This afternoon, we had Grayson’s hearing checked. The good news: it was 100% covered by insurance. The bad news: it was right smack in the middle of naptime and G was not happy about that. The doctor did two tests, both testing his response to sound (obviously). I didn’t think to tell her at first that he has vision impairment and part of the first test was seeing if he would look at noise-making toys like a barking dog. He didn’t. This is what I observe all the time at home- he has trouble connecting an object or person making a sound with turning toward the sound and focusing on it. I think this is because he can’t see it. However, when he hears a song he likes, or hears my voice saying his name, he smiles. The doctor quickly moved on from the first test because G wasn’t responding to any of the sounds.

The second test was a computerized test- she put earbuds in one ear at a time which made beeps (I think) and registered his response on a computer. We kept getting interrupted by G crying- poor baby, he just wanted to lay down and sleep. I did get him to drink a bottle (which he later threw up all over me and the office floor- sigh), but the slurping sounds he was making and the crying gave somewhat inconclusive results.

So technically, I guess he “failed” his hearing test, but the doctor said she doubts he has a true auditory impairment. However, she does want to do a more accurate test just to make sure. If we start speech therapy with Grayson and he has a hearing problem, it won’t do any good. So we will do this other test just to cover all possibilities. The only bad thing about this other test is Grayson will have to be sedated. I’m sure it will be the same drill as when he had his MRI- no food or drink for an ungodly number of hours (for a baby) before the test and only Pedialyte after. Lovely. The doctor gave us a 3 week time frame to get the test ordered and scheduled.

Looking forward to next week- no doctors appointments scheduled, and somebody has a big birthday next Thursday!