Kid's corner

Nathan took his SIDS test yesterday. Veerle checked in with him at about 18:45. However, the test could not start until Nathan finished his meal around 20:30. The nurse hooked him up with a lot of wires to the computer. What I noticed in particular was the fact that they did not use a net to keep everything in place, as they did in the hospital we took Elias for testing when he was six weeks old. Still, the pediatrician confirmed that the test was succesful, so I guess the sensors stayed in place.

It was a tiresome night. Veerle was not allowed to wake Nathan up at about 23:30, for his last meal of the day, the reason being that he was fast asleep, and they would like to measure as many minutes as they could in that state. Well, that knocked both Nathan and his mom out of balance, as their routine was broken. Nathan woke at 1:00, hungry as as wolf. He woke again at 4:00, but then Veerle managed to get him back to sleep without an extra meal. At 6:00, however, there was no stopping his cries using artificial means, so he was fed once more. At 7:30, breakfast was dropped (literally) onto Veerle's bedside drawer. So it was a short night for her.

Around 10:50 the pediatrician arrived (she's good and well known, so she's extremely busy) and went to check the measurements. An hour later Nathan was declared a normal sleeping kid, no anomalies, except for the standard changes in his breathing pattern. I hope the test is reliable enough, i.e., he did get to sleep soundly. Still, I'm somewhat relieved we will not be towing an alarm around, as we did with Elias. On the other hand, an alarm kit gives a sense of security, certainly in the first few months. But the false alarms get on one's nerves after a while, I must confess, so I was glad we got rid of Elias kit when he was nine months old.