Appointment Update

This was our week of back to back appointments for Briggs and they ALL went GREAT!!

Monday was Briggs 4 month check up. He weighed 15lbs., measured 24 5/8 inches and I can't remember his head measurement but he was in the 50th to 75th percentile for everything so he is perfect! Everything checked out great and we loved the good news!

Tuesday was Briggs first "teaching" visit through LPS. It was more of a detailed assessment of what he's doing - picking up toys and switching them from one hand to the other, sitting up, focusing etc. He's doing just perfect they said. Nick and Briggs play this game where Briggs is laying on his back and Nick goes in to eat his chest and Briggs starts grunting/screaming and lifts his legs and grabs Nick's ear and eats Nick's forehead. It's very cute and Briggs knows what's coming when Nick does this. Then we picked out four words to start signing to him - milk, bath, more and love. Nick, myself and our daycare provider also started our sign language course on Tuesday.

Yesterday was the genetics clinic at Boys Town and all the appointments went SO much better than great!! Nick and I walked out of there beaming!! We started with the vestibular test. This is another test he had to pass for the implants. Nick had to sit in this dark room in a spinning chair with Briggs on his lap. They put electrodes on Briggs head and a camera on his face. They spin the chair around at different speeds and watch for Briggs eye movement. The electrodes measure his brain movement and test for the balance inside his head. I'm not exactly sure what the criteria is for passing but they want both sides of his brain to have balance and they did!! He did great with it! I didn't realize he was having that test yesterday but I was so glad because it's something he had to pass for the implants and I know I would've stressed about it if it would've been scheduled in advance so I didn't have to stress about it! Then we met with the geneticist and he was great! We found out that Briggs only has Connexin 26 which is
non-syndromic, basically meaning there is no syndrome associated with his hearing loss which is so great!! He talked to us about all the details and then he assessed him. Connexin 26 is a best case scenario for us because it means all that he has is hearing loss and now that's been confirmed!! Afterwards he said... congratulations... you have a PERFECTLY healthy little boy and the only thing missing is his hearing. I can't even begin to tell you how great that feeling is to hear those words. Our last appointment was with the ophthalmologist. It is common for people with hearing loss to have vision problems AND people with hearing loss rely so much on their vision so they want to be sure he has no problems. His eyes are perfect!!! YAY! We heard that word so much yesterday which was great!
This might have been the neatest part of yesterday... When we were waiting for Briggs eyes to dilate a lady who we'd never met but worked there walked up to us and asked if this was Briggs. We said yes and she sat down and said Briggs is their youngest diagnosed and their youngest fitted with a hearing aid and their youngest diagnosed with the cause as well and she wanted to tell us how great that was. She said he was SO fortunate to have such loving parents and have SO much accomplished in such a short amount of time and because we started so early there is no doubt that he will be with his peers by the time he's in kindergarten. She kept kissing his forehead and praising us for the accomplishments. I'm sure it is so rewarding to them to see younger and younger babies being diagnosed. They have a much greater chance at leading a normal life!! All of that is thanks to the newborn hearing screening!! If it weren't for that we'd assume Briggs could hear and would not detect hearing loss for many more months.

Like I said Nick and I were BEAMING!!! We of course had to celebrate so we picked Elli up from daycare and went out to eat at Applebee's.

What's to come... We will continue on with our sign language class on Tuesday's. Our LPS teacher is going to our daycare providers house next Thursday. I don't think we go back to Boys Town until the end of November and all we have left for his implants is his CT/MRI which will be done right before his surgery.

Boys Town is amazing and everyone there is great!! We would not be as far as we are if it weren't for them! They've walked us right through everything and have provided such great support. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and for also being such great support. Nick and I and Elli and Briggs are so fortunate to have you all!!!