Micah's Ears

Micah was the healthiest baby his first year of life, but when he turned 1, he started getting ear infections. He's now had 6...or is it 7?...and the last three have not healed well. We are now on our 3rd...or is it 4th?...different antibiotic. I had chronic ear infections as a child, and the antibiotic Micah is on now is the one that helped me, so I hope it works for him! In any case, we will soon be visiting an ENT (Ears, Nose and Throat) specialist to determine if tubes (or something else) will benefit Micah. Our pediatrician is concerned that the ear infections may be affecting his hearing and consequently his speech, which is delayed for his age.

Jamie is concerned about Micah having surgery at such a young age, but I had tubes three times as a child so it doesn't seem as big a deal to me. I'm more concerned about him being on antibiotics so often and the affect that has on his little body and his appetite. We have never questioned whether or not Micah can hear us, so if the infections are affecting his hearing, I think it's minor. But, we have noticed that when he speaks, he often will only say the end of a word. For example, passy comes out as assy or aa-ee. We think he may not be hearing himself start to speak, so he loses that first letter or sound. This is just a theory of ours, but I will be interested to see what the specialist says.

Please keep him in your prayers. I'm pretty optimistic about the whole thing. I've been concerned that he is not speaking as well as many of his peers, especially since he seems to understand us so well and has loved books since he was an infant. If his hearing is the problem, and it's something that we can correct, then to me that's a "best case scenario." In any case, we are praying for wisdom for our doctors and also for Jamie and me, that we will make the best decisions for Micah.