what an amazing month!!!

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June 8, 2010

Annie Hears!!!!!

annie's right cochlear implant was turned in the afternoon at Hearts for Hearing. our dear sweet friend holli documented the entire afternoon. as i have been gazing over the pictures holli captured, my gratitude continues to stir in such in a powerful way. the Word says, "a grateful heart prepares the way for the Lord." man, is that ever true. it is amazing to me how God stirs the very gratitude in our heart to be an avenue to release greater measures of His Presence. my heart is grateful for so many things and in so many ways. these pictures will be a huge part of how we explain to annie how we came to the decision to do her first cochlear implant, the process, the prayers, the relationships that so gracefully surrounded our family, the countless people who have prayed and interceded on behalf of annie and our family over this last year, annie's first year of life. i am easily overwhelmed with emotion as i think of getting to share these miracles with annie. what an honor it is to be annie's mom. what an extreme honor it will be to get to share these miracles and more miracles to come with my precious annie. Annie is hearing...it is the most incredible miracle! our hearts are filled with gratitude! when they first turned the implant on she was a bit teary. it was a bittersweet cry. driving up to hearts for hearing that day i felt the holy spirit tell me that it would be startling for annie when they turned the implant on. so again grateful for the preparation so my emotions were under control. her cry was bittersweet because it was sad knowing she was startled and perhaps a bit scared at the newness of sound....but oh, so sweet that SHE WAS HEARING SOUND!!! more access to sound than she has ever heard! it was precious at the moment when she heard mike's voice and turned to look at him. Her daddy's voice. I will never forget that as long as i live. oh, the things we so easily take for granted.

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mike's dad, "pops" sang Jesus Loves Me to annie for the "first time"

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i really like this picture holli captured with my mom and annie. i didn't even see this. i was most likely talking to annie's incredible therapist and audiologist. again, so grateful for the gift of photography. this picture is so precious. listening is such hard work. even the workup to get to the actual moment of activation was long for our sweet family and friends that joined us. annie's audiologist, dr.shoemaker is so talented. the process of "mapping" the 24 electrodes that were anchored into annie's cochlear is a very tedious process. no two maps ever look the same and no to individuals maps look the same. it is a process of continually updating the map as annie's brain is continually making new synapses and connections as she continues to get more access to sound. clearly it is a million times more technical than my layman's description. but my point is that annie's brain is working really hard and it has been evident in the weeks following activation when she was sleeping huge amounts of time. listening truly is hard work. and our little annie is doing a fantastic job!