I rarely blog during the week. Blogging is for Sunday. However, today has been an incredible day in the life of our little Phoebe and her Mummy and Daddy are happy for me to share this with you.
This morning Phoebe was due to make yet another visit to the local hospital for a couple of appointments. One was for her eyes and one for her ears. Today was going to be an important day in the life of this little 5 weeks and 6 days old young lady.
I drove up to the family home, said my hellos to son in law and a sleepy Sam and then Mummy, Phoebe and I got in the car and drove to the hospital. Daddy and Sam stayed at home together and had some quality Daddy and son time and this freed Mummy up to focus on Phoebe knowing that Sam was happy and safe with Daddy.
Our audiology appointment was for Phoebe to be fitted with her hearing aids after she was diagnosed with a severe hearing loss. The ear moulds had already been taken and so all Mummy had to do was choose what colour hearing aids would suit her daughter best. Mummy chose dark brown to match Phoebe's hair. She could have had purple, blue, pink, whatever but brown was the best way forward.
Once chosen, the ear moulds were connected to the hearing aids and then the aids were put into Phoebe's ears. She was a total star and tolerated all of the pulling and prodding without any problem. Then it was time for the switch on. This was the moment that will stay with me for ever. This was the moment that made me cry.
The hearing aids were switched on and Phoebe went rigid,then she pulled her knees up to her tummy, then she sobbed and cried and then she went very quiet. Her eyes and her facial expressions told us all we needed to know. Phoebe could hear some sounds for, very probably, the first time in almost 6 weeks! It was an incredible moment for all of us in the room and I cried. So much for being the supportive Mum!
Over the next 10 minutes or so Phoebs gradually adjusted to each sound that she could hear.. She is quite a snuffly baby due to her medical issues and every time she made a noise herself it made her startle and cry. She had obviously never heard herself make noise before. My heart just broke for a minute but then I was overjoyed because now PHOEBE CAN HEAR. It's early days obviously and she is very, very young to have hearing aids. The aids are set at a basic level for now and they are big and noisy on a very little girl but, when I left the family after lunch, the aids were still in situ and Phoebe wasn't so jumpy and wasn't getting startled quite so easily....although she did jump when Daddy switched the kitchen light on.
Amongst all of this elation and emotion, we discovered that we couldn't open Phoebe's feeding tube and had to make a visit to the children's ward where she has open access for such problems. We then had the scheduled eye appointment which wasn't really necessary in the end as the consultant had already visited Phoebe in scbu and is not overly concerned about the health of her eyes for now. She will probably be very short sighted but, as he told Mummy, they don't give glasses to babies of Phoebe's age anyway because she is too little. She will have more routine tests in the coming months and we will take it from there.
Mummy and I then decided that we needed a hot drink. The cafe in the hospital was very busy so we decided to drive to a local garden centre and had a cream tea. While we were there, Phoebe was awake the whole time and she spent the majority of the time looking around. It was quite amazing to see her reacting to her new world, to see her facial expressions, to see her being so aware.
When we got home to Daddy and Sam, who had been a star himself according to Daddy and we would not expect anything less of that little munchkin who is such a darling boy, Phoebe was still awake and needed changing. I changed her and spoke to her while I was doing so and she looked at me and listened to me, or at least gave a good impression of doing, so the whole time. When she cried she sounded different. It sounded like a proper cry and not a wail. I cannot tell you how different she seemed to me in the few hours that I spent with her.
Now, this little lady has a lot of hurdles to overcome in the coming years. She has surgeries to undergo and various treatments to complete. She has come so far in a few short weeks thanks to the love and support of her Mummy and Daddy and their friends and family. She has a twin brother who is an utter joy. He is growing so big so fast and he really is a cuddly lump. The family really live from hour to hour at the moment and there have been some rubbish times. However, today has been just amazing.
Love from Nanny xxxx
Our handsome, cuddly Sam xxx
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