Monday, November 26, 2012

Oh what a difference a year makes!

I think the pictures say it all!

Apparently Father Christmas is a scary, scary man! We tried to get a Santa photo three times this weekend just been and Ethan was not having a bar of it!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Sleep study

So most of you will be aware that Ethan has had a rough winter with numerous ear infections, "crackly" breathing and post-nasal drip. After a while we finally got a referral to see an Ear, Nose and Throat Surgeon. He diagnosed glue ear and most likely Obstructive Sleep Apnoea from his big tonsils. Due to Ethan being under two the surgeon was reluctant to operate prior to confirming that Ethan actually has sleep apnoea. This confirmation is by a sleep study.

So last night was the big sleep study night. Firstly we had to have Ethan fed, bathed and at the hospital by 5.30pm. So that meant dinner at 4.20pm!

We arrived at the hospital and spent about 15 minutes getting Ethan settling in and comfortable.

Then it was action time - the technicians had to put numerous electrodes and sensors all over his wee body. Ethan was very patient and didn't try to pull any off at all. He was very distracted by the Thomas the Tank Engine DVD for about 5 minutes, and then we had to work a little bit at keeping Ethan entertained. He was a really amazing little boy and I was so proud of him

Here's my little mummy with his wires and the life-saving DVD player!

Here is the box with some of the connections!
 Ethan was a real trooper, not happy with it all, but he coped reasonably well!
 Although he didn't like the nose tube at all!! That was out biggest battle of all (to begin with!).
So then it was time to go to bed.... I did my normal routine and Ethan was lovely and drowsy. So I tried to transfer him to the cot. It was pretty difficult with all the wires and then it all went haywire.... he woke up and then unfortunately we battled for the next 4 odd hours to get Ethan down. At one point I had no idea what to do next so I called Jason in to help. He managed to get Ethan very sleepy had no luck transferring to the cot either! After 4.5 hours one of the technicians took pity on me I think and sent me out for a cup of tea. She managed to get Ethan to sleep, which I was very thankful for.

Ethan only slept for 5 hours... and it was very restless sleep. That restlessness, on top of the technician coming into the room and adjusting the sensors at least 6 times (and various alarms going off), I ended up getting around 1 - 1.5 hours sleep.

So all in all it was a very tough night and we are both a little worse for wear this morning! Ethan is currently off in dreamland now and I will be spending the next hour (as long as he stays asleep) on the couch!

Our follow up appointment with the surgeon is in 2 weeks so we will know whether it is surgery before Christmas or not soon!