One Year Old!

Ha ha!  I know Preston's not one year old...far frome it!  But this blog is officially one year old.  I haven't had much time to update it since Preston's been born, but I just couldn't let it go.  So I have paid for another year to have this url.  Who knows....maybe there will be another baby Brinkley on the way before it expires again!  LOL  I just can't believe it's been a whole year since we found out we were going to be parents!  

Anyway, Preston is now 17 weeks old.  Or 4 months and 3 days as the ticker at the top of the blog indicates.  I would love to say that I haven't been able to update because all my time is spent laughing and giggling with Preston, but actually all my time is spend trying to keep him from crying and screaming.  Poor baby just wants to be held and walked by his momma.  He screams if I sit down, screams if I sit/lay him down, screams if I give him to someone else.  Bless his little heart!  First I thought it was just colic and he would get over it by the time he was 4 months old.  WELLLLLL...he's 4 months now and it's not really getting any better.  We have moments of happiness and those are WONDERFUL!  

I've tried to do a little research (with the extra time I have...LOL) and found some info from Dr. Sears about "High Needs Babies".  Preston TOTALLY fits in this catagory.  Below I is the link for Dr. Sears' website and the 12 features of a high needs baby:

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/5/T050400.asp#

Like I said...it's not all bad.  We have moments of happiness and we try to catch those on camera every chance we get!  

Well, I turned 30 on July 27th, so James, Preston, and I headed to Savannah for a nice weekend get-a-way.  While we were there, Preston got in the ocean for the first time.  He handled getting splashed in the face by the salt water surprisingly well!  

Preston also made the trip up to Indiana for the 4th of July.  So at the ripe ole age of 3 months, Preston had made it to 6 different states! (Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana)  He's quite the traveler (well not really...he fussed the majority of the time he was awake!  James and I prayed for him to fall back to sleep each time he woke up!  He could've done better, but it could've been a LOT worse, so we're not complaining!).

Over the last 10 weeks (since my last post) Preston has discovered his hands, sucked his thumb, found his feet, and can reach for toys now.  He still refuses to roll over and for now, that's fine with me.  I know if I lay him on the bed...he's still going to be there.  DON'T FLAME ME!  I KNOW HE WILL ROLL OVER PROBABLY WHEN I'M NOT LOOKING SO I NEVER LEAVE HIM IN AN UNSAFE PLACE!    The other night he also tried eating solid foods for the first time.  We tried to feed him some rice cereal and he really didn't do too bad.  Most of the cereal ended up ON him and not IN him, but I hear that's normal for the first month of trying.

Preston goes back to see Dr. Hamilton-Rodgers Monday for his 4 month well baby visit...and more vaccinations.  BOO!  I hate those dumb shots, but I know they are for his own good.  I'm so excited to see how much he weighs!  I bet he's over 15 pounds now!  

7 Weeks Old and Counting....

Man, life is so hectic with a newborn!!  Preston is 7 weeks old today and I'm wondering where in the world my teeny-tiny baby went!!  He's getting so big!  I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update this blog in over a month.  Poor baby has acid reflux and a touch of colic so he's been a handful to say the least.  We're just now getting to a point where he'll lay down quietly for a few minutes.  He's been eating, sleeping or screaming for 6.5 weeks.  SERIOUSLY!  If he wasn't eating or sleeping, he was screaming.  It's been rough, but we're hanging in there.  

The doctor ordered an upper GI on the little guy to see if he had any anatomical abnormalities other than the reflux, and THANK GOD he didn't!  So we give him Zantac every 6 hours and pray for good days!  BLESS HIS HEART!  She originally thought he had some kind of swallowing problem, but it turns out he's a little bit tongue tied.  However, no bad enough for a visit to the ENT to have it clipped.  

I go back to work Monday, June 1st and I'm really dreading it.  I know he'll be fine and is in good hands with the daycare lady, Terri.  She's wonderful!  But the thought of him crying all day without me there to comfort him is horrifying.  HORRIFYING!  It breaks my heart just thinking about it now!  SO I won't....

Some people have been asking about my birth story and there's not really much to tell.  The labor and delivery were boring...and by boring I mean nothing out of the ordinary happened.  I had contractions, dilated, then pushed him out.  Of course to me there was nothing boring about the entire thing!  I tried really hard to go all natural for the birth, but got a little scared around 6 cm when some friends were in the room talking about how hard the pushing was going to be.  SO I wimped out and got the epidural.  When they checked me right after the epidural was put in, I was at 8 cm.  So I made it all the way to 8 cm with out the epidural.  I was really dissappointed in myself.  I totally could have made it!  Especially since the epi didn't kick in for another 15-20 minutes!!!  Anyway, all the excitement happened after Preston made his grand entrance!  I'll get to that in a minute...for now here's a little timeline of the birth:

6:05 - arrived at the hospital to be admitted

6:45 - 3 cm dilated; started Pitocin

8:00 - baby's heart rate supposedly dropped so they stopped the Pitocin (in reality, I moved and the monitor was picking up my heart instead of Preston's)

9:35 - Dr. Dean came and broke my water

11:30 - 4 cm/70% effaced  Contractions coming every 3 minutes

12:20 - 6 cm/80% effaced  Contractions coming every 1-2 minutes

1:20 - Epidural administered

1:30 - 8 cm still feeling contractions

2:45 - 9 cm/90% effaced...feeling no pain but can still have all feeling in my legs

3:50 - 10 cm/100%  Got prepped for delivery!

