A+ on the ABR

More good news...I took Aiden to Kosair Children's Hospital on Tuesday for his ABR diagnostic hearing evaluation to check for any hearing loss. It would tell us if he had any at all and if so, to what degree (10% loss, 50% loss, etc.) I was instructed to bring him awake and hungry to our 7am scheduled appt. time downtown. The test was to begin at 8am and would last about an hour, during which time Aiden would need to be asleep and not moving or making any sound as it would interfere with the testing. Ha! After sleeping from 10pm - 4:30am (his longest stretch during the night!) I did not think there would be any way he would stay asleep for a whole hour. Often times, they sedate babies for this test, but in Aiden's case he met the age requirement but because he was more than 4 weeks premature, he was not able to be sedated. If he didn't get through the test, they would have to keep trying to get as much done as possible in between me trying to calm him down, or bring us back for another try at a later date.

I crossed my fingers that he would be a good little patient and allow us to get this very important test completed as Ricky and I both wanted to know the results badly.
A nurse scrubbed his forehead and earlobes with a gritty lotion and applied small metal electrodes in two places on his head and on each earlobe. Two small tubes were then stuck into his ears and a "pre-test" was done to give them an idea if Aiden had any hearing at all. He passed the pre-test - a good sign.

Then, I fed him and the ABR was started...he slept like a baby in my arms the entire time! The audiologist couldn't believe how good he was and she was able to fly through the test - we were finished in 25 minutes! As the test was being done, the results were showing up almost immediately on her computer. Aiden's results were, according to the audiologist, "textbook results". Aiden not only has 0% hearing loss, he also has average size ear canals which is a good thing with a child with Apert Syndrome. We couldn't be more pleased!