diff --git a/lib/resty/healthcheck.lua b/lib/resty/healthcheck.lua
index 7baad6ef..3a9c6e5b 100644
--- a/lib/resty/healthcheck.lua
+++ b/lib/resty/healthcheck.lua
@@ -1414,7 +1414,7 @@ function _M.new(opts)
   assert(self.shm, ("no shm found by name '%s'"):format(opts.shm_name))
 
   -- other properties
-  self.targets = nil     -- list of targets, initially loaded, maintained by events
+  self.targets = {}     -- list of targets, initially loaded, maintained by events
   self.events = nil      -- hash table with supported events (prevent magic strings)
   self.stopping = true   -- flag to indicate to timers to stop checking
   self.timer_count = 0   -- number of running timers
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
index 0fbe137d..48f9cc91 100644
--- a/readme.md
+++ b/readme.md
@@ -112,6 +112,8 @@ Versioning is strictly based on [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/)
 * fix: properly log line numbers by using tail calls [#29](https://github.com/Kong/lua-resty-healthcheck/pull/29)
 * fix: when not providing a hostname, use IP [#48](https://github.com/Kong/lua-resty-healthcheck/pull/48)
 * fix: makefile; make install
+* fix: exit early when reloading during a probe [#47](https://github.com/Kong/lua-resty-healthcheck/pull/47)
+* fix: prevent target-list from being nil, due to async behaviour [#44](https://github.com/Kong/lua-resty-healthcheck/pull/44)
 
 ### 1.3.0 (17-Jun-2020)