Activation Day!

Activation Day 1 went great!  It is always so amazing to me to watch Tessa work so hard and be so patient! It never hurts when the world is revolving around her for the moment either ;)

One thing that is super different that I hadn't even thought about:  before, when Tessa's right CI would fall off or she would take it off...she would have no access to sound.  The most challenging moments of this were when she would pull her CI off and start chewing on it...our initial reaction is still to say "Tessa Rayne, no ma'am!" ...and of course she hears nothing..and our verbal discipline turns quickly into an "Ugh!" and then most of the time...laughter.  I can see her utilizing this Ears-Off-Can't-Hear-You tactic well into her future ;).  But anyway, for reasons other than her just hearing our verbal reprimands...it is very cool now, that even if one of her CIs is off, there is likely at least one in tact and so she barely misses a beat!  And you can already tell how much more she is taking in!

The coolest moment of my evening:  Tessa took a good nap on the way home after Activation and we took her ears off and let her sleep a bit more once we got home ~ she was pooped!  When she woke up I put her ears back on and carried her in her room to change her diaper.  She was so calm and grinning from ear to ear.  I was just talking to her and laid her down on her changing table and she started the sweetest bunch of soft little giggles to every word I said.  I would say a few words and she would giggle...almost right at her turn in the conversation.  I just stood there for a good 5 minutes, just talking to her and watching her smiling and listening to her precious sweet little giggles to every word I said.  I'll never forget it.  It was so clear that her world was already sounding very different to her...and last night, she was loving it!

Most of the videos we got were from when Tessa's new CI on the left was hooked up to detect tones being played to her.  As she responds to the tones, they are able to map her new processor.  It was incredible to see her responses to this new sound for the very first time!

  

A huge thanks to the greatest of people at Hearts for Hearing!  We have been through a lot over the last 2 years...and we are so blessed to have had them so involved in our journey!

~Whitney