Caleb's Eyes and Baby Update

One of Caleb's "side effects" of being premature was something called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). It (from what I understand) is when blood vessels grow out of control in the retina and can lead to retinal detachment and blindness if it gets severe. It is caused by (other than prematurity itself) being on very high concentrations of oxygen early in life. There are several stages of ROP, and Caleb's was almost bad enough to need surgery to correct it. Lucky for him, he didn't but as with everything else with him, it took FOREVER to correct itself. He had weekly eye exams (AKA torture) in the NICU and every 2 weeks for several months after we took him home. And now he's been seeing his eye doc every 6 months, but the exams are not nearly as bad as they use to be. This week he got a good report and we don't have to see her for a year! We now can check another worry off our list! They dilated his eyes with drops, so he was very sensitive to light afterward. Luckily he's been really into his sunglasses again, so he wore them all around the hospital and all the way home (and the entire next morning). Such a little goofball.

On to Baby T. We have officially made it to 20 weeks! My ultrasound went well again this week. His growth is right on track and there continues to be plenty of fluid for him. The "only" problem is that I have been having contractions for the past two weeks. This has made me a nervous wreck of course. They aren't consistent, but they are definitely happening. This was concerning to my high risk doc, so after he talked to my other doc it was decided that I need to begin progesterone shots (lovely weekly shots in my bum). There is a study that shows that the shots can decrease having another premature baby by 50% (however it doesn't work in all women). Since the shots can't hurt the baby or me, of course we want to give them a try(and not look back and wish we would have done them). I will see the high risk doc in 2 weeks again, but both docs were very happy with how the baby is doing at this point. Praise God!

I also need to say Happy 4th Anniversary to my wonderful husband. Thank you for working so hard so that I can stay home with our little stink man! We're lucky to have such a great daddy! Love you!