Breathe, Baby, Breathe

(These are all iPhone pictures. Forgive the me.) Sophia and I spent the night at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters on Thursday night, so she could have a sleep study to help figure out why she's been having trouble breathing since September. Here she is meeting all the various and plenty cords that will soon be attached to her brain.

Well, not directly.

Shortly after we checked into her room, she started getting hooked up. I've been through this before, but I did a horrible job preparing Sophia. Here's exactly what I told her to expect: 

(Right. There's nothing there. *ahem*)

 

Whoops...

 

Ana, our wonderful polysomnographer, made sure she knew what to expect, however, and was absolutely wunderbar for the next 10 hours. I loved her immeasurably.

 

Ana started attaching the transmitters to the head of Soap with some majorly sticky goop (that's the technical medical terminology). Her comments consisted of, "Eww. Blech. Blech. Eww," and stuff like that.

Also, next time your child has to have a sleep study, please do not be a dumb mother like me and put her in a one-piece pajama. Two-piece, please. It makes things much easier on both the tech and the child needing to go potty the minute everything is hooked up.  

Soapster trying to see what was going on in the back of her head. Haha! This child is so comedic.

Fortunately, watching American Idol on TV kept her preoccupied throughout most of the process. I generally find that to be true wherever we go, since we haven't had TV service at home for a whole YEAR now. 

 

Sophia's first view of herself getting made up - looking good, baby!

"I'm not so sure about this, Mommy!!"

Sophie being Sophie

Yes, she WAS expected to sleep like that!

Ana to the rescue! I'd spent a while with Sophia before we left, carefully selecting Barbie coloring pages to print out, and we left them at HOME! Argh. She was very upset with me, and rightly so. (What was that about dropping the ball...?) She kept fussing about it, so Ana darted out and came back with a Minnie Mouse book and some crayons. Cheap kranz. Sophia was gleeful, and I was relieved. Phew!

 

Call me a bad mother, but I LAUGHED and LAUGHED and LAUGHED...!!!

It didn't take long for Ana to put Sophia out of her misery and give her a face-hole. Hey, you face-hole!

"Mama, do I look funny?" "No, dear, of course not." *snicker*

 

"Ahhhh! Yes, I DO!!!"

That gray thing drove her NUTS all night. She asked me, "Why do I have to have this antenna on my face? I'm not a CAR!"

Once Sophia was all hooked up to her brain circuitry there, she hopped into bed and finished coloring her picture. She begged and begged me for a snack... and I had brought her one, but stupidly, I chose something that contained chocolate and therefore caffeine. I am not thinking clearly this week. Forgive me, my dear child. I asked Ana for crackers or something, but they had nothing. Poor kid. She is constantly hungry, too, and for good reason - she actually grows (as opposed to her older siblings, who prefer to stagnate on the charts of growth)!

She may look pathetic, but... yeah. She was. Aww. Poor little baby. I thank the good Lord above that she wasn't in that hospital for more serious reasons, though.

Lights Out time was 2200. She was tired, so it seemed like she would go right out, but she kept yakking away about being hungry, the antenna on her face, being cold, being hot, and the usual, "Can I play a game on your iPhone?" Finally, around 2315, she zonked out for good, but not before this one last giggle with Mom! 

The night went well and passed quickly. While I read magazines by the light of my iPhone, Sophia slept soundly beside me. She pulled out her tubing and transmitters a few times, necessitating Ana's rushing into the room to hook everything back up, but it didn't wake her up. She's been a sleepy girl ever since this stay. Last night, we got a pizza and watched movies together on the couch, but Sophia slept so soundly from about 2100 through the morning that she had an infrequent accident on the couch. And she fell asleep in the car this morning, too. Snoozy girl!

 

Ana came in at 0500 to wake up my sleepy girl and set us free. But first, she had to clean all the guk off her face, legs, chest, and hair. This was the awesome result. I refused to straighten her up for the long walk out to the car park, and we were met with lots of strange looks and giggles from folks just coming in for day surgery and whatnot. Sophia and I giggled right back. I told one such couple, "Tell her she's BEAUTIFUL, please." And they did. 

 

Hiya. Mama Smelly-melly here, from the bathroom of Sophia's CHKD room. Looking rather like a chipmunk, but that's neither here nor there. I talked to Ana several times during the night, mostly to make sure I had put the cannula back in Sophia's nose properly after she had yanked it once again, but also to see how she was doing. She couldn't discuss it too much with me, but she did reveal that the reason Soap kept waking herself up was because of numerous episodes of apnea during her REM (dreaming) phase of sleep. That was interesting; I didn't expect that at all, as I hadn't noticed breathing stoppage. The rest of the findings will have to wait until we talk to the pulmonologist, Dr. E. I can't wait to hear what she has to say!

Also, I talked to Ana about being a polysomnographer myself, since I am Ye Olde Fashioned Childe of the Night. Apparently, the $2K course at TCC is only a one-year certificate program, and then one is set to go! I might look into it...

And that is all.

Fin.