Father's Day 2012

Father's Day is one of those holidays that sometimes gets overlooked. It is by far overshadowed by its counterpart holiday, Mother's Day. But for the first time, Father's Day was much more to me, of course because it was the first time that I was a father. We decided a few weeks ago we would pack up the car and head to Western Kentucky for Father's day. My parents were extremely excited about this because not only would Jennifer and I be coming home, but it would be Brinley's first trip to McLean County. 

After finishing my day shift at the hospital I came home to begin the packing that we had put off until the last minute. We decided that we will never try to do this again because it is much more difficult trying to pack for not only yourselves, but for your 1 month old daughter, while she is fussy the whole time and just wants to be  held. It made for an interesting hour of running around the house and praying during the drive that we didn't forget anything of vital importance (We actually didn't forget anything, lucky for us). We grabbed a bite to eat and headed out on the 3 hour drive. Thankfully Brinley took a full bottle before leaving the house and she slept the whole trip. We arrived around midnight to the house that I spent the majority of my childhood in and waiting at the door with a big grin on her face was my mother, but at the moment I think she was a happier grandma. I emptied the car and put together Brinley's pack-n-play so that Brinley would have somewhere to sleep. We fed Brinley a little snack and then called it a night. 

Brinley got up at 6:30 so we decided to give her a little bath so that she would be nice and clean for church that morning. During the bath time, Jennifer asked me if I noticed anything during the night. I of course didn't because I had been up all day the day before. She said that grandma had come in during the night with a flashlight to check on Brinley. I thought this was probably going to happen during our stay because my mother had told me on many occasions that she would wake up during the night and come watch us in our cribs. She said that she just couldn't go back to sleep until she saw for herself that we were OK. Before getting dressed we decided to weigh her. She weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 ounces, which is 2 pounds more than her birth weight. The scale was vintage, being that it was the same scale that my mother was weighed on when she was a baby. After breakfast we decided to give grandpa our gift that we got him. Brinley and Jennifer then gave me my first Father's day present and it was great. I got a new book to read Brinley that is called "My Dad Loves Me!" and Jennifer made me a picture frame that had the first picture that was taken of me holding  Brinley and it had the words to the song by Stevie Wonder "Isn't She Lovely". I also got a card that Brinley signed with some help from her mother. 

My gifts from Brinley and Jennifer

We then headed to Buck Creek Baptist Church, which is where I grew up attending my entire life. Some of the members are like family to us and we always enjoy getting to see them. The most excitement came as we were entering the doors of the church. I was surveying the crowd to find somewhere to sit when Jennifer said in a very frantic voice that she had seen a spider in Brinley's car seat. I quickly put the car seat down and unbuckled Brinley and began the search for the spider. I was unable to find it until I got Brinley out and then I spotted it run out from under a cushion. I quickly grabbed it and threw it out. Jennifer was frantically brushing off Brinley's clothes and I asked her what she was doing. She said she couldn't see it. I informed her that the spider was found and I got rid of it. The spider search had now completely woken Brinley up, which didn't look good for her cooperation during the service. (The last 2 times we attempted to attend church Brinley decided that after the music she wanted to do anything but listen to the preacher. So, we had decided that we would try watching services on TV until we felt comfortable sending her to the nursery or if we thought she could be calm during the services.) When telling the story later to some family, I found out that Jennifer had felt something on her neck and had went to scratch her neck, when she felt something move, she flicked it off and the spider went right onto Brinley. For any of you that don't know, Jennifer is petrified of spiders which made this even more scary for Jennifer.

So instead of putting her back in the car seat, I decided that I would just hold her because I figured that she would get fussy and we would have to step out into the hallway. During the service they gave all the dads a little gift for Father's Day. Then they said that they were going to recognize a few extra dads. They gave away an extra little gift for the dad with the oldest child, most children and youngest child. I was lucky enough to win the award for having the youngest child. We then listened to the sermon and Brinley didn't even make a single noise. She slept soundly through the whole service. Afterwards a lot of people stopped by to see our little girl and tell us congratulations. We even stopped in a few classrooms to see the people that weren't in the first service. We decided to not press our luck with trying to stay any longer, so we headed back to the house to rest up before heading out to lunch. 

We ate lunch at Applebee's and of course we saw many people that we knew. We finished lunch with desert at Orange Leaf because they were giving 5 ounces free for just being a dad. Next we headed out to my cousin Tricia's house to spend some time with family that hadn't gotten to see Brinley yet. Brinley met many new people today which included Tricia, Rossy, Amanda, Rickie, Mary Ruth, Hugh, Bernie, Luke, Keegan, Michelle, Whitney, Morgan, Taylor, Gretchen, Kevin, Owen, Abby, and Sarah. Everyone enjoy seeing her and they all enjoyed passing her around so that everyone could get a chance to hold her. We spent the majority of the afternoon just talking and catching up on everything that had been happening lately. Brinley really enjoyed getting to meet some of her cousins and Great Aunt and Uncles.

