When we checked out of the
NICU last year our discharge papers had all kinds of followup appointments that the babies would need. Much to my surprise when I recently pulled those papers back out...three of the specialist appointments that I thought they wouldn't need until they were 1 were actually supposed to be done when they were 6 months old...Oops!!!
So this past month we've been trying to play catch up. Two weeks ago we went to Texas Children's for our audiology appointment. Lots of tests were run, some by sticking all sorts of things in their little ears, some by making loud/soft noises in a sound proof booth.
Lathan was VERY cooperative and when they needed him to sit still and silent, he did. Not so much so for the others! They weren't able to get the best of readings on Logan and Lauren and since all three were just getting over ear infections, the results were a little skewed. The good news is that they were able to rule out severe hearing loss in all three but that's about it! We'll have to go back in 6 months to try again!
Lathan, Logan & Daddy Outside the Soundproof Booth
Lauren in the Lobby
Then on Friday we knocked out our
ophthalmology appointment. This one I was really nervous about. I was very apprehensive about the eye exam (bad memories of the
ROP exams they were given weekly/biweekly in the hospital and then for the first few weeks at home) and I would have bet money that Lauren would have needed glasses. She had the worst case of
ROP out of our trio and I just had a feeling that glasses were in her future.
Lathan
Lauren
Logan
I had already decided that if an exam anywhere close to the
ROP exam was in store that we would kindly refuse and leave...never to be heard from again! We would deal with glasses or whatever else a little later. The beginning of the visit was a breeze. All the babies had to do was follow toys while they checked to see if their eyes were straight. Everyone passed!
Lauren's Exam
Their eyes were dilated and then it was time to see the mean old grumpy doctor. We had seen him before for some
ROP exams and he has never been my favorite (always left Lauren with nice bloody spots on her eye balls after he was done digging around).
Lathan went first and much like the audiology exam did VERY well. Lauren was next and did very well until he put on the helmet with the bright light and turned off the overhead lights. She immediately flipped out so Dr. Grump called Dad over to help pin her down. I had to hold her little body and Daddy her head. The doctor peeled open her eyes, peaked around and then it was over. It took Lauren a while to calm down but it really didn't seem that bad. Next was Logan though. He didn't freak out when the old fart put on the helmet but when he shined the light in his eyes Logan looked down. Now here's where it gets frustrating. We had to make 3 separate appointments to get all the babies seen. We were scheduled at 8:30, 9:30 & 10:30am. However, instead of the doctor taking some time and giving Logan a chance to adjust or even just have a second try, Dad was called over once again to help pin down his baby. Logan being the strongest, put up quite a fight and was squeezing his eyes together as tight as he could. It didn't stop the doctor though from prying them open with this old yellow fingernails (left a nice welt under Logan's eye). I told Patrick later that if Logan would have gone first and had such a bad experience we would have walked out right then and there. However, the good news is that ALL THREE have PERFECT vision and NONE of them require glasses! This is a HUGE blessing, one that we are very thankful for. We were also told that this completed our visits to
ophthalmology which was a good thing considering I never would have taken them back anyway!
We had to carry all three babies out of the office (all were screaming...some just in sympathy) and we pushed our empty stroller down the the
McDonalds that happily sits at the bottom of the hospital. The babies enjoyed a nice big breakfast and soon forgot about the trauma upstairs.
Lathan
"What?"
Lauren
Logan
Leaving the hospital. Their eyes were still dilated so they wouldn't look up!
Next on the list...the Developmental Doctor and the Pediatric Dentist...!!!
P.S.
Beverly...
thankfully none of ours ever had to have the
ROP surgery!!!
