CPAP: The Next 2 Nights

The next night we really turned the corner.  Justin only woke up three times and he settled down quickly.  The fourth night Justin only woke up twice and I didn't even sit up to help him.  He managed to settle himself down all by himself!  We even used the CPAP for nap and he slept three blissful, uninterrupted hours.  I put Justin to sleep without laying down myself so I was able to have a couple of hours to catch up on other things before I went to bed on the floor by his bed.  He was able to do it without any major drama.  It's amazing to watch the difference in his sleep!  Usually, he tosses and flips and rolls and sits up and wraps himself up in the covers.  With the CPAP, it's like seeing a body in a coffin (with his chest rising and falling though!)  He is so still and peaceful.  He lays with his head right in the middle of his pillow with his arms right down by his sides.  I love it!

The next day Justin got sick though, and that ended our great run with the CPAP.  It started with a runny nose and cough and by Tuesday it had escalated to an inability to sleep alone and an inconsolable whine.  I have to say that whining has to be one of the worst parts of Justin being unable to talk and effectively communicate his feelings.  So we went to the doctor and Justin had at least one ear infected.  The other was full of wax, but really it didn't matter since he's getting the medicine anyway.  The problem was that the doctor heard the beginnings of a wheeze so he ordered a chest x-ray to be certain that Justin didn't have pneumonia.  (The doctor couldn't really hear Justin's breathing very well because of the whine!)

After several more hours waiting for the x-ray and a missed nap, our day was complete.  We got the word later that day that Justin's chest is clear and it's just the ear infection.  The odd part was that Justin didn't have a fever at all.  But that's okay, Justin waited until that night to work up to a fever.  We spent another sleepless night tossing and turning and consoling a feverish child.

The good news is that now two days later we are on the mend and we are over the whines.  The nose is still running so we can't use the CPAP yet.  But when we can, I am praying it's not like starting over again.