Our Family Journey
Life is full of journeys. This is one of ours….
August 2016.
Our Logan was tiny, weighing only 4 pounds 10 ounces when he was born. But he was healthy and happy and that’s all any parent ever wants. We were so blessed.
The day after he was born, they did a routine newborn hearing test, and he failed on his right side. We didn’t think too much of it as new parents, dealing with the emotions of having a newborn, and they told us lots of kids fail it for many reasons. It was a fleeting moment that changed our lives.
We came back to the hospital a couple days after we had left, to do the testing again. He failed again. We went back 2 weeks later and did it again. Another fail.
After that, we were sent to a local ENT center to do a sleep deprived ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response).
September 2016.
We held our little Logan in the dark room as he slept, with cables hooked all over his head, cuddling him as they did the testing. It was during this appointment we were given the concrete answers we were looking for, but to be very honest, we weren’t prepared for. It was official. Logan had moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss on both sides and we were told to make an appointment with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to talk about hearing aids right away.
It’s very hard to describe the feelings that we felt. Wanting to cry, feeling denial about it, and soon accepting the news we just learned. We were immediately overwhelmed. So many thoughts were running through our minds…what did this mean for Logan? Will he be ok? How would we pay for it all? Will he ever be able to speak? Will he ever hear our voices? Or hear us singing lullabies to him?
Parent mode kicked in, and we took immediate steps to learn what our next steps should be, and we were informed about Early Intervention and the services they provide in Pennsylvania.
November 2016.
Logan was just 3 months old when we had our first CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia) appointment. During this appointment we did a second sleep deprived ABR and the testing had the same outcome. As soon as we got the results, we learned that Logan would need to have hearing aids for the rest of his life. Cue another round of emotions and overwhelming feeling. Logan got fit for his hearing aids THAT DAY. There is never a good way to prepare for such news. You’re allowed to feel sad, confused, overwhelmed. It’s new, and it’s scary for both you and your child. But, there is joy in this journey.
Obviously, we were new to the hearing loss world. We were scared because we were simply uneducated. In the beginning we felt alone, until we learned about the amazing community of people all around us, who pointed us in the right directions of all of the different programs for not only Logan, but us as parents.
The first person to help us realize everything was going to be ok, and that we were not alone, was Anne Gaspich. She worked with Guide by your Side. She came to our house, took hours with me and guided me with amazing suggestions about groups to join and activities to go to, as well as many other resources for information. You name it, she helped with it. Thank you again Anne, you helped us at a time that we really needed it.
After that meeting, we started getting involved in the hearing loss community. We learned about other local families that also have kids with hearing loss, and made some plans to go to activities within the hearing loss community.
2016-2017.
We got set up with Early Intervention to help Logan, and his still slightly-clueless parents, through these times. During his time in Early Intervention we were blessed with 3 of the most amazing teachers we could have possibly had. Jordan, Catherine, and Dorlas…the help you gave to our family, we can literally never thank you enough for. They showed us that as parents, we can truly make a difference in Logan’s hearing and speaking abilities, and it’s up to us to be his advocate. If you’re going through a journey similar to ours, we urge you to research Early Intervention services within your area.
Around this time, we were also introduced to Baby Signing Time by our friend Maria when visiting her and her family one day. Maria, thank you so much for opening our eyes to a new way we were able to help Logan! You and Thomas helped us so much during our journey. We look up to you both and use you as a guide to follow. Thank you both for who you choose to be.
As time went on, my husband and I began to have more confidence in our situation. I got my drive back because I actually felt like I knew what I was to do. It was go time. Every week, Logan’s physical therapist, teacher of the deaf, and speech therapist would come to our home for a one hour visit. They would work with Logan and show us (as parents) ways that we can work with him. We worked with Logan every single day, using every opportunity we could to further his hearing and speech.
We were lucky…we’ve heard many many stories about little ones not keeping their hearing aids on or constantly ripping them off…We had a few mishaps, but Logan was (and still is) very good at keeping his ear gear on. He wants to hear, he loves to hear, and he knows they are there to help. We never wanted to make it a negative thing if he had them off. If he didn’t want them in, we took them out and gave him a small break and put them back in, and we would do that as many times as needed.
