Speak into my good ear(s)?

Hi all,

As you all remember, Anna had a hearing test back in the NICU last September and got a 'referral' for her left ear. This means that they couldn't quite pass her, which could have meant she had just slept on her ear, had some dirt in there or she could not hear from that side.

She had her referral appointment yesterday and it was really interesting. They hooked her up to four probes, two on her forehead and two behind her ears, and one probe went into her actual ear during the test. Then we made sure that she was fully asleep so that her readings would be clear (that was quite the task!!). If she wasn't fully asleep then there would be spikes in her readings from normal alertness so this way if she was completely in dream land the spikes would only come if she was able to hear the sounds from the test.

We are happy to announce that she passed on both ears!! She will of course have to go back when she is one year old next July, just to follow up since due to her extreme prematurity there is still the risk of her losing some of her hearing up until that age, but I think she will be fine. She seemed to have beat the odds so far with every single thing in her life so I have no doubts that she will beat this too.

Anyways that's the update for now! She has her second RSV shot tomorrow and a checkup with the Pediatrician, and next Wednesday we are starting a program with Durham Health where they send a Nurse out every few weeks to check on Anna's development. So far, from my conversations with them on the phone, it looks like she is right on par with where she is supposed to be. :)

M.A.A.