8 months....

Baby girl how are you 8 months already! This time has flown by so very fast. I am not sure what life was like before, its as if we have known you forever. I really do think a lot of that has to do with I know you were heaven sent. I know Grammy sent you to us. I ask you about Grammy and thru the tears I ask if she sent you to me. Sometimes you just stare right back to me with your big hazel and blue eyes, or sometimes you smile like you know exactly what I'm talking about.

A few things that you love right now:
Bath time
Your brother, he always makes you squeal and giggle

Your sisters toys and when she likes to hold you

FOOD! Yes, Avocado is by far the favorite, but some foods you eat are: Sweet Potatoes, Peas, Green Beans, Carrots, Bananas. Mommy makes this all fresh and you scarf it down always.
Sippy cup is becoming your favorite. You have started to reach for it during eating, you like a drink of water in between bites just like big kids do.
Mommy's Milk, yes you are still getting Mommy's milk, about 3 bottles a day and about 3 formula bottles a day. You reach for Mommy while I am pumping and give me a nice love pat when you are hungry, it is the sweetest thing EVER!
Sleep! You are still sleeping so good baby girl. Last night you went to bed at 5:45pm slept until 6:30am, got up and ate 6 ounces of mommy's milk and then went back to sleep for a cat nap at 7:45am! You love your sleep like mommy. Usually taking only a short morning and short late afternoon nap is all.

Your bed! You are still sleeping in the big pack n play in Mommy & Daddy's bedroom. We cant move you when you sleep just perfectly sound in there. I promised Grandpa Kinney we will definitely use the crib him and G'ma got you, one day :-)
Kicking your legs! Oh baby, you kick non stop ALL the time! You love sucking on your toes, bending your legs up, waving your hands and reaching for us when you want picked up.

Books! Dylan reads books to you almost every morning when mommy is getting ready and you love it so much! This morning Dylan sang the Pumpkin book to you but your favorite book is the silly Puppy book.
Swimming! We just finished our first session of Parent/Tot swim lessons in North Liberty and you had a BLAST! By the last session you were kicking your legs in the water and splashing with your hands and reaching for the ducky while on your tummy. You love the songs we sing and dance in my arms if I start singing them.

 

Your high chair! You love sitting in your high chair and banging and making lots of noise. Throwing toys on the floor. You are so content in there, until you realize it is your high chair you are sitting in and then you start to wonder, where IS MY food?!
Your favorite toys are the chew toys, the pineapple and strawberry. You love your Marty Moose and keys and any toy that you can flick! Just like Dylan, he was always a little flicker too.

Brinkley you are so much fun to watch and learn from. Every day seeing your interaction with your brother and sister absolutely melts my heart. My most favorite moments are when we are all sitting together at home either upstairs or down and just watching you and Danielle and Dylan. Each perfect and unique in your own ways, yet the absolute LOVES of our life.

One year ago I was VERY pregnant. My tummy was finally healing nicely and I was almost the farthest I had ever been in any pregnancy. Amazing. Gods work is sure incredible! More to come on the rest of that story, but for now we enjoy your giggles & look back to then vs. now. You are a miracle!

 

 

One year ago today.....

I haven't shared much about our pregnancy up to this point, and those words are still coming. And thankfully I have video's to look back on, refresh how I felt and what we were experiencing at the time. But this day, one year ago was oh so special! An ultrasound allowed me to find out the gender of Baby # 4! We had done the maternit21 test because my age was over 35. And along with that you have the option of finding out Baby's gender. We were THRILLED! Well the test was done at 14 weeks. And it came back non-reportable, which can happen, which means not enough results to conclude the test. So I still had some time in the gestation window, and they allowed me to take the test again. The results came back just before 16 weeks and again, non-reportable. I was so upset! But I believe it was God's way of telling us to not worry, to lean on him, that everything was going to be alright. To put our faith him, to TRUST in his plan! And we did just that!

Click for 16 + week Baby Update!

I remember leaving the hospital and being SO emotional! How was I going to tell Brad, and the other kids?! And how LONG could I keep this a secret! Well I kept it a secret for just a week, but a VERY long week at that! I was SO excited to do a family reveal, afterall this was a totally different pregnancy experience for us!

But first we gave Danielle a taste test!
Yum! Click here

Here is how it turned out! Brad found out the same time as the kids did! I remember giving him a choice, to know first or to all find out together. And it went so wonderful!

Family Gender Reveal! Click here :

I had so much time prepping and baking. It sure was hard keeping them out of the kitchen! I'd say the family was SO excited to find out about you Brinkley! And to finally be able to call you baby girl.

