Hearing Loss Detected

We did a a hearing test before Ariana left the hospital. They simply stated that "it was not that bad" and that it was probably just fluid left from the meningitis. We took her home and she seemed so happy and healthy. No one would ever have thought that she had just been so sick and so close to death. She started babbling profusely in the following days and at that time showed no indications that she could not hear. I did not take her back for a follow up hearing test due to everyone around me told me that she could hear just fine. She always responded to my husband's voice. We knew nothing about levels and degrees of hearing loss and I figured if she heard his voice than she could hear period. Pete would joke with me all the time and say things like "she has selective hearing because she's such a Daddy's girl"! I can't tell you all the nights that I would get up with her to try to rock and sing her back to sleep, but to no avail. Pete would come out and he would sing to her for 5 minutes flat and she would be fast asleep...not fair! I still chalked it up to her being a Daddy's girl. :) BTW, he has always been the BEST Dad and so hands on. She even was saying a few words. I should have known better. She would say "Gaddy", instead of "Daddy". I also remember her saying "Mama", the most precious word ever, but only one time. We were on vacation when she said it. It always surprised me that she had only said it once.

We had a one and a half story house. Joseph and Ariana's bedrooms were upstairs. One morning when she was around 15 months old, I heard Ariana up,playing,cooing, and babbling in her crib. I went and peeked around the corner of her beautiful light pink room with teddy bears and tea set wallpaper border. It also had pretty light pink gauzy curtains. I loved that room. I just started talking to her. She couldn't see me yet because she had not yet turned around. I was saying her name and talking to her sweetly and she never even flinched or turned. I knew right then and there, she couldn't hear my voice! I immediately made her an appointment for a ABR to check her hearing.