silly tests

I really believe that a mother's instincts are almost always right. Aren't they? Like when the doctor tells you that your baby is fine, but you know that he or she is sick....that there's something wrong. Or then when they tell you that something might be wrong but you don't agree.


Yesterday we had Olivia's 3rd visit to the ear doctor. Sofia's results were fine already on her 2nd visit, so she doesn't need to go anymore for awhile. But Olivia they wanted to check again because the results were unclear. And yesterday the silly test showed that Olivia doesn't hear at all...in either ear. Before anything else happened, the doctor ASSURED us that the test is really sensitive and can be wrong....that they need to test Olivia's ears again in a few months to be sure.


Of course a part of me is worried, but not too much because I totally know that the test is wrong. I know Olivia can hear. I don't know how well she can hear or if she can hear from both ears, but I KNOW that she can hear. If I call her name, she looks at me. If Matias screams, she gets scared and cries. If something falls down, she jumps. She 'listens' to herself talking all the time and laughs when Sofia squeals in delight. So I know she can hear....at least something. And when there are 2 babies, I think I would notice if one of them acts or reacts differently than the other. Plus, one of Olivia's tests in November showed some impulses from her right ear, which means that it's possible the test was just wrong this time.


The part of me that is worried is the part that remembers hearing the doctors tell us almost a year ago that some of the medicines they were using on Olivia could possibly cause some hearing loss or even complete deafness. At that point of course the main goal was to save her life, so something like preventing hearing loss didn't seem too important...but of course all the warnings the doctors gave us have remained in my head.


The ear doctor yesterday didn't sound too worried. If the right ear was giving signals during November's test, that it's pretty sure that the test yesterday was wrong and she can hear out of that ear. And even if she can't hear out of her left ear (which hasn't ever responded to any test and has a bit of an abnormal shape inside), she will still be able to learn how to speak, etc.


Tero and I didn't feel too worried yesterday, but of course the whole evening we were doing experiments with Olivia to see if she responded to noises we were making from all different sides. From now on I'm sure we'll be doing it almost every day. I guess that's just what parents do. I still stick by my instincts though. I think I know more about my baby than some silly test does.