My perfect baby boy with 10 fingers and 10 toes is hearing impaired.
He has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss with the right ear being moderate and the left being severe. The most popular question I get when people look at my infant is, “He’s a baby, how did you find out about his hearing loss?”
To be short, when our children are born the hospital does a newborn screening and hearing test. It is common with c-section babies to fail the hearing test on the first day due to fluids in the ears. The nurse thought that was the case with our sweet newborn. We were to see a specialist for a more thorough test.
On July 28, 2017, my baby boy was diagnosed. That day I bawled; I broke down for him… for me. As a mama bear, I didn’t want him to be made fun of as he grew up or have people feel sorry for him. I cried selfishly because my newborn has a disability.
I have two other children that are not hearing impaired, so this was all new to me. STOP. NO MORE. I let myself release the emotions and from that moment on, I told myself that I will only cry out of happiness. The fight kicked in and I put my big girl pants on. What can I do to help my child- because I am his advocate?
I immediately began doing research and hounding the doctors for early appointments. Within three months, Marcus received his first pair of hearing aids and ear molds. We chose bright colored molds to stand out because we wanted everyone to see and hopefully not feel uncomfortable to ask questions. When the audiologist put his hearing aids on for the first time, it was surreal! He heard our voices and reacted with smiles. I just can’t explain to you how beautiful this moment was. The hurt I felt about Marcus not hearing me sing to him in the hospital (as I did with all my babies) washed away.
Marcus is now about 9 months old. He has 2 amazing deaf and hard-of-hearing teachers who come to our house every other week. They help him with exercises, strengthening his other senses, and are teaching us basic sign language. My older children are also Marcus’s advocates. They answer questions from their peers at school that, “Those are Marcus’ hearing aids. They help him hear everything!” It’s wonderful watching the older kids support their baby brother.
This journey has taught me that I AM a superwoman. When push comes to shove, I push, and I shove back harder (especially when it comes to my kids) because I am my children’s advocate. I hope that I’m teaching my kids that no matter how small we are, we can make a difference. I have the WALK4HEARING and our Team Marcus as a platform to help raise awareness. It has helped give me a voice to teach people and help end the stigma of hearing loss.
With weakness, there comes strength. I am a proud mom to an infant with hearing loss!
Wow! Thank you for sharing your story. Your son in beautiful!
Thank you Elsa! He’s a cutie!
Thank you for sharing your story. I just recently found out that my daughter who was born the end of February has unilateral sensorineural severe hearing loss on her left ear. I was also told that because I had a c-section it was probably fluids. I also had my breakdown of crying after the news. Now I’m researching everything I can find to be her advocate. We have a hearing aid consultation next month when she will be about 2 months.
Let me tell you that the process is not so bad! It’s more nerve wrecking because of the unknown. I’m excited for your daughter. Some consultations will have them test out hearing aids, like us, and I recorded his reaction. It was beautiful. Make sure you ask as many questions as you need too. Like how to clean the hearing aids and ear molds, get extra tools for the aids because they are small. It can be information overload and especially picking out the hearing aids. If you need any advice or have any questions, I’m here for you! Your daughter should get her hearing aids in about 2 weeks after the approvals and ear molds. Babies tolerate getting molds done because they are so young. Then the impressions get sent out to be made. You are doing great momma! And for starting early, you are on the right track!!
Thank you. I really appreciate all the advice. I’m sure I will have tons of questions for you in the next few months. How often did you have to get hearing aid molds for your little one? BTW I love all the pictures in your post.
Thank you! He’s a cutie and is loving taking his hearing aids off at this age! so molds take about 2 weeks to get made and when you notice that they are pretty loose, make an appointment to get her fitted. Since he was 3 months old, we have been getting new molds about every 3 months. He is going on 4 months with his molds right now and his audiologist said that the fit was still fine. It should be snug and you will get used to putting them on with ease after some time.
It’s so much heart touching. My son was born on.28th of July 2017 and he has right ear moderate and left ear severe hearing loss and I’m going through same time as u. Ur vlog is so inspiring. Thanks x
Thank you so much Umaira! Our boys are so close! How are you doing now? Since I wrote this, my son got the cutest glasses because he is far-sided. He is now in different therapies so our days are so busy! It’s funny and aweing of how we are in the beginning of the journey. Now, it doesn’t feel so bad because we are more informed and this is apart of our everyday life. How is he with leaving his aids on?