Is It or Isn’t It?

Elisabeth loves to see animals and the fish. We’ve spent a lot of time exploring the aquarium at the Minnesota Zoo lately.

These were her favorite fish, she followed them all over their giant tank and was sure to point where they were so I wouldn’t lose sight of them either. After thoroughly exploring the aquariums, we bundled up to walk on the Minnesota Trail. We then headed back to the aquarium to warm up and have a snack. Elisabeth gobbled up her apple sauce and raisins and went to say goodbye to the dolphins.

She walked up to the window all by herself and she started signing something to the dolphin. She talked to her for a few minutes, all I could make out was “fish” and a “goodbye” wave. I wish I would have taken a video of it. Watching her talk to the dolphin melted my heart, it was so sweet. After the conversation was over, Elisabeth toddled back over to the bench where I was sitting and climbed up and asked for her coat. She was ready to go home after our fun-filled winter morning.

I have been looking for a doll with hearing aids or cochlear implants for about a year now. Unfortunately, the only one I could find looks kinda creepy. I called the American Girl company too. They make glasses and wheelchairs for their dolls but no hearing devices.

What’s a mom to do? Elisabeth is having surgery again on Monday. She is getting her second implant, the one on the right worked so well for her we decided to do the left ear too. Well actually, she decided. Elisabeth refuses to wear her hearing aid in her left ear if it is turned on. It’s curious, she wears it if it’s off. She also has been trying to put her implant device on her left ear when it falls off the right.

Okay, back to the doll. So, I decided to make my own. Not the doll, I’m not that crafty!

I picked up some pink puff paint in the dollar bins at Michael’s and drew the cochlear implants right on the dolls bald little head. It couldn’t have been easier.

This little doll is from Target in case you’re wondering.

If you use puff paint to make your own cochlear implants or hearing aids be sure you let them dry for at least twenty four hours. I thought it would be dry after twelve, it wasn’t.

Elisabeth may be too out of it right after her surgery to notice the doll has new cochlear implants just like hers. I think I’ll give it to her before we leave.

Elisabeth’s cochlear implant has been on for a little over a week now.

It didn’t start out all smiles…The first several days were very frustrating as she did not want to keep it on for more than a few minutes. That was really difficult for us, Chris and I struggled with a little “buyer’s remorse.” I kept thinking, what if we made the wrong choice?!?

After a few days, Elisabeth was more cooperative wearing her device. On Thursday, she was mad at her daycare provider for taking it off at nap time and then on Friday, at nap time, I went to remove it and she covered it with her hand and dozed off. It was very sweet.

It’s hard for me to imagine hearing sound for the first time, figuring out what sound goes with what noise maker and what it all means. I take sound for granted or more importantly, the ability to tune out those annoying sounds. The dishwasher, refrigerator and even the TV, I am sure she was just overwhelmed by this noisy world.

I have been taking cues from her as far as a wearing schedule goes. She likes to wake up a little bit while eating breakfast before putting on her device and that’s okay. Everyone needs their quiet time. The goal is to wear it all day, it’s on from about 7am to 6:30 pm , so we’re already there. I do remove it while we’re in the car because if she gets bored, it goes right in her mouth. I had to pull over once now and dig it out of her mouth. Lesson learned.

Well, back to that “buyer’s remorse,” it’s over. Elisabeth wants to wear her device and her hearing aid too. Also, she’s already making new sounds that I have never heard her make before. If she can make those sounds, she can HEAR them!

Here is a close up of what her cochlear implant device looks like:

 We have received so many positive and supportive messages and e-mails, there hasn’t been enough time in the day to respond to each one individually. Please know they have all been read and appreciated. We’re saving each and every one for our little girl so when she’s older she can see all the loving and supportive people who have been rooting for her from day one! Thank you!

On Saturday morning, Elisabeth woke up super fussy so I wasn’t convinced her pain medication was strong enough. It was just the day after her cochlear implant surgery so I called the resident on-call to see what we should do.

I took her bandage off to see how it looked underneath, it looked much better than I imagined!

Elisabeth was so happy to be bandage free, she actually stopped fussing for a few minutes so I could take some pictures.

Since everything looked good, I ultimately took her to the urgent care at the hospital where she was born to get the additional pain medication. We’re usually in and out pretty quick and I knew exactly where to go as opposed to going to the new University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital Emergency Department.

We arrived at urgent care, got checked in and Elisabeth started to run a little fever so they sent us to the emergency room instead. While waiting for the doctor I noticed she had become super hot, so I paged the nurse who came to recheck her temperature. It had soared above 104 degrees in that short span of time. Also, her incision area was looking a puffy and red. NOT COOL.

There was a new plan of action, IV antibiotics, right now.

Ha! Try getting an IV on Elisabeth, she’s a feisty one. It took lots of pokes, three nurses and a distraught mother to finally get that IV in her scalp. It was the only place they could get it.

IV antibiotics were started.

Okay, so her temperature didn’t go down that much and now she’s getting admitted to the hospital. I requested to go back to the U of M as that’s were she had her surgery. We got a lift from the ambulance so the professionals could keep an eye on the IV line and she could also finish her antibiotics on the ride over.

At the U, they did her blood work, put in a new IV because the scalp IV had twisted and no longer worked and she had a lumbar puncture.  Not fun but totally necessary to rule out some really bad stuff.

Elisabeth and I had now been up for 22 hours, yes 22. I hadn’t eaten since lunch and had to watch my baby wrestle with many doctors and nurses. She was definitely in FIGHT mode and I’m not sure where all the energy came from or how I even held it together.

I think I’ve mentioned before, she’s strong-willed and spirited…

When they finished testing and antibiotics were done, we were taken up to a room for the rest of the night…I mean morning. It was around 4 am and we were so tired. Elisabeth was not going to let me put her down, not even for a second. She slept on top of me in a big comfy rocking chair until 8 am.

She had more IV antibiotics and pain medication after we woke up and we snuggled while she had her medicine. Elisabeth was feeling a lot better and even had some afternoon visitors, I thought for sure we’d get to go home before dinner. Then she had another fever, so her doctor asked that she stay another night for observation.

When Monday morning rolled around she was back to her old self, fever-free and she was discharged before lunch.

It was so nice to get home and we celebrated by napping for three hours. Elisabeth is feeling great, it has been a little hard to keep her from overdoing it while she is recovering. We’ve been watching her favorite show, Signing Time!, reading lots of books and we even took a walk with the dogs in the stroller between downpours.

It’s such a relief she’s on the mend!