Happy Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures of one of the people that I am the most thankful for. Brandon had a very rough start to his life but he is doing so well now. I am thankful every day for the miracle that he is and for how fantastic he is doing. I am also thankful for our wonderful friends and family who helped to get us through such a difficult time in our lives. We would not have been able to do it without you. I hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Opthamologist appointment

Brandon had an opthamologist appointment this morning with Dr. Turtel. He said his eyes are pretty much the same as last week and that the raised area may be a little longer than it was before. He wants us to go back to Dr. McNamara in Cherry Hill next week since he is a retina specialist and see what he thinks. He still does not have plus disease which is what they do the laser surgery with but if Brandon's eyes do not start to get better laser surgery may be something that they want to do. Right now they are not a problem but we do not want the retina to start to detach from the eye. It could just be that Brandon needs to continue to be monitored weekly. We are going to Dr. McNamara next Tuesday so we will see after that if we need to continue to go to him a few times or if he is comfortable with us going back to Dr. Turtel. Dr. Turtel looked to see if Brandon is near sighted or far sighted and he is far sighted right now which he said is good. A lot of preemies who have or had ROP are near sighted so it is good that he is far sighted for now.

Nap In Crib

Brandon had his first nap in his crib today. He still sleeps in a bassinet in our room at night and in the day naps in either his pack n play, swing, or bouncy seat. I decided I am going to start having him nap in his crib to get him used to it. He only slept for a half hour but it was a start.

Up All Day

Brandon has decided that he would rather be awake during the day then sleep. Yesterday he was awake for about 9 hours except for two 20 minute cat naps. He has been up all morning today too and finally fell asleep about 20 minutes ago after being awake for 5-6 hours except for a few cat naps. Here are some pictures that I took of Brandon this week. One of Stu's co-workers who does photography on the side came to our house on Thursday to take pictures of Brandon. I can't wait to see the pictures.

Pulminologist Appointment

Brandon went to the pulminologist today for his third RSV shot. As usual he did not like it and held his breath when he let out his loud scream after getting the shot. He was fine once I picked him up. Brandon weighs 9 pounds, 14 ounces now. His lungs sound good and his oxygen sats were 100% when they hooked him up to the machine to see how he is doing. We went to the NICU to visit after his appointment since we were at the hospital. Dr. Sembrano, the pulminologist, said that Brandon only needs to be on the apnea monitor at night now since I am with him in the day.

Opthamologist and Pictures

Brandon went to Dr. Turtel this morning to have his eyes checked. Dr. Turtel said that Brandon's eyes have not gotten any worse since he last saw him. He said maybe they got a tiny bit better. He wants to see him again next week and then he feels he will probably be able to see him every 2 weeks until his eyes improve more and then he can go less frequently. The affected area is on the right eye and is not that big of an area. Dr. Turtel said if you look at a clock face it is the size of the distance from one number to the next. I asked Dr. Turtel what kind of problems Brandon might have when he is older and he said that babies that have had ROP are often near sighted (a different kind of near sightedness than we would experience) and/or have a lazy eye. Both are correctable. The near sightedness with glasses and the lazy eye with an eye patch.

Brandon and his Cabbage Patch Kid Preemie

Cabbage Patch Kid Preemies are being sold right now at Target because it is the 25th anniversary of Cabbage Patch Kids. As soon as I heard that I decided that Brandon needed one since he was a preemie too. My mom bought one for him since I had a hard time finding one at the Target near me.