Yeah, I’ll admit
it. I was that mom. I felt that
doctors were on an ear tubes kick. Every
direction I turned, I would hear of another child having surgery for
tubes! I became a determined
mother. Determined to keep my kids
healthy, allowing my OCD to skyrocket to epic proportions; constant hand wiping,
disinfecting toys & surfaces the girls might touch or touch them. Truly believing if I kept colds and other
illnesses at bay, my girls would not end up with ear infections and in turn not
end up with ear tubes.
Frankly, I was embarrassed for being so
narrow-minded and thinking that tubes were only for children (and the
occasional adult) with chronic ear infections.
It took an audiologist, speaking at a conference, for the light bulb to
finally go off! That’s bad, isn’t
it?? It’s ok, you can tell me! My only excuse is that my brain is so flooded
with a constant influx of information that I occasionally only see things for
there face value.
After I spent an
hour listening to Erin Pospychala present on ‘Down Syndrome and Hearing’, every
thing became instantly clear. The
information was explained in manner that had never been approached before,
something that A.I.’s audiology department didn’t have…Time. Ben and I always thought we understood the feedback we received from Natalie’s
hearing tests, but it wasn’t until that fateful Sunday morning that everything
came full circle. It was like a scene
from a movie when the main character has a flash and his/her lost memories come
flooding back. In an instant, things that were previously clouded suddenly
became crystal clear. I walked away from
that conference stunned and in disbelief.
All that I thought I knew
was…well…inaccurate. To this day, Natalie
has yet to pass a newborn hearing screening and she’s been tested about a dozen
times. According to the VRA, that’s been completed
twice in the past six months, she has a moderate hearing loss in both
ears.
It’s clear to us
that Natalie can hear, but just how well?
We are at a crucial point in her life for speech development and I want
to be certain that she gets the most from her speech therapy, resuming August
24th (more on that story later!).
I‘m proud to say, for her upcoming ENT appointment, I’m going in with an
open mind and a list of questions…all thanks to Erin!
Every single
night I read and sing to Natalie. And
every single night when I sing “You Are My Sunshine”, she places her left cheek
on my left cheek positioning my lips directly against her ear. This was one of the moments that came full
circle when listening to Erin’s words.
Natalie knows she can hear me better and can feel the vibration of my
words from my face against hers. She is
such a smart little cookie!!