We learned very early on that Logan’s success with speech, wearing his hearing aids, all of it, was based on our commitment. It was on us and we were devoted.
May 2017.
As time went on, it was becoming clear that in order to give Logan the best hearing “care” he deserved, I couldn’t keep my full-time job. From the multiple weekly Early Intervention visits, frequent CHOP appointments, ear mold appointments, to the overwhelming feeling that we needed to be working with Logan every moment we could in order for him to learn his speech. As a Mom, I was wearing out. I tried harder and worked harder than ever and I kept coming up short.
Spencer and I had to decide what was most important- Logan’s success or income. So, I cut down my hours. I share this part becauseI know this is hard for other parents too. I loved my job and I still do. It was so hard to give in and cut down my hours. Luckily, I have the most amazing, understanding, and caring work family and they let me keep some hours.
Significantly cutting down my hours meant we had one income…which we were not prepared for. We used all of our savings and emergency savings during my pregnancy with all of the expensive tests and on Logan’s care before we got him on Medicaid, and the fact that Spencer’s company had to let him go the day before Logan was born, because they weren’t busy enough to keep him. He worked hard right away to find another job but it still put a gap in our income. But, our finances didn’t change Logan’s needs. So, we made a new plan. One that we never expected to do.
We decided to move into my parents house and rent out our home that we owned. The rent covered our mortgage plus a little extra. We are so blessed that my parents allowed the 3 of us to come live with them, and that they have a completely separate area in their basement with a separate entrance, a kitchen, full bath, and 3 bedrooms. Thank you so much to my parents for helping us in so many ways during Logan’s journey, especially with sharing your home!
It was hard to feel good about it at first and we cared about what people thought about it all…did they think we were failures? Our insecurities wore off once we began to see such a quick change in how much Logan was learning and how happy we were to be able to do this for him. Instead of feeling like a failure, we felt at ease knowing we were doing literally everything we could for our son. That’s all that mattered.
August 2017.
We went to many deaf and hard of hearing events in our area so we could be with other families in our situation. We are so blessed that our hometown has other deaf and hard of hearing families and this group of families host a monthly potluck. These families are such a blessing to us and handle all of my many questions along our journey. We are really missing them during Covid times and can’t wait to be able to all be together again someday.
One of the most special moments was during a baseball game with Guide By Your Side, where Logan received his sign name! A sign name is a unique way of signing someones name, that is typically given to them by someone within the deaf community. Karen is an amazing deaf woman who we met for the first time at the baseball game that night. She asked us if he had received a sign name yet and we told her that hasn’t, but we would be honored for her to give him his.
Karen explained that she could see and feel his joy and had seen him dancing and giggling all night and knew exactly what his sign name should be. She showed us how to do the sign for “laugh”, but made her hand into the “L” in ASL, which stood for “Logan”. It was such a special moment for all of us. Karen explained she got chills when she thought of it, and we definitely felt all of the emotions and still do to this day.
March 2019.
Logan’s hearing loss was progressing. And on March 21st, 2019, when Logan was 2 years old, he underwent surgery to receive his cochlear implant on his right side. I won’t lie, surgery day wasn’t easy. We were both worried and stressed for our Logan. Not because I was worried it was the right thing to do for him…We felt very confident in the decision to move forward with the CI. It was just the nerves of having your child in surgery.
Through many answered prayers, Logan’s surgery went great. When he first woke up he was very out of it and we had to work very hard for him not to pull all of the cords and wires off of him in his anesthesia rage. But as he got back to normal, he did great and slept most of the way home.
Recovery went well and we had a lot of days of extra snuggles.
April 2019.
On April 12th, 2019, Logan’s CI was activated! We didn’t know what to expect as far as his reaction to hearing sound with the CI for the first time. We had watched amazing videos online of kids hearing sound for the first time and we were warned by many people in the hearing loss community, that this isn’t common. Some kids get emotional, some get scared…but our Logan just showed he recognized sound…and just continued playing with his cars!
After activation came frequent checkup appointments and hearing tests. Since he was a baby, Logan would never sleep during car rides. We found the best way for him to be prepared for his appointments would be to drive to Philly the night before and stay overnight so we were close by in the morning for his early appointments. This was expensive but necessary for successful sound booth testing.
