answer #1: Elisabeth Update

Thanks to those of you that humored me with questions. Some of those are toughies, but I promise to give them some thought and work on answering them. And if you haven't asked anything yet, you still can! oh yes, indeed. Please do!! Doesn't have to be anything huge or earth-shattering either. I just figure if you read this gosh-darned thing at all, then you must have some interest in our goings-on, for whatever reason, so now's your chance to get the blog post you've always wanted.

Well. Whatever.

Answer #1 is going to be the simplest question to answer, because it's late and I'm tired. This question is in regards to Elisabeth's sleep apnea. Remember she had her tonsils and adenoids removed over the summer to help with her obstructive apnea, and also hopefully help her central sleep apnea as well. So. Did it solve the problem?

Simple answer is: we don't know for sure.
She still snores. But we don't *think* she's doing the gasping for breath like she did before. So, my best assessment is that it is definitely improved, but maybe not completely resolved.
What would be best (and was recommended by the sleep Dr) is to repeat the sleep study to see how many apnea episodes she is still having, if any. But, alas, I just can't seem to scrounge up an extra $2500 to do that.

I do think the surgery was helpful for her, though. And actually, lately she's been laying down with me in the afternoon to nap together sometimes, and her breathing, snorting, and gasping hasn't been waking me up, so that is a definite improvement. :)

In other Elisabeth sleeping news, we have made a big switch and put her in the room with Samuel on the bunk beds. She was having nightmares and trouble getting to sleep so we thought having some company might help her. And Isaac, who shared the room before, has trouble overheating (for some reason) and we thought he might sleep better in the room by the exterior walls and by himself. Samuel is a little resistant to change and wasn't too happy about any of it, but he is starting to adapt. We also thought it might be kind of nice to corral the messes the little kids make into one space and let Isaac enjoy some peace and order. And this might make it possible now to move the little kids' bedtime earlier without disrupting Isaac's bedtime (and let them sleep in, too. Isaac is an early bird.) That seems to be working nicely, too. This will only be a temporary arrangement. The boys will move back together sooner or later (there gets to be an age where I'm not comfortable with boys and girls sharing rooms) - but for now we're all pretty happy about the switch.

Anyway - thanks for asking about how's she's doing. :)