Today was a crazy day with the babies! (In case you don’t know I am a speech aide at a local hospital and part of my job description is to help with newborn hearing screenings.) When I tell someone that I work with babies their usual response is “what a fun job” (or something along those lines). Well…I would just like to say that some days it’s not fun at all and can be very stressful!

The test we do is very sensitive to noise so if a baby is screaming, crying, fussing, snorting, or moving it takes longer to get them to pass. Lately it seems like every baby I try to test does not understand this. I will bring a perfectly quiet baby into the room and they will start crying or moving before I even touch them.

The other day I got a baby from the mom’s room and the dad said “this is the most peaceful he’s been today” and I thought “good I have been waiting for a cooperative baby.” And sure enough, the minute I wheeled him into the screening room he started crying and threw up (luckily not all over me) and was inconsolable. After several minutes of trying to calm the baby down I finally asked the dad to take him back to mom. The next couple babies I tried to test were the same way (except none of them threw up). I’m starting to wonder if I’m sending a bad vibe to the babies??