Natalie 3 Months/Visit to UNC

Tim and I headed to Chapel Hill this past Monday for Natalie’s first appointment up there at UNC. We stayed overnight at the Ronald McDonald House which is about 5 minutes from the hospital. It is a big house, with about 30 rooms. They are small rooms, with 2 small beds and a bathroom but then there are huge common rooms with t.v.s, a large kitchen, eating area, etc. You can pretty much eat whatever food they have in their fridges or cupboards too. We rented a movie from redbox and watched it on our dvd player while Natalie slept. It was nice to have some peace and quiet away from our other kids. We are planning on staying there again in 2 weeks.

We were very impressed with the program at UNC. We first met with our audiologist whom we will have until Natalie gets implants(assuming she gets them... then she would have a different audiologist that specializes in cochlear implants in Durham which we would see.) They did a repeat ABR test which measures how severely deaf she is. We didn’t get a response in either ear again, which we were expecting but they like to redo the test since it is such a huge ordeal. Plus, they have had some tests done before where they got a little different results. Natalie had to be ready to eat and fall asleep for her appointment and she did great. So, since there was no change on her test, it just reaffirms that hearing aids most likely won’t bring her to the level that she will need to develop normal speech language thus doing the cochlear implants. She will still get hearing aids, which we got molds for her and will be fitted at our next appointment. The hearing aids will still allow sound to get into her ears and help stimulate the cochlear nerve and any sound is good sound at this point. Throughout the next few months we will continue to go up and see what level the hearing aids are bringing her to. More on that later...

We met our doctor, Dr. Craig Buchman and Tim and I both really like him. He does a lot of these surgeries and we feel so comfortable with him. We met 2 kids in the waiting room that were in for rechecks on their implant surgeries so it was nice talking to their moms about their experiences. After discussing everything with the doctor, we are under the impression we can try to get her implants done between 10-14 months of age (assuming the insurance company allows before the age of 1.) We can do them both at the same time if we want or each one individually. We will have to read up on the pros/cons of that later on down the road. She will be 10 months on January.

Of course all of this is dependent on her MRI which will be done June 30th. Our doctor will be in Sweden at an implant conference and will e-mail us the results of that shortly thereafter.

This may be too much information, but I am just trying to keep a journal of our experiences with this. 

I wish I had better pictures to share of Natalie. A lot of the pictures she isn’t smiling but I can assure you she is a smiley baby. It is just hard to get her attention when I am trying to take her picture when she can’t hear me at all. She smiles a lot when you are looking at  her directly and it melts your heart.

She just turned 3 months yesterday. When they weighed her at the doctor, she was 13 lb., 10 oz. We just our in love with her so much.

COMMENTS:

Anonymous

She is so beautiful. I'm so glad you guys are getting some good help. My ward and I earned money for the Ronald McDonald House. Who knew it would someday help my own family?:) I love you guys and am thinking of you and praying for you. Oh, and by the way, you have the cutest blog I've ever seen.-Katie Poland

Friday, June 18, 2010 - 06:17 PM

Shelley Kay

I can't believe she's already 3 months old! She is such a doll.

Saturday, June 19, 2010 - 05:39 AM

denise

I am glad you had a good visit to UNC and with the drs.  We stayed at  a Ronald McDonald house once also. It is such a neat program. 

What a beautiful little girl she is!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 - 11:50 AM

Nana

I have a special place in my heart for her!  She is sooooo beautiful.  I am so nervous for this upcoming with her eye test, MRI, etc.  I just love her!