Braxton was born with his eyes closed. This didn't worry us, he was such a perfect baby. When we got Braxton home nurses visited us and I asked how long it usually takes for babies to open their eyes. I saw a look on the nurses faces that I would soon see far too often, worry. However when other doctors checked on him they agreed that Braxton wasn't opening his eyes since the vacuum birth bruised his eyes. Looking back now I can see how purple his little face was but at the time he was just my perfect baby. Doctors tried to pry his eyes open, shined their little light in, and said they are fine, we just have to wait for him to open his eyes.
The doctors were right, after a while Braxton started to peek and we got glimpses of his baby blues. However he didn't seem to "see". At the end of July, at my insistence, my pediatrician booked us an appointment with an ophthalmologist. We didn't get an appointment until the end of August since not tracking wasn't a big concern to the doctors. While waiting for the ophthalmologist appointment Braxton started having seizures. He was admitted to the hospital in Regina and then Alberta Children's hospital. We spent four days in the hospitals where nurses and doctors 'checked' his eyes on average every four hours. No one noticed anything unusual besides he hated to open his eyes.
We met the pediatric ophthalmologist at the end of August and he noticed right away that Braxton had cataracts in both of his eyes. Our suspicions were confirmed, at the most he could see light and dark. He needed surgery as soon as possible. An ultrasound of his eyes showed that there might be a stalk that connected the front of his eye to his retina so a typical cataract surgery would not me enough to correct his eyes. Instead we had to go through a complicated process of getting a surgeon, closing down an operating room at the Children's hospital so that pediatric staff could go to another hospital where the surgery equipment was located when there was an opening in that hospital. It took a month and being pushy parents to get all these things coordinated. It was scary as a mom to let go of my baby so he could a surgery under full anesthetic with a breathing tube. The surgery was a success!
Braxton got his first glasses when he was 5 1/2 months old. In the cataract surgery the lenses were removed from his eyes so he needed the highest prescription possible. Currently he is still learning to adjust to his glasses, and is opening his eyes for longer periods of time