This is something that I KNOW, but is even hard for me, being in the situation, to understand. I've been talking about being excited for Carter's 2 month shots so he has more freedom, but the keyword is "more" - we will still have to be very careful with him for the first 2 years or so. It seems as though, now that Carter is past his due date and looks perfectly healthy, he should at least be equal to his adjusted aged peers (i.e. he would technically now be almost 3 weeks old - so shouldn't he be physically and mentally like a 3 week old?).
After doing some research - here is what I have found. I included the article links for anyone who is very interested, but just put some highlights here. Again, thank you to everyone for your support and understanding. Hopefully Carter will be just a normal little boy - but in the meantime, we need to take precautions!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071214094102.htm
*research suggests that even relatively healthy preemies confront deficits in lung function that last into their second year, if not longer.
*"Healthy infants born prematurely may have smaller sized airways relative to the lung volume,"
*Compared preemies to full-term babies at 10 weeks and 15 months - unable to detect a catch-up period during the study. There was no change in the rate of increase of lung function when compared to full term infants
*premature infants who had more fully developed lungs, thus less need for supplemental oxygen after birth, actually faced greater respiratory problems than those who required prolonged supplemental oxygen.
http://www.synagis.com/what-is-rsv.aspx
*even as preemies start to look healthy and strong, their lungs remain smaller and less developed than those of full-term babies. That's why preemies are at greater risk for a severe lung infection from RSV.
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