Cousin Tricia

Cousin Rossy

Before heading home for the night we stopped by to see Aunt Sarah and her boyfriend Chris. Sarah tried her hand at feeding Brinley, but she might need just a little more practice with burping. We talked for a while and then made plans for dinner the next night. We called it a night and headed back to my parents house to finish up my 1st Father's Day. I can't wait to spend many more Father's Days with my little girl. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Wedding Bells are Ringing

June 2 will always hold a special place in my heart and it is due to 2 very special women that have been a part of my life. Growing up, June second was a special day because every year on that day we celebrated the birthday of my Mamaw. After Mamaw passed away, June 2nd just became a day to kind of reflect on the life of a really great women, but it never had the same celebration as it had before. So, 5 years ago Jennifer and I changed that once again for me. At that time, June 2, 2007 became the most important day in my life because Jennifer became my wife. Jury is still out if it was recently surpassed with Brinley's birth, only because without that marriage Brinley would have never graced us with her presence.

Jennifer and I had been dating for 7 years and had been engaged for 2 years, so we decided that it was time to get married. We had originally said that we could just get married on our dating anniversary date and had even decided that October 10, 2010 sounded good (10-10-10), but that was another 3 years down the road. We were still both in school and neither one of us had jobs, but we couldn't wait any longer to be husband and wife. We tossed around some dates, but ultimately decided on June 2, 2007. I love numbers and decided that 6-2-2007 was great because it contained the digits for both my football numbers (72-high school and 62-college). I figured that this would be a date that would be easy for me to remember later on. We then started the great debate about how big of a wedding we wanted. Like I said we were on a tight budget, so we wanted to go small, but then my parents started putting in requests for guests that they thought should be there. We sent out invitations and about 225 people said that they planned on attending. To save on money we Jennifer made almost everything for the wedding, including invitations, programs, favors and we even went out and purchased the food for the big day. We had such gracious friends and family members that helped out with the wedding decorations and my cousins Rossy and Tricia did our photography for us as our wedding gift!

The wedding weekend started with the arrival of some out of town guests and the rehearsal on Friday June the 1st. We had the rehearsal at Buck Creek Baptist Church (where I have been a member since birth) and the rehearsal dinner was in the old fellowship hall. The rehearsal practice was good, except for when I messed up the words while repeating my vows (which made me even more nervous for the big day). At our dinner that night, my parents had tried to recreate the city we were engaged in, New Orleans. The dinner theme was a surprise to both of us and my parents did a pretty good job. There was a fortune teller, mime and gypsy for entertainment and dinner consisted of alligator, catfish and best of all beignets. The biggest surprise of the night however was for my parents, since their 25th wedding anniversary was a few days later on June 4th and we wouldn't be able to celebrate with them. We (Andrea, McKinley and I) had a cake ordered for them that were the colors of their original wedding cake. I had even found the photo album of my parents wedding pictures to bring for everyone to see. We even got them a certificate for a little trip to a bed and breakfast in Bardstown. After seeing everyone that night, Jennifer and I headed to our childhood homes to get a little sleep before the big day.

Mom and Dad reliving their big day!

That morning I woke up like any other and just tried to relax around the house. I had some good friends that had stayed at the house with me (Tony and Lance) because they were groomsmen in my wedding. We had made some good memories over the past couple years at Georgetown College and now they would stand beside me on the big day along with my best man, my little brother McKinley. We didn't have any hair appointments or anything that we had to rush around for, so we took our time and then headed to the church about 3 hours before wedding time. Knowing that it was going to be a little time gap between arrival and wedding time, we decided to bring a PlayStation and some games to keep us occupied.

McKinley and I relieving a little stress

We took some pictures before hand of the groomsmen and even with the bridesmaids. Of course we even got a few goofy pics in too. However, I am very traditional and I said that I did not want to take any pictures with Jennifer before the ceremony because as we all know, you are not to see the bride before the wedding.

Best groomsmen picture

Before the ceremony was to start, we had our gifts for each other sent to one another. We had decided that we would make something for each other because it would mean more and of course we didn't have much money. I made Jennifer a picture collage of us over the past 7 years and Jennifer made me a picture frame that had picture hole cutouts that spelled out Bahamas, which is where we were going to go on our Honeymoon.

My gift to Jennifer

We also did the traditional something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue. We also included the part that usually gets left out - which is a sixpence in her shoe. The something old was a handkerchief that was once a bonnet that Jennifer wore when she was a baby (Brinley got one of these from Grandma and Grandpa Heflin after being born). The something new was the wedding band that she was going to receive. Something borrowed (which is supposed to come from a happily married couple) was a pocket watch that my dad carried on his wedding day and Jennifer wore my mother's pearl necklace and bracelet. Something blue was Jennifer's garter. The sixpence in her shoe was brought back from England by Andrea while she was studying abroad. The sixpence was dated 1928, which just so happened to be the same year my Mamaw got married.

