Cardiologist update

We took Olivia for a follow-up visit with the cardiologist today to check the status of her PDA. There was some initial confusion - we had been waiting 45 minutes to see the doctor and when he walked in, he said "I apologize but it looks as though we've brought you in for no reason. The echo Olivia had before leaving the NICU was normal." I reminded him of the twins (Sofia was home with grandma) and he left the room to re-check. Turns out they had Sofia's results for Olivia. At that point - after the wait we had - it didn't matter which results they had -- they were going to listen to a heart - hahaha.

The doctor couldn't hear a murmur which means, at the very least, the PDA hasn't gotten larger or it could be closed. If it's still there it hasn't affected Olivia's health so he wants her to grow a little more before doing another echo. We'll take her back in November for the echo. We shall see.

A funny aside to our trip........we don't take the girls out much - definitely not enough to be a pro at the leaving routine, which includes packing the diaper bag. I was so proud of myself....last night I had the car seat ready and the diaper bag sitting next to it....Olivia's clothes were laid out, bottles were made or packed to make at the doctor's office. I was being proactive. We came back to the room after taking Olivia to be weighed (without her diaper) and I reached into the bag to grab a diaper and.......you guessed it.......no diapers. Funny...the diaper bag did not contain any diapers. Nice. We had to ask for a diaper (twice). I had also forgotten a blanket for her.....which was fine until we were waiting for 45 minutes to see the doctor with Olivia in her (borrowed) diaper and socks. Poor kid! Luckily they had some hospital blankets so between that and laying on me, she was fine. I know next time we'll forget something else, but I promise you it won't be the diapers!!!

Until next time!

PS - The girls slep in their own beds last night and they skipped the 3 am feeding. Of course - since they were in their own beds for the first time, I didn't really get to take advantage of the skipped 3am feeding, but hey -- another small victory!!

Still growin'!

The girls are doing well although I'm not sure Olivia has gotten over being photographed in a Clemson hat..................haha!

They've both had several days where they have consistently gained weight or held steady instead of losing. Last night, Sofia weighed in at 3lbs 4.3oz and was 15" long. Olivia weighed 3lbs 7.8oz (big girl!!) and was 15 1/2" long. Sofia is definitely catching up.

The best news of all is that for the past couple of days, nurses have NOT heard a heart murmur in either of the girls which, we hope, means the PDA has closed in both of them. Olivia has another echo scheduled in early July since hers was so large to start with, but the fact that no one can hear a murmur is great.

On Wednesday we're going to try giving both girls a bottle. The suck and swallow reflex typically doesn't develop until 34 weeks gestation and the girls haven't been ready. Sofia hasn't tried but she loves her pacifier and we're hoping that means she'll take to the bottle.

They will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and would have been 33 weeks gestation this past Saturday. As D and I were holding them last night, I was looking at both girls...........I can't get over the fact that they're not even supposed to be here but here we were holding 2 perfect little girls............