I read your story, and I can't imagine how hard it must have been.
But you should know that neonatal intensive care now is miles ahead of where it was. In 1989, a major breakthrough was introduced, which was the use of surfactant introduced into children's lungs just after premature birth. This allows them to breath on a ventilator and later on their own far more easily then before, making survivability of pre-30 week old children far more likely.
Because of the ability to monitor blood oxygen saturation levels more easily through the use of pulse oximeters, Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) is far more preventable than it was just 15 years ago. So blindness due to ROP is far less common.