Dad letting me borrow his pocket watch

The ceremony started at 2:30 (which is another tradition because a wedding should start at the half hour so that your wedding starts on the upswing). It all started with the seating of parents and grandparents, followed by lighting of memorial candles for my Mamaw and Jennifer's dad Bobby Bolton.

Lighting of memorial candles - lit by eldest daughter of both

After waiting patiently for the bridesmaids to slowly walk in, the moment arrived for me to see my bride for the first time. Jennifer looked absolutely beautiful in her dress, which was nothing new, but today she just had a little sparkle in her eye. I still to this day can't actually believe that I was lucky enough to find someone as amazing as her.

My beautiful bride!

Jennifer carried a bouquet of roses with some pictures of her dad dangling from them.

Jennifer's bouquet

This was so that her dad, who had passed away the year before, could still walk her down the aisle. I met her halfway down the aisle and helped her the rest of the way. Brother John Galyen was the pastor who married us, but unless I watch the tape, I couldn't tell you one word that he said that day (other that you can kiss your bride). I spent the whole time staring at my bride and at that time nothing else mattered in the world. We tried to have many unique features to our wedding, since we didn't like a few of the traditional ideas. For one we didn't have a flower girl because they typically have a temper tantrum and I didn't want anyone stealing the attention of our guests, because it was our day. So instead we had our guests throw out rose pedals before Jennifer walked down the aisle. We also didn't like the idea of the unity candle, so we decided to do a sand ceremony. This is a similar idea, but with 2 different colors of sand (white representing Jennifer and black representing myself) combining they could never be separated, just like our love.

Sand Ceremony

We exchanged vows and rings and then I got to kiss my bride. It was a fairly quick ceremony and then we had everyone else head over to the reception hall while we took some pictures.

First kiss as husband and wife

Newest addition to the Heflin Family

While taking some of our outside pictures we noticed my cousin Gretchen come out of the reception hall crying. We didn't have any idea at the time, but we soon found out that my little cousin Owen had knocked over some lattice and it had fallen right onto our wedding cake and grooms cake. Word from the reception hall was that when the lattice started to fall it was almost in slow motion and nobody could get to it in time. Without missing a beat some of the men pulled the lattice work off the cake and the women immediately started working on the cake. The lattice also broke one of our toasting flutes and even broke the veil off the cake topper. Sandra Worman quickly drove to her house and got the flutes that she had used on her wedding day so that we would have something to toast with. The veil got super glued back on at a later date. The only downfall was that Jennifer never got to see our wedding cake before the lattice work got a hold of it. It is still pretty funny when we talk about it and I am always quick to recommend to couples about to tie the knot to not put anything behind the cake that could potentially fall.

Our cake before the accident

Grooms cake - before deflation

After accident - no veil on bride, messed up top 2 layers and new toasting flutes

After cutting the cake and drinking our sparkling grape juice for a toast, we tried to say hello to as many of the people as possible. Then we got all the single ladies and gentlemen around for the garter and bouquet toss. We each grabbed a quick bite to eat and then we took off for a quick little car ride for a photo opportunity before everyone left. We chose not to have people throw bird seed because I was afraid of the retribution that was in store for me. As a young child I thought it was funny to empty about 20 of the little birdseed bags into a cup at one of my cousin's weddings. It wasn't that bad except that I waited until they were in their car to throw it at them. They said that they picked birdseed out of the car for the next year. Sorry Michelle!

We changed into some more comfortable clothes and then headed off on our first adventure as husband and wife. We drove to Nashville in the decorated car to spend the night before flying out the next day to the Bahamas. Our first meal was at Ruby Tuesday, where apparently the food took too long (didn't really realize it because we were just so happy talking about how wonderful our day had been) so they cut our bill in half. Pretty sweet start to this marriage!

Mr & Mrs Heflin

Today is our 5 year anniversary and it seems like just yesterday we were exchanging the vows. I guess they say that time flies when you are having fun! Jennifer and I have had many exciting adventures and formed many great memories and we can't wait to have many more together. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

First Week as Three

As you all know our lives changed dramatically on May the 4th when Miss Brinley made her arrival and as many people had told us, we soon began to realize that our lives would never be the same. After getting a little sleep the night she was born we started our day on the 5th bright and early at 6:00 am. Jennifer fed Brinley and then said that she really wanted to take a shower. After her shower, our door hardly stayed shut from people coming in and out. If it wasn't a medical staff member it was a family member or visit from friends. Brinley got to meet her Aunt Sarah, Great Granddad and Memom Clayton, Great Grandparents Nana and Poppy, Great Aunt Lisa and cousin Jayme, Ginny Fuller Watkins, and Jon and Christella Hudson. She also got to see again her Mimi and Aunt Amanda, as well as Grandpa Mike, Grandma Shelia and Uncle McKinley. Brinley also got her first delivery of flowers from Mimi, Aunt Sarah and Aunt Amanda.

