You may remember that after Eon's scary "found him not breathing and unresponsive" episode that the ped gave us an apnea monitor. It is something I wish I'd had for my other kids, too. I call it a sleep aid for mothers. Prior to receiving it, I did not sleep through the night, or even several hours in a row. Eon did, but not me. I constantly woke up to check on him. So much so, that I even started going to counseling for anxiety. Turns out, all I needed was an apnea monitor. I tried to convince the counselor to prescribe them for all her patients, but I could see how it probably wouldn't apply in every situation. :)
It went off one time the weekend between receiving it and his hospitalization, but it was a false alarm due to his electrode peeling off. I was just happy to know the dang thing worked! Since coming home from the hospital almost two weeks ago, we've had three infant episodes and one false alarm. Unfortunately, they were all in the last two nights. The night before last, at 1:00, it went off for 3 seconds due to his heart rate dropping. The alarm woke him up, as well as everyone else in a 3-block radius I'm sure, and he was fine. Early in the morning, we heard the sustaining beep of a false alarm. It was just Eon trying to remove his electrode. He likes to hold onto his shirt and accidentally grabbed it, too. Last night, it went off at 2:30, for 1 second (it beeps every second) because he stopped breathing. That means he stopped breathing for 21 seconds. Again, the alarm woke him up and he was fine. We were jolted out of bed at 5:00 this morning because it went off for 5 seconds, this time for low heart rate again. He's fine. He's fine!
I never thought I could actually come to love a machine. I am so grateful that we have it! (falling back to sleep after an episode is a little tricky, though:)
Oh gosh that would be nice to have. I've always been extremely paranoid with all my kids. I could see how if there was a false alarm it would totally freak you out though.
ReplyDeleteOh my, you must be terribly sleep deprived. But then again, you didn't sleep any better when you didn't have the apnea monitor. Maybe I should look into a home apnea monitor too for Matthew. I hear him over the baby monitor gasp for air sometimes, well at least that's what it sounds like. I don't think he has ever stopped breathing for long periods like Eon has, but I can't say for sure. I really need to watch him sleep one of these nights. Thanks for sharing your experience with having this apnea monitor in-home.
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