Ga. baby's priceless reaction to hearing clearly for first time

MADISON, Ga. (FOX 5 ATLANTA) - A Georgia mom shared an emotional video on Facebook after her 11-month-old baby girl experienced a very special milestone. 

According to Carol Benjamin, her daughter, Scarlet, was born three months early, weighing just 2 pounds 13 ounces. At just one week old, she ended up getting necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) and the antibiotics she needed are known to cause hearing loss. NEC is a disease that affects mostly the intestine of premature babies and the infection eats away at your stomach and intestines. 

Scarlet failed her hearing test in the hospital and was then sent to an audiologist. 

"We have spent the last 8 months going back and forth to Athens, Milledgeville, and Augusta to try to figure out where she was on the spectrum," Benjamin told FOX 5's Katie Burk. "No one could get a good read on her scans." 

Benjamin, of Madison, said Atlanta Hearing Associates in Milledgeville didn't want to wait any longer, so they took Scarlet's molds and got her fitted for hearing aids. She finally received them on Thursday and has been thrilled ever since. 

"It has been a long and emotional experience," Benjamin said on Facebook. 

Benjamin took to Facebook after Scarlet got her new hearing aids, sharing a heartwarming video of the baby girl laughing at her older sister and her mom. Benjamin said she thinks it was the first time Scarlett could hear her big sister.

"It was the first time she heard anything clearly, that's for sure," she said. 

Benjamin called it one of the "absolute best days" of their lives. 

"It has been such a blessing! She is much more active and tries to talk more. You can just tell it has had a major impact."