Aunt Sarah

Great Granddaddy Clayton

Memom

Great Grandma Nana

Jennifer was getting a little upset with all the visitors because of course they all wanted to hold Brinley, which meant that she got less time with her. Brinley got weighed today and she had lost a little weight and was down to 6 pounds 7.5 ounces (which was the original amount that I posted to Facebook) but that is normal for newborns. She was also not jaundiced, so they gave us the option of going home tomorrow when they usually make you stay for at least 48 hours, but because we both work with children they thought we would be okay to head home a little early. So of course we said yes. That night Uncle McKinley brought us pizza and we even got a little photo shoot in of Brinley and I wearing our Michael Jordan beanies.

I already have her wearing Jordan

We offered, but she didn't seem interested

After all the visitors we were tired, so we called it quits a little early and went to bed around 9:00 pm. Boy are we getting old quick.

5/6/2012

During the night Brinley was having a lot of gas, so around 5:00 am she received her first medicine (other than her inital shots) of simthicone, or gas drops. This morning two of my former co-workers, Danyelle and Tigre showed up after night shift to see Brinley. They were excited to see her, but unable to hold her because I wouldn't allow them with having just got off work. Again we had all the health care workers stop in to check on us. They said that we could plan to be discharged at 5:00 pm today. A lady stopped by for newborn pictures and Brinley was not happy at all during the impromptu photo shoot at the foot of the bed. However, the pictures turned out great and we even got a 50% discount for working at the hospital which made it even better.

Hospital picture

I was exhausted, so I took a little nap that afternoon. Before being discharged we had a few visitors that came up from the children's hospital. Stephanie, Jess and Stacie all came by to sneak a peek at Miss Brinley. Then we packed up all of the stuff we accumulated over the 2 days and Grandpa and I headed out to pull the car up to the front of the hospital. 

Last photo before heading home

I can honestly say that I have never driven that slow in my life on the way home. I was at least 10-15 miles below the speed limit at all times. She actually slept the whole way home while Jennifer took about 50 pictures of her in the car seat and worried the whole time if she was getting enough oxygen because her head was bent forward just a little too much for her liking. We arrived home and immediately took her to see her room that we had worked so hard on the past couple of months. She immediately began crying, but only because she was hungry, so we will see in the next couple of years if monkeys are something that she likes or not. Grandma and Grandpa brought us some dinner and then headed out to a hotel, so we called it a night. We got our real taste of parenthood tonight because after Brinley would eat we would lay her down to sleep and within about 30 minutes she would be awake and having a crying fit. We attempted feeding again, but nothing seemed to make her happy. After deliberation we decided that our sanity was more important, so we gave her a pacifier. Of course she loved it. However, as I have found with most newborns, she was unable to keep it in her mouth. So Jennifer and I decided to sleep with our heads at the foot of the bed and every time I would hear her rumbling around I would reach my arm over the foot board and place the pacifier back in her mouth. Of course about every 3 hours we would both get up and change her and then Jennifer would feed her. So it made for a very long night.

5/7/12
Today we slept in until around 9:00 am. Grandma Shelia and Grandpa Mike came back from the hotel and listened to the account of our first overnight experience by ourselves with Brinley. They took Brinley and watched her for a little while so we could rest up a little. However, we were unable to sleep, so we just finished up some of the chores that needed to be done around the house. They had to get back home so they left that afternoon, but before leaving they each read Brinley a story.

She didn't care much for the book because she was hungry

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and sleeping off and on as much as Brinley would allow us. Jennifer continued her breastfeeding and everything seemed to be going great. We tried to get to bed early again because we knew that tomorrow would be a big day because it was our first doctors appointment.








5/8/12
Brinley got her first bath at home today. Mommy did all the work because I was trying to capture every second on camera.

She was not a fan of the bath

After bath time we headed out to our first doctors appointment. At the Kentucky Clinic we were seen by the general pediatrics team. 

Brinley fell asleep waiting at the doctors

We started by getting her weight and she had lost even more since being discharged from the hospital. She weighed in at 6 pounds 2 ounces, which was close to 10% loss of her intital body weight. We met with a lactation nurse and then they sent us home, but wanted us to return the next day to see if we started to gain any weight. When we got home we tried to take the tips from the lactation nurse, but it was really frustrating for all of us. Brinley was falling asleep just after a few gulps, so we would have to constantly stimulate her to wake her back up. Each feeding was taking us about an hour. So, now we would feed for an hour, rock her to sleep for about 10-15 minutes and then try to lay down ourselves, only to get up about 1 and a half hours later to try and feed. After doing this process for 3 times we had enough of the insanity. We decided that Jennifer would just use a breast pump and we could feed her the milk with a bottle. So around 9:30 pm Brinley had her very first bottle, which actually happened to be formula because she was fussy and we didn't have any milk for her at the time. After she gulped down 2 ounces in about 15 minutes she was a much happier little girl. The night went much smoother after we started giving Brinley breast milk from the bottle.

