So, Alexandra & I (Susan) had an adventure. (long post ahead) As some of you know (or may not know) Alexandra has suffered from nightmares and night terrors since she was about 18 months old. If she was going to grow out them, it would have happened by now. So, our pediatrician (who rocks!) sent us to St. Louis Children's Hospital to go have a sleep study done for Alexandra.
We prepped Alexandra for this by talking about the two of us going an adventure and eating dinner at McDonald's with a big playplace. We left after preschool and Alexandra watched a movie in the car in lieu of a nap (they told us not to let her take a nap). We had to go shopping because, well, there is no shopping really in Rolla. Then we went to McDonald's. And it was great. There were so many other children there. It was a two story playplace with two slides. Alexandra for the first time climbed up to the top and all around. This is the first time that she has really done that, especially with lots of other kids around. She didn't want to leave. We then went to a mall to kill some time. There was a really neat fountain that Alexandra really liked. Of course, right before we left, Alexandra fell and busted her head. There was no blood and she was okay after a little while.
Then onto the hospital we went! I won't bore you with all the gory details of how everything went. Let's just leave it at that Alexandra went to bed at 10:15 (she normally goes to bed at 7:45) and was covered in wires from head to toe. She did not like the wires. It was a rough, rough night. Apparently though, it was a blessing that it was a rough night - they got some good data.
We then had breakfast at Starbucks where Alexandra was charming people right and left. She had her "tea" (juice) and was stirring it while delicately nibbling on a doughnut. She had a grand time just watching all the people. She also picked out our table, which she really liked. We went shopping some more and to top off the adventure, Alexandra rode on a carousel - one of her all time favorite things to do. She fell asleep on the way home within about five minutes. Now, Alexandra is in bed and it is 6:50 - she was tired.
We won't know the results for a while, but when we do, we will keep you updated. The trip to the Children's Hospital made me so thankful that we were only going for a sleep study. We saw a little girl who was very sick on our way out and it made realize that we are so blessed to have never visited a hospital for anything major with our children and hope that we never will. I am also thankful for the doctors and nurses who do work with children. They have such a wonderful calling that I know I could never do. So, if you have children or grandchildren - go hug them.
3 comments:
What a grand adventure. I'm glad you got to participate in the study.
I felt the same way as you did when we took Dom to the Children's hospital due to his diarrhea issues. Seeing sick kids makes you so grateful for the more "minor" things, though they're hard as well....not like having a chronically ill child.
Hope the data helps you all get more sleep in the future. :) Thanks for calling the other day--it was great to catch up!
Sure hope you can figure something out! We had Noah outside of the emergency room when he woke up with a terror. It is like nothing else. So hard just to let them go through it.
Sounds like you had a great time though!
Now going to hug my (still waking up to nurse) little boy.
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