Temper tantrums were not all the excitement we had this week. Noah gave us a real scare Tuesday night. We were at our community group from Church and THANK GOD it was Luke and my turn to watch the kiddos upstairs. We passed out the kids normal snack of goldfish crackers, everyone's favorite. Literally seconds after Noah began to consume his crackers, his upper lip began to swell and his face became red and blotchy. I quickly ushered Luke and Noah out the door and called Swedish medical center to let them know they were on the way and Noah was having an anaphylactic reaction. The idiot that I sometimes can be, I did not have his epi pen with us. Honestly Noah has seemed to out grow his milk and eggs allergy so I just really didnt see the need to keep a needle in my purse that the kids could have access to. I was pretty puzzled as to why fish crackers was giving him this scary reaction. He had eaten them hundreds of times before. And milk NEVER gave him this kind of reaction. After some thought and conversing, we figured out that the bag used for the snack, had contained peanut butter filled pretzels earlier in the day and Luke saw Noah eat one left over in the bag. So Noah was having a reaction to peanuts. We were told to stay away from nuts since he tested allergic to almonds, but we had no clue he was going to be one of those kids. You know, the kids who have to stay a mile away from anything that has remotely come in contact with nuts. The good news is they made it to the hospital quickly and Noah got the drugs he needed to bring the swelling down and return his breathing to normal. He did however get to spend the night in the pediatric ward. This marks 4 nights Luke has spent on an uncomfortable window bed this year. 2 of those being
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with the kids. I remember my mom once said that having kids was like having your heart walk around outside your body. Wow, did she ever know what she was talking about! Noah is home now and I have to say, the boy's little adventure allowed the girls and I some nice time together.
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(The girls smiling and playing together on the floor gym)
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Marae also had her repeat BAER test this week. I thought it was to be an aided test this time, but it was unaided (without her hearing aids). Last time she took the test she had no responses to the equipments max (95 decibels). This time we actually got some responses from 85, 90, and 95 decibels. This is great news because it is just more confirmation that her auditory (8th) nerve is present. She hears lower pitches better than higher pitches and she seems to have "islands of hearing" along the spectrum. Because money is now no object, they ordered her the best pediatric hearing aids on the market and those will be fitted to her on Monday. Just another one of the many blessings arising from this whole thing. We also had her psychosocial evaluation with the cochlear implant clinic. Believe me it sounds far scarier than it actually is. The psychologist just shared with us the history of the deaf movement, what role implants has taken in the deaf culture, and the entire process of the implantation right down to what we pack for her over night hospital stay. It was pretty interesting learning a bit about the deaf community. It is rapidly changing with a new generation of "hearing deaf". I also learned that for whatever reason, babies who receive implants hear better than adults who receive implants. It has to do with how quickly the infant brain is learning and soaking up new things verses an adult who learns at a much slower pace.
Finally our week ended with taking Marae into the Childrens hospital ER for a high fever. Since she is so young they wanted to examine her in case she had an infection. I'm not sure that I have completely recovered from being up all night on Thursday. They did a cath to test her urine, an IV to give her fluids and test her blood, and a mucus test to see if she had a respiratory virus. All were negative and Marae managed to smile in between tests. They sent us home with the idea this was just a virus and she would heal herself. After the fever was done she broke out with the typical roseola rash. That would explain why there were no other symptoms.
We thank you for your continued prayers, and know we covet them. I think Luke and I have come to learn that when you become a parent you truly surrender yourself to the will of God. There is so much we cannot control. We have to role with the punches and pray hard. Every child has their ups and downs, their proud moments and frustrating ones, and though you can never be sure of what tomorrow brings, you CAN be sure that there will NEVER be a dull moment.
it is amazing how elastic very little ones brains are compared to adults-and even older kids. i've met deaf adults with implants and their brains have never had to process auditory information, so it is impossible for them to "hear" as well with the implants as it is for a baby. even 2, 3, 4 year olds have to work so so much harder than the younger ones; it is just more difficult for them to process sound and less natural than it is for babeis with such elastic brains.
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