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Sunday 19 May 2013

An Eventful Month

I have been away from writing for a few weeks, Jaime has proven to be a great distraction! Between two new teeth (she now has a total of four), learning to command crawl, beginning to "baby babble" (amongst the many new sounds, dadada has made her Dad very proud!) and an overseas holiday we are also expecting Jaime's Quiet World to soon get a little louder!

Four weeks ago we found ourselves back at the Cochlear Implant Clinic for further hearing tests. You may recall, we left our last appointment disheartened that Jaime may be left to fend for herself with less than ideal levels of hearing... At the conclusion of this test I held my breath as I asked the burning question, the verdict... I am excited to report Jaime is officially eligible for a Cochlear Implant!

We couldn't be happier with the news... to those with hearing children this may seem an oddity, to be excited that our child is eligible for surgery to implant a medical device... to others with deaf children... we are being granted the gift of hearing!

For us this was the perfect way to kick off our holiday. My husband and I bundled up Jaime and jumped on a plane for 15hours to LA.... Mad I know! Aside from juggling seven bags between us (four of which belong to the smallest family member) our flight was pleasant, Jaime took to flying without any hassles and straight away began making new friends.
Once in LA we hired a car and drove to Vegas... As soon as we hit the bright lights of the Vegas strip Jaime was in awe... I don't believe her eyes could have opened any wider to take in her surrounds!
Over the next two weeks Jaime continued as she had on the plane... with her infectious smile she would stop every second person in the street, ever other, would at least smile in return. (I think my husband and I are finally sick of hearing "ooh, look at that baby".)

Most of the time Jaime was able to enjoy both the sights and sounds of the Vegas spectacle, however on occasion her lack of hearing was advantageous. During nap time the loud music of Fremont street went largely unnoticed (although one really loud finale did elicit a brief eye opening). Also whilst we tried our hand at indoor skydiving the staff warned that the sound within the viewing area upsets most babies, Jaime happily watched on as 'Mum' and 'Dad' attempted to look graceful flying above a giant fan.

After nine nights in Vegas with a 7month old we thought we had made it through our holiday relatively unscathed... however...
On the final day of our holiday, drama struck! after 6months of close calls we have finally lost our first hearing aid... I am still holing on to that final tread of hope that it may be located amongst our bags, however I have a feeling I will be making a call to Australian Hearing on Monday morning... oops.

Now that we are home we are ready to embark on the final few steps before Jaime's surgery day.
Late June Jaime will have an MRI/CT scan to ensure the structures of Jaime's inner ear are well formed and suitable to receive the implant. Once we have the results from these scans (hopefully by early July) we will meet with the surgeon to discuss and sign off on the surgery... Then all that is left, is to wait on a surgery date.