Today Finnegan had his second eye exam. In the exam, they dilate his pupils and then stick a prong device in his eye to keep it open. Then they shine a light with a magnifier of some sort to see the retina. The doctor is looking for what is called Retinopathy of Prematurity or ROP. When a baby is about 16 weeks gestation, their eyes begin to develop. Then, by 34 weeks gestation, their blood vessels in the eye have matured and developed enough so they supply enough blood to the retina. Well, since preemies are early, they don't necessary get that development and some babies end up with damage to the retina because of lack of needed blood flow; however, some babies don't have this problem because their blood vessels work double time to mature outside of the womb. ROP is defined in stages and Finn is currently at a nonexistant stage or ROP 0. The classifications usually start at 1 being the least severe to 3 being the most severe that can cause blindness, but the eye doctor said he doesn't even show signs of ROP stage 1. His blood vessels are still immature, but there is no damage to the retina. :)
Last night, Finnegan had a hearing screen. For this they put baby headphones on Finnegan and tested the otacoustic emissions (like an echo) of each ear after a sound is played. The screen doesn't give specific results, but it's a test that you can't fail. Either you "pass" or you are "referred" which means that they will refer you to an audiologist for further testing. Finnegan had both ears screened twice to double check results. His right ear first came back with a "refer" result but then came back with a "pass" result, but his left ear came back with a "refer" result both times. This doesn't necessarily mean there are hearing loss issues; it could just mean that his ear hasn't fully matured. I read a lot of blogs from other NICU parents of preemies that said that at their audiologist follow up appointment, weeks after the first screen, both ears passed the same screen tests simply because the baby had grown. Obviously, there could be problems, but we're hoping that it's just another case of Finnegan just needing to grow a bit more. :)
Now that I think back on this week so far, Finnegan has had a busy one! Between his eye and ear screenings, he's had a lot of visitors and a lot of growing! As of yesterday, Finnegan now weighs 4lbs 2.5oz. :) On Tuesday he had visits from Grandma Bruckner, Aunt Meghan, Uncle Danny, and Alyson. Aunt Meghan and Uncle Danny got to hold their first nephew for the first time! :)
Today, Finnegan's Grandma Doman came to visit and help mommy with clean up the room that will be his nursery and of course play with Finn! Then, Grandma and Grandpa Bruckner came to visit. We figured that Grandpa Bruckner hadn't seen his grandson in a month between work, "sickness," and house work. I think he was more than a little shocked at how much he had grown! :)
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