(no subject)
I'm having the craziest mixed feelings. My daughter failed her hearing test in her left ear in the NICU. They told us it could be a fluke because of all the noise in that place, that we needed to get her re-tested outpatient. She's 10 weeks old and we finally were able to see an audio to get her retested and she's failed in the left (passed in the right) again. They'll do another test on the 16th, and if she fails again will do a brain wave test to determine if any sound is getting through to her brain.
I feel like this should be no big deal to me-- I'm hard of hearing, she has two second-cousins on her dad's side who are totally Deaf, we signed the consent for the gentamicin knowing this might be a side effect... And I keep telling everyone I'm not really upset about it, I smile, I tell them "chalk up 1/2 more Deaf person to our family tally!"
But I am kinda upset. I never thought I'd have to go through this with my kids-- my hearing loss isn't genetic, but a mix of a congenital malformation and chronic ear infections. And I know, rationally, it's only one ear, the other's fine as far as we can tell, and she should function perfectly. I feel like I'm being greedy-- she was born a month early and so sick we could have lost her and now she's healthy and strong. One non-functioning ear is nothing compared to that, right?
Do any of you have Deaf/HOH kids? How do you feel about it?
I feel like this should be no big deal to me-- I'm hard of hearing, she has two second-cousins on her dad's side who are totally Deaf, we signed the consent for the gentamicin knowing this might be a side effect... And I keep telling everyone I'm not really upset about it, I smile, I tell them "chalk up 1/2 more Deaf person to our family tally!"
But I am kinda upset. I never thought I'd have to go through this with my kids-- my hearing loss isn't genetic, but a mix of a congenital malformation and chronic ear infections. And I know, rationally, it's only one ear, the other's fine as far as we can tell, and she should function perfectly. I feel like I'm being greedy-- she was born a month early and so sick we could have lost her and now she's healthy and strong. One non-functioning ear is nothing compared to that, right?
Do any of you have Deaf/HOH kids? How do you feel about it?