Sunday, February 15, 2015

Oh the BiPAP

A talk with the sleep clinic, the doctor asked how we were sleeping.  My reply, "I am absolutely exhausted now that Brayden is sleeping better."

It has been several weeks now that Brayden has been sleeping with his BiPAP.  There may have been several nights I was ready to toss it in the trash.
Keeping the mask on him has been a difficult task, to put it nicely.  He fights it for the first hour or so, then finally falls asleep.  Normal movement and waking in the night, the mask shifts.  It ends up over his eye or mouth or down around his neck.  I stay up very late to keep adjusting the mask, trying to not wake him.  Then I wake up 1-2 times when Brayden cries/shouts because the mask has moved.  Then Jeremy is up around 4:30a.m. to leave for work, adjusts the mask or just takes it off.
A call from the sleep clinic to discuss how Brayden is doing.  Brayden's numbers while sleeping with the mask look really, really good.  He is actually breathing quite well.  So that makes me feel at least a little better about the mask.  He is sleeping better, and it is quality sleep.

We continue to adjust the mask.  We have taped the top of the mask to itself in hope of making it tighter around his tiny microcephaly head...that is helped keep it in place.

For the last week Brayden slept with the mask on for the entire night, with only a couple of adjustments here and there.  He is tolerating it much better and I am as well.

A goodnight sleep is such a great thing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i'm hoping (more for your sake, i think) that brayden is tolerating the bipap better! how you must long for a full nights sleep without having to adjust the bipap again and again. the good news is it sounds like it's helping him (when it's correctly positioned!!)

Anonymous said...

The same mask comes with a clear silicone frame instead of the fabric frame. The clear frame does not move around as much. A traditional nasal mask, with a forehead support may fair better. Try the comfort gel blue or pico. You should not be needing to get up to adjust the mask.

concerned said...

No posts for such a while.. everything okay?