The Pair of Scates: 13 Weeks in the NICU and Funniest Twin Pics (So Far)

Hazel has been in the NICU for 13 weeks (92 days). She was 8 pounds, 1 ounce today, which is 5 pounds, 6 ounces over her birth weight. She's getting to be a big girl!

Since Abs is no longer in the NICU, we don't get a daily weight (which I miss), so I'd have to guesstimate her weight around 7 1/2 pounds. I'd love to get a scale so we could weigh them; I've heard one pediatrician (not ours) suggest going to the post office to weigh babies there! Can you imagine how funny that would be? Definitely don't go during the Saturday morning rush. :)

Talking to Dr. Breed yesterday, we decided to take a "power through it" approach with Hazel's reflux/throwing up issues, as opposed to throwing (haha) medicine at the symptom/problem since it (the medicine) does not appear to be medically necessary. Seems like Dr. Breed and I are on the same page about this, which is nice. He also joked that he knows we've been in the NICU too long when he can dial our number from memory. Funny, yet sigh....

So, a big milestone (of sorts) for me today: it was my first outing with Abby on a trip to the NICU to visit Hazel. I packed up my diaper bag, then double checked to make sure I had everything, turned on the car and the A/C so it would be cool before I put her inside, and then gathered up my gear and drove north. One advantage of our destination: at least if I forgot something, we wouldn't be stranded, as there would be extra there of anything I would need.

Rachel, the girls' primary nurse at night, was covering a day shift today, so she was there and super happy to see Abby. Of course, in recent Scates tradition, Abby attempted to soil poor Rachel's scrubs (this time with a poop blowout). :) Rachel held Abby for awhile and then put her in Hazel's crib while I held Hazel, who snoozed happily in my arms. When it got close to leaving time, I noticed that the girls had similar outfits on, so of course I had to take some pictures. This is when it got to be hilarious. It was close to Hazel's feeding time, so she was already stirring anyway, and then when I unwrapped her from her swaddle, she started to fuss (loudly). I took several pictures of the girls together while Hazel was calm, but quite frankly I love the pictures when Hazel is upset. Every time I look at it I crack up!

So...without further ado...pics from the last few days, including the girls together. Be warned, I couldn't cut out any of the pictures...but since this is my blog, and there is unlimited memory to upload photos, I went ahead and added them all. :)