Owen's Ears & Momma's Gut

Two years ago yesterday, May 3, 2012, I brought my little boy into the hospital at the crazy early hour of 4:00 a.m. to prep him for surgery.  He was getting ear tubes. He had never had an ear infection or been on antibiotics. His story is one I often tell other parents. It is about listening to your heart and your gut.

Owen pre-op at NY Eye and Ear on May 3, 2012

Owen was 90 percent deaf. At 18 months old, he had never really heard my voice. He had never really heard a dog bark, a fire truck, music, a bird chirp. All the noises and voices sounded like he was actually hearing underwater -- fuzzy, muffled, low, no tones, no pitches. That was his world.

Surgery for ear tubes is a very common procedure for many young children. But Owen was my baby. My heart ached and at the same time, I was hopeful. He was about to have a new world opened to him and that couldn't be all bad. 

Owen didn’t have any words at all when he turned one-years old. He would point and grunt at things to communicate. When he had a question about something his tone would change in a higher frequency to note he had a question.

By the time he was 15 months, he still didn’t have any words and we were getting concerned.

“Boys speak late. Take the pacifier away. His brother speaks for him. Don’t give him a sippy cup. Take him to a speech expert.” These were all the things we heard from other parents and the pediatrician.

We brought him to a speech pathologist. She diagnosed him and said he was fine—he was just speech delayed. He was doing all the "right things" and developing as he should be for his age. So what was the issue? He never even attempted to try and make sounds, animal noises and mimic my words. Something was up? I just hadn't landed on it yet.

One night I took Owen out of the bathtub. I wrapped him in a towel and snuggled his little body close to me. I rested my head on his head and hummed a song. “You are my sunshine my only sunshine.” Rocking him back and forth and humming, I was lost in the moment.

I took my head away from his head and began to unwrap the wet towel. He quickly grabbed my head and touched it back to his head.

“Oh my gosh.. he can’t hear me, but he can feel the vibration of the humming noise! My boy can’t hear.”

The next few weeks was a series of doctors appointements and discoveries about Owen and his ears and his hearing loss. He had never had one ear infection, yet there was so much water in both his ears that he was nearly deaf.

After the surgery, I expected miracles days later. But, I was told to be patient, and to give him some time to hear, to process and enjoy the sounds -- and he would eventually start speaking. By the end of the summer (nearly four months later) Owen was blocking his ears when fire engines roared down the street; he was pointing at airplanes above in the sky; he was gasping at the ding of an elevator or the chirp of a bird; and, he was speaking lots and lots of words. 

Two years later, he has an amazing vocabulary and his hearing is close to superhero strength. He is funny, cracks jokes, loves music and dancing, plays the drums, the guitar, loves to sing (especially songs from Frozen and Spiderman) and is one smart little boy. Sometimes I even find myself playing the "silent game" with my three year old, "Let's see who can be quiet for five minutes; and if you can, Mommy will give you a dollar." 

His tubes are supposed to fall out any day now!

I knew there was something going on with my baby and I kept pushing until we could figure it out. Another lesson for me in this world about listening to your gut! 

Owen post-op, playing the drums

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