When I was 27 weeks pregnant, I visited the United States with my husband for tourism in 2016. Yet, this tourism turned our life upside down!
Because I have lupus, we decided to continue my pregnancy check ups while we are in our vacation and here when the OB noticed that Mira's head size is smaller than the normal measurments. She thought it is better to keep me under monitory for a while. The OB's point of view was to give birth the first day in my 37 weeks because the head size concerns her and the earlier the better in case there is something wrong going on.
11/18/2016 is Mira's Birthday! Like all moms, I expected to give birth to a healthy little girl and take her home with me the next day. Yet, Mira stayed in the hospital for 10 days 5 of them in the NICU. Because of Mira's head size, the doctors did all the blood work to find out that Mira is finally diagnosed with CMV which caused deafness and microcephaly. We had no idea what CMV is! 1 in every 200 child is born with this silent disease. Mira failed her hearing test in both ears! Her dad and I insisted that its because of the fluid. We repeated the hearing test a week later but it was unfortunately the same! When Mira was 3 months old, we did the ABR exam to find out that Mira is profoundly deaf in both ears. It was the end of the world for me. All I remember doing that day was squeezing Mira in my arms and crying. when Mira was 4 months old, she used hearing aids that didnt get any benefits of. When Mira turned one, she did the Cochlear Implant Surgery which lasted for 5 hours and a half!
12/22/2016 is Mira's Hearing Birthday when they turn her on! I cant describe my feelings when she heard the beeps in the boothing for the first time in her life.
Mira takes speech therapy, Physical therapy and AVT (audio verbal therapy) twice a week each. Mira now is two years old. She is non verbal, non walker and has global developmental delay too but she will get there!
No matter how little the amount you donate is, It will make a huge huge difference!
Please support our team and the National CMV Foundation.
