An Ear for Oliver

On January 24, 2018 my husband and I were told that our new baby boy would be coming three weeks early! Shocked, we ran to get our overnight bag and headed to the hospital. After hours of waiting and labor, Oliver was born on January 25th. When we were handed our little man for the first time, we were surprised to see that his left ear was not developed. We had no idea what this meant or what to expect. At first the nurses told us that they thought it was just folded over from being so tight in the womb, but that was not the case. This was not something that they typically look for in an ultrasound because it is so rare. No one in the hospital could officially tell us or diagnose it. We didn’t know if he would be able to hear, or if there was an opening, or if he even had an ear canal to be able to hear. Needless to say our two days in the hospital were exciting, but also very worrisome. Days later at the ENT, Oliver was diagnosed with Microtia and Aural Atresia. We were oblivious to these words or what they entailed. These two “conditions” quickly became our world. My husband and I realize that there are many other things that are more serious or life threatening that make Oliver’s condition look like a blessing. We will never deny that and will never discount that. We are so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be Oliver’s parents and to learn about something we were so ignorant to. He is our child and he is special to us, so even his smallest problems feel big because we love him so much. Our mission is to not only reconstruct Oliver’s ear, but to spread awareness.