April 25th, 2010

Lucas was born on April 24th 2010 at 2:11 am. We weighed 7lbs 9 oz and was 20.5" long. He came flying into this world (and was nearly born on the toilet). I thought (and still do) he was absolutely perfect. He nursed like a champ 30 mins after he was born and hasn't stopped yet, and has a mellow sweet personality. The first 24 hours I was blissfully unaware of the upcoming news I would receive, and just basked in the sweet newborn smell and cuddles.

He went to the nursery the night of the 24th for all the testing they do, the hearing test being one of them. The morning of the 25th, I was in the hospital by myself (Norman hadn't arrived yet) when the pedi came in to check him like he did the morning before. He checked his vitals, said he looked great, and then told me the nurses had marked on his chart that they needed to speak to him. He asked me if I knew what it was about, but no one had said anything to me and I told him that. He said it was probably nothing, but he'd go check and come back if he needed to tell me anything.

I wondered what it could be, thought maybe he was a little jaundiced or something, but figured since no one had said anything to me it was probably no big deal. The hearing test never even crossed my mind. He came back in 20 minutes later with a serious look on his face. He gently informed me that he had failed his hearing test in both ears. I was totally dumbstruck. What do you say to that? He told me that sometimes there are false positives, but it was a little concerning that both ears failed. I tried to listen to what he was saying, but my mind was spinning. I asked him if there was a "level" of failure, ie he failed by a lot or a little. He said he didn't know. He said that Lucas would be retested in a couple of weeks at an Audiologist. He said he was sorry to be the bearer of bad news, and that was it.

I kept a strong front when he was in the room, but cried a bit when I called Norman to tell him the news. We were both obviously upset with the news, but we both knew it could have been something so much worse. I of course turned to Dr. Google and started looking up failed newborn test results. Apparently it happens more often then you would think. Often times it's because their ears still have birth fluids in them that block the test. I was hoping this was the case, but had a feeling it wasn't. I started snapping my fingers in his ears as soon as the Doctor left and got no response. I also had noticed the night before when his big brother Noah was visiting that he didn't wake up or startle at all when he was loud. I just brushed it off then as that amazing ability newborns have to sleep through anything. After Noah went home I did have the fleeting thought that maybe Lucas couldn't hear, but quickly discarded it. I didn't even remember I had thought that until after the Doctor came back to tell me he failed.

We went through a range of emotions while we were in the hospital. Extreme joy over the birth of our amazing new little boy, and sadness and uncertainty over the state of his hearing, to relief that the news wasn't worse. His regular pediatrician, Dr. Miller, who was both my husband and I's doctor when we were children, checked him over on the day of check out. He was sad to hear the results of the screening, but also very encouraging about how many options children with hearing loss have today. He told us he would be contacting me with an appointment at an Audiologist for sometime in the next couple of weeks for a follow up screening. The hope was still that it was just fluid stuck in his ear from his speeding birth.