The sermon series was promoted for weeks before I finally sat through the first message. On a warm summer morning, my husband and I sat in our usual place: front row center in the church auditorium. The closer to the stage, the more likely I could lipread the pastor. That theory worked until the audience … Continue reading
Tagged with hearing loss …
How Come I Can’t Hear My Baby?
Let’s go back in time to the winter of 2001 when I became Lipreading Mom… My days were spent holding a blissfully sleeping newborn boy. My nights were spent holding a wide-awake newborn boy since he developed this sleep-all-day, night-owl fascination. When my ears rang uncontrollably, I thought it was a side effect of sleep … Continue reading
Ouch! It Hurts to Lipread the Dentist
As I sat in the patient’s chair gripping the vinyl armrests, a mask-wearing dentist probed my mouth. Her findings nearly busted my jaw: Multiple chipped teeth, a recessed gum and six cavities. One cavity for each year I put off going for a check-up. I tensed even more as she injected anesthesia into my infected … Continue reading
How to Strike Up a ‘Deaf’ Conversation
It’s sad but true. I’ve observed friends, family and strangers with perfect hearing reluctant to talk to someone who is Deaf. I’ve seen this happen in restaurants, libraries, the post office and church. Something Lipreading Mom has committed to doing is to initiate an ASL* conversation with people I don’t know. These are people I … Continue reading
Not Too Sick to Advocate
After several days of a pounding headache, congested throat, stuffy nose and clogged ears, I was in tears. Having sick ears was like poison with my already compromised ability to hear. Hearing aids became useless; all they amplified was the dull rumbling of fluid in the ear drums. And the pounding head made it difficult … Continue reading
Meet My Hearing Helpers
Meet Emilie, Cody and Jill… my special helpers at church. Without them, I wouldn’t be able to teach my six-year-old daughter’s Sunday school class at church. Because my sensorineural hearing loss makes it difficult for me to understand a child’s delicate voices, someone must come alongside me to repeat or explain what the child has spoken. I call this … Continue reading
My Ears Get By with a Little Help from My Kids
The alarm clock blared at seven o’clock this morning, but I didn’t hear it. My pillow muffled the sound. Turns out, I had rolled on the side with my “good” ear. The one that hears better than the other. The one that hears the alarm clock. The one that lay pressed into the pillow. I … Continue reading
Confession of a Lipreading Mom #1
I am a mom. And I am also a lipreader. Yet how can one aspect of a life impact the other so? Ten years ago, give or take a few months, I had my first child. At the same time I was cuddling, burping and kissing on my baby, my ears rang like crazy. No … Continue reading
Lipreading Mom 