The Beginning....

Thomas was born on April 18, 2006. Full term weighing in at 7lbs 15oz and 21 inches long. The first 36hrs were great....everyting was "normal". On Thursday (the day we were coming home) it took them awhile to bring Thomas in to be nursed (he had spent a few hours in the nursery so Mommy could get the last few hours of restfull sleep). The nurse brought him in and I went to get him and there was a little card in his bassinet telling us that he had failed the newborn hearing screening and before we left we had to call an audiologist and make an appointment for another hearing test. I was a basket case....thats when it all started!
Our first appointment was Friday April 21st. From when we came home Thursday and our appointment on Friday I made all kinds of noises to see if he startled at all. Nope! Slammed a door, vacuumed, dropped a book....no flinching.
Honestly the first few months are a blur to me. I feel sorry for my older son, Jonathan (7 and hearing) it must have been shock to his system to see his Mom so happy (with the new baby) and also upset alot (because of the hearing loss.)
Thomas had 2 different ABR's and they both came back inconclusive. The first one said "near normal hearing from right ear" the 2nd one said "near normal hearing in left ear". We were referred to University Hospital and Dr. Megerian. We got an appointment with his within a few days Our first appointment went went well and we really liked Dr. Megerian. He set us up for another more elaborate hearing test and that one came back with severe-profound hearing loss bilaterally. Thomas was then fitted for hearing aids and we received them on July 31st.
Thomas did not wear his hearing aids on a regular basis. I had a real problem with them. There was alot of feedback from the right one so I would usually just leave one in when we left the house. Plus, I didnt like the "looks" that I would receive from other people, like they felt sorry for Thomas and myself for him having this problem. I hated that. I have a little boy with a hearing problem...not a hearing problem attached to a tiny baby.
Thomas did have genetic testing done and it came back normal. No abnormalities.
After a few months of going to the same audiologist we found out that there are regular audiologists and pediatric audiologists. That was the first mistake we made...we stayed with the regular one's too long. The red flag came up when Jim asked her "how young was the youngest patient you have worked with" she told us "3" ...3 yrs old! They were treating Thomas like a guinea pig. We immediately changed audi's. Our first appointment with Ellen was november 13th and she took ear mold impressions right away and tried some behavioral testing. The new ear molds came back on Nov. 22nd and we went to pick them up and Ellen did some aided testing and it came back severe-profound...nothing had changed.
Thomas goes to speech once a week with Lindsey. He had his ct scan on dec. 20th (another blog in itself) and we go back to see dr. megerian on jan. 2nd. that is when we will find out what the findings from the ct scan were. I pray everything is OK and that Thomas stays a candidate for the ci's in a few months.