Emma was born by Cesarean section at 37.5 weeks gestation after an uneventful pregnancy other than lots of morning sickness in Trimester 1 and 2. Emma was delivered by C-Section because she was in a 'frank breech' position. Labor was only 1.5 hours long. C-Section babies often have a little trouble getting all the fluid out of their lungs after birth simply because they do not get that final squeeze from passing through the birth canal. Emma was no different and had normal oxygen saturation levels after birth but had some shallow and rapid breathing. After an hour or so of breathing some oxygen she was brought to us in the room and was doing fine and opening her eyes. After passing her hearing screen (an otoacoustic emmissions test) and other normal tests, we were discharged with a normal healthy child. Emma was developing normally like any other child even beginning to talk and refer to "mama" and "dada" around her first birthday. She even repeated and copied sounds she heard from others aorund her. Around her first birthday, we noticed Emma beginning to pull on her ears a lot mainly at night. She always pulled on both ears and never one. We would always take her to her pedatrician who would diagnose her as having an ear infection. After three or four of these we had tubes placed in her ears in June of 2003. We noticed that by that point that she was no longer really trying to talk much anymore. By later that summer, our pediatrician became concerned that Emma was not talking and reffered us to a local ENT. In November 2003, he referred us for an ABR (auditory brainstem response) test that would look at her involuntary brain responses to sound while under sedation. The results showed a 80 dB hearing loss in the left (severe) and 95+dB in the right (profound). We were perplexed as this contradicted what we had seen in Emma's behvior over the past 20 months. She had responded to being told "no" or being told to "sit down." Looking back we now realize she had merely learned to recognize our facial expressions and read lips. The denial part of our grieving process was the worst. We had a hard time accepting the results simply because we know she had hearing at some point. The experts tend to agree that she did have some hearing at some point.
In December 2003, Emma was fit with hearing aids and immediately responded. She began talking more and instantly became less shy and much more social. After an MRI revealed that Emma had "bilateral massively enlarged vestibular aqueducts with mild cochlear (Mondini's) dysplasia" and her hearing would progressively degenerate before she started school, it was decided that a cochlear implant would best benefit Emma. We interviewed both sides of the deaf world; those for and those opposed to cochlear implants. It was the hardest decision we ever had to make. Amy and I DID NOT want to do the implant. But we were faced with a question of "what Emma would want" and not what we wanted. So the decision was made that we would pursue a cochlear implant for Emma. After much research on all the devices, it was decided that the Med El Combi 40+ and Tempo BTE speech processor would best fit Emma and our needs.
We decided on going the path of least resistance for the surgery and staying within our insurance network. This would mean that Emma would receive her implant at no out-of-pocket costs to Amy or I. However, after learning of a study that Emma would be able to participate in and receive "free" benefits from we opted to go out of network with Dr. Paul Bauer at Dallas Children's Hospital. We just felt an instant bond with Dr. Bauer. His compassion and research-based approach to implantation was what we needed. Emma received her Med El cochlear implant at Children's Medical Center of Dallas on Friday, March 26. The time leading up to this surgery was very tough for the whole family. Knowing the risks that we would knowingly be putting our daughter at with an elective procedure was at times too overwhelming to comprehend. We were continuously reassured that she would be fine and would probably be up playing within 24 hours of surgery. The night following surgery was the worst time for us. As parents, we wondered just what had we done. We second guessed ourselves a lot that night. But the next morning, Emma wanted to go outside and play and seemed just fine. She received no pain meds and never really seemed to be in any pain. We were amazed at how well she did and looking back, I wish I had known how "easy" the surgery really was.
Emma continued AV Therapy and wearing her hearing aid for the three weeks between surgery and CI activation. On Monday, April 19, 2004, Emma's cochlear implant was activated and she heard and responded. We have been amazed at how well she has done and how well she is responding to the implant already. We now know we made the right decision to implant. We would strongly recommend it to other parents who have a child with severe to profound hearing impairment. However, every case is different. We chose to go with the cochlear implant in order that Emma can be provided the fullest potential at hearing. Now Emma has the option of being a hearing person, or being the deaf person that God made her. The choice is hers.
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