…and speak what we hear. This seems a simple and obvious statement, but over the past 3 months Team Wendorf has learned just how complex this statement really is.
Kai Atticus was born 5 ½ weeks early at the UW Hospital. He failed his (now routine) newborn hearing screens at the hospital, however we assumed that he had fluid in his ears which is a common cause of inconclusive results for all babies, especially those born preterm. Being stubborn I did not deem it necessary to take Kai in for further testing and felt it a disruption to the new schedule we were trying to implement with 2 babies in our family.
Upon the urging of medical professionals we took Kai for a follow up hearing screen. The results were the same, Inconclusive/Failed, at which point we were referred to Children’s Hospital. A few more weeks passed before we were subject to extensive (and tense) 2 hours of testing which determined that Kai had a bilateral mild to moderate hearing loss.
Our audiologist was kind and did her job well but due to hospital policy (and a non-urgent diagnosis at a hospital filled with crisis) we were sent away with a hug, a pamphlet on hearing loss and a return appointment 6 weeks later to confirm or correct the results from this day’s tests.
(stay tuned, this is the first in a series of upcoming posts about the story so far regarding Kai’s hearing issues)
Just to make things official for those of you who don’t know, Kai’s middle name is Atticus. Yes, it is taken from the character Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird. I’ll explain more about that choice in a later post.