He can finally hear!!!

It has always driven me crazy that Reed wasn't saying some of the most important "first" words correctly and really wasn't even saying many words. For instance bye-bye sounded like dye-dye or dog sounded like da-a. Everything always started with "d". When we went in for his 12 month well visit I brought this up to the pediatrician and he tried making me feel better and reassuring me that every child develops differently so it wasn't anything I should be concerned about. It's hard not to worry and compare your child to the other children around who were talking so much more than Reed. I was constantly worrying that he was going to be behind developmentally or that one day we would be dealing with speech problems. So.....

Reed finally had tubes put in both ears about a month ago and they have made a huge difference around here. The doctors decided after 9 ear infections, a ruptured ear drum and severe hearing loss all in less than a years time he was definitely in need of some help/relief...I think I was too! The procedure itself took less than 15 minutes and was so not a big deal. The worst part of the whole ordeal was when he was waking up from anesthesia...kind of weird holding your child who is crying and looking up at you wondering who in the heck you are. I know that sometimes tubes are not always a permanent fix but so far so good and I would do it all over again if need be. Since the surgery he hasn't had an ear infection and has added many words to his vocabulary...and saying them correctly! The same day he had his surgery he said milk and cracker for the first time. I was super excited...it was like watching him take his first steps. We went back to the ENT last Friday for a post op check up, his ears are perfectly clear of all the nasty gunk and he aced his hearing test! I guess as parents we all have our own variations of things we obsess over. Some maybe more serious than others, but this is definitely one issue I am thankful to not be stressing about anymore!