5/9/12

The next morning Brinley received her very first FedEx delivery to the house. It was flowers from Aunt Andrea and Chris. They were sad that they couldn't come see her right after she was born, but they had already booked their flights to come see her at the end of May and they couldn't wait. 

Brinley with her flowers

That afternoon we headed back to the doctor to see if Brinley was gaining any weight. She weighed in at 6 pounds 6 ounces, which was a 4 ounce gain overnight. We informed them about how we were feeding her and they brought in a new lactation nurse to talk with us and to see how Brinley was actually doing while feeding. The lactation nurse decided that we should try to wait for Jennifer's full milk supply to come in and until it did Jennifer should continue to pump and we could feed with a bottle. We would have to come back the next week for a check up and to start transitioning back to breastfeeding. This approach sounded much more reasonable to us, so we set off to try again.

5/10/12

She is so precious

Today we had pictures scheduled with a friend of ours, Katie Davis, who also did our pregnancy photos. She had us meet her at her house for a little photo shoot of Brinley. The drive took about an hour and we spent about 2-3 hours taking pictures and then had to make the hour drive back home. We stopped for a little treat before heading home. We went through the drive-thru for the first time with Brinley to get an ice cream cone. After the drive home we were completely exhausted, so again we got to bed early. In the end it was completely worth it because Katie really captured some great photos of our little girl. Brinley also caused Katie a little extra work by peeing on one backdrop and pooping on another. I guess that happens more often than not when taking diaper-less newborn pictures. 

Right before she peed all over the place

5/11/12

Jennifer had a doctors appointment today and decided that it was probably easier if I just stayed home with Brinley. So while Mommy was away I thought that Brinley's hands were a little cool, so instead of putting on an outfit with sleeves that covered her arms better I would just improvise. We actually had mittens, but because her hands were so little they kept falling off, so I just put some socks on her hands. Guess what? It worked.

Our sock puppets

Jennifer didn't really approve of the accessories when she got home, but we had a good time and that is all that matters. At 8:46 pm I sang Happy Birthday to Brinley Kate because she had officially been here for 1 full week. The past 7 days seemed to have flown by and I can't believe how many wonderful memories we have already made and can't wait to make many more. Brinley has been one of the greatest things to happen to me. Jennifer and I are truly blessed to have her. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Sleep Deprevation

Since returning home from the hospital with our baby girl everything has just been great. The only downfall to having a newborn in the house is the altered sleep schedule that we must now survive on. We didn't start the sleep schedule off on the right foot because at the time Brinley was born I hadn't slept in about 30 hours and Jennifer had been up for about 40. So needless to say we were both extremely exhausted. I also had trouble sleeping in the hospital because I was hyper vigilant of every whimper that Brinley made. I was also getting up at least every 3 hours to change a diaper and to help Jennifer to try to feed Brinley.

So after our 2 nights in the hospital we were discharged to home. Here I was able to sleep in our much more comfortable bed. However according to Jennifer I have had multiple episodes during the first week home with some "sleep walking" episodes from sleep deprivation. My first occurrence was on day 2 at home and apparently I woke from a dead sleep to the sound of Brinley crying. According to Jennifer, I was frantically searching in the comforter for my daughter, but I was unable to find her. Jennifer asked me what I was doing and I informed her that I placed Brinley right there in the covers, but I couldn't find her now. She then proceeded to tell me that Brinley was in her bed. Sure enough I looked and Brinley was in her bed.

The next night I was sleeping and Jennifer told me that I just woke up randomly during the night and stood up and pretended to put a baby in the crib, but I did not have Brinley. She was sound asleep in the swing at the time. After I laid down the imaginary baby I just got back in bed and went to sleep. By doing this 2 nights in a row I am sure that Jennifer began to get a little scared that I would accidentally get up in my sleep and do something that might harm Brinley. She made sure to tell me the next morning what I did (which I vaguely recalled) and insisted that I take a nap that afternoon.

After taking a nap the next day and trying to get a little nap in whenever Brinley is sleeping I have thankfully not had any more episodes. Even though we haven't gotten the regular amount of sleep as we did before, I wouldn't change a second of it for the world. I enjoy being a father more than I could have ever imagined. I can't wait to watch her grow up into a wonderful young lady! Thanks so much for ready reading and God Bless!

Our baby girl!

