Preemie Hearing and Vision

In the past couple of days my little boy has grown from three to four pounds, has put on some baby fat that is very noticeable, and has had his hearing and eye tests done. It was interesting to watch the hearing test being done and I was happy to see that my little one did not squirm and try to pull out all of the wires and tubing from his head. I was very impressed by the girls who did the test. They were very gentle with him and explained everything they were doing to him (they did this because I kept asking questions!). They had three different wires with sticky pads on the end of them which were placed behind his ears and the last was put on his forehead. They put a little tube in his ear (not too far in, but enough that it would stay) and hit a button on the computer. From there we watched the screen as red and green lines were drawn on the monitor mimicking the format they have below showing "perfect hearing". The little sticky pads pick up his brain waves and thats how they measure how well he responds to sound. Its very cool to see being done because up to that point I really didn't know how well he could or could not hear and that scared me. I'm happy now because I know his hearing is good.



I was not there for the vision test because the Dr comes early in the morning to do the exam, and I was not up at the time he was there...its the time that normal people sleep. From what I hear the Dr has the nurse put in three sets of drops to dialate the eyes and then looks at the back of the eye to see how much blood flow he is getting to his retina. The nurse said everything looked good and that he needs a follow up in a few weeks. There is always going to be a slew of

follow up appointments when your baby is preemie.



So good news!!! He is up to four pounds and not only can I see his cheeks are chubbier, but he is hurting my arms a little because I am not used to this new weight. It's not like he weighs a lot but I have gotten so used to holding this little tiny peanut and now that peanut is growing and I have to adjust. The preemie clothes that we have are still very loose on him, but the length fits great. I am wondering what we can bring him home in... I have no cute outfits that are that small!



I have been getting very antsy because when I spoke to the Dr over the weekend, he said my baby will be able to come home in a week to ten days depending on how he does with his feedings. He has been eating with a bottle for every other feeding and with the feeding tube for the rest. Depending on the nurse on duty, sometimes we get to do a bottle feeding for two or three feedings in a row! That is very exciting for a mommy with a preemie... it means that we are THAT much closer to having the baby home! Seems like all we have left to do is bottle feed for each feed and pass the Car Seat Challenge!!! It doesn't seem that hard... it just takes up time. I will let you know how it goes!

-J