Something wasn't right

The first couple weeks went by great for me at home.  The only thing that I didn't like was that my  mom tried her hardest to keep cooking me her delicious food but I guess her oven broke. I had to start drinking this nasty stuff that didn't taste as sweet. I took well to it though I think. .....I mean, ....I had to eat right? I still liked the home cooked stuff better though. Other than that, everything was going great!!
My mom bragged to everyone about how good of a baby I was. Because I never cried. I maybe wined here and there but never really cried. That was until this one particular night.
My mom's cousin Melissa invited my parents over to go hang out. Melissa loved babies and wanted one of her own one day. So she spoiled me pretty bad. I liked it though. She was even so nervous about me sleeping and "rolling over" that she surrounded me with pillows! It was like a complete circle around me.  I thought it was funny because what she didn't know was that I was still too little to even roll over. But that's okay. She took very good care of me. She kinda like stole me from my mom and took over. I didn't mind it though. I let her have her fun.
Later as it got darker I finally woke up and everyone wanted to go to dinner. But I started to get fussy right away.  My mom said she was going to feed me first,  and change my diaper, and than they would go. But my fussiness later led to full blown crying. I mean not just a normal baby cry. But a high pitched scream painful cry!  Like I was in this awful pain. My mom was scared. She didn't know what was wrong. I have never done it before. I was fed, my diaper was changed and wrapped up in my blanket the way I liked it. So she thought maybe I was hot. So the blanket comes off of me and she picks me up. I'm still screaming. She takes off everything except my diaper..... still nothing....I'm still screaming.
My mom tried everything that she knew relaxed me. Singing to me, my pacifier, rubbing my head, etc.......nothing. I was still screaming and it kept getting worse. At this point my mom and dad decided to take me to the hospital. They didn't know what was wrong. My mom was really scared. She was shaking. So she got me dressed and put me in my car seat. They hurried to the car and buckled me in.
I'm still screaming at this point....  They got into the car and my dad started to drive. As SOON as the car moved.............silence........... I stopped crying.  I was awake, I was calm, I was relaxed.......I was fine.
My mom and dad couldn't wrap their head around what just happened. But neither could I. As far as my parents knew and could figure out at that time is that , I just liked being in the car.
 The drive was relaxing and I enjoyed it. Finally we got back to the house.
I was happy and comfortable.
I was finally back home.

Home

Two whole weeks in the Hospital and I can FINALLY go home!!!! My parents were waiting for this day to come. Now it's here!!
My mom and dad were excited and getting everything packed and ready to go. The nurses told my dad he needed to bring my car seat into the nursery because they needed to see how well I was able to breathe while I was in it. I am happy to say, I did well. :) The nurses were really sad and they cried that I was leaving but happy that I was doing so good and able to finally go home!!
I wish I could say that I was also able to leave my oxygen behind. But I wasn't. I had to bring it home with me. They gave me a tiny little tank for my mom to pull around while she carried me.
So I'm packed up, in my car seat and ready to go!! I could hear my mom and talking about the oxygen tank. My mom was really scared to be driving with it in the car. My dad had to drive his work truck home while I rode with my mom in the car.
My mom was So nervous!!! She wanted to get me home safely. The oxygen tank didn't make it any easier either.  She was going so slow that I'm pretty sure a turtle could have beat her home. 
Seriously........
Finally,..... a year later we made it home. Just kidding not a year but it sure did feel like it. My mom was afraid to lay me down in my bassinet  cause of my oxygen, so she held me a lot.  Which was okay with me. I even got to sleep with her when night came! I slept like a baby. Literally.....
The next morning my mom had to run errands. She was afraid to take me in the car again so she called my nana and asked her if she could watch me while she was gone.  My mom refused to take me anywhere really while I was on oxygen unless she had to because she was so scared something would happen. So me and my mom stayed home a lot until I was able to get off my oxygen.
After being home for a week I was oxygen free!!! I was doing everything on my own!! My nana even took me and my mom to get my pictures taken. I wore some preemie clothes my mom bought me, but on one of the pictures I was an angel. The clothes swallowed me!! But I still made a pretty adorable angel!!! Cause that is exactly what my mom said I was. An angel!!! <3

Waiting to go home....