Delivery Day (5/4/12)

After our doctors appointment at 9:30 am we headed home to get to bed since we were both supposed to work that night. First we decided to stop at Wal-Mart to pick up some calamine lotion, because Jennifer developed PUPPP, which is an irritating rash that happens to 1% of first time mom's.(Lucky Jennifer) We also picked up a bag of new green apple flavored twizzlers and some strawberries. After getting home we both tried the twizzlers and then I read Brinley a few night time stories. Today I chose Brown Bear (one that she is usually really active for) and "On the Night You Were Born". I had been reading this last one to her for about a week now because I figured at least one time I am going to be right.  At 11:00 am I had just taken my glasses off and put them on the night stand and closed my eyes when Jennifer says "My water just broke!" I jumped out of bed and the adrenaline started pumping through my veins. I fumbled my glasses before getting them to my face, so I had to stop to pick them up. I took a look and sure enough the bed was soaked. I started to panic and asked what I needed to do. Jennifer started giving me a list of things I needed to do and I was unable to comprehend any of it because my brain was scattered in all different directions. I had to ask her again what she said, so this time she gave me individual tasks. First was to get her a towel, then to find what she had worn to the doctors that morning. In between tasks I took all the sheets off the bed and tried to clean up all the amniotic fluid ("broken water") so that when we returned home it wasn't a mess. The first person I called was my brother because I had promised him that since he was usually the last to know things I would call him first. No answer, so I texted him (come to find out he was actually taking his last final exam of the semester). Then I called my parents so they could start to make the 3 hour drive up and then I called my sister to inform her that she would soon be an aunt. After getting dressed we started to head down to the garage. But before we went down, Jennifer asked me to get another towel for the car and a trash bag. I ended up in the basement with a grocery bag, so I had to go back for the correct bag. While up in the kitchen I noticed some popcorn that had missed our mouths scattered around the table, so I took a moment to clean it up because I knew that we had people staying in the house while we were at the hospital. We made it out to the car and got settled in. Before starting the car, we took a moment to say a prayer that both Jennifer and Brinley would be safe during this labor process and that he would be with us as we were about to become a family of 3. After our emotional little prayer I had to update my Facebook status saying that we were headed to the hospital. Then we backed out of the driveway for the last time as a family of two and headed out of the subdivision. About halfway out of the subdivision we realized that Jennifer didn't have her purse, so we circled back to try it again. This time it really was our last time backing out the drive just the 2 of us.

On the way to the hospital Jennifer called her family members to let them know that Brinley would be arriving sooner that our due date. We arrived at noon and parked in the clinic were we usually park for work and made the walk into the hospital. Movies sometimes give you an unrealistic view of events and that was exactly the case with us. Upon arrival we thought we would be rushed back to a room and get everything set up and that the doctor would be quickly behind to inform us of the plan. Instead, we arrived at the birthing center check-in and there was no one at the window. I, being in a frantic state of mind, started looking around everywhere for the attendant. What seemed like 10 minutes later, which was probably about 30 seconds, the person finally arrived to check us in. He took down our name and then made us sit in some chairs while he put together a chart. Five minutes later we were taken into a triage room. A resident doctor arrived a few minutes later and said they were going to check to make sure that her water had broke. She checked and quickly agreed that it was broke and decided that she was 4 cm and 90% effaced. The dilemma now was that there were no available delivery rooms. We would have to wait until someone could be moved out and have the room cleaned.

Jennifer in the triage room.

The nurse started an IV and hung a bag of fluids since Jennifer was not allowed to eat or drink until after Brinley's arrival. We also got asked about a 1,000 questions, by about 6 different people, all of which seemed to be repetitive. It would have been nice if the first person that asked the questions had just relayed the information. (Interesting to finally see how some of my patients and families feel when we do this same exact thing to them) In the triage room is where we met our nurse, Brittney, who ended up being with us until Brinley arrived. At this point her contractions were about every 3-5 minutes apart and she was in a considerable amount of pain when each one happened. A few weeks prior to this we had discussed what our plans for the delivery were and she had said that she wanted to wait as long as possible for the epidural, but that she did want one. I had suggested getting it sooner than later, because I had heard stories of waiting too long and not having enough time for an epidural. So, while in the triage room I asked if they knew which anesthesia resident was on call for today. They informed me that Dr. Parks was on, who is a friend of mine, so I asked if they could page her to come talk to us. She arrived and said that as soon as she wanted to have the epidural to let her know, but she would be around the area all day. After all the questions were answered, they left us by ourselves until a room became available. Jennifer became extremely hot at this point and made me fan her with some of the papers we had received upon arrival. We finally were told that a room was ready, so we gathered up our stuff and we helped Jennifer into a wheelchair. When she got into the wheelchair it was like another flood gate opened and more of Brinley's swimming pool gushed out onto the floor.

