Fortunately, I am now well rested and can already laugh at the sleep study / slapstick comedy spiel that took place Monday night.

I set off with deliberate optimism, everything carefully packed, and a squealy baby in the backseat, “This is going to be FUN!” The downward spiral began just as we were waiting at the left turn light to pull into Children’s Hospital. Suddenly Nora sneezed, producing a big blob of boogies which she proceeded to gag and choke on, then puked all over herself. Hazards furiously blinking, I had to pull over to assist her before we were even in the garage.

We made our way up to Admissions after the gagging and retching subsided. Nora was none too pleased with being forced to simmer in her puke-laden clothes and car seat. It was also evident that she had a cold–lots of boogies. I neglected to bring the Nose Frida Snotsucker and didn’t even have so much as a bulb syringe. We were eventually admitted and escorted up to the sleep laboratory.

A very long night and a long story short, Nora did not sleep well at all, which meant that I did not sleep well either. Who could blame her.

I hope that someday there will be a better way to obtain this information and all these wires, tubes, prongs, and electrodes will look as silly as one of those machines they used to give perms with back in the 1930s.

Had I known that Nora had a stuffy nose due to a cold ahead of time, we definitely would have rescheduled. My dear, sweet, gracious and responsive husband packed up the other kids and brought the Snotsucker up to us along with the baby massage oil so I could attempt to attend to her gas pains she was also enduring. At least I had the beloved Snotsucker. But try extracting mucus from an infant’s nasal passages that are already crammed with 2 different sensors that looked like little plastic fu manchus and a nasal cannula all wadded up in medical tape. That’s about as much fun as trying to put a collar and a leash on a piranha. (I imagine).

“Eight more hours…” I remember thinking at one point, “Four more hours…”

Her last stretch of sleep lasted literally about 20 minutes until she abruptly and loudly gagged herself awake on snot, precisely the moment I had fallen into a deep sleep. Before I was even conscious, I was standing at her bedside patting her back and trying to extract boogies. It was then that the nurses came in and finally observed that Nora had had just about enough. Hopefully there was enough data for them to work with and they began removing all of her paraphernalia. The previous inconveniences of a single oxygen tube were made null and void. I was delighted to have my “naked” baby back. We celebrated with a bottle of milkies and quickly got dressed and packed up.

Just as someone from the transport team was about to lead us out the door of our room, Nora’s boogies activated her gag reflex and a fountain of puke erupted. An errant cascade of barf flowed directly into my underlying purse, I would later discover, and all over the clean and only remaining outfit I had just put her in, “This is FUN!”

I cleaned up as much as I could and figured she could endure a 20 minute drive home in a damp onesie. Considering what she’d just been through, I’m sure she didn’t even notice.

At long, long last we were home in the baff.

“Thank you verrr much!”

As trying and uncomfortable as that sleep study was, I know full well how lucky and blessed we were that it was ONLY a sleep study. That hospital is filled with children and families who are faced with far worse circumstances, who I know would trade places with us in a second. At least we got to take all the tubes and wires off and go HOME the next morning. It’s so very easy to let life’s problems get blown way out of proportion. Unfortunately, I don’t always have the setting of Children’s Hospital to serve as the stark reminder that things could be way worse. So, I missed out on a night of sleep, and Nora has a cold, but it’s certainly not the end of the world.

We all have our “storms” that will arise. Some, like this one are just a little drizzle. When I encounter the drizzle I can choose to complain and whine because I’m getting wet, or I can choose to enjoy the beautiful verdure of the land around me (or uh… maybe a little bit of both). Things are being given life and growing because of my rainstorms. Even the hurricanes serve a purpose on a grander scale.

Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.
(Psalms 50:14, 15 NLT)

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
(Psalm 46:1 NIV)

Tuesday & Wednesday

“Oh, like, HI! it’s me, Nornz aka ‘Orangela’. Guess what I’ve decided to start eating these past couple of days.”

“Here’s a hint.”

“And here’s another hint – my tubes n’ face turned orange!!”

“That’s right! Carrots!!! I ate 1/3 of the jar and surprised the heck out of Mommy and my speech therapist!! I ate more today too and I dinnint even gag once!! I’m so proud of me! Everyone was clapping for me and cheering and I really like that kinda stuff!”

“I still really like my milks too.”

“mmehhh…. I’m REALLY REALLY tired for some reason…. Goodnight!!”

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
(Hebrews 5:13, 14 NIV)