Participating in a Sleep Study

I participated in a sleep study last night!  Some docs were looking for volunteers to participate in a study that compares sleep cycles and breathing patterns of pregnant women with various medical conditions.  I decided to volunteer.  Why?  I like research. I figured that if I couldn’t be in the lab generating some cool results myself, I might as well help someone else learn something.

The doc doing the study came by last night to hook me up to some fancy equipment that monitored my heart rate, oxygen level, breathing patterns, among other things.  The most uncomfortable gadgets were the oxygen sensor on my finger and the nasal cannula. These discomforts were nothing compared to sleeping with a pregnant belly, and enduring fetal movement with occasional kicks to the bladder, so they didn’t bother me at all.  I slept as usual.