Yep, she's still here. . .

Bet you all were wondering where the star of the show has been. She's still here, just getting over a cold, going back to school, looking forward to spring and her bithday and oh yeah, sleeping over at Grandma's house this Saturday night. . . but yep, she's still here and turning into more of a young woman everyday. Love ya Savanah.

Just thrilled!

I just have to say how thrilled I am to have found www.stopcmv.com

I cannot tell you how lonely it has been for us as a family to not have anyone know what CMV is and to have professionals tell us so little about it.

We know Savanah contracted it somewhere near the end of my pregnancy. We know that I contracted it POSSIBLY throught the pre-school I was working at. We know it POSSIBLY caused her deafness. We also know that she did pass it on to my mother 6 months after she was born. And we KNOW that she is not infectious anymore.

I am watched carefully for this virus during my pregnancies. I have to see a perinatologist. They have to look at the baby over and over again, making sure everyting checks out and that this baby is in the clear.

Now for those of you who know me, please know this. . .there is nothing anyone can do if you do get CMV during your pregnancy. BUT the whole point of STOP CMV - The CMV Action Network is PREVENTION! SPREADING the word! You never hear about this virus in your OB's office, because they can't do anything for it BUT you can!

Please if you know me, or don't know me and if you care about Savanah and any child out there. Or if you are pregnant or know someone who is, please check that website out and educate people. You have no idea what a difference you could make.

Tick-Tock

Just had to vent for a minute. . .

Something extremely frustrating about raising a deaf child, is their inability to hear alarm clocks. Therefor, I believe that is why Savanah is that much more difficult to wake up in the morning.

What am I going to do when she is a teenage?!? Oh.

Tough Decisions

Recently I was approached by Savanah's deaf teacher about some concerns she has been having with Savanah and her language patterns.

Savanah leaves off linking verbs quite often, almost in all of her sentences. You never realize how important "the", "and", "in", "it", etc. are until you follow a story from Savanah. Although, as her parents, we can understand the point she is getting too, without the linking verbs.

Her teacher explained to us that if we cannot close this gap and help her with trying to use the linking verbs more and more, school is going to just get more difficult for her.

As hearing individuals, processing words in our brains comes with no energy. You hear a word, and not even a second later, you can understand the word, in fact, an entire sentence, story etc. If Savanah does not catch one word from a teacher, peer etc. not only does it take her an extra minute to process the word she did not understand, but then the words afterwards she has missed entirely.

We have decided after very careful consideration and every factor that the best thing for Savanah right now is to have her attend full-time Kingergarten at USD and finish out the year with Becky. I have faith in Becky and her abilites to help Savanah as much as she can with "closing this gap".

There were bittersweet moments with me yesterday, as it was Savanah's last day with her mainstream class. I know she has made friends there. I know she enjoys the class. We love the teacher and ultimately just want the most "normal" school experience for Savanah but we also want her to succeed in school, the entire way, and we all know what a long journey school can be.

I feel confident that we made the right decision, I only hope the very best for Savanah. She has come a long way for only being implanted for a little over two years! If we all keep up our part of the deal in helping her develop her speech, then she will definitely benefit in the long run!

A moment. . .

Recently I have been finding myself in these "moments" where I go back to the exact moment when we found out Savanah was deaf and how crushing that was. It was soul shattering. I thought, why me and why my poor baby?!? You have read my posts like this, you know how I felt.

But how I feel now is completely different! I feel so fortunate for a healthy child. I feel blessed beyond words that she is still here and she is happy and breathing. I am so happy that medical miracles occur daily and she has a working cochlear implant and she can hear with it! I am so proud of my almost - 6- year old. I am proud of myself and her dad for overcoming the trials and tribulations that raising a deaf child has encountered, but more so I am proud of Savanah for enduring and never giving up.

We could have been dealt a really bad card. CMV could have made Savanah extremely sick, she could have died. Recently, a story I followed of a mother with a sick infant battling pertussis, passed away at Primary's a few days ago. When you hear and see people experience things like that, losing a child, so young and innocent, you have to stop and count your blessings for the healthy children in your life.

I know I think about things like this when I am pregnant, which I am now with baby #3My CMV titers have to be checked, we have to see a perinatologist for an ultrasound rather then a regular 2o week checkup. I worry all over again. I wonder if this baby will also be born deaf, if the baby will even be healthy or if this baby could battle CMV and worse?!?

But again. . . I will continue to count my blessings, my two beautiful blessings that remind me daily of why I was put on this Earth.