You think you've heard it all...

It’s hard to write about this, and so I’ve put it off for awhile now, knowing that I wanted to write about it eventually, so here it is. The night Caleb was born we had another discovery concerning his health. Some things are so hard to hear, and that’s why when I was first told I brushed it aside as not mattering at all. The nurse had taken me into the bathroom to clean up after labor while they changed the bed sheets, and while we were in the bathroom, one of the pediatricians was looking over Caleb again.
I walked out of the bathroom to see them huddled around my baby. He looked so beautiful laying there.
Tom glanced up. “We found something else wrong with him.” Is what he said to me.
Okay, give it to me, is what I thought.
The pediatrician rolled his head over and pointed to his left ear, which appeared to be crinkled and a bit smaller than the right ear. “There is no opening to the ear canal in the left ear”.
I looked, and there wasn’t. Instead of a hole leading into the ear canal there was skin covering it instead. What?? How does this happen? But I didn’t think anything that evening. I took my baby and reveled in him and didn’t think further on his ears or his heart; nothing, but him and how lovely he was.
The next day a different pediatrician came in to our hospital room. He was smacking gum and looking over Caleb. And very nonchalantly informed us that Caleb did not pass his hearing test, in fact, they could not see an ear drum in the right ear. My heart stopped, and I just out and out asked the pediatrician if that meant he was deaf. He looked at me and told me maybe, but then casually informed me that he wasn’t sure if that was Caleb’s information or a different babies, then left the room to go check. He was very calloused. We had just been informed that our child was possibly deaf, and the man didn’t seem to care how he delivered the news.
I couldn’t talk. I sat there on the bed holding Caleb and silently let the tears stream down my face. There was nothing to say.
The doctor came back in; yes it was Caleb’s chart. He informed us that he would need to see an audiologist and an ENT for further testing on both ears to see what was inside to work with, if hearing down the road was a possibility, and if he had any canal at all on the left side where we couldn’t see into. Then he left again.
Tom sat in the chair by my side and placed his head into his hands and shook with sobs. I stared at him and had absolutely nothing left in me to reach out and comfort him at that point. We were both heartbroken.

Fast forward. We’ve started to deal with the hearing thing and have already seen the ENT in town. He wants us to go out Iowa City where he says some of the best ENT’s in the country are located. Plus it’s a research hospital so there are always the newest and latest things to help out in an area like this. He informed us that they would get a team of doctors together to work on the inner workings of the ears and a separate team of doctor’s that would specialize in rebuilding the left outer ear to resemble the right ear.
Tom and I feel exceptionally optimistic that Caleb will hear.

The most recent update on his hearing is that he’s scheduled to go into the hospital this Thursday to do some more testing to see if there are any nerve endings in the right ear to work with. If so, they can give Caleb a temporary hearing device until we go out to Iowa City for more permanent solutions. I’m very nervous and excited about this appointment. I pray that they can find something to work with and that Caleb can hear. Any prayers are gratefully appreciated; we’ll need all of them this week.