1 Month Old!

The girls are already one month old! Even though it definitely feels like we've been here for a month, it still seems surreal that we're already taking one month pictures. This isn't exactly how or where I had in mind doing them, but it's the best we could do! Paige was not into it at all and cried the whole time. Thankfully we were able to get a couple without too much of a scowl on her face...

Here's a picture just for size comparison... I couldn't believe how big the stickers looked on them!

I figured everyone knows how big an iPhone is. On the left is one of their diapers... yes, they really are that tiny! Paige just recently got upgraded to preemie diapers, but Presley is still in these. They're actually still a little too big.... She's still got a lot of growing to do! She weighed 3lb. 7oz. last night and Paige weighed 4lb. 6oz. Look at Paige's chubby cheeks. Aren't they just adorable??

Paige's liver tests came back today and it looked so much better! It went down a lot so they're not concerned about it or her gallbladder anymore. We're so thankful she doesn't have to undergo anymore tests or procedures to figure out what's going on. It appears to be resolving on it's own. Now if she could just get off that darn oxygen... You wouldn't think 1/16 of a liter of oxygen (yes...that's a fraction.. one-sixteenth!) would make such a huge difference. It's basically just a whiff of oxygen and seems so minuscule, but she definitely needs it. She gets a trial on room air everyday just to see how she does without it. Within a few short minutes, her oxygen level decreases into the 70's and 80's and has to get put back on oxygen. The pulmonologist said it wouldn't be a "big deal" if she has to go home on oxygen.....It may not be a big deal to him, but it is to me! Her lungs aren't quite mature enough to manage without it. Prayers for her to be oxygen-free soon would be greatly appreciated!! That would be one less specialist we have to keep coming back to see for follow-up appointments after we're home.

Both babies had their eye exams this week. I've been nervous about these for a long time. Both of their eyes looked great without any abnormalities! He said that their eyes still had a lot of maturing to do, but there wasn't any evidence of retinopathy! He wants to see us back in a month to do another exam. It was not a pretty sight to watch... poor babies cried like I've never heard them cry before! They put drops in their eyes to dilate them and then numbing drops after that. The eyelid retractors were what was so tragic for them! After he took the retractors out of Presley's eyes she immediately stuck out her bottom lip and pouted. It was so cute.

Presley has really come out of her shell the last few days. She's starting to show more expression and make eye contact with you instead of looking google-eyed all the time. She's even started smiling a lot. It's so cute!

She has made so much progress this week! She's now taking 3 bottles a day (which is the same amount as Paige) and she's been drinking the whole thing! She got the suck/swallow/breathe concept down a lot faster than Paige did. She was also moved out of her isolette and into an open crib. She was a little bummed it was white instead of pink, but she'll get over it!

Presley after chugging her first full bottle

Presley found her thumb...

They've started to mention the "H" word to us more and more frequently.... We must be getting close to coming home! They made Jon and I start watching all the mandatory videos about carseats and why you shouldn't shake babies etc. We're trying really hard to get out of the all day CPR class since we just got recertified in June. Once the babies are taking all 8 bottles a day their feeding tubes will come out and we'll be discharged a couple days after that! They're 35 weeks right now so they're still not quite supposed to be here yet. We're hoping we're home in the next couple of weeks instead of September like they originally told us.