Matthew had his eye appointment with the doctor today. Premature babies often get something called Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP). This is where the blood vessels in the retina can develop abnormally and actually grow away from the retina into the center of the eye. This can cause vision loss and can even cause blindness in severe cases. They rate the development of ROP by specifying the stage and zone. Stage 0 is no abnormality, stages 1-2 are minor (usually no vision loss), and stages 3-5 are serious and can result in severe vision loss. Zone 1 is the center of the visual field, zone 2 is the transitional region between the center of your visual field and your peripheral vision, and zone 3 is your peripheral vision. Matthew had stage 1 development in zone 2, so this is great news. The doctors were actually surprised at how little retinal damage he had. Though it can still get worse (they will be repeating the test occasionally through the end of October), it likely means he will have normal vision.
He went up on his feedings again today. He is now getting 28 ml’s every 3 hours. So far he has had a little bit of residual, but it looks like he is tolerating it pretty well. He's weighing in at 1340 grams (2lbs, 15oz). He'll probably pass the 3lb mark this weekend.
In addition to the previous prayer requests, please pray that his vision doesn't get worse.
Thanks so much for the comments that all of you have left. Sorry we haven't had time to respond to each of them. It means a lot to us that all of you are going through this with us.
