Baby Sister didn't pass her newborn hearing screenings, a fairly common thing especially for babies born via c-section. Wednesday this week, we took her to an audiologist at Children's Hospital to have her retested.
Although she still has fluid in her ears from birth, (also common) when the fluid was bypassed and her hearing tested behind it, it was found that she has a permanent hearing loss in her right ear. As of right now, it is being classified as a moderate-severe loss, but because of the fluid we are hoping that as it drains we will be able to reclassify it as a mild-moderate loss.
What does that mean for her?
Surprisingly not a lot right now. Many children with this type of loss are able to compensate for it on their own with no devices. As she gets older (i.e. school age) if we feel that she needs more help, she may be eligible for a hearing aid, or an FM System (although our Audiologist feels like she will probably not need these aids, which is encouraging).
There are support services through the hospital and Early Intervention that will teach her ways to cope with the loss, and help her stay on track developmentally. We also will be doing some testing to find out causes for the loss. Most likely though, it is genetic - my sister and her son also have the same kind of hearing loss.
For the next few months (okay probably more than a few) it will mean lots of Dr. appointments (yay for us!) and testing and evaluations to understand a little bit more of what we are dealing with. Just another adventure of life right? It would have been far too boring for us to graduate down to just going to the doctor for immunizations and check ups - I'm glad we are able to keep things spicy (insert semi-sarcastic smiley face here).
How are we coping?
I will admit that it caught me off guard initially. That is not what I expected to hear. Admittedly there was the understandable worry, concerns over her future, etc. but after the initial shock, and letting it all sink in...I am actually pretty okay with it. I've said it before, and will probably say it a lot more in the future, I am just glad that she is here and healthy. I still feel that way.
This might be a bump in the road, but it is one that I feel like she/we can handle with great confidence. There are outstanding resources available to us, and although I know there will be some tough things ahead, I am feeling really accepting about everything at this point.
My husband is an eternal optimist. From the beginning he says that he knows she is going to be fine. And she will be. We are grateful for the hearing she does have, which appears to be a lot.
Her left ear seems to have almost completely normal hearing, and there is still some hearing in her right ear. Although we don't know the severity of the loss due to the fluid, we know a range of where her hearing could be at right now. The top end of that possible range is, unfortunately, still outside of the realm of the sound of human voices, but hopefully not too far out.
--------------
Other than this newest development, things are still progressing quite nicely. Each day gets a little bit less crazy, and I know that someday soon she is going to figure out this "sleeping at night" thing. The boys are missing their Grandparents, and I am learning to accept the fact that my house probably won't be as clean and organized as I would like it to be for a while. It is a sad realization, but another one that I am coming to be more okay with. (Look at all the personal growth I am having here)
It looks like spring might be here soon, I'm very much looking forward to it. The weather keeps teasing us with a few nice days before it starts raining again. I guess I should just be grateful that we aren't in Utah. I've heard you all have been getting snow.
I'm starting to feel more human everyday too. I've decided that there is a certain irony to a postpartum woman. We are expected to be able to deal rationally with a newborn, and frequently with older children too, take care of household responsibilities, loose baby weight, sometimes return to jobs or other responsibilities, and a whole host of other things. As if this isn't enough, we get to be riddled with these unbelievable hormones that throw all rational anything out the window and make normal functioning that much more difficult. Go figure.
Anyway, I hope all of my readers out there are doing well too. It feels good to be typing again, even if my posts are few and far between (and are mostly pictures sometimes). We really are doing well, and are pretty happy to boot. Can't complain about that.
3 comments:
It's good that y'all are keeping an upbeat attitude. Hopefully at the fluid drains she'll get most of the hearing back. We'll pray for ya!
You are such a strong woman, Kim. Hang in there and keep up the positive attitude. I think keeping a positive attitude can get you through a lot of things. And good for you with your personal growth! I know I am a neat freak and don't like my house in a disaray, but sometimes thats not always at the top of the list of priorities! Good luck with all the doctor visits! As we say in our house, "it's always something going on!"
I am so impressed you always take things in stride. My brother had almost complete loss in one of his hears, and the other was fine. He went to a little speech therapy when he was really young. But the loss hasn't effected him much at all. I hope that baby sister's is the same way. I am sure you know tons about it since there is some in your family with the same, I just wanted to give my support!
Post a Comment