The rest of the story...

I thought I would record Kalia's birth story while it is still fresh on my mind. She is 2 weeks old today and such a sweet baby. She even sleeps at night for a 5 to 6 hour stretch so i can get some sleep--so thoughtful of her! (Okay, i am finishing this up finally--Kalia is now 3 weeks old and sleeping less at night--3 hour stretches. I shouldn't have jinxed myself by bragging about what a good sleeper she was :)

She was born 8 days early, so i wasn't expecting to go into labor. Actually, I had everything all planned out that she would be born Monday, Sept. 24th, right after I played the piano for the primary program at church, so I was totally sure she wouldn't be earlier than that. Funny how things never go as I plan...Well, I started having some painful contractions Tuesday night at Ty's football game, but i just ignored them because everyone knows that Braxton Hick's contractions really do hurt ( I don't believe anyone who says they don't because they DO HURT!) But the contractions went away and I was able to get a really decent sleep that night, so woke up on the 19th feeling great.

I started having contractions again, and this time was just really annoyed, because I knew they were just more Braxton Hicks and they were driving me crazy. I started recording the contractions around 9am since they weren't going away, but still was in denial that it was the real thing. Miya and I went grocery shopping, still timing contractions (they were about 20 to 25 minutes apart), since the house was empty of all food and I thought if it really was the real thing the least I could do was have some food in the house so the family could fend for themselves. Then I met a friend at the bagel shop at 11. After I had had 2 contractions there at the bagel shop I started to realize this was the real deal, and my sweet friend started freaking out and made me go home and call tyler :) She had also made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup as a birthday gift, so she sent me home with that (her timing couldn't have been more perfect).

So, Tyler came home from work and we were just hanging out at home waiting to go to the hospital until the contractions got closer together. I always have 8 to 12 hour labors, so I thought Kalia wouldn't be born until 8pm or so. At 2:30pm my contractions were getting really strong, but were still spaced out--between 7 and 15 minutes apart, so I thought i still had time. Ty got off the bus at 3:15 and we told him that we would be leaving soon for the hospital and that he would watch the kids, feed them the soup at dinner time and then a friend was coming to take him to scouts and Shayla to activity days while another friend watched the kids. Shayla, Garrett and Grant get off the bus at 4, so I thought we could wait until then and then jet off to the hospital. When 4 o'clock hit I started having these huge contractions one right after the other (2 to 3 minutes apart) and I started to get worried.

Grant got off the bus crying because the bus driver had gotten mad at him, so Tyler was trying to calm him down, and i was trying to stay calm. We had family prayer, got the kids settled and Tyler gave me a blessing and we walked out the door at 4:23pm. That was the last contraction I have timed on my app, because they were coming one right after the other and I was in no state of mind to time my contractions anymore.

Tyler said, "I just have to stop by the church and unlock the door really quick." (He had agreed to open the church for one of the youth who was going to do some service there). I said, "I think I waited too long!!" and he went to the church anyway--I couldn't really talk coherently to argue with him, so i just tried to get through my contractions. I think we pulled into the hospital parking lot at 4:29, and I was needing to push already. We parked really close to the front doors, but I couldn't walk very well because the contractions were so strong. Some nice man saw us and ran and got a wheelchair and Tyler ran me through the hospital. My water broke on the way to OB and Kalia was born barely after I got to the room at 4:33pm.

Crazy!!! I think I was in shock as I looked down at my baby girl in my arms, looked over at Tyler, and then saw my dr. walk in the door. She looked like she was in shock, too :) The doctor who ran down the hall with us to show us where OB was ended up delivering our baby.

It was pretty funny when Tyler called the kids 15 minutes after we left the house to tell them they had a new little sister. I could hear Ty on the phone, "What?!! Already? She's already been born?" I tried to tell the kids that this is not usually how fast it goes...So Tyler went home and picked the kids up a few hours later and brought them to meet their little sister. So fun to see each of them fall in love with Kalia and hold her so tenderly.

I am just so thankful that she wasn't born in the van--Tyler joked that she was almost named Odyssey. Then he said we had a baby faster than you can get a big mac through the drive-thru, and then Ty piped up, "Hey, it's like Jimmy Johns--Freaky Fast Delivery!!" I'm still laughing about that.

All in all, I'm grateful for Kalia's quick entry into this world. I have had a great recovery so far and am so in love with my little girl. A few pics to offset my huge amount of writing...

Kalia Jeannette--don't you just love her ballet-slipper-socks? I wish they had them in my size.

We had a wonderful visit from my Mom. So glad you could come out Mom, and so thankful for all of your help making the transition to 6 much smoother than it would have been alone!

 Mom watched the kids so I could go for my annual haircut--it had gotten long enough that I could donate it!

Saying goodbye to Grandma...Kalia is loving our chandelier

Three generations (Kalia is still staring at the chandelier :)