Saturday, February 23
Go Vols!!!!
I thought I would take advantage of the big game today (No. 2 University of Tennessee at No. 1 Memphis) to get some fun pictures of Kate. Really, I just wanted some pictures to taunt my Aunt and Uncle in Memphis with. What good is a kid if you can't use them to express your support of college athletics or political causes (the "Go Obama" pictures will be posted next week...just kidding). Exclaimer: No animals were hurt in the making of these pictures and Angela had nothing to do with this.
Thursday, February 21
Where To Start...
We have been waiting to make this post until we knew more details. Well, the details are still not completely confirmed, but we wanted to give an update on Owen.
For those of you who do not already know, Owen failed his initial hearing test at birth, which they said could have been due to the fluid he retained during his fast trip through the birth canal, or the antibiotics he was on for a few days. The doctor at Childrens scheduled an in-depth, sedated BAER hearing test at Children's Hospital for mid February and we did not think much more about it since we were dealing with his breathing (and weight gaining, and weepy eye...) issues. During a visit to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor earlier this month to see about his breathing, they decided to schedule an in depth hearing test at their office which they could do with Owen conscious but sleeping instead of having him anesthetized like they were going to do at Children's. Not to mention that the ENT doctor felt much better about his PhD audiologists performing the test than the technician at the hospital. This was a multi-hour affair where they hooked him up to electrodes and monitored his brain response to an audio stimulus. The end result was that he was found to have permanent mild hearing loss in one ear and mild to moderate hearing loss in the other ear, meaning that he can hear most things like people talking in normal voices, background noise at normal levels, and louder things, but he may not hear some sounds of speech and other softer sounds as well as he needs to (they gave us a neat chart if anyone is interested). The main concern is his development of proper speech. Therefore, it looks like he will have to have hearing aids.
We finally heard back from the doctor today in response to our appointment two weeks ago (hence the waiting for details). Basically all we know is we will have an appointment with an audiologist at UT to have Owen fitted for hearing aids that will provide a mild amplification of the sounds he does not hear well. As a precaution, they want to have Owen screened by an ophthalmologist to make sure that his hearing problem isn't linked to any vision issues as these can be linked. They will also draw blood and do a CAT scan to determine whether the hearing loss is due to something genetic, syndromatic, or related to the thyroid (which apparently does everything in your body, but you do not realize it) or the cochlea (the hearing organ in the ear). So, lots of tests in addition to teeny tiny hearing aids for our little boy.
That is what we know for now. Please be in prayer for our family. We already feel that God is taking care of us and even though we are concerned about all of this we have a sense of peace knowing that God will never give us more than we can handle and He is faithful. We will update the website as we go through the next series of doctor's appointments and learn more.
On top of all this, Kate and Angela were sick with a cold this past week (and somewhat the week before). Kate also had a bug on Wednesday, but it seems to have been short-lived. James appeared to be in the clear, but now seems to be catching our cold. Luckily, we didn't have any doctor appointments to make it to this week, but between being sick, everyone ELSE in town being sick (who wants to get an infant out amidst all those germs?), trying to get Owen on some sort of routine for sleeping, and the weather being bad - we don't get out of the house much and we're getting CABIN FEVER!!
On a good note, Owen is gaining weight, his eye drainage is doing much better, and the doctors determined that he must have some reflux issues (though he doesn't spit up) that are causing his noisy breathing and he'll just grow out of it. He's also a happy, smiling boy and loves his big sister! Kate is also doing a whole lot better. She is a great big sister and her behavior has really improved over the last couple weeks. She is changing daily it seems from her expanded vocabulary, her ever changing and comical observations on the world around her, to her growing from a toddler into a little girl before our eyes. They are both wonderful blessings. GOD IS GOOD!
For those of you who do not already know, Owen failed his initial hearing test at birth, which they said could have been due to the fluid he retained during his fast trip through the birth canal, or the antibiotics he was on for a few days. The doctor at Childrens scheduled an in-depth, sedated BAER hearing test at Children's Hospital for mid February and we did not think much more about it since we were dealing with his breathing (and weight gaining, and weepy eye...) issues. During a visit to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor earlier this month to see about his breathing, they decided to schedule an in depth hearing test at their office which they could do with Owen conscious but sleeping instead of having him anesthetized like they were going to do at Children's. Not to mention that the ENT doctor felt much better about his PhD audiologists performing the test than the technician at the hospital. This was a multi-hour affair where they hooked him up to electrodes and monitored his brain response to an audio stimulus. The end result was that he was found to have permanent mild hearing loss in one ear and mild to moderate hearing loss in the other ear, meaning that he can hear most things like people talking in normal voices, background noise at normal levels, and louder things, but he may not hear some sounds of speech and other softer sounds as well as he needs to (they gave us a neat chart if anyone is interested). The main concern is his development of proper speech. Therefore, it looks like he will have to have hearing aids.
We finally heard back from the doctor today in response to our appointment two weeks ago (hence the waiting for details). Basically all we know is we will have an appointment with an audiologist at UT to have Owen fitted for hearing aids that will provide a mild amplification of the sounds he does not hear well. As a precaution, they want to have Owen screened by an ophthalmologist to make sure that his hearing problem isn't linked to any vision issues as these can be linked. They will also draw blood and do a CAT scan to determine whether the hearing loss is due to something genetic, syndromatic, or related to the thyroid (which apparently does everything in your body, but you do not realize it) or the cochlea (the hearing organ in the ear). So, lots of tests in addition to teeny tiny hearing aids for our little boy.
That is what we know for now. Please be in prayer for our family. We already feel that God is taking care of us and even though we are concerned about all of this we have a sense of peace knowing that God will never give us more than we can handle and He is faithful. We will update the website as we go through the next series of doctor's appointments and learn more.
On top of all this, Kate and Angela were sick with a cold this past week (and somewhat the week before). Kate also had a bug on Wednesday, but it seems to have been short-lived. James appeared to be in the clear, but now seems to be catching our cold. Luckily, we didn't have any doctor appointments to make it to this week, but between being sick, everyone ELSE in town being sick (who wants to get an infant out amidst all those germs?), trying to get Owen on some sort of routine for sleeping, and the weather being bad - we don't get out of the house much and we're getting CABIN FEVER!!
On a good note, Owen is gaining weight, his eye drainage is doing much better, and the doctors determined that he must have some reflux issues (though he doesn't spit up) that are causing his noisy breathing and he'll just grow out of it. He's also a happy, smiling boy and loves his big sister! Kate is also doing a whole lot better. She is a great big sister and her behavior has really improved over the last couple weeks. She is changing daily it seems from her expanded vocabulary, her ever changing and comical observations on the world around her, to her growing from a toddler into a little girl before our eyes. They are both wonderful blessings. GOD IS GOOD!
Friday, February 15
We have been ultra busy lately with doctor's visits, some colds, and life in general. Just a few pictures to tie you over until we can get a real post up with the latest on the Hemrick family. There is a picture of the family from baby recognition day at our church, some updated (relatively recent, beginning of February) pictures of Owen, and a picture of daddy finally getting some work out of Kate. I am training her early.
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