Today was the day that I got a child who could hear. We left early this morning to drop the dog off at the groomers and drove the 45 minutes to audiology. Aiden's hearing aids finally came in.
We sat in the waiting room for almost an hour playing with Aiden. At the same time I decided his diaper needed changed, his name was called so the audiologist had to wait for him.
We get back to the little room and she tests the molds in Aiden's ears. Aiden got the
Phonak Naida hearing aids. They are quite small. The right mold fits perfectly, but the left mold is a little too big, so we are having another one made.
She spent time programming the hearing aids and leveling the sound. That was the majority of the visit. Then she put the devices in Aiden's ears and turned them on.
Aiden didn't like hearing. It scared him. He whined a lot and was trying to get away from all the sounds. Chris turned on the iTouch and played Aiden's favourite music. Aiden was then enthralled to finally hear the music clearly.
Because Aiden has a hearing loss due to nerve damage (the audiologist thinks the ECMO caused it. Apparently a lot of kids who received this life saving procedure end up with severe hearing loss), she wants to follow Aiden closely. We will make a lot of return visits for sound booths and all that jazz. It is a possibility that the hearing loss will progress as Aiden gets older.
I forgot to take the camera, so I didn't get Aiden's reaction to hearing for the first time. But when we got home, the camera came out.
We go back in 10 days to get the new left hearing aid. For now, he's wearing the one that is too big for his ear. Then we go back the beginning of April for a hearing test. They want to give Aiden time to get used to wearing them and hearing with them.
He's done really good today. He hasn't taken them out or really messed with them at all.
Oh and on a side note, Sunday was
World Down syndrome Day . We really didn't get to do our regularly scheduled activities since we were once again snowed in. Yes, that's right. The first day of Spring and we were COVERED in snow. But that's Oklahoma weather for you. Hopefully I'll get the tulips planted this week.
We sat in the waiting room for almost an hour playing with Aiden. At the same time I decided his diaper needed changed, his name was called so the audiologist had to wait for him.
She spent time programming the hearing aids and leveling the sound. That was the majority of the visit. Then she put the devices in Aiden's ears and turned them on.
Aiden didn't like hearing. It scared him. He whined a lot and was trying to get away from all the sounds. Chris turned on the iTouch and played Aiden's favourite music. Aiden was then enthralled to finally hear the music clearly.
I forgot to take the camera, so I didn't get Aiden's reaction to hearing for the first time. But when we got home, the camera came out.
We go back in 10 days to get the new left hearing aid. For now, he's wearing the one that is too big for his ear. Then we go back the beginning of April for a hearing test. They want to give Aiden time to get used to wearing them and hearing with them.
He's done really good today. He hasn't taken them out or really messed with them at all.
Oh and on a side note, Sunday was World Down syndrome Day . We really didn't get to do our regularly scheduled activities since we were once again snowed in. Yes, that's right. The first day of Spring and we were COVERED in snow. But that's Oklahoma weather for you. Hopefully I'll get the tulips planted this week.