last week we officially booked oliver's surgery! january 22nd this little boy goes in and gets his ears. and judah isn't officially booked yet since we are still waiting for his MRI/CT, but they've blocked out the 29th for him. so it should be an interesting few weeks dealing with two post-op babies.
here's what life will look like once we get close to surgery:
a month before we meet with the surgeon (who is so sweet and everyone speaks so highly of) and then again a week before. the morning of surgery we show up at 6:30, and at 8:30 it's go time. the surgery should take 4-5 hours for both ears and the poor little babies will have a big bandage wrapped around their heads for a few days. a week after we go back to the surgeon, and then again a month after.
now for the exciting/scary/nerve wracking/praying so hard part... the activation. three weeks after surgery they will get "turned on". we are hoping-along with the whole CI team- that we'll be able to activate the boys at the same time. they've become serious celebrities over there so everyone wants to see them start this journey together. this could go one of many ways. i'm preparing myself for the worst, lots of crying and scariness. i know i'll be an emotional wreck no matter how it goes. anyways, when they first turn their devices on it's at a pretty low level so the boys don't get completely bombarded with sound and freak out. we'll go back a week later and they'll make adjustments. and then at the one month mark, three month mark, six month mark, nine month mark and one year mark. and from there i think it's only an annual visit.
the other side of being activated is the beginning of speech therapy. as soon as they're on they start once a week for the entire first year of having implants. again, we are hoping they can go together! our speech therapist said she would love to have them both come at the same time and as long as they don't go in opposite paths and need serious one-on-one attention it should be no problem. and really it should benefit them, watching each other and playing and interacting in a learning environment.
it's starting to feel real now that we've come to the end of the evaluation process and our next step is the actual surgery. of course i'm so nervous about the procedure and i am dreading that morning- times two. but i'm excited and hopeful that these boys will finally hear us say their names.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Sunday, September 6, 2015
somebody called the cops...
well, it only took my boys nine months to get the cops called on them.
we were out to dinner with some good friends and left the boys at home with my friend mary and her mom. as we were coming down the street on our way home we saw cop cars a few houses up from ours and wondered what was going on. turns out they came to our house. someone had called reporting neglect and/or abuse because our kids scream and yell so much.
WHAT?!
thankfully mary's mom was with her and totally handled the situation. she told them right away the boys are deaf and have no idea how loud they are. the cops came in and looked in all the rooms anyways, but mary and her mom said they were very nice and understanding and would let the people who called know about the boys. and that was that.
i of course started crying when mary told me. i had just been talking to andrew earlier that day about how i don't know how much longer i can handle the constant yelling, and then this happens. and just the thought of cops being in our house, looking in on my sleeping boys, and us not being there made me emotional. AND of course i think about how we are going to have to deal with stuff like this (hopefully no more house calls from to po-po!) for the next 18 years. i don't want my boys to be "different", to have to constantly explain their situation, to have other kids stare and point once they get their implants, to potentially struggle with hearing and speaking. so all these emotions came to a boil and i lost it.
i'm also so nervous to be home alone now during the week, wondering who's listening and if i said something to emery that could be interpreted wrong or if the boys are yelling away but outsiders can't see the smiles on their faces. so if you ever walk by our house and hear screaming, come knock on the door before calling the cops :)
never a dull moment with these gingers!
we were out to dinner with some good friends and left the boys at home with my friend mary and her mom. as we were coming down the street on our way home we saw cop cars a few houses up from ours and wondered what was going on. turns out they came to our house. someone had called reporting neglect and/or abuse because our kids scream and yell so much.
WHAT?!
thankfully mary's mom was with her and totally handled the situation. she told them right away the boys are deaf and have no idea how loud they are. the cops came in and looked in all the rooms anyways, but mary and her mom said they were very nice and understanding and would let the people who called know about the boys. and that was that.
i of course started crying when mary told me. i had just been talking to andrew earlier that day about how i don't know how much longer i can handle the constant yelling, and then this happens. and just the thought of cops being in our house, looking in on my sleeping boys, and us not being there made me emotional. AND of course i think about how we are going to have to deal with stuff like this (hopefully no more house calls from to po-po!) for the next 18 years. i don't want my boys to be "different", to have to constantly explain their situation, to have other kids stare and point once they get their implants, to potentially struggle with hearing and speaking. so all these emotions came to a boil and i lost it.
i'm also so nervous to be home alone now during the week, wondering who's listening and if i said something to emery that could be interpreted wrong or if the boys are yelling away but outsiders can't see the smiles on their faces. so if you ever walk by our house and hear screaming, come knock on the door before calling the cops :)
never a dull moment with these gingers!
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