4:00 - started pushing

4:16 - PRESTON WAS BORN!!!

Then 30 minutes later a tornado came to town and we were wisked into the hallway of the OR waiting out the storm.  The entire hospital was on lockdown and everyone who was there to visit us had to wait in a hallway as well.  It was HORRIBLE!  I hadn't eaten ALL DAY and was STARVING!  Not to mention so was Preston and we were in a hallway with a bunch of strangers!  Finally a nurse came and put up a screen to separate us from everyone else so I could feed my baby...and she brought me a few crackers.  We didn't get into our room until after 7:30.  I can't remember the exact time.  But we didn't find out what Preston's "stats" were until after 7:00!  No one got to see Preston until after he spent a few minutes in the nursery getting cleaned up.  Needless to say it was a long, exhausting day and the tornado didn't help ONE BIT!!!

Oops...Preston woke up!  Gotta run, but here is a link to some pictures that we've taken over the past 7 weeks (and there are more that I haven't uploaded yet!  YIKES!)

http://picasaweb.google.com/cdbrinkley85/PrestonJames?authkey=Gv1sRgCIaVsbKC5JCrbg#

Preston Is Here!!

Preston James Brinkley

Born: 4/10/09 at 4:16pm

Weight: 7 lbs 1 oz

Length: 20 inches

Our little miracle has finally arrived!  I feel like we've been waiting for him forever (just my entire life, but who's counting?!?!).  He's perfect; absolutely PERFECT!  He's got a full head of hair just like I did and is the spitting image of James!  I don't have all the details of the birth story in order yet (give me a break!  I have slept more than 3 hours in over a week now!), but when I get them all in order, I'll post it.  It was amazing and crazy all at the same time!  My sister Kirsten, neice Rayen, brother Khaim, and mom were all able to make it down to Georgia to be here with me and offer all the support they could during labor.  I love them all and wish they all could have stayed longer.  Dad, Marsha, Grandma and Grandpa Helms made it down on Easter Sunday to spend some time with us and little Preston!  Kisses to all of them.  Anyway, for now, here are some pics of the little man!  I promise there are TONS more to come!!!

"4/10 Good Buddy"

4/10 is what James says when we hang up the phone.  Not sure why or how it started, but instead of saying "10-4" like the rest of the world does when signing off, he switches it up.  So this is the reason I jumped at the chance of having Preston's birthday be April 10th (4/10).  That's right my friends....Dr. Brass offered to induce me and I said YES!!!  So if all goes well, little Preston James will be here Friday!  AHHHHHHHH!!!!!  So exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time!Since it's been an entire month since I last posted there is LOTS to catch up.  Ok, so the first paragraph is the MAIN source of info, but I have a few more belly pictures, pictures of the nursery, and a picture of what MIGHT be Preston's coming home outfit (still deciding on this...).

I was "checked" at my 35 week appointment and wasn't dilated at all, but a week later at my 36 week appointment I was dilated 1 centimeter.  Woo-hoo progress!  By my 37 week appointment I had progressed to 2 centimeters.  Between my 37 and 38 week appointments, I was in a lot of pain.  I was afraid I was going to go into labor early, but at my 38 week appointmet I was still at 2 centimeters....possibly 2 1/2....but nothing to get too overly excited about.  I was getting a little bummed about being in all that pain and not making any progress, but then Dr. Brass asked if I was ok with being induced at 39 weeks.  UM....YEA!!!  I don't know if it was because I had been so uncomfortable or if it was because my belly is measuring big or if it was Divine Intervention, but I didn't argue.  BRING ON THE PITOCIN!

  Hahahahahaha!!!  I have to go back Thursday, April 9th to get checked one last time by Dr. Dean (he will be the one who delivers me if Preston comes on Friday....Or it will be Dr. Brass if Preston is stubborn and comes on

 Saturday.)  I will then get all the information I need for Friday; like when to show up and what exactly will happen.  I really like Dr. Dean, but have only seen him twice so I'm a little nervous.  I really would have rather had Dr. Jarvis, since he's been my doctor for the last 5 years...but I guess it won't matter as long as I have a healthy Preston at the end of it all.

So here are my 34, 36, and 38 week belly shots.  I'll take one last picture tomorrow at 39 weeks before delivering just so I can have on record how big I actually got!

It's really hard to tell the growth because they are taken at different angles, but at least you get the gist of it.

