Activated!

Since Tuesday Hannah has been hearing the world a bit differently. 

 

She's hearing music from some of her favorite toys. 

 

She's hearing Mawmaw and Poppy's voice differently for the first time. 

 

And she's also talking with her baby sister on her first holiday hearing the world better. 

We are thankful for the technology to increase her sound and enable her to hopefully listen and communicate normally. 

She did a great job on Tuesday getting her CI turned on. When it was first activated she kind of wrinkled her brow and eventually smiled letting us know she was hearing sound in a new way. 

Over the course of the last few days it has been fun to see how she is adapting to her CI and hearing more and more. We still have a long way to go with speech therapy and helping her recognize sound, but she is off to a great start!

Thanks to everyone who have prayed us through this whole journey. I am glad to be on the other side of the surgery and recovery and I'm ready to press forward helping her learn more and more. 

Hannah is doing well for the most part. Sleep is still off and on since surgery, it is usually the first thing to get messed up when her schedule is interrupted, or when she gets sick or something. We are praying she goes back to sleeping well at night soon, for everyone's sake!

I look forward to the days, weeks, months and years ahead as cochlear implants become our new normal and we are amazed by a good God who continues to give good gifts to his children. 

In All Things Give Thanks

It's that time of year again.

Thanksgiving. 

When we stop and gather with family and friends and give thanks to God for all we have, where we live and what we are able to do. 

Since I was a little girl I've always loved Thanksgiving. It's nestled nicely between my birthday and Christmas. Included with it are chances to see people I haven't for sometime and the menu is delicious!

When I lived overseas Thanksgiving became an even greater event.  Since we were all far from home, everyone on my team would make their favorite foods and a lot of them.  We would feast and watch Christmas movies for a few days and forget we lived in a foreign country. Haha..

Since Keith and I got married we always make sure we invite others over for the holiday and invite family to come whenever possible. 

Most of you know from reading this post and this post that in 2014 Thanksgiving changed in our family. I still love this time of year but let's just say it now brings up a lot of emotions in me that may stay dormant most of the year. 

It is interesting the Lord caused Hannah's diagnosis of hearing loss and CMV and her cochlear implant surgery to both happen around Thanksgiving. Really within days of each other. 

From two years ago, with an itty bitty baby in my arms, not knowing what she would be able to do, or say. To today, watching my sweet, determined little girl continuing to amaze us at all she has accomplished and can do. 

So, as I sit here days after Hannah's surgery and days before her activation I thank the Lord for redeeming this time of year for our family. 

I thank Him for giving us hope and continuing to amaze us at His love for us, His children. 

During this time of year this sits on my mantle. 

 

But I think I may need to keep it up all year. It reminds me of how good the Lord is to us and how many times I forget to say thanks.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I again want to take the opportunity to thank all of you for your service and prayers for our family.  For loving us in more ways than I can even think through right now and lifting us up in prayer when we didn't know what to pray.  Hannah is a product of those prayers and as her mother I am forever thankful for people like you who intercede for our family.

"Give thanks 

in all circumstances; 

for this is God’s will 

for you in 

Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Hannah's New Ear 👂!

On Monday we woke up incredibly early, loaded up 2 adults, two little girls and all their stuff and headed up to Cincinnati for Hannah's implant surgery. 

Thankfully everyone was healthy and the surgery went off without a hiccup!

Her surgery was at 8am, so we arrived at 7 where the nurse took us to a private room, we answered lots of questions and watched Curious George (because, what else would you watch at 7am to distract a toddler?) The surgeon came in and signed off on Hannah's CI surgery and 2 ear tubes instead of one, like we originally thought because fluid was present, and we got down to business. 

Hannah was pretty clingy and I think she knew something was up. 

 

At about 8:15 we walked Hannah back to the OR where she received some sleepy gas and they whisked her away. 

 

After that Mom and Dad got some breakfast and we waited. It was a long wait, probably 3+ hours, which may not sound that long, but it is when it's your child. 

Before we saw Hannah we met with Dr. Choo, her doctor. He showed us pictures of Hannah's surgery, something I had been told about, but wasn't quite ready to see. He showed us how the implant was placed, the coils and where her scar is. The coils are longer than needed so as her head grows they grow with her so no additional surgery is needed when she is an adult. He also encouraged us when he told us the surgery was very "textbook" and the CI worked really well when tested. He had a rep from Cochlear in the surgery who asked if the implant was in demo mode because it seemed to work too perfect. That's really good news!

After another 10 minutes the nurse came back out and told us we could come and see Hannah. 

 

 Such a sweet little patient. 

Since we were out of town and Hannah has additional issues besides hearing loss the doctor decided to admit us for one night. Being our first time doing this it was probably a wise move, but next time I vote for just heading back to Louisville!

So we were wheeled upstairs (Keith got the royal treatment, haha). 

Hannah went through periods of happiness and periods of pain. There was probably more pain the first day than happy, but we are seeing her improve. I think she was, and still is, confused about the pain and this enormous thing on her head. 

Thankfully the head wrap comes off tomorrow and we've heard, from other parents of CI recipients, that by the 3rd day post-surgery their kiddo was back to normal. 

 

As you can see, Hannah's already getting her spunk back. 

She is happy to be back home with her brother and grandparents (Keith's parents are here lending much needed helping hands) and playing with her toys. 

Now we wait two weeks for the incision to heal and then she gets "activated". So that ear should be a hearing ear by Thanksgiving. Thank you God!

Keith was really the champ over the last few days. Since I'm still nursing Suzi, she and I went to a hotel while Keith stayed with Hannah at the hospital. I guess he did deserve the royal treatment after all. ❤️

"The LORD himself will fight for you. Just stay calm."

            Exodus 14:14