There is an overwhelming joy of learning that you are carrying a baby, a new life to grow and be brought into the world. From that moment, everything changes and you step into gear to make healthier choices to give birth to a healthy beautiful child.
On October 4, 2011, we brought into the world a beautiful baby girl. It felt so great to hold her in my arms after being overdue 9 days. With a natural labor and delivery, everything was so beautiful and such a wonderful experience. She was a healthy 8 lb 14 oz little girl.
As a state requirement, all newborns must have a newborn hearing screening before leaving the hospital. Baby R, failed three different attempts at this exam within a 72 hour period. It was not too alarming as her older sister, Little A, had this same response, but after follow up testing, she was fine.
Baby R went for a follow up exam at 3 1/2 months, with no improvement. A final diagnosis of mild with progressive moderate hearing loss. What does that mean? Check out the speech banana below.
At 500 Hz and 1000 Hz - slight hearing loss (20 and 25 dB) then slopes to moderate at 2000 and 4000 Hz (40 and 45dB). Baby R is best able to hear bass tones and most language, though slightly muffled. At the treble sounds and soft language such as the sh, K, s, and th sounds, she is unable to hear well.
The cause of Baby's R hearing loss is currently unknown. It has been determined at the moment that it is a permanent loss that will not self improve and cannot be surgically corrected, but with a hearing aid, she will be able to hear within a normal range.
Hearing this information is a heartache for any parent. It runs through my head, what did I do to cause this? What could I have done differently? What else could she have that we do not know about? After taking some time to grieve and understand her loss, it was quick to appreciate what she does have.
Our journey is just beginning, but with amazing professional support and family support, we will have a learning journey and will strive to provide quality support to meet Baby R's needs that she may need to meet her max potentials.