Here is a link to the nursery pics.  It's not COMPLETELY done, but it's done enough for now.  Also the last picture in this album is the outfit we are considering for Preston's coming home outfit....if anything changes, I'll let y'all know!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=cdbrikley85&target=ALBUM&id=5322349032206195393&authkey=Gv1sRgCM2Ev8_htKvlOw&authkey=Gv1sRgCM2Ev8_htKvlOw&invite=CKeP97oM&feat=email

AHHH!  I almsot forgot, I had maternity pictures taken a few weeks back and forgot to share those also!  Here's the links to the proofs.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=cdbrinkley85&target=ALBUM&id=5314948096983178753&authkey=Gv1sRgClyJuL3F6JyDUA&authkey=Gv1sRgClyJuL3F6JyDUA&invite=CM2RgPMK&feat=email

34 Weeks and Remembering to take a Belly Pic!

Remembering to take my belly pics might not seem like a hard task, BUT IT IS!!!  I'm so tired all the time that I can't remember anything, and when I DO remember to take the pic, I'm too tired to do it!!!  Being pregnant is HARD!  LOL   I haven't had the energy or the memory to take a picture since 28 weeks, so here I am 6 weeks later!  Not too much of a difference, but there IS a little bit of growth.  I'll try to remember to take/post the pictures for the remaining weeks!

Which MAY or MAY NOT be six more weeks!  I can't even begin to tell you all how sick I've been lately.  I feel like I'm back in the first trimester!  I get sick when I eat, sick when I don't eat, sick when I get hot, sick if I get too cold, sick if I sit up, sick if I lay down....on and on and on and on!  I've also been experiencing some Braxton Hicks (BH's) contractions lately.  Friday night/Saturday morning I had BH's from 3 am to 5 am that came EVERY EIGHT MINUTES!!!  We were just getting ready to get up and go to the hospital when they stopped, so I took some Tylenol and tried to go back to sleep.  Preston didn't move that entire time which made me a little bit worried, but he made up for it later!  I was throwing up again all day Saturday, which was lovely since the weather was BEAUTIFUL and James was outside working in the yard.  I was actually kind of jealous.  I tried to go out and help him, but then I just got too hot and had to go back inside.  Same thing happened Sunday with the yard work.  I set up my chair outside to "supervise" James' work, but after about 30 minutes I was getting over-heated.  I had to go back inside and put ice packs all over me.

I go to the back to the doctor this Thursday afternoon for my first exam.  I'll be really surprised if she tells me nothing's going on.  I'm really hoping for at least a centimeter!  Stay tuned!

Introducing Peanut Jelly & Butter....WHAT???

Wow it's been a while since I posted!  SORRY!  We did go back for another 4D ultrasound, but it didn't go much better.  At first baby was facing my back and wouldn't turn around.  BOOGER!  So we went to the doctor's appointment, drank some cold water, did a few squats, and went back.  VOILA!  He turned around!!!  ONLY he kept his hands (that's right I said handS...both of them!) over his face the whole time.   He's either REALLY camera shy like his daddy or a little bit on the ornery side.  Maybe it's a little bit of both (LORD KNOWS his daddy is! LOL, but that's why we love him!)  But we were able to get some great pictures of his cute little hands.   Looks like there are 5 cute little fingers on each hand!  No need to count them when he decides to come into the world!  Anyway, here are the pictures and for the first time EVER I can proudly say.....INTRODUCING PRESTON JAMES BRINKLEY!!!!!

Yes, we know that should we ever want to get get his initials monogrammed somewhere it would be PBJ...making it appear that we named our son after a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, but we didn't.  So lets all get the laughs out now and embrace the fact that James & Clarissa FINALLY picked a name!!!!  

Disappointment

Well James and I went yesterday for our 4D ultrasound and were a little disappointed in Lil Man.  Baby decided he didn't want to be seen, so he kept his little arm in front of his face almost the WHOLE TIME!  He's already a little booger!!!  After about 30 minutes of the tech shaking the heck out of my belly, getting up and walking around, going to the restroom, and almost faiting on the table, baby finally moved his arm just long enough to catch a few pictures of the side of his face.  THEN he turned around backwards so we could only see the back of his head.  So it wasn't what we were hoping it would be and I don't think the pictures are clear enough to tell who he looks like yet (although I found a picture of me in my baby book that is seriously the spitting image of the first picture below.....but that could be wishful thinking :) but we are going back next Friday to have a repeat ultrasound done.  If the little guy won't cooperate then, we will have paid $140 for nothing.  We only get one "Mulligan" on this so we will have to pay again if we don't get good pictures next week.  AND since I'm still all sorts of nervous about not getting everything we need because I only have one more shower scheduled, we'll probably just save the $140 for something from the registry (like the pack-n-play we want, but haven't gotten yet.......if anyone wants to go in on it with us!  LOL j/k).  So here are the pictures we did get....stay tuned for (HOPEFULLY) better ones next week!

As the tech was turning the machine off, it switched from 4D to regular and she said "OH MAN!  LOOK at THAT!"  I couldn't figure out what she was talking about so I asked "What? Is something wrong?"  She said "ALL THAT HAIR!"  So she snapped a picture of his hair floating in the fluid.  YAY!  He's going to have a full head of hair like his momma did!!!