The sounds of our baby boy

I always knew that getting cochlear implants would help me hear, and therefore respond faster, to my baby crying. Little did I know they would also help me monitor his well-being in other ways. While I was pregnant, and getting regular foetal monitoring, there were often times when I was chasing him around my stomach with the receiver, using only the faint sound of his heartbeat alone to ‘find’ him again.

During the birth and in the weeks thereafter, my cochlear implants were crucial for communicating with our son's doctors and nurses in noisy environments.

And now, at home, yes – I can respond to his crying. I’m learning to recognise the different types of crying. But I can also use sound to gauge when he’s had enough to eat. When he needs to be burped. By wearing a processor at night, I can tell when he’s vomited and needs quick attention. I can tell by his breathing whether his head needs to be repositioned in the bed. Best of all, I can tell that he’s breathing.

And in amidst the sounds that help me care for him, there are a bunch of others that always bring a smile to my face.

Toys!

I can be really bad when I’m let loose in a toy store. You know how you walk past those plush toys with little tiny stickers on them that say ‘push here’? Yep. I’m one of those people. The ones who feel compelled to push. Pretty sure I’ve always been annoying like that, but I used to just ‘push’ and keep walking. Since losing my hearing and ‘regaining’ it, I tend to hang around to hear the sound. With a stupid grin on my face.

It hasn’t been too bad up until now. I mean, I haven’t had reason to visit a toy store all that often. Thing is, our house is now starting to fill up with toys … noisy ones … and the temptation is just too strong. They are all Right Here. And I can’t stop pushing those little buttons. 

Michael Buble’: Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 2011

The first time I heard this man live in concert was back in September 2005. Hamer Hall, my favourite Melbourne venue for music. The acoustics were incredible. Of course, I had full hearing back then too. But the warmth of the jazz band filled not only every niche in the room but crawled its way inside my body too. The sounds bounced off the walls with nowhere else to go but within. I felt the music from head to toes and had to shed several silent tears for the sheer power of the sounds being expelled from the room. Michael Buble' won me over that night – not just for his charm and his humour, but for the respect he showed for his band … and the respect he showed for the original singers of his cover tracks. I confess my Frank Sinatra CDs became a little dusty after that night.

Welcome waves

Not long after my processors were switched on, I held up a conch shell to one of the coils to see if I could hear the sound of the waves. Nope. I hadn’t really expected it to work, anyway. I think that captured sound has more to do with the vacuum that’s created when you hold the shell to your outer ear and block the ear canal. I’ve always loved the sound of the waves and would forever listen to the sound through conch shells during winter, waiting impatiently for summer to begin when I could hear them for real.

CI moment # 114257

I vacuum the entrance hallway while Jase stands in the adjoining dining room.

Me (turning off the vacuum cleaner and facing Jase): could you please do me a favour?

Jase (cheeky grin): maybe

My new favourite sound

OK, people keep asking me … yep, I’ve heard the baby’s heartbeat now! A sweet little sound that I’ve burned into the memory but can’t wait to hear again.

Why did I do it?

‘A cochlear implant?’, I thought to myself. ‘A piece of metal drilled into my skull? Electrodes in the inner ear? And an eternal reliance on a piece of computer hardware never sending me back into the depths of oblivion like Algernon and Charlie? I don’t think so.’

Some people think the decision to get a cochlear implant is a simple one. To hear or not to hear, right? For me, and probably most others, it was a roller coaster of emotions. I had ‘yes days’, when I was all for the surgery, and ‘no days’ when I was dead against it.

Piano score

One of my favourite all-time quotes is by Victor Hugo. He said:
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent."


I've been very silent on this blog about what music actually means to me. And should I tell you my complete musical 'story', you'd be reading for days. ;-)


Let me just say that there are some childhood dreams we leave behind, and others we are tied to for some inexplicable reason. For me, one of the dreams I couldn't leave behind was my desire to pursue the piano.

Elevator capades

My dearest work colleagues, and anybody else who works in my building … did you ever see me 'texting' somebody while in the lift, or fumbling around with some settings on my mobile phone?

Sorry to say, but I was bluffing.