We arrived in room 317 around 2 pm. This was a really nice and spacious room. Upon arrival Jennifer told me that she was ready for the epidural, so I informed our nurse to let Dr. Parks know we were ready. Dr. Parks arrived and informed us of the complications and made Jennifer sign some paperwork. Jennifer sat up on the side of the bed and Dr. Parks started the process of placing an epidural. At 2:35 the epidural was in place and Jennifer started to feel much better. Jennifer decided that she was extremely tired, so she tried to take a nap. Before she could fall asleep the grandparents-to-be were beginning to arrive. Grandpa Mike and Grandma Shelia were the first to arrive, followed closely by Jennifer's mom, MiMi. We talked for a while and recounted the events that had occurred up until now.

Jennifer in her pretty hospital gown.

Once the epidural kicked in Jennifer no longer felt any of the contractions, she was actually pretty comfortable. The nurse would periodically come in and make sure we were doing ok. Around 4:30 they came in to check again to see what progress had been made. The resident doctors decided that she was 7cm and 90%. They told Jennifer to let them know if she had any more pressure that made her fill like pushing to let them know. Around 6:00 Jennifer started to feel some more pressure, so they came back in to check her and she was now 8 cm and 100%. The whole labor process was moving much faster than I had expected. We had talked with many friends recently who had taken much longer to get this far or hadn't got this far and had to have a c-section. So we were both pleasantly surprised to have this much progress so quickly. However, things started to get a little scary for us around 6:30. Miss Brinley decided that she was going to start dropping her heart rate at random times for no reason at all. Each time this happened they came in and made Jennifer re-position to another side and would reattach the monitoring device. After re-positioning multiple times they decided to try another option, which was placing oxygen on Jennifer. As you know, Jennifer and I both work in the hospital, but obstetrics is not an area that we are familiar with. We were unsure of what options were ahead of us if Brinley continued to drop her heart rate. This time was scary for us all, so we said another quick prayer that Brinley would be safe for her arrival. Our families also decided that they would stay in the waiting room so that Jennifer could have a quiet and calm environment.

Jennifer with her oxygen.

Most of you know that Jennifer is on the quiet side, but she always talks up a storm to me. During this time she was extremely quiet, so once I asked her why she wasn't talking to me and she said that she was only trying to breath in as much oxygen as she could right now, so no time for talking. Around 7:45 the residents came back in to check on Jennifer and they now said that she was 10 cm and 100%. They said that Dr. Marcum, who was the attending doctor who was to do the delivery should be called. At this time about 5 new nurses arrived and started setting up all kinds of equipment. With the nurses we started to do some practice pushes. I explained to the nurse that we were unable to attend a birthing class, so we were unsure of everything that we both needed to do during this next phase of labor. This was another time in which I was trying to pay attention, but my brain wasn't listening fully. So we began a practice push and all I remembered was that I needed to count to 10. Jennifer pushed when they told her and after it I began counting to 10, then Jennifer pushed and I followed it with a count to 10. After the second time I counted to 10 Jennifer looked over at me and said "Your counting at the wrong time". So I learned my lesson and began counting to 10 during the push and not after. A few minutes after starting some initial pushing, the resident came in and said to wait because the doctor was not in house and she needed time to arrive from her house. So we patiently waited for the doctor to arrive. At 8:05 the real pushing began. Due to a very successful epidural, Jennifer was unable to feel any contractions at all, so the nurses and doctor had to inform her when each contraction started and when to push. They even pulled a mirror over so that Jennifer could see her progress. All the nurses and doctors in the room were very supportive and encouraging to Jennifer. Brinley was also having some drops in her heart rate during this time as well, so we heard the doctor tell a nurse to have an OR (operating room) ready and to have the NICU on standby if needed. I am not sure if Jennifer heard this conversation or not, but it made me even more nervous. I tried to stay as calm and encouraging to Jennifer because I knew that me freaking out in front of her wouldn't be good. After about 40 minutes of pushing we finally were able to meet our daughter and we couldn't have been happier. At 8:46 I met my daughter for the first time and it was the most amazing thing. I was able to cut the umbilical cord and then they immediately placed Brinley on Jennifer's chest, which is part of a new practice by the hospital, called kangaroo care. Brinley was only allowed to be held by Jennifer for the first hour.

Brinley's first picture

After that hour they took her into another room to weigh her and do an initial assessment. They also gave her a couple of shots, which she was not a fan of. She was 6 pounds and 12 ounces and 19.5 inches long. (Although I incorrectly said that she weighed 6 pounds and 7.5 ounces because I misunderstood the nurse.)

She was not happy about those shots

The next hour I got to hold my daughter and at that time everything in the world seemed to be right. I don't think someone could have slapped the smile off my face if they had tried. We had been waiting a extremely long time for her to arrive and the moment almost seemed surreal.

