Four Weeks! Plus Easter Weekend, Hiccuping, and Bluebonnets!

It feels like I haven't blogged in forever, and have so much to catch up on...but in reality it has only been a few days.  Anyway, here's the quick recap of the weekend:

(Good) Friday:  Hazel weighed 3"7 and Abby weighed 3"1.  Both went up on their feeds, and Dr. Breed was going to try to reduce the nasal cannula for both.  I held both girls separately; Hazel squirmed up from my chest to my neck, and of course it was super cute.

After about an hour, I held Abby.  Before I held her, she was about to pull out her feeding tube (of course - both girls do this on a regular basis):

While I was holding Abby, she got the hiccups, and I was able to video it:

I also spent Thursday night/Friday early morning downloading pics from my iPhone and naming them so I'll have some idea what's up in a week, month, or years when I look at them again.  Sigh.  Fun.  I'm dreading doing the same with the pics from my camera.

Saturday:  In the morning, Matt and Merry met up with the Menkedicks and Dennehys for the Mighty Texas Dog Walk at Auditorium Shores.  I met up with them after the 5K, and then we and the Menkedicks had lunch at Red's Porch.  The afternoon was spent mostly on taxes (SO fun) while Matt napped (he was up late the night before for Steve's birthday at the Canary Hut), and after checking out 400 Rabbits at the new Alamo Drafthouse we went up to the hospital for some Saturday night fun.  Matt and I gave Abby a bath (she fussed a bit, but not too much), and then Matt was able to hold Hazel:

They both loved it.

(Easter) Sunday:  The NICU was visited by the Easter bunny!  Matt and I got some pictures with her and the girls, and then he held Abby and I held Hazel.  Amazingly, Hazel had shot up from 3"8 the day before to 4"1 on Sunday!  One or maybe two ounces in a day is normal, but half a pound?  Everyone expected her weight to drop back down to earth.  In the meantime, little Abby was gaining steadily at 3"3.

Easter pictures (note - none of the Easter bunny b/c our hands were full, and there were professional pictures):

Monday (yesterday):  The girls have been in the NICU for four weeks!  Amazing ... it seems like it has gone quickly and also slowly at the same time.

Stats for the girls -

Hazel:  3 pounds, 11 oz (yup, more reasonable)

            41 cm long (up 3 cm since birth)

Abigail:  3 pounds, 5 oz

               40 cm long (up 4 cm since birth)

Dr. Breed said both were doing well, and he thinks we may get to bottle feed in the next few days/end of the week.  How exciting!  He wants Abby to get a bit bigger first, and Hazel to be weaned a bit more off the cannula (H is at 2.5 now, and A is at 1.5 - I think).  His only other concern was Abby's diaper rash, which didn't look very good.  I also asked him about any further signs regarding Abby's heart murmur; Dr. Breed hasn't heard anything since that one time a week ago, and neither has anyone else, so he doesn't think there are any structural issues, which is really good.

I also was able to hold both of them at the same time yesterday!  Love it!  I took a few self portraits (trying not to get my chin in there), and then Dr. Breed took a few too:

Other fun stuff - one of the girls' nurses (she was shadowing the main nurse, as she was transferring from a downtown hospital so learning the ropes) complimented me on the names of the girls, and suggested a great nickname for our eldest:  Hazelnut.  I told Matt that last night and he really liked it, so there's a good chance it'll stick.  :)

Last picture - I took Merrydog for a walk to get the mail yesterday, and snapped a pic of her with our neighbor's bluebonnets: