GREAT news today!

Cayden had his first post-discharge ROP follow-up eye exam today at Children's Hospital and it was the best news we've had in a long time:  both eyes have mature vessels with no evidence of ROP!  I have to admit I was shocked.  I thought for sure we were going to end up with stage II in that left eye, but our little fighter overcame once again.  Words cannot express how happy and relieved we are. 

When he had his eye exams at the University NICU, the nurses and doc there said I probably shouldn't watch as it "wasn't very pleasant" to see, although it didn't hurt the baby at all.  So I was surprised at Children's today when Dr. Enzenauer (who was really great - kind, jovial, upbeat) said that one of us parents would need to hold him while they did the exam.  Nervous as I was, I stepped up (well, sat down, actually) and held my swaddled little bubba while they placed the retractors in his eyes and poked around to fully examine the retinas.  Cayden cried and it made me cry, but I think he cried mostly because he didn't like having his arms restrained and I cried because I felt so bad for all he's been through at this young age.

Dr. Enzenauer cautioned us that although Cayden does not have ROP, preemies are at a higher risk (20% vs. 5-8% in term babies) for developing other eye diseases such as lazy eye, cross-eyes, and extreme nearsightedness, but that these issues won't be apparent until 8-12 months of age.  We'll follow up at six months and then again at a year unless we notice any obvious problems, but for now, we've cleared another big hurdle of prematurity.

In other news, we met with Jennifer, a pediatric nurse, in our home on Friday afternoon.  I thought she would be doing some hands-on evaluation or therapy, but it turned out that she is more of a paperwork/administrative/services liaison.  She was a GOLDMINE of information and potential help.  Not only does she know who to call, when, and what to say, but she will actually make the calls and arrange services for us for everything from in-home nursing visits to Social Security benefits to respite care.  She's like our own personal assistant for all of these tedious, tangled, confusing issues that need to be addressed but that I don't have the time or understanding to deal with.  After her visit, we felt such relief and hope that help will be on its way soon. 

Neither Jason nor I have been getting much sleep since Friday.  I don't know if it's a side effect of the vaccines Cayden had or if he's having a growth spurt or if he's just learning that if he cries, Mommy or Daddy will hold him and he really enjoys that, but he has been Mr. Fuss pretty much 24/7 unless he's being held.  We've noticed that he does not like being on his back and has been crying any time we lay him in his crib.  If we hold him so that his tummy is up against our shoulder or chest, he will sleep peacefully but as soon as we try to lay him down, he wakes up and shrieks.  Poor thing.  Poor us!  Hopefully this is just a phase...we ALL need some sleep!