The Murphy Family Adventures: Day 22

We got a call on Thursday saying that they had a cancellation for a sleep study down at Tufts Medical Center in Boston so we took it. It was kind of nice that I didn't have to plan for it or dwell on it for a week in advance. We were told to check in at 7:30 pm. Connor and I arrived right on time and walked into the hospital at 7:15 after finding a great spot in the parking garage right on the 4th floor so I only had to walk down 1 flight of stairs carrying Connor, stroller, and all of our stuff! So the night was starting out great. We were met by the nurse at the door to the Sleep Study Suite and brought into our room for the night. She told me that Connor could play for a bit to get accustomed to the room before she hooked him up for the night. She came in around 8 with some paperwork and I figured Connor would be going to bed soon. But she kept leaving and would come in every 15 minutes or so saying that everything was set up and she would be in soon to start. At 8:40 she told me we would get started in 20 minutes so Connor would be overtired and go right to sleep. Doesn't everyone know that overtired toddlers don't go right to sleep?!?!? She informed me that Connor would be sleeping in the full size bed with me and they would pull a safety rail up on one side so he wouldn't fall out. Now one of the many reasons we were having a sleep study done is because Connor is a very restless sleeper and moves around a ton while sleeping. I was a little worried about how he would be in a bed with pillows and blankets! She finally came in to start with the wires at about 9:05 and it took until 9:30 to get everything attached. By the end, Connor had about 12 wires attached to his head, face, and neck. He also had an O2 monitor attached to his toe (he has always found a way to wiggle out of these in the past). And then came the worst part. She inserted an oxygen type tube into his nostrils and taped the tubes to his face and over his ears. The tape would not hold and she kept saying wow he has really soft skin. When this was all done, she wrapped his whole head up with gauze to try to keep it all together. Very interesting image.

She told me that I could lie Connor down in bed and she placed a board right next to his head that all the wires went into. She told me not to worry because she would put a towel over the board so Connor wouldn't play with it. Hahaha! Surprisingly, Connor did fall asleep within about 15 minutes on his belly (he always sleeps on his belly) all wrapped up in wires. He slept until 11:34 pm and woke up yanking the tubes out of his nose and sitting up. Now on a typical night, Connor will sit up in his crib and sort of dive forward onto his belly again to get comfy and fall back to sleep. Everytime he did this he managed to get more wrapped in wires and more would pop off. The nurse was watching all of this through a video camera from accross the hall and asked me over a speakerphone to place the tubes back in his nose. One part of the problem was that he had pulled off all the tape, the other part was that anytime I went near his face he turned it to the other side and rubbed his face into the bed some more pulling off more wires. The nurse had to come in and add lots more tape (that still didn't stick) and add some new wires to replace ones that had fallen off. Connor finally fell back to sleep, but the tubes were out of his nose again. I was able to gently slide them close enough and he slept until 2 am. The whole process started over again. Connor finally fell asleep again around 3am and slept pretty well. Everytime he moved his head to the other side I had to fidget with the nose thing until it was somewhat back in place. He snored very loudly all night and somehow this 23 pound little kid managed to take up almost the whole bed! The nurse came in at 6:20 am saying that the test was complete and we could go home after filling out a brief questionnaire. She said she was shocked at how much Connor moved in his sleep. She said that most kids come in and once they fall asleep for the first time they stay still on their backs for most of the night. If that is the case then why are they there?!?!?

The questionnaire was very funny because the first question asked if his sleeping patterns differed from his typical sleeping patterns at home. I couldn't help but laugh when answering this question. He doesn't typically wake up tangled in wires at home!

All in all I guess the night was a success as the nurse said they got the results that they needed. Unfortunately she couldn't tell me anything and that will be up to our ENT when we go for the follow up. I was able to move that appointment up so we should get some answers on November 7th.

This is the before shot while playing on the bed!