Happy One Month Birthday, Paige & Andrew!

We had such a big day!  We celebrated their one month birthday with balloons, cupcakes and party hats!

Andrew in his birthday hat!

And Paige in her's!

Mom & Andrew partying it up!

On top of all of this excitement, Paige completed all of her feedings by mouth for the last 48 hours!  This meant her NG tube was removed this morning.  Check out her beautiful cheeks!

Tube free - the best birthday present ever!

Since she seems to be proving herself ready for discharge very quickly, we are all frantically making changes and gearing her up for home.  Her event study is in progress and we gave her vaccines today and switched her breastmilk fortifier to something I can buy and get easily at home.  I also got her prescriptions and dropped them off at the pharmacy today.  Tomorrow she is scheduled for her car seat challenge (she'll spend a couple hours sitting in her car seat on the monitor to prove she doesn't collapse her airway), repeat head ultrasound, and developmental assessment.  Then Wednesday is her eye exam and hearing screen.  The exact day of discharge isn't known but we are looking at sometime between Wednesday and Friday!! Can you believe it?!?! We are still in shock and a little bit nervous!

Meanwhile, Andrew is working hard to keep up with Paige and get this feeding thing down.

Andrew working hard to finish his bottle!

He hit a record weight of 3 pounds, 9.8 ounces today and finally reached Paige's birth weight!  He is also doing much better with his temperature control and may be ready to move to an open crib by the end of the week.  We are really hoping that he isn't too far behind his sister.  We are so excited to FINALLY get her home, but it's almost bittersweet because he will be left behind.  They have never been apart and I hate the thought of him sleeping by himself at night.  I also won't be able to be there 12 hours a day like I am now with Paige at home.  I've talked a lot to the nurse practitioners about how people balance when one goes home before the other.  They've all told me that its incredibly hard but that most moms come for a couple hours in the afternoon and get someone else to watch the other twin at home.  Things have been hard so far but I feel like having them split will make life even harder.  I know I'm going to feel guilty no matter where I am and who I'm with.  I just hope that Andrew picks up his pace a bit and gets home so our family can finally ALL be together!