The secret was out! But we still decided to keep it a secret from our family and friends for another week. OH MY LORD was that ever hard! But we took the Grandparents some cupcake with a little sign that said:
'Sugar and Spice and everything NICE, that's what little GIRLS are made of!'
And then we sent some cookies to siblings out of state that said the same thing!

We had never been able to actually do a 'Gender' Reveal for our friends before, so we decided we wanted this time to do something different, and it was a blast! I think our friends were excited, do you?!

Pink or Blue, which color will you shoot?!

Gender Reveal with our little Friends! Click here:

And a picture of Mommy's Belly! It is amazing how fast your belly grows with pregnancy #4! She took no time showing she was in there growing healthy as can be.

And the visible still healing scar from my TAC. More to come on that!

Ah the pure joy you have brought to our family sweet Brinkley! And look at you now darling! Melting our hearts daily. Your siblings adore you and you truly have completed our family.

 

There's so much more excitement to come! But this day and these next few weeks one year ago were truly something to remember, something to be thankful for and honestly, something for Brad and I to be VERY proud of.

February 17, 2017 / The Beginning

I had just gotten back from a girls trip to Florida. During the trip I just didn't feel right. My swelling was OUT OF CONTROL. For me to swell during a flight wasn't abnormal, but this was beyond swollen.  Yes we did a lot of walking, my diet was....you know, vacation food, but this was concerning. I thought I was late with my cycle, but Id never been concerned before, so why now. But I got home and took a pregnancy test a few days later, it was a NON-result, not positive or negative. I decided why not go in to my OB, schedule an apt and just get a blood test done. On February 17, I snuck in before work, had the test done, in the afternoon they called me with the results, it was Positive. Oh my word, I was going to be a Mommy for the 4th time!
I was scared, nervous, happy, excited, proud, but how was I going to tell my hubby. I knew he would be beyond scared. I was extremely high risk so my OB scheduled me for an immediate Ultrasound on Monday to determine current gestation and to talk about a plan. Somehow I needed to tell my husband.

We spent a lot of time like this. The big kids in my bed, snuggling with Mom. I was terrified to move. I went to work and came home and promptly went to bed to rest. 

Over the weekend Brad and I had a lot of discussion. He was hesitant because he was extremly fearful. What if we lost another baby, what if we had another NICU stay, what if something happened to me or the baby.....we had 2 other kids at home that needed us. One with very special needs and we didn't want to let them down. We didn't plan this pregnancy, this was a huge surprise to us, but in the back of our minds we knew it was for a reason. We knew this baby was heaven sent. I had lost my mama 3 years prior to Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Our future was so unknown for so many reasons. We had been relying on Gods plan for quite some time now and this was NOT the time to question him. I held strong, I went along with it, I was thrilled, but I also knew I needed to do something different. I needed Hope and a Prayer. And fast...

Feb 20, 2017
I went in for an ultrasound that morning. I was also really sick. Was it morning sickness or the flu or a nervous tummy? I wasn't sure but I had dropped a lot of weight over the weekend, over 5 pounds from getting sick and my OB was concerned. I got a sneak peek of our precious little bundle, what a joy it was to see! The heart rate was 168, the baby looked good! I was just over 7 weeks along.


Our first peek at our precious Brinkley

They promptly sent me back to meet with my OB. We hugged, I sure love her, she'd seen us before at our best and worst. Been by our sides in the scariest of times.
My visit didn't go as I had planned. I needed a game plan and a firm one, something different to try because the McDonald cerclages I had in the past did not hold. My doctor said she would do the same game plan as last time, place a McDonald cerclage around 12 weeks, possibly some bed rest and instead of a shot of progesterone, this time she would start me on a suppository now. I asked her if I should see a Perinatologist, a High Risk doctor possibly at the University or somewhere else. Nope, she thought our game plan was good. They sent me in for IV fluids and to rest. But I was unsettled.
I left her office knowing I needed more. I knew I would never be going back to her and that crushed me. However, I knew I needed Hope. I was worried but I was not defeated.
I got home and immediately called the University. I asked for a nurse, I gave her my history and within a 15 minute conversation she had me scheduled 3 days later to see a High Risk Doctor. This was the first step towards going against the grain and trying something different.~

VideoBlog's became a source of comfort for me. I needed to talk out my feelings, I wanted to remember every.single.moment. Click below for my first video memory...

Baby Vlog 10 weeks

 

2017...Gods Surprise, our Blessing

2017

Brinkley Ann blessed our sweet family.

September 12, born at 36 weeks 4 days gestation.

6 lbs 2 ounces / 20.5 inches long.

Our sweet babe, this is how your precious story began.....