Friday, August 7, 2009

The Beginning...

My name is Melendy, and I am married to Stephen. We have three beautiful sons. Caleb is the oldest, and he was born in September of 2003. He is our smarty pants! He could do puzzles early, and had an interest in rocks and sorting things very early. Caleb grew a very strong obsession with elephants at an early age as well, and has held to this obsession for a while! Caleb can be strong willed, but he prefers to be a lover...he cuddles, and wants to sooth everyone's ouches. Then came Logan who was born in April of 2006. He is our Mr. Independent! he wanted to do things his own way very young. He is just as interested in puzzles and animals, but he prefers monkeys! Logan is extremely strong willed, and loves to be the one caring for others. Then came Aaron. Aaron was the most difficult pregnancy by far. I spent 16 weeks on bed rest due to premature labor with Aaron. He was born four weeks early in November of 2008, and was for all intensive purposes healthy. the first night in the hospital with him, i realized he wasn't responding to me talking to him. I figured he was tired, but my mommy senses immediately kicked in. At 10 weeks actual age (6 weeks adjusted) he got RSV and had to be hospitalized for a few nights. I realized at the hospital how little he responded to sounds (I was already worried about his vision and hearing). so I called the hospital who delivered him, and did his newborn hearing test. He had "passed" his newborn screen. It turns out that there are two parts to a hearing test. the first puts oressure into your ear to see if your ear drum works, the second actually transmits sound into the ear and tests to see if there is a brainstem response. the second half of this test was never done at the hospital. so I demanded an appointment for a retest. I was given one that day, and under not the best circumstances (i went alone with 3 children!) it was decided that his ears were not responding to sound, and that he could be deaf, or he could just have a lot of wax in his ears! (seriously what the doctor said) so I went looking for a second opinion. This second opinion was found in Boston, at the Children's Hospital. the doctors their were eager to meet Aaron, to test Aaron, and to help us down the right path for him! at 23 weeks of age, just shy of 6 months old, Aaron met with his new audiologist and ENT. they said the structure of his ear looked good from the outside, and that he was really too young for any test in office to be conclusive. he was originally scheduled for an ABR (Auditory Brain stem Response Test) in June, but he became ill just a few days before, and the procedure had to be postponed until August 6, 2009. He was found to have severe to profound hearing loss, and the next steps are still up in the air! I plan to use this blog as a journal as well as an informative tool for all of the people lucky enough to be in Aaron's life! we know that God will get us through this, but we also know he gives us the people in our lives that he does so that we can persevere!

3 comments:

  1. U are such an amazing mom and you knew from the beginning. u never gave up wtg Momma!! Aaron is so lucky to have you

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  2. AS the proud grandma to all 3 beautiful boys I just have to put my 2 cents in (no surprise there :-) ) Aaron may not be able to hear all that is said to him -but the look of love in his eyes says it all. He is a happy, sweet little boy who laughs at his family and smiles with all his heart! Even if he is never able to hear I feel that God has a special place for Aaron in this world --perhaps he will be the first to discover a cure or to teach others how to cope --whatever God has in store for him--we know above all that he is loved -first by God , second by his family and third by everyone he meets! We are proud that God has entrusted us with the gift of this precious angel. We are willing to take this journey God has sent us on to help Aaron and perhaps others in the future.

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  3. As Melendy has already said-it is indeed a lot to cope with. The adults are definitely struggling with it while the children continue to laugh and play as usual(as it should be). We have a few more tests scheduled for this week and next and that should help with some of the questions we have. Being patient is a gift that God has not bestowed on many of us--it is indeed hard to wait for answers--hard not to know what will happen next--but if we truly let God lead the way with this then we must be patient, we must wait upon the Lord for His direction and plan --we must just continue to hold and love Aaron and yes continue to talk to him--as we never know what he really understands--but we do know that he knows he is loved. He is patient in waiting with us and God continues to hold our hands as we travel this long and winding road. Being strong as parents is a gift God will share if only we let Him.

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