Day 36: March 22nd
Addi and I spent today in Loveland visiting with her cousin & playing with baby sis until Nick gets off of work. We’ll be headed back to Denver this evening.
I received a call at lunch from Ryker’s nurse, just to give us a quick update. He was still doing really well on his CPAP, and still has his moments of getting angry and an elevated heart rate. But I think they’ve pinpointed it to his needs of a diaper change. He is a pooping machine and awfully particular about having it cleaned immediately. I can’t blame the kid..
She also informed me the ophthalmologist will be coming by sometime this afternoon to do an eye exam to see if he’s developed/at risk of ROP (retina of prematurity). Preemies are highly susceptible to having vision problems, and the risk increases the younger in gestation they were born. From what I’ve read, the last 12 weeks, the eyes go through a rapid growth and development in the womb. Unfortunately he was born 12 weeks early.. However, he had always been really alert and observed his surroundings since he was born. Even to this day, he will look at people and his surroundings. It may not be perfectly clear yet, which is normal even for a term baby, but it’s pretty noticeable that he’s reacting to what he can see, whether it be shapes and shadows, or if he can make out our faces more since birth. Looking forward to finding out the results.