Special Care - Special Visitor

As I entered the NICU one day I signed in and asked if I could go to the room where my children were...they told me Emma was no longer in that room but had been moved to the Special Care area. She had graduated! And, she was in a crib instead of an isolette! Now, you might not think this is all that exciting but it meant that I could pick her up and hold her anytime I wanted. Plus it meant that she would be coming home soon! About two weeks later her brother joined her but he was still in the isolette. It was then that we were able to have a special visitor....Aunt Katie! Katie had been a NICU baby too.

Vision Scare!

Emma and Jehu were about a month and a half old when we were summoned to be present for the children's eye exams. These typically took place early in the morning when we hadn't yet arrived. Rounds began at 8am and our anxiety grew rapidly as we waited for the pediatric ophthamologist. Emma received a good report. She had stage 1 ROP but it had not progressed over the past few weeks. Jehu; however, was not as fortunate. After his examination we were told there was a 90% chance he would be blind in both eyes. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Joe was devastated. How could he take his son to enjoy Carolina football, basketball and baseball? What occupation would he have? The doctor explained that when he was born, Jehu's eyes were more like a 21 "weeker" rather than a 27 1/2 "weeker" and that his eyes were not maturing as they should. Typically in this situation the infant's eyes would rapidaly mature, with the blood vessels spreading across the eye too rapidly which would cause the blindness. We prayed...what else can you do? In my mind I denied it and refused to believe he would never see. We didn't miss an exam after that. The first two were uneventful, but then, the third visit lifted our spirits. The doctor saw some improvement. We continued to pray. He continued to improve. And improve. The ophthalmologist has been amazed at his progress. One eye is in great shape. We have to exercise the other two hours each day to strengthen it and hopefully improve the vision. He also has a scar on that eye, the origin of which we don't know...he was born with it.