Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Yep, she has it. Emma's first sleep study (polysomnography) was at the sleep clinic at PCMC on December 23, 2005. A sleep study is kind of like a slumber party at the hospital, minus the pillow fights and any hint of fun. She looked like an alien with all the wires they attached to her head and we were sure there wasn't anyway she was getting a wink of sleep looking like that. But, surprisingly, she slept and so did mom (a little), in spite of all the equipment, cables, cameras, etc. One of the things they monitor is sleep positioning. The next morning, the nurses were beside themselves because they hadn't seen anybody sleep in some of the positions she did and they didn't know how to even begin describing them. We found that quite amusing, yet knowing Emma, it wasn't surpirsing because she tends to get quite creative with her sleep positions. And, the result: Severe sleep apnea! She was already on oxygen at night when she slept, so the next step was surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids (usually the main culprits in airway obstruction with kids).