Can you hear what I see?

Over the past few months, I have found the questions asking about Moo's hearing increasing and have realised just how geniunely interested people are in Macie's development and journey.  I am more than happy to report that Macie is going so well - and is happily wearing her hearing aids for the 'majority' of the time.  She sings songs, tells stories (literally gets the books and 'reads' to me) and is coming up with new words and sentences daily.  We decided to trust our instinct and not throw too much intervention at her at such a young age and instead we are having check-ups with our private Speech Pathologist who was infact my speechie when I was a child.

Reflecting on the past 22 months has reminded me of all the amazing people in our lives.  It has also reminded me of a blog post on my blog Mama Butterfly that I wrote when Macie was younger.....

I thought it was the perfect oppurtunity to share our story with all my beautiful readers and followers....and give you a little insight in our world when Macie was so much younger. 

So the question is - can you hear what I see?

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Can you hear what I see?
Written on March 22, 2010
From blogpost Mama Butterfly

All my life I have know no other way than to wake up daily, put my hearing aids in my ears and grace the world with a beautiful, optimistic and positive attitude. And for this, I have my parents to thank.

My sister Emma and I were diagnosed with a moderate hearing loss when Emma was four and I was two.  My Mum had noticed that something was just no quite right. Consequently, she went to see numerous doctors and specialists who all sent her home and told her that she was being an over-reactive mother and that we were 'fine'.  Thankfully Mum acted on those ever so strong mother-instincts and continued to fight until we were given the proper and correct hearing test to PROOVE that we were infact 'fine'.

The results came in and it was confirmed - we were 'hard of hearing'.  Mum was devastated....as with the results, came the comment from the doctor.....'They are deaf, they are going to be mute, they are not going to achieve anything or BE anything - you are just better off putting them in a special school'. 

And the response from my Mum laced with fury and hurt was 'OVER MY DEAD BODY'.

So Mum and Dad researched everything they could and devoted their lives to their two girls to ensure that they had NO limitations - that the world was their oyster. We were enrolled into normal kindergartens and schools, we excelled in all of our classes, we were in the choir (musn't be too mute!), the swimming team (we could still hear the starting gun!), and the list is endless. To ensure we spoke with the utmost precision, we had speech therapy twice a week for 12 years. If our hearing aids broke, we would not miss a day of school - instead Mum or Dad would be late for work while they took both us and the hearing aids to be fixed. In the 12 years I was at school - I only missed 4 days of school.

Without my parents determination to give us a life like any other child - I know for sure we would not be the strong-minded, opinionated, happy and positive women we are today. My life is so ultimately blessed with my beautiful and loving family. I am now a full time Mama to Baby Moo - but I have worked for years in Law. I started as a fresh-out-of-school paralegal and progressed to a Conveyancing Manager - being the author of up to 50 files and responsible for the relationship with countless clients. Emma is now a fully-qualified Teacher of the Deaf majoring in Special Education. Daily she shows the young deaf children of our generation that they can do ANYTHING! She teaches them that no matter what, they can go to be doctors, teachers, police officers, etc. And for those children to be able to relate to her - is my Mum's dream.

So when Heath and I were told that our beautiful, perfect, little girl was 'hard of hearing' - there were only a few tears shed. But we knew that this small little defect would not affect her - it would only make her stronger to fight the narrow minded people in this world and mould her to be more determined to be the VERY best person she could be.  As she sits here playing with her toys with her gorgeous baby pink hearing aids in - I look at her with pride, love and adoration. Never once has she complained or cried about the constant trips to Brisbane and Toowoomba for testing, doctors appointments or mould impressions. She greets every doctor, specialist and nurse with a beautiful smile and a little chuckle. She is an angel - who has touched the lives of so many people and gives hope to her family that she will simply be OK as she grows older.

And she is lucky.....

Lucky to have the most beautiful Daddy in the world - who never once shed a tear when he was told of her loss, smiled when he saw her hearing aids and provided her with the most beautiful, positive experience. In Daddy's eyes - Mummy wears hearing aids and he thinks she is the most beautiful person he has ever met....so why would he be upset about his baby girl taking after his Mummy?

She is lucky to have the most supportive family and friends.  She is just so lucky. 

The world is her oyster....and we will certainly make sure of that. 

So the question is, can you hear what I see?