Hello everyone!
Snuggling with Mommy
Last night Paul stayed at the hospital a little later than I did. When he got home, he was so excited because he got to give Owen his first "real" bath. Before last night, he's only had sponge baths. Paul was such a proud daddy that it made me smile. It made me fall even deeper in love with him seeing the excitement in his eyes about sharing that experience with our son.It was a day of firsts for O! He got to wear clothes, got to take a real bath and he moved from an isolette to a crib! Now he really looks like a big boy. He weighed in at 3 lbs., 14 oz last night.
Owen's room - can you see him under all those blankies?
We ask that you keep Owen and his doctors in your prayers tomorrow. Preemies tend to develop something called ROP, which essentially means that their retinas don't develop properly and they can go blind. Owen has the first of a few appointments with a retina specialist tomorrow morning to test him for ROP. We've been warned by his nurses that it will be extremely difficult to watch. They will strap him down, use a tool to hold his eye lids open and then physically move his eyeballs back and forth (since babies don't know how to look left or right on command). They will also dilate his eyes. The nurses said it is pretty much like watching someone torture your child. They warned us that he will be under significant stress and his heart rate will probably drop many times during the exam and throughout the next 24 hours. So, we pray for knowledge and skill for his doctors, strength for him to endure the pain and strength for Paul and I to be able to be there and comfort our son.
We believe in miracles!
3 comments:
Hi Laurie & Paul,
My heartfelt prayers go out to you as you learn more about Owen's development. I can somewhat understand the procedure he will go through - my little guy had an eye exam at only 12 or so days old too and the procedure sounds similar. We found out that Connor has an eye birth defect called a Uveal Coloboma - it's a birth defect as a result of the iris and retina not fully developing in the womb around 5 weeks of pregnancy. He is not blind to our knowledge and has undergone various eye exams since birth, but he is very sensitive to light since his pupil is larger in one eye than the other. I know my experience is not the same as yours with Owen, but I hope it is comforting in some way by sharing that you are not alone in worrying and wishing the very best for your little guy. I hope the test results are very positive for Owen.
Love, Stephanie
I love the picture of him waving hello to all of us! So glad his eye test went well. Hugs and love to all of you!
What a handsome little guy!!! I love these pics...keep 'em coming!!
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