Sleep Studies Don't Involve Much Sleep

I told Micah we were having  a sleepover, just he and mommy. We packed our overnight bags, I rented movies, and we headed out. I was clear in telling him that we were going to sleep at the hospital, but he wasn't listening to that part. He focused on the sleepover with movies part. So when we got to the Sleep Evaluation Center, he was upset. Obviously.

Micah's sleep study was last night, and things went well, actually. Once he realized that they had a lending library of videos to watch, and there were no needles involved, he made himself at home in his private suite with a hospital bed. He was none too happy with the tech, who interrupted his sleepover to glue leads onto his head. He set up an obligatory fight, complete with screaming and arm waving. But I'll call it a total win because it did not take 7 people to hold him down, the leads were eventually glued on, and once there, Micah happily left them alone. That's a win in any book, really.

So we settled in for the night, and because Micah can't sleep without the need to touch someone, I snuggled next to him in a single bed. I didn't sleep well, of course. Who can, with a total of 3 square inches assigned to them and a knee in their back? But Micah did, and they got excellent readings from his many wires.

We'll wait the required two weeks to read the thousands of pages of printout generated from one night's sleep, and then call to see what the printout says. Is he having seizures while he sleeps? How bad is his apnea? Does either condition require intervention on our part?

And then, after being awakened every time the technician came into the room to adjust the cannula under Micah's nose, and being awakened every time Micah kneed me in the back, and generally not sleeping becuase I had 3 square inches assigned to me, the tech gave the 5AM wake-up call and asked if I'd be alright to drive home, because I didn't get much sleep.

Well, really, what was I going to say? No, please drive me the 90 minutes home that I'm not able to? But I did, because I'm a mom and we do what we have to do. I'm grateful that Micah is a morning person, and his chipper chatter kept me coherent until I pulled into the driveway.

I had no idea he'd be so cooperative for the study, and dreaded it immensely a few months ago when it was scheduled. After our weekend at the hospital over seizures, Micah realized that hospitals don't always mean ear tube placement, as well as learning that leads pasted onto your head are a walk in the park in comparison to an IV in your arm. Perspective. It's a very good thing.