Lees Est. 2007: Giuliana's Sleep Study

I have to say that Giuliana's Sleep Study was something completely different than what I was expecting, and an experience I will never forget. The room we were in was approximately 8x12, there was a huge yellow metal crib, one 3 drawer stand, a chair, and little shelf on the wall to house the necessary supplies. When I walked in the room, and the technician was "showing me around," my jaw mentally dropped when I saw there was no bed for me. Just a chair that doesn't even recline. Right then, I knew this was not going to be an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and let me catch up on sleep while Giuliana did her sleep study. I was in for a night.

Normally, Giuliana starts to rub her eyes and get cranky around 8-8:15ish, where I then get her in her jammies, give her a night bottle, hook her up to her oximeter, and asleep she goes. Last night, Guliana decided it was fun sleepover party sleep study. She was having a ball with the technician, she loved being in the nasty metal crib, and was WIIIIIIIDE awake. When I put her jammies on, the sleep technician, Juliet (she was so friendly, gentle, and wonderful with us) put 3 sticky disks on Giuliana's chest, and 2 on her back where she connected wires and fed them through the top of her jammies. Then she put these two belts around Giuliana's tummy to keep the wires close to her body, and connected a wire to her foot which was very similar to the oximeter we have at home.

Giuliana finally fell asleep around 9:30. Juliet came in and told me she'd like to wait a half hour to forty minutes before starting connecting the remaining wires to make sure she was asleep. Around 10:15 Juliet came back in, and we got started. I had no idea how many wires were involved, nor the fact that I would be involved in this 2 hour process. Giuliana was soooo good. She slept throughout practically the entire wiring process. The only part she kind of woke up at, was when Juliet put the nose tube in, and she was half awake/ half sleeping. I quickly gave her a bottle and she was right back to a full sleep. Juliet wanted to wait another 20 minutes before finishing up. She told me, "don't fall asleep." In my mind I thought, "won't be a problem."

So, a successful study for an infant is 2 hours of data. Giuliana slept until 5:30 a.m. and did not pull out a single wire. That was long enough for an adult study. When she woke up, Juliet came in and said we're finished. Then she gushed about how wonderful Giuliana was and that she's the tiniest and most perfect patient she's ever had! She said that they record the studies, and when she has a patient giving her a hard time, she's going to show them Giuliana, the model patient! (she obviously isn't really going to show them, but it made me feel so proud).

When we finished up in the sleep lab, I took Giuliana across the street to the blood lab for her AFP test. The ladies there are so nice and gentle with her. Again, Giuliana did not cry. She is such a wonderful baby. We will have the sleep study results in a few weeks, and the AFP results should only take a couple of days.

Giuliana playing at her fun sleepover party sleep study