Five Favorites

 I'm a little late to join Hallie and her Five Favorites, but..I need something quick and easy to get me over this blogging slump so...here we go.

1. My mom (! her burgeoning computer skills cannot go uncelebrated) found a crochet headband pattern online that has pockets for speech processors....so I tried it out with a few tweaks and we are loving it. No wires or ear molds or toupee tape or ear hooks...so simple and cute, too. Gianna has already put in her order for one as well.

2. I love looking at this planter. Chocolate mint coleus with blackberry petunias...all of which I started from seeds in March. The plant s l o w l y growing at the back I started from a bulb, if it ever blooms it will be an orange canna. I think maybe it is not getting enough sun but..we'll see. I have no idea what I am doing but I love having a yard to putter around in and try to grow stuff.

3. These nightgowns from The White Cotton Gown are so lovely. My mother in law found them after I expressed frustration searching for a 100% cotton nightgown for Gianna. Gianna says she feels like Laura from The Little House books. 

4. Summer. Even though we are still running around like crazy (we usually have about 4 appointments each week, but often more, between the two girlies and their ears) I am so glad school is out. Playing with friends, staying up late catching fireflies in the yard, Popsicles...all made sweeter by the fact that I am not a million months pregnant like I was last summer. Instead I have my PiaBaby to snuggle. 

5. I scored a Le Creuset pot from a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store....it was covered in some sort of greasy substance but it was blue and it was $6 and now it is gracing my stove and it is mine. 

Joyful Noise

I feel like two enormous weights have been lifted. Pia's surgery and subsequent activation are behind us, and both things went far better than I had imagined.

I am so thankful for the prayers and support of our family and friends and for our health insurance and the skilled surgical team. God has heaped blessings upon us.

All parents worry for their children; parents of children with special needs have worries and concerns on top of those regular worries. The feeling that you can't really ever let your foot off the gas, that every moment must in some way be related to a language experience or goal on the IEP (Individual Education Plan.)

Even though my fears for the surgery and activation can be laid aside we have years of work ahead as we help Pia learn to use her new ears. More importantly we have to be forming her soul, helping her grow into a mensch. Part of that will include continuing to sign to her and supporting she and Gianna in their communication decisions as they get older. I don't want them to be limited be their deafness but neither do I want them to feel ashamed of it.

I'm asking big things of my PiaBaby, but I am reminding myself now: Never learning to talk is not a failure. We will communicate; it might be with our voices or it might be with our hands. I will work hard to give her the gift of both, just like we are doing with Gianna.

For now, I'm going to allow myself some time to wonder at the world of sound along with Pia. For now, I'm not going to worry about Ling 6 sounds or localizing or prosody. We're just going to simply and joyfully  listen to each other.

7 Quick Takes: We're Back!

1. But you have to say it like Kramer does when he's got the Merv Griffin show set in his apartment....Anyways. All week, I was trying to write a blog post about Pia's surgery and a whole dissertation on how it went and how I felt and etc etc but it's also the first week of summer so the kids and I are trying to get used to this new amount of togetherness. So, surgery recap in 7 quick takes...here we go.

2. It was a long. long. long day. I had to stop nursing Pia at 6:30am, we arrived at the hospital at 9:15 to get ready for our 11am start time. Except it was more like 11:30 when we went back to the induction room. I am very thankful I make big babies; because Pia is over 10 kilograms (20 lbs) the anesthesiologist allowed Brad and I in the induction room when they started the anesthesia. That's probably the hardest part for me...handing my limp baby over to strangers and being ushered out to the waiting room. I'm always Lot's wife...looking back over my shoulder, wanting just one more minute. The whole show ended up taking 6 hours due to some inflammation in her ears left over from a cold the previous week. Fortunately it was not anything unsafe, nor did it inhibit the actual success of the surgery.

3. I used the hospital's fancy schmancy double electric pump twice while we waited. I wish I could have taken my 16 ounces of milk up to the NICU but instead I dumped it in the sink. Pumping is weird. Not bad, but weird for sure. Hats off to the mamas who do it regularly!

4. The second-worst part of the cochlear implant surgery, for me, is when we finally get to the kid in the recovery room, and I know the implants are in their head. I see the bandage and now I know. It's over, they're in there, essentially permanently. And I kind of hate that. I pray that later the girls will understand that we weren't trying to "fix" them but give them the opportunity of sound.

5. Last time, they sent Gianna home like this
 

But they've gotten so slick in the last 4 years that all Pia needed was this deal while we stayed over night

And then they removed the gauze and she has to wear this very aesthetically pleasing, extremely breathable neoprene head wrap to put pressure on the implant site for 10 days post-op.

kinda looks like Instagram huh? Nope. The iPad cover was partially covering the camera lens. It's low budget over here, what can I say?

6. Just two days later, back to her regular life. Can you believe that she had just had 6 hours of surgery? On her head? Babies are crazy.

Brad thinks she looks like a Shriner

7. So now it's time for the (hopefully) fun part! We saw our surgeon today and everything looks fantastic, so we are set to go in Monday for activation and our PiaBaby will really hear us for the first time! I plan to video it and if it's cute and not traumatic I will share it with all of you! I cannot thank everyone enough for their prayers. I know they are the reason that I was able to be so much more peaceful than last time and I know that's why everything went so well. We are truly blessed.

Have a great weekend, for more Quick Takes hit up Conversion Diary!