    It's been over a week and I'm still in the hospital. I am still on oxygen and still trying to finish my 4oz bottle. I am however, able to drink more than half now. I am getting so much better! And getting stronger by the minute. I hope I can get rid of this oxygen soon too. But I'm only on a bubble. So it won't be long for that either. I just want to go home already. It's so boring here. All I do is sleep, eat, and make surprises in my diaper for my mom. Home has to be funner than this!
    Days go by again, and I am still trying my hardest to finish my bottle. I was drinking more than half now. I was getting excited! And so were my parents. We knew it was only a matter of time.
     It's been 2 weeks now and time for my feeding. I'm drinking drinking drinking drinking. Than about halfway I get sleepy. I'm tired and start to fall asleep. My mom says "No no no, don't fall asleep. You have to finish."
      But I just ignore her and close my eyes. Than next thing I know, she is unwrapping me. WHAT!!! NO!!! I was SO comfortable. Now what??? I start to move a little bit and here comes the bottle. ugh. Ok mom. I'll eat a little bit more. I take a few more drinks and than zzzzzzz. Than I feel my mom kissing me all over my face. Really mom?? I am TIRED! Next thing I know she is taking off my pajamas and my socks!!! What is she doing??? I don't have a messy diaper! But she changes me anyway. I'm telling you, my mother is weird!! Than she says "Your almost done"
Almost done with what?? I'm thinking SHE needs to be done so I can sleep!!! Oh well, I'll manage I guess. without my pajamas on OR a blanket. I will still fall asleep. And so I close my eyes........
BRRRRR!!!  What is she doing now!! I'm freezing!! She is rubbing that cold thing on me again. She already did that today!! At this point I'm crying because I want to be cuddled up in my clothes and blanket and sleeping! Ok mom......I'm awake now. Thanks a lot. Now give me at least a blanket please. She put my pajamas back on but didn't wrap me back up. I guess it's better than nothing. ok mom. Are you finished now? Can I please go back to sleep?!?
          NOPE! Here comes my food again. So....I'm drinking, drinking, drinking, drinking, drinking.
Next thing I know there is nothing coming out.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I FINISHED my bottle!!!!!! WHOOP WHOOP!!! I'm going home!!!!
.....Your keeping the bottle mom?? Really?? mmmmmmmk

     

Three Days Old

December, 20, 2001.
Yes. God did come and visit me on this day. Or maybe he came to me the night before while I was sleeping? hmmm. But either way, he visited.
I was breathing by myself  SO good that I only had to be on a bubble of oxygen. Not much at all!!!!  My mommy and daddy were finally able to hold me!!!  The feeling of my mommy and daddy holding me was indescribable!!  And guess what else?!? God also helped me to get this sucking thing down so I could drink that yummy stuff like a big boy! I was SO proud of myself! I couldn't wait to show mom and dad what I finally learned to do!
 My mom and dad were VERY VERY happy when they found out. When they watched me, I felt like a super hero who just got a new power. Kinda like the Peter Parker/Spiderman story. Except a spider wasn't the cause.  God was.
 I was finally able to do this perfectly. But it didn't end there. I now had a challenge. The nurses said that  I needed to be able to drink 4oz from a preemie bottle before I was able to go home. Grrrreat! How was I suppose to do this. It was too much for me. And all I really wanted to do was sleep. But I had to do it, or at least try if I wanted to get stronger and go HOME!!
I remember my mom was filling  up the fridge with my yummy food. I mean she made me a lot. She is a really good cook!!  My mom made so much that the nurses joked with her and told her that she was a Jersey. My mom laughed back at them pretending she knew what they were talking about. But she really didn't.  Actually,  I don't think my mom found out what it meant until the next day. But when she did, she laughed and laughed.
 My mom, dad, and nurses were always rooting me on to drink the whole 4oz bottle. But I never could. Not even half. Every day I tried and tried. I tried my hardest. But I always ended up falling asleep.  But I wasn't going to give up.
The days flew by and still no progress. Christmas Eve came and my mommy and daddy left me for a little bit to go see my dad's mom. My nana. I missed them and I know they missed me but my dad told my mom that she needed to get out for a while. Finally she agreed. While they were gone someone came and visited me. It was Santa Clause! I wanted my mom and dad to see me with him, but they weren't there. So they took a picture to show them when they got back.  It was so cool! He was very nice.
 Not too long after Santa left, my mom and dad were back. I was sleeping and exhausted from visiting Santa. My mom and dad loved the picture though!! I knew they would. For me, it was a great day!
 Christmas morning came and the nurse that had me in her care that day was so cool!!! She put a Santa hat on me. Dressed me up in all red and put striped green and red socks on me. I looked like a little elf. My mom and dad walked into the room and saw me. They loved what I was dressed in. My mom picked me up and said "Merry Christmas handsome man" Than I heard my dad say "Merry Christmas buddy". Than it was time for my feeding.  I finished the WHOLE bottle!!! ..............just kidding. gotcha!
After I was done eating my mom asked my dad if he wanted to change my diaper. I'm just going to put it this way. It is his fault that he didn't throw a wipe over me. And no it wasn't just pee. I gotta say though, I'm a pretty good aim!! hahaha! That's funny! I don't care who you are! Merry Christmas to you dad!
It was yet again a great day!

