Speech and Sound

Yesterday Teagin and I both went to see an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.  I went to have my ear that was infected checked due to some hearing loss I’ve had.  Teagin had her tongue looked at. 

It seems my hearing in my left ear has been affected.  They gave me a hearing test and it came back normal.  In my right ear, it came back above normal.  According to the doctor, many people would love to have my ability to hear as well as I do.  So I have lost some hearing due to the infection.  I should say, due to the fluid that’s still present.  I’m hoping that will correct itself when allergy season is over.  He also felt that was the cause.  I hope I get my hearing back.  It’s really annoying to not hear as well as I used to!

As for Teagin, I had mentioned in an earlier post that we felt she had Ankyloglossia which is also known as tongue tied.  Our family doctor had examined her and confirmed that she is tongue tied.  What we didn’t agree with was how to treat it.  He felt that she could get by with it either stretching or tearing.  That was almost a month and a half ago.  I didn’t agree with this.  And lately, I’ve noticed she’s been having some issues.  For instance, she’s been choking on Gerber Puffs, are a Cheerio type product, with flavors such as banana and sweet potato, geared towards babies.  We’ve found that she doesn’t have the ability to manipulate her tongue around the food to prevent the choking.  The doctor told me that she’d most likely need to have therapy to teach her to eat solid foods if we left the tongue untreated.  She’d also need speech therapy.  So, because of the eating issue, she definitely needs to have it, the lingual frenulum clipped (for those of you who don’t want to Google the term, it’s the piece of skin attaching the underside of the tongue to the bottom of the mouth).  If done fairly early on in life (like in the first 4 months), it’s a simple office procedure.  For children older, it means surgery.  What could have been a simple office procedure is now major surgery simply because she’ll need general anesthesia.  She won’t be under long, only 10 minutes or so, but she’ll still be put under.  She’ll need a couple of stitches too. 

Who’s this going to be harder for?  Teagin or her mommy and daddy?  I’m betting on mommy and daddy.  She’ll most likely not remember this.  Which makes me happy.

I know we need to have it done.  I really don’t want to pay someone to tell us that we need to have the procedure. 

So, next Monday, before most people even go to work, Teagin will be experiencing her first surgery.  Hopefully, she won’t need another one….ever!

"Ketchup"

So I’ve been told by several people that I’m really really bad for not updating!  Life got soooo busy!

The last time I updated, we were getting ready to fly back to the US from Hong Kong.  Teagin did well for the van ride.  Our driver apparently took his training from the Indy 500.  There were a few times where I feared for our safety, thinking he was going to rear end someone.  He also was going so fast that he blew completely by customs so we had to do a loop and go back through so that we could enter Hong Kong.  We got to the hotel attached to the airport and checked in.  Unfortunately, we were one of the few families that were told they had to pay for the room…even though we had already paid!  Luckily, AWAA was open and the desk clerks were able to clear all of that up for those of us affected.  

It was quite late before we were able to find dinner.  We ended up walking to the terminal and found a Burger King.  Oh was that good!  After eating Chinese food and inferior tasting McDonalds, Burger King tasted just like HOME!  

After eating, Jason walked back to the terminal to figure out if our flight was delayed.  It was.  Teagin didn’t do so well with him being gone.  She worked herself up so much she made herself sick! 

We were concerned about how she was going to handle the 14 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago, but surprisingly, she slept for almost the entire flight!  She woke up for about an hour or so to take a bottle, which she promptly threw back up.  I had to get up, go to the lavatory, strip and wash my shirt out.  I used about half a container of paper towels to squeeze as much water out of it as possible.  

We had about 3 hour layover in Chicago before our flight to Des Moines.  She was awake for that, but then slept as soon as she got on the plane.  She got to meet her Grandma and Papa Kraai, who were so excited to finally see her!  She got to experience her first ride in a car seat.  She wasn’t so happy with that. 

It was really neat to see her face when she saw her room for the first time.  Her eyes were just as wide as could be and her mouth was shaped in a little “o”.  So cute!!

We kept her in her pack and play in our room for the first couple of nights, then she went down in her crib.  She slept much better there.  She prefers her crib and no light to sleep.

The first night we were back, she slept the night through and has been ever since!  Our biggest issue, we thought, would be flipping her sleep schedule.  That became a non-issue.  

We did find out all of the issues with her throwing up her bottle was due to our choice of formula.  We were using Enfamil, but that seemed to not agree with her.  In China, we were using Nestle brand, so I Googled it and it pulled up the Gerber Good Start website!  That was serendipitous to find!  My “sis-in-law”, Jen, recommended it as she uses it for her Layla.  So we switched to that and we haven’t had any issues since!

We’ve had to switch detergents due to her eczema.  That’s been OK since mine has started to clear up too.  

She’s also growing like a weed!  When Teagin joined our family, she was just wearing 3-6 month sized clothing.  Just recently, we’re dressing her in 12 month sizes!

Accroding to the doctor, she’s very healthy.  She gets her next round of shots at the end of this month.  We’re also going to see a specialist for her tongue.  Hopefully, he’ll clip it.  I do NOT want to pay for speech therapy only to have the therapist tell us we have to have her tongue clipped and have more therapy!

I’m going to the ENT with her.  Shortly after we got back, I came down with a severe ear infection.  It was bad enough that they almost admitted me for pain control.  One and a half months later and it’s STILL plugged!  

I’ve been back to work for two weeks now.  Teagin has adjusted quite well to that change.  It helps that she goes to her Grandma Kraai’s house for day care.  She spends all day with Papa and she LOVES her Papa!

We’ve also experienced her first separation from me.  I had a business trip to Minneapolis and was away for two nights.  She “punished” me by ignoring me the next time I took her to Grandma’s. 

She also has met all of her cousins!  She loves them all!!

She’s been to her first wedding.

So many firsts!  

We had our first home study and the social worker was impressed with how well she’s adjusted.

It has been such a blessing for us to have her in our family.  She filled a hole that was gaping for so long….it was Teagin shaped.  She’s a happy, smiley, active little girl who brings so much joy to our lives.

 OK, so not happy all the time....like when she wants a nap!