Monday's are always a lazy day for me. I do the routine in the morning of getting Oliver's breakfast, dressing him and putting his processor's on so he can hear us. The rest is add lib I guess. Usually laundry and cleaning up from the weekend. Why is it the house is always so much more untidy when it's the weekend.

One of the main reasons i wanted to create a blog was for Oliver's progression with his Cochlear implants. I might actually start from the beginning and those who want to follow along his journey can do so.

Oliver Andrews was born 28Th July 2006 on a Friday, early morning about 2.10am. He was 38 weeks when he arrived as I was induced because they initially thought I had a liver condition which would have been dangerous for mine and Oliver's health. It turned out thankfully that it was all okay.

His new born screening test was that afternoon for his hearing as it was mandatory that all new born babies have a new born screening test since September 2005. He failed that test and I thought nothing of it at first, as I was told it was probably because he had a lot of mucus as he was being sick a lot. He had another test just to check and the results were the same. I was still undeterred.

17 days past, not without it's trials as we were admitted back into hospital because Oliver had jaundice. He had to have light therapy for 4 days to help him recover.An appointment was made for the hearing clinic mainly because he had been on antibiotics and it's kind of mandatory for newborn babies if this happens.

We went to the hearing clinic at the hospital. My initial thought just before I went in was that" I would be in and out within 30 mins. Get the test done then go shopping." How wrong was I. They were all very pleasant and told me I needed to have Oliver asleep for the test. This wasn't too difficult as he was only a few weeks old and most babies at that age just eat, sleep and poo.

The test was called an auditory automated brainstem response or AABR screening test.The test involved placing three small sensors on Oliver's neck and head, some clicking sounds are played through soft headphones placed over his ears. It basically showed how Oliver responded to the sounds played in his ears. The audiologist was fairly secretive about the results at first which made me a little anxious...understandable I guess. After another test. I remember them saying to me that there was a problem and that they would send for a head of department. I knew then that Oliver's results were not great and I remember reading a leaflet that was given to me before I even went in for his appointment that said " one to two babies in 1,000 are born with a hearing loss of some kind." I certainly wasn't going to have a baby that was in that percentage bracket. I was wrong yet again.

The head of department and the audiologist came to chat with me, at this point I had been in the appointment for about 2 and a half hours. I went on my own with Oliver and felt quite alone and a little bit in shock as I just sat there and nodded at the right times to acknowledge I was listening. They told me Oliver had a hearing loss in both ears, but they were unsure at how much of a loss as yet. They gave me further leaflets and another appointment to explain his diagnosis and what the next steps were etc.

I can tell you that I went away from that hospital in a bit of a daze, trying to understand what had just happened. I went straight to Marks work and because I had been in there for 3 hours it was now his lunch time.We sat in the car as I explained what they had said and done. Mark was calm and quiet. Taking it in and trying to digest what the future held for our new little boy and what kind obstacles lay ahead for him.

It was not a great day and I believe that was probably one of the most challenging days in my life so far. Oliver's story gets better eventually. It's not all negative. In fact nearly 4 years down the line I can say that Oliver's experience has taught him, me and Mark so much that I felt I wanted to share it so I can post this blog to any newly diagnosed families to help them. As I would have loved to be able to read and understand another parents perspective. I hope you enjoy Oliver's story.