My first day.

December 17, 2001...
    Before I tell you about my birth. Let me start with how I got my name.
You see my dad had a beautiful daughter named Kirstyn. And when I was in my mom's belly cooking, my mom and dad made a deal that he would pick the name if I was a boy and my mom would pick the name if I was a girl. Well when they found out I was going to be a boy, my moms only rule was that the name had to to sound like my sisters. Kinda like rhyming with it. Yeah, that's my mom for you. She is so silly!!!  But my dad did a good job picking one. Kirstyn, Preston. Has a good ring to it don't you think??
Okay so back to the story. My mom's water broke while playing cards at my nana and papa's house.  I was on my way and there was no stopping me!
When my mom and dad showed up at the hospital, my mom was 4cm dilated. The whole room was filling up with family. My dad was there, my nani, my nana, my papa's, my aunt's, my uncle's, my second aunt's, my second uncle's, second cousins, whew!! I felt SO loved!!!  All of them were there too meet me!
    Before you knew it, I was flying like superman!! My mom and I were ready to do some teamwork. My mom made all the men except my dad leave the room. I seriously don't know why!! Why would she let all the girls stay and make all of the men leave?!? I didn't think that was very nice. You should treat people fair. I think it's because she thought they would give me cooties because they were boys.
    Okay so back to teamwork. My mom was in labor with me for an hour and 1/2. I was born 6 weeks early at 9:43 P.M. I weighed 4lbs11oz.  Preston Micheal Holm. Everyone said I looked exactly like my dad. They were right. Everything from head to toe!! He was  proud! But my dad did have trouble cutting the umbilical cord. When he finally cut it something squirted at the doctor. I thought that was so funny!!
    After I got cleaned off they wrapped me up in this really warm blanket. It was a nice soft feeling.  Very comfortable too. I was than being carried and than put into someones arms.
    I heard "Hi". It was my mother. I knew that voice. It talked and sang to me everyday. As she was holding me, I felt her heartbeat, I felt her breath as it hit my little tiny face. And her loving touch.
"sigh" We finally got to meet. She kissed me and rubbed my head. . it was a short visit. The nurse came and took me away. I didn't want to leave. My mom didn't want me to leave either. But I wasn't breathing really good on my own and I was really really small. They took me back to the nursery to take care of me so I could get big and strong.
I was put into an incubator and also had to be on oxygen. My dad took my mom into the nursery so she could see me. She cried when she saw me on oxygen.  I felt her fingers gently rub my leg. She than put her finger on my little hand, and I squeezed her finger as hard as I could. I just wanted to let her know that it was going to be okay and not to cry. She couldn't hold me yet either....and that made her sad too. But she never left my side
   I could never figure out the whole "sucking" thing. It was so confusing. I was trying to get it down though. But since I didn't learn yet I had to get tube feedings. My mom and dad didn't like that too much.
In the picture below is me with my buddy bear. We even had matching glasses!! I think I was getting a tan.  My nani bought me that bear. He hung out with me a lot. And I still have him to this day!
But those first two days went by so slow. It felt like forever. But the 3rd day......Let's just say that
God visited and gave me a little boost.

The beginnging of my incredible life.

I want to share my life from the beginning. My mom was 19 and my dad was 23 when they found out God created me. She was so excited that she had to take THREE pregnancy tests to believe it. She even started wearing maternity clothes when she wasn't even showing yet! Now that is funny.
My dad was excited too. I already had an older sister who was 5 years old when I was created. So my dad really wanted a little boy. My mom didn't care though. She was just happy that God finally gave her a baby. She was even happy when she had morning sickness and everything else that came along with pregnancy.  She was still glowing and smiling!! Who does that???
My mom and I  kept each other up all night poking each other. I'd give her a diving elbow or a good side kick and she would always poke me back. It was really fun. But when she rubbed her belly it always made me calm down. I was always relaxed. She always sang to me too. I would always kick her to let her know I was listening. There were even times when she would drive somewhere and crank up the radio. It was SO loud. And it was always classical. Yeah my mom can be silly sometimes. But she heard it made babies smart. That's why she did it. I think that's why I like classical music now. But than again my dad always listened to his music loud and he listened to Heavy Metal. I guess that's why I like heavy metal too. When my parents found out if I was going to be a boy or a girl they were both excited. Especially my dad!! He was SO happy!! He said he couldn't wait to teach me to play football and baseball. And my mom just couldn't wait to meet me.
That's me in the picture!  Looks like I'm looking right at you right!! Aren't I just adorable!!
I didn't want them to wait to much longer though, so December 17, 2001 I decided to come into the world. But I was 6 weeks early.