What?

Gus had another hearing screening today. This time it was at the hospital with an Audiologist. Guster failed his first 15 screenings of his left ear only(that's right, we checked him 15 times) in the hospital the first few days after he was born. Then he went for another one the following week and he failed two more again. After sitting in the nursing room (that's where they did the test) and crying for several minutes, I pulled my postpartum self together and thought about trying to teach the boys sign language and how we were going to become a part of the Deaf Community. Having worked at Sullivan School, the only program in Minneapolis Public Schools that has a Deaf/HH program, I knew it was a community I could be a part of and had lots of resources. And it most certainly wasn't the end of the world for my most perfect little baby.

Of course, this wasn't the end of the world for him or us! As a parent you just never want your child to have some sort of challenge or something wrong. I wanted to be pprepared so I did some research and thought of all the things we could do or should do. Tom of course didn't think about it much at all. Tom thinks I exaggerate and take things to an extreme, I like to think that I like to be prepared for everything...

After visiting with our pediatrician I found out that lots of babies born early have amniotic fluid in their ears for a little while and that babies that have "referred" hearing screenings in one ear are rarely deaf/hh. There are generally family members that have hearing loss, a deformity on the outside of the ear to indicate something is wrong on the inside, or the child referred in both ears. Of course the nurses at the hospital don't tell you these things, they just say he referred and give you a brochure, "Hearing Loss And Your Newborn." Really.

So we had to go to Children's Hospital today. A place we know because of Porter's tonsillectomy. We went there one morning and because I had both Porter and Jack with me I really wasn't thinking about what would happen if Gus didn't pass his screening again. I just wanted to keep the other two boys in line and out of trouble! Porter actually remembered the place and said he knew he had been there before to get his tonsils out - amazing what kids remember!

Well, the boys were fantastic. They were rewarded by the Audiologist for their fantastic behavior (thank God!) and well, Gus is a fully hearing child. They did the same test as before and he passed within seconds.

No need to worry, fret or freak.