Middle Ear Fluid = Ear Tubes!!!

Kaysen was so cute in the waiting area. He kept peeking around the curtain to see the other little boy that was there.


The nurse gave Kaysen this cute little stuffed lion before he went back for surgery!


Just waiting for our turn!


Playing with his new favorite toy! He loves lions and he loves stuffed animals, so this was the perfect toy for him!


Waiting for Kaysen to wake up from the anesthesia. We're so glad everything went well! :)


A few hours later, he was completely back to normal!

I started to notice some speech delay in Kaysen at around 15 months when he still wasn't saying simple words like 'mama', 'dada', 'ball', etc. I asked the doctor about it at his 15 month check-up in April, but she said it was common for babies with older siblings to have speech delays. I knew that sometimes they took longer to talk, but I was concerned because he wasn't even saying those basic simple words. To ease my mind, his pediatrician did a hearing test on him and found out that he had ­Middle Ear Fluid. I asked more about it and why that could delay his speech and she told me that the sounds that go in his eardrum can't vibrate correctly when fluid is in there, so he doesn't hear correctly and that it can also cause permanent hearing damage and developmental delays if left untreated. She said that what Kaysen was hearing was like having ear plugs in or having his hands over his ears when somebody was talking to him. Since I was already worrying about his speech delay, this worried me even more, but she said they needed to wait 3 more months and check him again and that if it hadn't cleared up (because sometimes it clears up on its own), then he would need tubes put in his ears. This surprised me because I thought ear tubes were only for kids who had frequent ear infections and Kaysen had never even been treated for an ear infection! That is not always the case though. Anyways, Kaysen was tested again at his 18 month check-up and he still showed fluid in his ears, so we scheduled an appointment with an ENT specialist and this doctor was also conerned that at 19 months Kaysen wasn't saying anything, so we scheduled the surgery for 2 days later, which was today! I had already done a lot of reserach on ear tubes after Kaysen's first check-up that alerted us of the middle ear fluid, so I was trying not to be too worried, but it's always a little scary to have your baby put under anesthesia! I'm glad they scheduled the surgery so quick because that didn't leave me a lot of time to dwell on it. We went in at 7:15 this morning (they do it early in the morning for babies since they can't eat or drink anything for many hours before the anesthesia). Kaysen was a little surprised to have us wake him up so early and when we got to the hospital I could tell he was wondering what in the world was going on. He had to change into a cute little hospital gown and then the nurse anesthetist played with him for a minute to help him not be so scared and then I gave him a kiss goodbye before they took him back in the Operating Room. They put him right under the gas mask and went to work. They came and got me about 8 minutes later and let me go wait with him in the recovery room (it's a very quick procedure). It took him a little while to wake up from the gas and when he did, he was pretty mad at me and a little disoriented and confused. I hade a sippy cup and some gold fish crackers waiting for him though, so he coudln't stay too mad at me! Kaysen was a brave little trooper and he did great! We got to go home about a half hour later, and a few hours later he was his happy playful self! So, it wasn't that bad at all and hopefully this will help him hear better. We still have to go in for regular check-ups to have his speech followed, to make sure he is making progress so that we know if the tubes helped, or if it's something else.