Blue Eyes

In another positive advancement, yesterday the boys' eyes were essentially given a clean bill of health. I say essentially, because in the words of our brilliant opthamologist, Asher's eyes are "weird".

Since quite early on, the boys have been followed for risk of ROP* - retinopathy of prematurity. Premature babies' eyes have quite a high risk of abnormal development outside the womb so they stay on top of their development to spot any problems as they are arising. At each checkup the boys have gone back and forth between no problems whatsoever, and minimal problems. We haven't spent any time worrying because those minimal problems may result in glasses at worst. Nothing serious and we've obviously had a lot more pertinent things to deal with.

I was there last night when they got examined again and got to have a chat with the doctor. Basically, he has only been following them closely in the past few weeks (post-term) because Asher's blood vessels were looking a bit corkscrewed, which is a sign of ROP. However, he didn't really know what to make of it because he wasn't showing any signs of retinal detachment (the worst case scenario) and his eyes were continuing to develop. Last night he decided that the boys' eyes were both far enough developed that they were beyond any great risk, and that Asher's "weird" corkscrewy vascularization was likely just the way Asher's eyes looked. Yet another example of how Asher chooses to never fit the mold!

So not only was the checkup good news, the even more exciting news was that the doctor asked me to book a follow up in 6 weeks. In his office. In his office implies that in six weeks we are home, not still getting examined in hospital. Writing an appointment on the calendar, assuming they are home to go to it, was one of the most exciting things EVER. Sure, something could happen and they could still be in the hospital and we might need to reschedule, but at this point I am going to bask in the glory of our first real plan for them to come home. Feels good!

*Trivia - Stevie Wonder was a premature baby and is blind from ROP.