Can you Hear Me Now?

Starting in August Reesey has been plagued by double ear infections each month. She's a tough cookie because most of the time we didn't even know she had them. We'd show up at a well visit and low and behold... a double whammy. 

At her 1 year check up Dr. Goldberg told us if she had another one she'd be a perfect candidate for tubes. We were crossing our fingers that she'd get one before the end of the year since she met her deductible back in February and it would be free to us.

Thank goodness she got another double whammy last week. I know that's awful to say, but we knew this would be the best for her. It can't be good to be on antibiotics for two weeks out of each month can it? Plus, we were starting to notice that she wasn't responding to her name, wasn't learning simple signs such as 'more' or 'all done',  wasn't learning body part names, etc. What does that have to do with ear infections you ask? (Because I did). Her ears were so full of fluid she had a hard time hearing.

Ok, back to last week. So on Friday I called the ENT recommended, got lucky and scheduled an appointment for Monday.

Monday came, she saw the ENT and he said, "Oh yea. She needs tubes in a bad way. Take her to the audiologist for a hearing test and the scheduler will call you to schedule the tubes."

I went in during the hearing test with her and poor baby failed miserably. She only responded once to the sound and that was delayed. Apparently she had so much fluid all sounds were muffled. We felt like such bad parents. How did we not know she was practically deaf? Ugh. The audiologist said that it wasn't a permanent hearing loss and once she had the procedure she would be back to 100%.

Thankfully, the scheduler called me before I even got home and scheduled the tubes for that Wednesday at 7:45 am. YAHOOO! 

A sleepy & hungry Reese being carried into the surgery center.

Waiting patiently for our turn.

I have to admit, I got teary eyed when I had to hand Reese over to the nurse. I knew the procedure would only last 15 minutes, but what a weird feeling to hand your baby over to a complete stranger. 

Not even 20 minutes later, we were in recovery with an upset and VERY hungry girl!

After a 3 hour nap at home, she woke up ready to have a hearty breakfast.

She was a different child immediately! I was amazing. I am still amazed. She was alert, engaged, attentive, vocal. Music came on and she immediately started dancing. I would say something to her and she'd try to imitate my words. She was so much happier. Well, I should say 'is'. The "new" Reese hasn't left us. She is here and ready to make up for the past four months of living with a head full of water.