We are very blessed that in the state of Pennsylvania, the cost of the Cochlear Implant was covered by his insurance. However, there are still a lot of costs associated with his hearing loss journey. Our friends and family were very supportive from the beginning and showed their support even more during the time of Logan’s cochlear implant surgery. One of our best friends Erica (and co-founder of The Logie Shop), hosted a fundraiser for us. That fundraiser helped cover extra costs of hotels and Spencer’s missed work time for the first year of his cochlear implant. To all of you shown your support, and especially Erica, thank you endless amounts!
July 2019.
2019 was a busy year and kept us on our toes. The end of my pregnancy brought high blood pressure which meant a couple visits to the hospital and a surprise C-section 2 weeks before it was scheduled.
On July 26th we were blessed with our second child, Cohen! Cohen is the perfect addition to our family and we love him so much. Logan has been an amazing big brother since day one and we are so proud of how sweet he is to his “Baby Cohen”.
Learning how to take care of a newborn and being focused on teaching Logan how to hear with his new cochlear implant was challenging and tiring. But like all new things, after a couple weeks, you learn your new groove and then it gets easier every day.
CI visits were going well and time after time we’re so happy with Logan’s progress. His left ear didn’t show any new hearing loss so his team felt like it was good to keep his hearing aid on that side for the time being.
2020.
This year has been interesting. For literally everyone in the world. We were lucky that Logan could get set-up with zoom classes online with his Teacher of the Deaf and Speech Therapist. Logan missed his amazing teachers so much and loved seeing them on the computer a couple times a week.
I was very proud of how hard Logan worked with them over the computer, but at his speech evaluation in July, it now showed he was behind rather than ahead for the first time since his CI activation. I was surprised because we were working with him so much and he was still getting help from his teachers.
So now, we have had several visits with CHOP to figure out why he is starting to fall behind a little. Was it a lack of access from his hearing aid side? Was it his current program from his CI? His team at CHOP has been working hard to figure that out.
Currently, we are working with Logan’s CI team at CHOP to determine whether it’s time to move forward with his second cochlear implant. There are benefits and negatives either way you look at it. So we’re praying a lot and really assessing everything. We will see what the next couple of months bring for our Logan.
We have so many thank yous to so many wonderful people in our lives. Both sides of our family, our close friends, our co-workers, our church family, our deaf/HOH family. We are so blessed with their support. Having someone remember that we had an appointment for Logan and asking how it went actually means so much to us. It’s a reminder we aren’t alone in all of this and they all have been so great of helping us remember that. You know who you are, thank you all!
December 2020- We are so beyond thankful for so much lately! Logan is getting amazing reports sent home from school about how great he is doing, how hard he is working, and how his speech is improving! He is blessed to be in a very small deaf and hard of hearing class with the IU13. His teachers are outstanding and just wonderful people! We just had hearing testing done and so far, no more changes in his hearing aid side. So we are currently staying with one hearing aid and one CI and assessing again in March! Logan will soon be starting with Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to help with his fine motor skills and his balance. We’re excited to find new ways to help our buddy succeed.
Thank you to everyone who has placed orders with our shop! Thanks to you all, we have been able to donate HUNDREDS to our charities in our first 6 weeks! We were blown away with all of the orders, connections, support and JOY we have received! We are definitely finding joy in our journey and hope we can help you find yours too!
As always, please reach out to us with any questions you have along your journey! I’ll help you find the answers if I don’t know them! Merry Christmas and Holiday Holidays everyone!!
2021.
2021 has been a great year! Logan is doing so great in his deaf and HOH class and we have had successful CHOP visits! His hearing still hasn’t changed in his hearing aid ear so far now, he will stay binomial with one CI and one hearing aid! Logan is working so hard at home and school, and we are very proud of him!
We have been able to donate over $2000 in our first 6 months of our shop and have answered lots of parents questions they have had along their journeys after finding this website. We cannot believe it still and just feel so blessed by all of your orders! We are SO happy to help anyone in any way we can! If you are reading this, please feel free to contact me if I can help answer or support you in anyway along your journey!
