Tests, and hopefully no need for more!

I wasn't going to post this. But then I decided I would because I learned a lot of valuable information, that maybe family or friends might be interested in.

My OBGYN's have always reacted very "so, whatever" about my complaints of lack of sleep. I do understand that this is a very common complaint during pregnancy, but when I say exactly how little sleep I get, they still offer little help other than suggesting over the counter sleep aids. Which has frustrated me when I know that much of my high risk complications of pregnancy are affected directly by my lack of sleep. (Don't need a Doctorate to know that.) Which in turn means, my babies are affected.

I got the same reaction from my current doctor. But Lincoln wouldn't leave it alone anymore. He went in with me and begged the doctor to refer me to a specialist. After explaining that it "just isn't done on pregnant women," the doctor promised he would call and ask what the specialist's opinion was about doing a sleep test on a pregnant woman. And also promised he would call me this afternoon with the answer.

Instead, I received a phone call this morning from the specialist himself. He explained that OB's don't like to give pregnant women referrals for this because they assume they won't want the test and treatment. The typical assumption that we are somehow so miserable and grumpy as it is, why bother?

Then he went on to explain that even studies on pregnant women are few and tiny. But that what has been done proves this... Non-pregnant women who experience sleep apnea are roughly 4% while Pregnant women percentages jump to over 60%. That the women who have sleep apnea during pregnancy have much higher rates of late-term miscarriage, and much higher rates of heart problems and diabetes and pre eclampsia. (Sorry, if I spelled that wrong.) And that the risks of not treating sleep apnea during these high risk pregnancies puts the unborn child at risk for severe loss of oxygen and blood flow. Which explains the high rate of late-term miscarriage.

He then told me that from the information my doctor gave him, he felt it was urgent that I get in for a sleep test, insisting it needed to be within the next two days. And that he would bump someone else to get me in. This freaked me out a bit. I'm totally willing to do the test, as "inconvenient" as it may be. And would be very much grateful for any treatment that would help get our little boy here safely. I may or may not "test positive" for sleep apnea. It does run in our family, and I do have a terrible time sleeping even when I'm not pregnant. Either way, it's best to find out. I have to thank Lincoln for being my advocate when I didn't even realize I needed one.