FAQs about Brynn's story:
Q: Why did your water break with Brynn?
A: We don't know but it may be related to the funneling cervix inherent with incompetency.
Q: Why doesn't Brynn eat? Is she able to?
A: She never learned to coordinate suck-swallow-breathe effectively enough to get rid of the NG tube (through the nose), but she was improving at the time we left the NICU so we all thought it would be fine. Once at home, though, she developed projectile vomiting and became very orally aversive. She refused even her pacifier, which was her major soothing tool. We opted for the G-Tube placed in her stomach and had to wait until she outgrew puking in order to try oral attempts again.
Q: When will Brynn learn to eat?
A: Like potty training, it's something you can't force; so when she's ready, we'll be able to wean her.
Q: Why is Brynn deaf?
A: Since she wasn't tested until the end of our NICU stay, we can't say for sure. But we are almost certain she lost it near the end when she got a violent Group-B-Strep infection. Without major doses of ototoxic (= kills hearing) drugs, she would have died. She is not genetically deaf.
Q: How much does Brynn hear with a her implants?
A: Almost everything you and I hear. The trick is teaching her to listen since she spent the first year+ of her life using only her vision to gather information about this world. This is a helpful post for more detailed information: Do CIs Provide Normal Hearing?
Q: How do the implants stay on her head?
A: A magnet is embedded between her skin and skull. This magnet fastens the implant as well as creating an electrical path that the auditory information can travel into the computer chip and electrodes in the cochlea. This is a helpful post for more detailed information: What, Exactly, is a Cochlear Implant?
Growing
1 day ago