lila’s first hearing test was in june 2016 and went drastically different than i anticipated. the very first thing the audiologist does is put a device in her ear to measure fluid… turned out her right ear had A LOT and her left ear had a bit too.\u00a0she asked about ear infections and since lila had never had one, it seemed pretty confusing to me. we went through with the rest of the evaluation and without going into all of the technicalities, she didn’t do fantastic. the audiologist explained that it wasn’t surprising she didn’t do great since she had fluid on her ears, so we would recheck in a couple months and surely it would be fine.<\/p>\n

throughout the summer, zach and i started noticing sounds that lila had once had, she was losing.
\nshe was regressing<\/strong>.
\nat their 18 month follow-up, lila tested at a 9-12 month old in her expressive language which was beyond disheartening. \u00a0i knew something was wrong and it was time to figure it out. \u00a0we scheduled\u00a0immediately following this appointment.<\/p>\n

second hearing test<\/h3>\n

we quickly got in for a second hearing test and while i wasn’t totally shocked to get the results, i was pretty heartbroken. they tested her fluid again and there was even more than the first time. \u00a0we went into the soundbox and as lila was sitting on my lap, they were making sounds in different areas of the room. \u00a0when lila acknowledged the sounds by looking or searching in the right area, a stuffed animal would play music. i was amazed that sitting there, sounds would play and she couldn’t hear them. at all. i felt like a terrible mother. how could i have let her go months without hearing.
\nthe amazing news was that when they put a device in that bypassed the fluid, she could hear fine. praise god. apparently chronic fluid can cause permanent damage to the bone structures and therefore permanent hearing loss.
\nwe walked out with a referral to an ENT specialist and a report that read: ‘significant hearing loss’. the audiologist recommended we be as aggressive with ‘treatment’ as we possibly could with weekly private speech therapy, monthly speech therapy through early intervention and then tubes to clear the fluid.<\/p>\n

ear nose and throat {ent}<\/h3>\n

we got in shockingly quick to a highly recommended doc who was fantastic with kids. \u00a0i was halfway expecting to have to fight to get tubes since she had never had an ear infection, but the first words out of his mouth when he walked in the room was, ‘well, the hearing test didn’t go well, did it?’. i instantly felt relief because he acknowledged my main concern within seconds. \u00a0he was great with lila and we quickly discussed that if i was totally against getting tubes, he would entertain the idea of being on antibiotics for a month before it wouldn’t be a choice. she needed tubes and i was most certainly wanting to help her in any way possible. we set the date, discussed the procedure and i knew it would be much harder on me than it would be for her. while there, he made note that her tonsils were ginormous {mama genes} and those would probably be needing addressed at some point. \u00a0the final note was that we would most likely be looking at a new set of tubes every 1-1.5 years until she was 5 or 6… anything to help her hear!!<\/p>\n

tubes<\/h3>\n

just after the new year, we swept up our sleeping beauty and her blankies (sis was at grammies) about 5am to head to children’s. we got checked in and our little snuggle bug clung tight while we went through pre-op. i have to say little toddlers in gowns is quite possibly the cutest little thing in the world. \u00a0we loved loved loved our nurses and they were SO sweet with our baby.
\ni was honestly a hot mess going in because all i could think about was my teeny little 3lb. baby, with an IV in her head and a collapsed lung, that we couldn’t talk to or touch. it broke my heart, but when the time came and they walked me through everything, i really was proud at how well i held it together! i think the fact that they didn’t do an iv helped…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

anyways, hundreds of pink zoomy car rides with daddy through the halls later….she checks out and she’s ready for surgery. \u00a0they give her a sedative to relax her and she starts to conk out. \u00a0she was absolutely hilariously determined to get down and walk, which she wasn’t allowed to do, but she pretty quickly would give up and rest in our arms…only seconds later to try again. i absolutely soaked up all the snuggles.
\nit was finally time for her to go back, so we placed her in her bed and they wheeled her away. \u00a0the meds worked because there wasn’t any screaming (thank God).<\/p>\n

i snuck out to the waiting room because i was starting to get nauseous from not eating, so i was attempting to shove peanut butter crackers down my throat. i had probably gotten 2 in when zach’s calling me that she’s back already. i knew it would be fast but holy moly!
\nthe doc said she did\u00a0amazing<\/em> {i knew she would!!}, and it was easy peasy. he did note that there was a ton of fluid in her hears but it was really easy without complications. our sleeping little lila bean would be back in 15 minutes from post-op in no time. i walk in to see our baby snuggled in daddy’s arms with some juice and a new purple puppy.
\nabsolutely. hilarious.<\/p>\n

this girl.
\ntrying to give her pup pup lovies but she couldn’t quite get his nose. i couldn’t stop laughing. she finally wanted her mama and we snuggled and snuggled until it was time for discharge.
\nwe were in and out and headed home in a matter of 4 hours and home before 10am!
\npoor babe did great until the ride home. i think she had\u00a0too much juice because she got pretty sick on the way home {she gets it from her grammie}.
\nonce home, we rested, snuggled, and slowly reintroduced juice and some food. \u00a0after nap time she was a little more fussy but pretty much back to herself before bed time!<\/p>\n

update since tubes<\/h3>\n

\u00a0we noticed an immediate difference in lila’s hearing the very next day. \u00a0she was pretty sensitive to loud noises, like the dogs barking and now needs reminders it is time to go to sleep rather than having chatty parties with sis each night.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

she’s still in weekly speech therapy but her speech has significantly improved in the 3 short weeks it’s been since surgery. the doc promised it would be a fast change, but i honestly can’t believe what a huge difference it has made. \u00a0she looks at my mouth now when i’m prompting her to say something more clearer like ‘oh, that’s what you want me to say?!’ only to say it with much closer approximations.
\nshe has absolutely amazed me and while she still has to make her mouth work a little harder, she’s coming along amazingly.
\nlast wednesday we went in for a tube check and an updated hearing test and oh. my. gosh. she tested within normal limits… her hearing was completely normal.
\ni couldn’t even believe it. it didn’t shock me since we had seen such a difference, i just couldn’t believe that it was that simple of a fix.<\/p>\n

i have always been such an advocate for early intervention, but watching the effectiveness with my own kiddos has been a whole new world.
\ni feel so blessed to have worked with such an incredible medical team since the girls were born..they’ll never know how much they are truly appreciated. from each nicu nurse, pediatrician, and therapist… they’re truly amazing amazing people.<\/p>\n

i couldn’t be happier to be typing up this update before throwing the girls into the car to head to….speech of course!!<\/p>\n

question:<\/strong> did you have tubes as a child or have you experienced this with your own children??<\/p>\n

xoxo,<\/p>\n

lindsey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

good morning, my friend!! i hope you’re started\u00a0this week feeling refreshed and ready to conquer the world! and if not…well, we can commiserate in a constant state of being tired, so let’s cheers with some coffee?? have you seen this floating around Facebook? ha! i’m getting to the point now {at a mere 19 weeks} […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,116,18],"tags":[249,250,248],"yoast_head":"\n