Because Hattie was able to hear with her hearing aids (limitedly), she is already familiar with sound and this has not been such a shock to her. Consequently, we have moved through her first 4 programs very quickly. I was able to see our Audiologist later in the week and she gave us 4 more programs to work through. Today we are on the last program again.
When I am turning Hattie's processor up, the main thing I want to watch for is that she is not becoming upset and crying. As long as she is handling each program well and I feel like she is not progressing anymore then it is okay to move forward with the next program.
Hattie has been turning to loud sounds, primarily coming from a toy, but is not consistently turning to me or Kevin's voice yet. At first I was feeling really discouraged because I was looking for instant gratification with her implant. As I have learned through this whole journey, and am continuing to learn, I need to continue to have patience.
I have been keeping track, daily, with what program we are on and any changes Hattie is making. An exciting change I noticed was that by Friday (3 days post activation), Hattie had begun to experiment with new sounds. This is a very exciting development and great reassurance that the implant was the right choice for her.
Hattie has always been very vocal and enjoyed playing with the intonation of her voice. But, even still, she mainly would only say different variations of "ahh" and "eee". At 10 months old she should have been babbling for awhile, saying "ba", "da", "ga", "ma" etc. Well, on Friday I noticed that she is starting to experiment with saying all those things! I couldn't believe it, because I was feeling like she wasn't hearing anything yet and clearly she has been, even if it is still quiet to her. This is also very exciting to think that if she is already making this kind of progress now, what will she be doing once her processor is turned up to an appropriate level for her!
I will continue to update everyone as we have updates. We are very humbled and blessed that people have taken an interest in Hattie's story. God promises to always be us and never leave our side and that has been very apparent through this whole journey!
"...Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5
