It’s been 28 months since I found out my daughter is deaf. And everyday I still am in shock. But it’s starting to wear off. We figured Leah would be hearing. Boy, wrong-o.

Leah was born 4 weeks early. Although her weight was on the low side of “normal” and her height was normal, she had jaundice. After she spent 6 days in the hospital recovering, we brought her home and gave her all the love she needed. We spoke and signed with her through her first months. I even turned on the musical mobile and watched her gaze at it in amazement. We played musical toys for her, and watched her look at them.

At 15 months old, our pediatrician suggested we get Leah’s hearing retested. Of course, I was like, “no, what for?” It was to check if she did have hearing loss because she had language delay. “No! She signs ASL, she’s perfectly fine,” I retorted. But, we went ahead, and got the biggest shock of our lives. Leah was deaf. D E A F. Stone-deaf.

Ok…keep cool. Now, what to do? Schooling. Language. Peers. Residence location. All important factors that changed when we found out about Leah.

The DC metro area is probably the best location in the United States, if not the world, to raise a deaf child. Within a 50-mile radius are educational programs that immerse bi-bi philosophy, cued speech, total communication, or oral method – all varied ways of teaching deaf children. There is Kendall School, Montgomery County, Fairfax County, and Maryland School for the Deaf. Plus many programs and services. What more could we ask for?

Plus, we had originally planned to have Leah in day care programs close to home (or our workplace) where she’d be with other hearing children – now she goes to nursery and CDC at Gallaudet. There, she’s with deaf and hearing children.

It seems like we have everything we need for Leah. In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing her experience the same – only better – things Alli and I experienced growing up. She can go to a deaf residential school like we did. She can go to Gallaudet. She can join a sorority. She can do many other things. It does seem as if we’ve been blessed.