Today has been a good day. We made it to the doctor. It was a little scary to think of getting Ryan out, with all the oxygen, monitors, diaper bag, etc., and without help. We managed without problems. The monitor only went off once as we pulled into the doctor's office and...it was a false alarm...again. Speaking of false alarms, today that monitor has gone off so much that I'm ready to pitch it out the door. I am looking forward to visiting with the pediatrician about the nasty thing. I am glad to have the monitor, but the setup we have doesn't pick up his breathing. I'm hoping there is some other setup available.
Anyway...we went to the doctor. He said that Ryan's eyes are still at a stable stage 2. He explained Ryan's ROP in more detail. The blood vessels in the eyes around the retinas begin to develop at about 16 weeks gestation. Ryan was born only at 24 weeks gestation and his blood vessels in the retina were just beginning to develop. When he was born they stopped developing, so a large part of his retina is without blood flow. The body's natural way of coping with this is to develop new blood vessels, but the new vessels the body produces often are abnormal and can lead to blindness. Ryan has not started making new blood vessels which is a good thing. The doctor said the critical time for problems to arise is generally between 36 and 39 weeks gestation. Since Ryan is at 37 he is right in the middle of that critical time. The doctor will be keeping a very close eye on this since problems can arise quickly. We go back to the doctor next week.
Last night was kind of a rough night. He didn't rest very well. Ryan has been having some trouble with gas. He's been just generally uncomfortable, and we think it is his little tummy. He grunts and groans and strains. Poor little guy. I've started really watching what I eat so as not to add to the problem by eating a lot of gas-producing foods. I started giving him Mylicon, hoping that will help. I also have started doing a little tummy massage prior to each feeding. Brandy's Occupational Therapist taught me how to do it, and when I did it earlier Ryan was able to pass a lot of gas. I'm really hoping we can get this issue resolved quickly. Isn't it amazing how toots can become such an interesting (and important) topic of conversation? :)
(New Pictures)
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