May, 2021
Logan’s preschool teacher said that Logan is doing so well in his class that she is going to drop him down to 2 days a week instead of 4! This is great news and stressful news, haha! We LOVE Logan’s teachers and I’m scared of change but I know getting Logan in a bigger class and getting him ready for longer days and more noise is very important. So since he is doing so well, we are going to keep him in his deaf and HOH preschool 2 days a week for now, and then have him attend a full day preschool 2 days a week. This is a nice step to take while he still has the specialized teachers some days and then is also getting used to what regular school will be like too. The hard part is finding the right preschool and one that still has openings. So I’m working hard on that now and have some tours set up. I know that being in a class room that will follow his IEP and help him to have the best chance of success with his days at school won’t always be easy to find, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t out there. It just means I need to work a little harder, do more research, answer all the questions the schools are asking about his hearing loss, and be a happy and strong advocate for him! I have to admit, I’m really happy I have another year before he starts kindergarten to give me time to learn this process more and more! We’re excited for his next step and can’t wait to see him continue to grow!
Our youngest son, Cohen, isn’t speaking much and will be turning 2 in the end of July. We have had him checked for hearing loss twice and he doesn’t seem to have that! So I have been working with him a lot! He didn’t pass his evaluation to get approved for early intervention a couple months ago, and I am now in the process of getting him re-evaluated to see if he will not be approved! We want to help him as much as we can, as early as we can!
Endless thanks for everyone who has purchased items, contacted us with your kind words, shared our shop, website, facebook page, instagram, etc. I am loving the connections we are making and hope to keep making more!
OUR 2022 UPDATES!
Logan started Kindergarten this year! I will be honest to say that I was nervous. More kids than preschool, not a deaf and hard of hearing preschool, a new teacher of the deaf, a new speech teacher, a new EVERYTHING! Plus, for regular parent life, our buddy to is going to school all day nerves! I allowed myself to feel all the emotions because those emotions give me the motivation to get everything in place, be as prepared as possible, ask all the questions needed, set up a meeting with the teacher and school nurse to explain his equipment, talk to the different providers, work on where he needs to sit in the classroom, explain the FM system to each person who may need it. Get information from his medical providers over to his school providers. It isn’t a short list, but I’m just glad when I have a list. As overwhelming as a big list can be, it makes it all the better when the list is checked off one by one from doing little things at a time that will help your kiddo. That is ALL that matters!
We were blessed with the best Kindergarten teacher in the world. She fell in love with Logan quickly (I mean who wouldn’t but I’m SUPER bias haha)and Logan loved her so much. He got to have a wonderful student teacher as well. (His student teacher ended up getting her wedding favors from our small shop which made Logan beyond joyful!) Kindergarten went really well. He could hear the teacher well with his FM system connecting to both his Cochlear implant and hearing aid at the same time thanks to a receiver that goes on his processor by the battery. That could stream to his school IPAD as well so he was able to do what everyone else did around him!
His teacher was AMAZING at wearing his FM system and we are always so thankful for that. Something to think about that as you are a parent asking your kids teacher to wear an FM system is all the means for them as a teacher. Not only are they making sure Logan can hear them, but anytime they are talking to a different student or a co-worker, they have to click it off so that conversation isn’t going into Logan’s ears, then they have to remember to turn it back on. It’s a BIG ask so when we say how thankful we are to his teachers, we mean it with all of our hearts. Also remember to talk to your teacher about having your child see their mouth while talking. Make sure their seat is facing fowards towards them. Also, remind the teacher to restart the answer a fellow student may raise their hand and answer because that asnwer won’t be caught in your childs FM system. So, if the teacher says “What is 2x4?” and a student on the other side of the room answers “8!” and the teacher says “that’s right!” Logan didn’t hear what the answer was. Instead the teacher can say “8! That is correct!” Knowing to give your teacher these little examples will stick with them and be super helpful for them and your child!
Cohen also started pre-school this year! He felt so little and was super scared. He never wants to leave my side but we know that new experiences and school environment is so good for him. With Cohen being in Early Intervention for speech, I was ready for him to be in a classroom to see if there was certain things the teacher encouraged us to work on to help him grow. Cohen did amazing and had such a great time while making new little friends!