guinea pigs

This past weekend, i subjected baby and myself to a round of "guinea pig" treatment - we were in a research study examining preeclampsia and sleep apnea in pregnancy. We were in the non-preeclampsia control group.

It was a very interesting experience. I stayed overnight at the sleep lab at RUH, they put electrodes all over my head – 4 glued to my scalp, one on the forehead, one on the chin, one below the chin, one on the neck, one on each temple; one on my upper right chest wall and a corresponding one on the lower left to measure my heartrate, one on the right side ribs/belly, one on the left of the belly, and one on each leg. Then I had a fetal doppler monitor on (it was cool, I could hear baby’s heartbeat in the receiver in the next room all night, tha-thump, tha-thump…and its kicks – whomp!), a blood oxygen sensor on my right index finger, a blood pressure monitor strapped to my left wrist with mini-cuffs around my middle and ring fingers (those were NOT comfortable – they inflated and then slowly deflated like an arm bp band does, but it alternated fingers probably every minute all night long). Then there was a chest band around my upper chest to measure my breathing, and a nose prong apparatus (like an oxygen line) taped to my face with a thingy hanging in front of my mouth that measured my breathing as well.

I slept ok, I still woke up when I had to turn over, but it took me a bit longer to fall back asleep after each turn than usual, just from being in a new place and having the stuff strapped to me. The electrodes were all plugged into this box-thing the size of an old tape walkman, I wore it around my neck when going to the washroom, etc. and it hung on the wall during the night.

I reacted to the tape they used, so I have red patches all over wherever they taped an electrode on…it’s kinda funny. Not itchy at all, just red. The one on my neck is quite conspicuous. And i still have glue stuck to my scalp, i've washed my hair a few times and i still keep finding new patches of it.

They said my baby was very well behaved all night, it stayed in a good position for the fetal monitor to pick it up all night long, most move around and the monitor loses the heartbeat through the nite. So they’ll now contact me if they find I had any breathing problems in the night (but I don’t think I did). And then they’ll mail me my $100. yay!