A Family Project: Sleep Deprived EEG

I hope you can see and enjoy the humor in how even the medically mundane can become an adventure in our family.  

When planning for Matt to have a sleep deprived medical test, it is a family project.  For the test Matt would need to sleep less than 4 hours.  I knew he would fall asleep in the car on the way to the test so I had to allow for an hour of sleep in transport. Therefore, we made a plan to keep him awake until at least 4:30am.

It went something like this...No bath because we will likely need a bath during the night to stay awake.  We rented 3 movies and 2 "active" Wii games.  I had snacks and activities ready.

8:30-9pm             Twins are in charge because they thought they needed a shift.  (The usual bedtime is 8:30pm)

9pm-10pm            David was in charge of keeping Matt awake. (AKA Project Movies)

10pm - Midnight   Corrine was in charge and rolled out snacks, hot chocolate and a bit of noise.  (They woke me up a couple times.)

Midnight-2am       Grace was in charge and I have no idea what she did, but he was awake when I started my shift.

2am-8am              Mom (me) on duty....


Here are my shift's highlights:

2:18am   Matt falls asleep while using the potty.  (I catch him before he falls.)

2:20am   We do homework.  He wants Corrine to get up and sit with him again.  I say no.

2:40am   Movie and snack in kitchen so the chair would be uncomfortable and keep him awake.

3:15am   I literally "catch" Matt as he "falls" asleep at the kitchen table.

3:20am   Matt goes through all the kitchen cabinets.  I don't know what he is looking for, but he is awake so I don't care!  He can look all he wants!

3:30am   I break out the glow sticks so Matt wants to turn off all the lights...BAD idea!!!

3:45am   Another snack....back to the Wii games

4:11am   Matt brings me his piggy bank and wants to go the Wal-Mart.  It is starting to storm so I say no (and I honestly cannot imagine a fate worse than taking an extremely tired child to Wal-Mart at 4am.  I am pretty sure this is the "stuff" that causes concerned citizens to call Child Protective Services.  Otherwise, it might not be a bad idea since I do need a few grocery items.)

4:30am   Well timed LOUD thunderstorm.  Thank you Lord!  (I have a new prospective on why we have loud storms at night.  It is just the Lord helping out a mom!)...still playing Wii.

4:45am   Matt drifts off to sleep.  Time for a walk and ice cream.

5:15am   Daddy gets up for work.  Twins and Nate wake up.  Chaos ensues as the boys start arguing over the Wii, movies, getting clean and dressed.

7:00am   Everyone on the bus.  Matt and I head to the clinic.  He falls asleep.

8:00am  Arrive at clinic and he is awake and ready to check this all out.  He doesn't like the cold gel.   Luckily, once he is "wired", it only takes about 8 minutes for him to settle down and sleep.

10:00am Matt falls asleep on the way home and gets carried in still asleep.  Mom is drinking coffee ready to start paperwork and housework while Matt sleeps in my bed.  Never mind, Grace just took my coffee.....

Another family project is completed except getting Matt the Happy Meal that he has been promised.