Learning To Listen
By baby #3 I truly thought, "I have this kid thing down." PSYCHE! Sweet Charlotte was born February 8, 2013. It was my favorite birth out of all four for many reasons, but it definitely came with a new twist. I honestly didn't pay much attention to the sheet of paper they brought in explaining she'd failed her newborn hearing screening. The nurse said it was "probably fluid in her ear" and to make an appointment to have it checked again before the end of the month.
Fast forward to what will be her fourth birthday this coming Wednesday. I can strongly say that "I had no F-ing clue how much Charlotte would teach us, and I absolutely did NOT have the kid thing down."
Charlotte was the best sleeper of the lot. Took me a while to actually contribute it to the fact she couldn't hear anything, thus never got startled (an optimistic advantage of hearing loss in babies). She was also the best nurser of the bunch. I nursed all four kids, but every time it was different. Charlotte was genuinely sweet and petite and was born with single sided deafness. She is profoundly deaf in her left ear and has moderate to severe loss in her right ear.
At 12 months Charlotte got a cochlear implant on her left side. She had been wearing hearing aids since 8 months and still wears one on her right ear. We've been in speech therapy since 8 months, as well, and have many years to go. We've also been in feeding therapy, which oddly has been the hardest part of raising Charlotte for me personally. But what's not hard about Charlotte is her life joy. From the enthusiasm she greets a loved one with to her deep interest in My Little Ponies or Dinosaurs, Charlotte greets every day with a smile on her face and patience with her parents to put her "ears" on so she can be a bigger part of the world she lives in.
I'm not sure if it's coming out of the baby haze with our fourth child, Emma, finally over the 2-year-old hump or just the need to write more again, but one thing Charlotte has taught me to do is listen. I listen differently than before I knew her, both my world around me and my heart. That inner God voice that we all have, but only sometimes take the time to pay attention to, has been really speaking to me a lot. That's why I'm kicking off this site with a "thank you" to Charlotte for letting me be your mother and sharing your ears and your heart with me and our whole family.
Lotsa Love,
Leah
