was asleep before Justin!  Justin flopped and woke up quite a bit, but with me in bed with him he slept better than usual.  He woke up, saw me, and went right back to sleep.  Cheri came in at about 2:40 am to readjust a sensor and she said that he hadn't met the criteria before 2 am in order to justify switching to using the CPAP.   I wasn't sure what to think, but she said we were just going to finish up the night.  When she came in at 6 am she said to Justin, "You must really like sleeping with your mom."   He said, "Yah!"  Little stinker!  We have a follow up appointment for the beginning of August to go over the results.  I am not sure how the night went according to their criteria.  They ask all sorts of questions about how long I think it took him to get to sleep, how long he slept, how often he woke up, etc.  I just feel stupid because it's like a test where they know all the answers already and they want to see what I guess.  I know that they recognize it's difficult to replicate home sleep at a lab, but that's the best they can do.

So here's Justin's morning stretch.  They hadn't turned on the lights yet, but it's still a funny picture!

Then it was time to remove all the sensors.  His hair was a matted mess.  Oh, and we're watching Barney again, that's why we're getting the completely disinterested chin up stare. 

I did my best in the shower getting all the goo out of his hair, but that grease pencil is tough to scrub off!   I had to hold him since there was no bench in the shower, and the minute I stood him on the floor of the shower he ended up on his bottom.  I scrubbed all around his head and then when we got to therapy I noticed that I missed the big spot in the center of his head!  Not sure how I missed that.  I also missed a spot behind his ear.  I somehow got some in my hair too.  All our PJs are going in the laundry!  It's always an adventure.  Cheri kept saying how cute Justin is and he kept agreeing.  We all had a good night.  I might need a nap though.