My Little Secret

I've been debating a long time about whether to discuss the topic I'm going to write about today.  Mostly because I didn't think anybody needed to know.  But, to be honest, I felt like I was hiding something, which would indicate I was ashamed of it and I most certainly am not.  It is a major part of my life that I've been holding in when I could be writing about it, getting stuff off my chest, even helping others.  So, here goes...

My son has a hearing loss.

He has what is called a "moderate hearing loss" which means he can't hear sounds below 40 decibels.  Normal conversation is around 50 decibels.  With his hearing aids, he can hear everything and is predicted to have normal speech.  Without them, normal conversation sounds like whispering and he can't hear anything below that.

We were alerted to his hearing loss at the hospital when he was born.  All babies born in California are subject to a hearing test before they leave the hospital in an effort to discover hearing loss at an earlier age.  Zach did not pass his test at the hospital.  Of course, they tell you that doesn't necessarily mean anything because some babies have fluid in their ears longer if they were born by C-section, etc.  So come back in a month and we'll check him again.

He didn't pass then either.

They still didn't make that big of a deal about it.  Mostly because it's just a random nurse who uses an ancient little machine to do the test.  They'll even tell you that any little bit of noise or movement can make a bad test.  But they'll also tell you that you need to talk to your pediatrician and have them refer you to an audiologist.

Which we did, and then went to have a more accurate test done.

He didn't pass that one either.

Of course, they had to start and stop and restart the test about a million times because our newborn wasn't asleep at the time and was wiggling and making lots of noise, which messes up the test.  But, they said they got enough of a reading to know that he most likely had a "moderate hearing loss."  Rather than trying to do the test again, they referred us to UCLA for the ultimate test.  Additionally, UCLA would be the place that would make his aids once they determined his hearing loss.

Zach was two months old when we had the "official" test at UCLA.  And he was four months old when he got his hearing aids.

He's now 14 months old and it's been a year since we were told that our perfect son didn't have perfect hearing.  A lot has happened during that year.  A lot of emotion.  A lot of frustration dealing with insurance.  A lot of traffic driving to UCLA.

But, mostly a lot of awe at our perfect son who is perfect in every other way.