December 15, 2006

Well good news Aiden passed his hearing test. When we got there they did an initial test that measures the movement of the ear drum and for both ears she was getting a flat reading, or no movement. She said that usually means the child has fluid behind the ear drum and to make sure I mention it to our pediatrician.
Then it was the regular test. The night before we had to keep him up late and wake him up early (if possible) and then hold his 8am feed so he'd be hungry when we got there.
We did our best to keep him tired and he was definetly hungry (the poor kid, his app't was at 10:30 so the last time he ate was 4AM) After they did the ear drum test, we hooked up Aiden's feed and they put us in a sound proof room and dimmed the lights. We had to try to get him to sleep, which I thought was going to be hard after they scrubed his head and spots to stick the probe stickers on, which kept coming off. Eventually he fell asleep and actually for the most part stayed sleeping for the entire hour. They checked the left ear and told us his hearing was in the normal range so that was good and we moved on to the right. Then she camein at the end and told us he passed, that both ears have hearing in the normal range and she was surprised considering he has fluid in his ears.
So all that stress in the NICU thinking he might be deaf cause he failed both hearing tests then. i am so so glad that he has passed. One less worry and one more thing this child has seemed to come through with flying colors. He still amazes me..

He is doing well and gaining weight like a champ. I picked him up today and I sware he is 5 pounds heavier then yesterday. He's getting big and now wants to eat more often then every 4 hours so I have increased the amount he gets every 4 to see if this helps rather then changing to every 3 hour feedings. So far so good, and we see the nutritionist next week so I am sure some adjustments have been made. It does seem like formula is not holding him over as long though. I can't wait til they tell me I can feed him cereal. Which to be honest we have tried a spoon or two. We have also tried a spoon or two of peaches and today bananas. HE LOVES IT!!!
I just won't give him enough to really consider a meal, it's more like a taste and so far it's only been once for each. I'm just waiting for the green light from the swollow study people, who said that he would probably do great on cereal. At the next test they are actually going to spoon feed him too. I k now maybe I am foolish for even letting him taste test things like that, but if he failed the last test I wouldn't even think about it, but considering he passed it, I figured just a little taste would be nice. You should see the smile I got after. It was enough to melt your heart.