There Can be Miracles: Popeye

I joked around with the NICU nurses that Emma would eventually be blind in her right eye because she was constantly grabbing her right cheek and would occasionally grab her eye along with it. Maybe I'm psychic.

So today started off somewhat normal: Emma woke me up at 6:30am for a bottle and I quickly realized that I wasn't feeling so hot- my head hurt, my neck was stiff, and I was exhausted. Hubby tried to convince me to stay home for the day, but I told him I had too much to do at work. I had myself a cup of coffee and played with the Emma monster for a little bit until she started to get bored of her playmat, at which point I brought her into my bedroom and laid her on my bed so she could stare at the window while I got ready for work. Just as I put my toothbrush in my mouth, the monster started screaming. I instantly knew that she had hurt herself in some capacity, but the screaming escalated to a level I've never heard from this child before. I swallowed the toothpaste in my mouth, put down my toothbrush, and ran to her as she continued to scream like a banshee. I noticed that her right hand was next to her face as I scooped her up and held her up against my chest. She continued to scream for a bit and started to calm down, so I pulled her away from my chest to look at her eye. Now, she's poked herself in the eye repeatedly in her short three months of existence but it didn't take long for me to come to the conclusion that this time was different and much worse- her little eye was swollen, red, and watering like crazy. She kept trying to open her eyes, but would start screaming all over again until I comforted her and she'd calm down.

Dr. Google suggested I call her pediatrician if her eye was red (check), swollen (check), watering excessively (check) or if she was sensitive to light. When all of this was still true after a few minutes, I called and made an appointment for Popeye. Better safe than sorry, I thought. I held her until she calmed down completely and fell asleep, then put her in her crib. She started to fuss a bit, but seemed alright until I walked back into her room, at which point she apparently poked the same eyeball for the second time. Ugh. More screaming ensued, but not quite as bad or as long. I got her ready, gave her a bottle, and carted her off to the doctor.

My once colicky baby who was bothered by everything was lying on an exam table looking around the room and smiling, while her poor right eye was red and swollen with tears streaming from it. The ARNP looked at her eye and said he didn't see a scratch and she wasn't sensitive to light, but the fact that it kept watering so much made him concerned that there was, in fact, a scratch. So he dyed her eye... Emma happened to be wearing her "my first Halloween" onesie, which was appropriate. The dye in her eyeball gave her an instant Halloween eye as the whites of her eye quickly turned bright yellow and the upper and lower lids were stained red where he put the dye in. Anyways, he turned off the lights and shone a black light in her eye and as soon as she moved her eye a little, you could clearly see a gigantic scratch highlighted by the dye.

There was no mistaking it- she jammed her little finger into her eye and scratched the living daylights out of her cornea. Awesome. So we headed to the pharmacy and picked up some antibiotic eye drops to prevent an infection, which could be very serious. We'll follow up with the ARNP next week to make sure it's healing properly.

When we got to the doctor's office and signed in, I realized I left my wallet in the car downstairs. The office assistant offered for me to bring the baby behind their desks and they could keep an eye on her so I didn't have to lug her downstairs and back again. When I came back upstairs, there was a proper crowd of people standing around her carseat oohing and aahing at her. They couldn't believe she was a preemie... they also said I could leave her with them. I told them it might be a good idea for today- she could really benefit from having a doctor nearby at all times since she was apparently on a roll with injuring herself. But then I took her back because, well, she's so cute and she's mine.

I ended up staying home from work to be with Popeye today. I guess she had other plans for my day. I felt like a real mommy for once, although I wish it was under different circumstances. I don't like it when she's hurt or uncomfortable, but I'm glad I was there to hold her and comfort her and make her feel better. I snuggled her after I fed her when we got home, then we both took a nice, long nap. In fact, she's still sleeping and it's been almost three hours since I laid her down in her swing (she still doesn't like sleeping in her crib during the day *sigh*).

Pictures. Now.