If you haven't read Part One of this post, you can find it here.
After she got her hearing aids, Daughter #2's speech grew by big fat leaps and bounds.
In those first few weeks, she would cock her head to the side, exclaiming, "I hear sum-tin!" Then run to the door or window to check out what it was. I couldn't believe how much she'd been missing.
I steered myself for the years to come, the negotiations I would need to engage in, and the accommodations that would be necessary for her in the school system. In life. The uphill battle certain things would be for her, things I had so taken for granted with my other kids.
Do you know some people treat children with hearing aids like they're mentally disabled or slow? Yeah, they do. And some people are uncomfortable at the mere site of a kid with hearing aids.
Fairly or not, I came to judge my older children's friends by how they handled D #2's disability.
"Is she retarded?" One little boy asked, sneering. As though she wasn't even in the room. STRIKE OUT.
"What's your sister got in her ears?" another asked.
"Those are her hearing aids." I could see First-Born Son almost holding his breath as he said this. "To help her hear."
"Oh." The boy shrugged. "Like bionic ears. Cool." HOME RUN.
I started saving for the tiny, but enormously expensive, hearing aids that would fit inside her ear and be practically invisible, the kind the audiologist assured me would be perfect for her as an adolescent.
Then, before she turned five, on a routine audiogram, her hearing tested almost normal. We'd been going every three or four months, to our same amazing audiologist, Ellen, each time.
Ellen didn't know what to make of it. Neither did the specialists she sent us to in Manhattan.
"I guess you might call it a miracle," one doctor said. "Except I don't believe in miracles."
The director of her school took me aside and quietly suggested that I not share what had happened with the other parents; she didn't want to encourage false hope.
Today, D #2 still has fluctuations in her hearing and does much better if she can look at someone as they speak, but she no longer wears hearing aids. She sits in the front of the class by choice, and she works really hard to overcome the learning difficulties she has as a result of those early years. Really hard.
And really successfully. She is driven in a way my two other children never had to be. She wants it. Bad.
This then, is my very un-scientific theory to explain what happened: I was so sick for that entire pregnancy. I only gained 13 pounds, and she was 7lbs, 14oz, with the biggest placenta the nurses had ever seen. Looking back, I think I may have had some viral infection that was passed on to her, affecting her hearing.
Unknowingly, I continued to pass on this virus to her through the next year and a half of nursing. Gradually, after she was weaned, the virus dissipated, leaving only residual damage, in the form of fluctuations in her hearing.
At least, that's my attempt at a logical explanation.
But as for what I really think happened?
Well, let's just say that, unlike that doctor, I do believe in miracles.
Wouldn't you?
I totally and completely believe in Miracles and your daughter definitely was blessed with one! And it's nice to know that I wasn't the only kid that sat in the front of the class- by choice!
Posted by: ~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ | November 12, 2009 at 08:42 AM
That's absolutely amazing! I say, chalk it down as a miracle and be thankful.
Posted by: Jen on the Edge | November 12, 2009 at 08:58 AM
This is a beautiful story of courage, and yes MIRACLES! You are doubly blessed. Thanks for sharing. Inspiring.
Posted by: SuziCate | November 12, 2009 at 09:01 AM
I'm a rational old curmudgeon and I think your logical explanation is probably spot-on. However, the words "miracle" have been used - and by medical professionals - when describing The Young One. Could your daughter's hearing be a miracle? Oh, yeah.
Posted by: Jan | November 12, 2009 at 09:03 AM
I'll go with miracle. great story!
Posted by: Joanie M | November 12, 2009 at 09:30 AM
Even if you believe your rational explaination, getting her hearing when the infection cleared was still a miracle in my book. You hear lot of stories about kids who are permanently disabled due to a childhood disease. What a great story.
Posted by: Mama Badger | November 12, 2009 at 09:47 AM
Bionic ears - now that is a kid I would have liked to have around! :o)
I believe in miracles, yes! Your daughter is blessed - I'm so happy for her!
Posted by: Picture Imperfect | November 12, 2009 at 11:12 AM
Wonderful! Your daughter sounds simply amazing.
Posted by: Erin@TheLocalsLoveIt | November 12, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Miracles are a scarce commodity. I'd say this counts as one.
Posted by: LPC | November 12, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Miracle? hmm..I don't know, but then again who really does know? It's all a matter of faith wether you believe or not. I guess I haven't reached that level yet? LOL. BUT if miracles really do exsist, then THAT would be one.
What a great experience for you, your daughter and your whole family. Lovely.
Posted by: Heather | November 12, 2009 at 12:59 PM
Great story, but why do you, like so many of us women, go directly to blaming yourself, even it is in the most subtle way, for her hearing loss? Instead, credit yourself with taking the bull by the horns and enabling her to overcome her disability.
Posted by: Sandi | November 12, 2009 at 01:40 PM
I'm a realist by nature, but I believe!
She sounds like such a wonderful young woman, hearing problems or no.
I love this story!
Posted by: Sprite's Keeper | November 12, 2009 at 01:49 PM
Oh, wicked cool. I love miracle stories. :-) Thanks so much for sharing this story, Maureen. Great stuff!
Posted by: Erin | November 12, 2009 at 07:31 PM
I absolutely believe in miracles and think that we discount them by trying to explain everything. Take it for the gift it is. But then again......your explanation sounds pretty logical too. Hmmmmm? I'll stick with miracle because I like to think they still happen. Wonderful post!
Posted by: Smart Mouth Broad | November 12, 2009 at 09:40 PM
Wow. That is one amazing story. I love that you didn't waste time feeling sorry for yourself or her and just got on with it.
When Danger Boy was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome some family members reacted as you detailed and like you I saw that things could be so much worse.
Posted by: Jenn @ Juggling Life | November 13, 2009 at 12:25 AM
I believe in miracles and loved this story about your daughter. Thank-you Maureen.
Posted by: Pseudo | November 13, 2009 at 01:30 AM
A very inspirational story. I can't hear enough of stories where people prove their doctors wrong ...! Stories like these keep me going regardless of the odds - thank you for sharing!
Posted by: Twenty Four At Heart | November 15, 2009 at 11:43 PM
That story is amazing. Thank you for sharing it, I guess I do kind of believe in miracles now. Or luck or karma or something.
Posted by: Casey | November 16, 2009 at 10:15 AM
It is a lovely story that is part of the patched quilt that makes up your family, no..? Miracle or logic..? They're both there to try to explain the inexplicable. Maybe the inexplicable just is - and needs no explanation, but simply a retelling of the story, as you have done here so beautifully.
xo,
-maria
Posted by: vintage simple | November 17, 2009 at 06:46 AM
Beautiful post, Maureen!
And does it really matter...the hows, the whys?
Yes, I can see not wanting to give other parents false hope....they'd want to do exactly what you'd done if they thought there was even a small chance of the same outcome as your lovely daughter.
The human body is an amazing thing...it's a miracle that so many babies are born healthy and "normal" when you realize how much can conceivably go wrong.
This parenting is some journey...right?
Posted by: kathryn | November 18, 2009 at 08:45 PM