My baby girl

After I got some time with my baby girl, they let our families come back. The grandparents were extremely excited to finally get to see their 1st grandchild. We spent some time together and then they moved us to our new room for the night. We moved to room 369 and that is where Brinley got her very first presents. Grandma and Grandpa Heflin gave her a set of silver eating utensils and a handkerchief bonnet. We were then extremely tired so we decided to call it a night. We took a short nap before waking up at 3 am to have Brinley get her first bath (All newborns at UK are given a bath at 6 hours of birth). We didn't bring in any of her clothes, so I went to get her clothes out of the car. So we took this opportunity to have a photo shoot with our little girl.

Shirt made by Mom

We even had to accessorize with hair bows that her mom had made her. After our photo shoot I decided that we would do the only thing that was appropriate at the time - we read "On the Night You Were Born". Then we decided to try and get another nap in before all the visitors and doctors would start coming in for the day. May the 4th, 2012 could not have been any better and I cannot believe how blessed we truly are to have a happy healthy little girl. I can't wait to use this blog to recount all the wonderful things that we do together so that she will have many memories to look back on when she gets older. Thanks for reading and God Bless!

Daddy's little elephant

Pregnancy Journey (Third Trimester)

The final trimester seemed like an endless journey in which the goal was highly anticipated, but always seems so far away. We started off this trimester by investing in some new books to add to Brinley's collection. We bought her first Dr. Seuss books and her first Bible. We have both really enjoyed getting to read to Brinley and feel her kick and move around during these readings. Of all the books that she has got, she tends to get more active when we read her Brown Bear. We try to read to her almost everyday and can't wait until she gets to see all the pictures that go along with the stories. I guess that I just forgot over the years how much fun it is to read a Dr. Seuss book. Almost everyone of his books gets me tongue tied at some point.

Brinley's favorite book

Jennifer got into an extreme craft mood. She had stuff spread all over the house so I decided to set her up a designated room to do all of her crafts. I got her a large table and set it up in the loft along with her sewing machine, ribbon, scrapbooks and all of her accessories. She made a small quilt for Brinley to use while in her car seat. She also made a diaper clutch so that she could carry all the diaper changing essentials without having to haul around the entire diaper bag. Jennifer also started turning onesies into art by ironing on designs.

Small quilt

Diaper clutch

Decorated onesie

We also celebrated my last birthday before becoming a family of three. My parents came into town and we went to eat at PF Chang's. My fortune cookie was perfect for me because it said that I would receive a surprising gift very soon. We came back to the house and had some cake and I opened a few gifts and cards from my family. Jennifer got me a Michael Jordan outfit and hat for Brinley so that we can match once she gets here. However, the most exciting event from the night belonged to my parents. They had been trying to feel Brinley kick every chance they could and before dinner they were both able to feel one. They were both really excited and grinning from ear to ear.

The happy grandparents finally felt her kick

Towards the end of March, my cousin Tricia and my mom threw us a baby shower back in Western Kentucky. We were really excited to spend some time with friends and family that we just don't get a chance to see as often as we would like too. Miss Brinley is definitely loved by many people. She received so many gifts, including many handmade items, tons of clothes and lots of other toys and accessories.

Our cake that was inspired by her room

Starting to open the many gifts

A few days after our shower in western Kentucky we had a baby shower that was given to us by Jennifer's co-workers in the NICU. We had a nice dinner at Olive Garden and got many wonderful gifts.  My co-workers in the PICU gave us a large gift card to help with all the little things that we may have forgotten. Many other people have given us gifts along the way, too. Brinley is going to be one lucky little girl. She already has a closet full of clothes and as many accessories a girl could want. All the money that we got went to opening Brinley's first savings account. We appreciate all the thoughtfulness and generosity from everyone.

One of our coworkers has recently gotten into photography and we decided that we would like to have some pregnancy photos taken. We booked a day and went out to a park to have some pics made. Katie Davis did a wonderful job and we can't wait to have our newborn pictures of Brinley taken with her too.

Brinley's first blocks 

Starting at 36 weeks we began going to the doctor every week for check-ups. At 36 weeks Jennifer was already 1cm dilated and 25% effaced. This was very promising because some people never start to dilate until getting into the hospital. At 37 weeks we were 2 cm and 50% and we thought that this was going so smoothly. We were making such great progress and Miss Brinley was now considered full term, so Jennifer was really excited to have Brinley make her arrival. By 38 weeks we were 3 cm and 50%. Our doctor said that we actually had gotten past the most difficult part. Most 1st time moms have a difficult time getting this far. We were so excited that Jennifer made me pack all of our stuff into the car just in case. At our 39 week appointment we were ready for our doctor to tell us that we were so far along that we could just head over to the hospital to deliver. However, we were at a standstill of 3 cm and 75%. We talked about scheduling an induction on our expected due date of May 9th. Our doctor also gave us an option of stripping Jennifer's membranes, which can sometimes speed up the labor process. Of course we decided to go ahead because we wanted to meet Brinley. We had no idea that just 2 hours later the final stage of our pregnancy journey would be started. In between naps I will try to get my next blog up soon about the labor. Thanks for reading and God Bless!