Sleep.
Sleep. It lands on the list for my top five favorite things next to chocolate. I'll be honest; after having kids sleep has been hard to come by, it has been over a year of nursing four times a night for thirty minutes at a time, then rocking back to sleep, then the whole rodeo starts again and I wake up with designer bags under my eyes that not even Mary Kay could cover up. I felt like I would be tired forever, until we experienced Nook Sleep Systems. Yep, go ahead and roll your eyes - I did too before we used it. Like how could a simple mattress possibly give us more sleep. Well guess what, Ryan's FIRST night on a Nook Dream mattress I got nine straight hours of sleep. You read that right, nine whole hours.
Many of you know that our sweet Ryan has a genetic abnormality that results in seeing a variety of specialists, lots of doctor appointments, lots of comfort nursing and all the best extra cuddles. But, the hardest part has been her not getting adequate sleep, and if you don't sleep you don't gain weight and then you don't grow. So many factors played a huge role in us searching for anything to not only make life easier on us but also, on her. See, she was having to get a procedure done where the pulmonologist goes into her lungs and extracts all the fluid so she doesn't get as many infections, infections that contribute to difficulty breathing which results in less sleep. This procedure is really hard on a tiny baby's body. The doctor has to put her under and recovery is pretty uncomfortable. After this procedure her pulmonologist told us that part of Ryan's problem had to be environmental. That something in her every day routine was contributing to the "debris" and fluid in her lungs, that we needed to look for things we could remove - basically trial and error so these procedures would occur less often. She said the first place to start would be where she spends quite a bit of her time, her play area, our room, her bed.
Fast forward and we have tried changing the house filters, air purification systems, new sheets on her mattress, new Pjs, detergent, etc. and finally decided to swap out the mattress itself after nothing seemed to change in her fluid and debris levels during all our trial and error. Something we loved about Nook based on our reading was that their products were antimicrobial, for a baby with a compromised immune system this was a huge plus. So we went for it and became proud owners of their Dream Cloud Mattress. We were skeptical, but desperate to keep Ryan out of the hospital from constant illness and if we are being honest here, I desperately needed more than a three hour stretch of shut eye. All of Nook's reviews supported this "more sleep" theory so I was here for it.
Now, I won't sit here and tell you that Nook cured my daughter, she still has the risk of needing another fluid extraction procedure. She still has a compromised immune system. But what I will tell you is, she hasn't had the fluid in her lungs since we got the mattress back in April, she hasn't had any "debris" in her lungs, and overall, she has had less breathing/asthma issues. On top of all that, we all sleep - way more. She is getting quality sleep and with the help of her dietitian, and all that REM sleep she gets, she has gained a little over a pound in less than a month. If you follow our Instagram you know that before April she hadn't gained a single ounce in over a year (only length). After so much research and so many hours of lost sleep, It is nice that we have found a company that can aid in making our journey with Ryan a little easier. She is such an amazing little wildflower, we are all learning and growing with how we can best understand and cater to her unique needs. I think we are on the right track!
Where you sleep matters to your health, the quality of the air you breathe, it all matters. When you sleep at night you are breathing in all the dust particles, dead skin, bacteria that all accumulates over time, even after you wash your sheets and mattress protector. Nook has created a technology that is not only a safe place for your baby to rest, but a healthy one - and that is something we can stand behind.
For a deeper look into Ryan's journey stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on where it all started! And if you are wanting to try one of these amazing products, well - head over to Nook Sleep and read all the benefits for yourself.