Early labor was so different this time around. I had like 5 or more false alarms where I thought “oh this might be it”.  Ben even stayed home from work one time.  I only called the midwife on one of those occasions. (So I don’t feel too bad.) She was amazingly nice and we kept in touch for a few hours until I reported that nothing was changing. Every time I would have contractions that would stick around but they would never get more intense. I would often go to sleep and then wake up the next morning with nothing happening. I thought  for sure I would go early with this baby because of how different my circumstances were from when I was pregnant with Hallie. With Hallie we had just barely moved to VA and I didn’t know anyone (plus it was HOT) so I sat in my apartment and watched T.V. all day. This time around I was super busy chasing Hallie and keeping us busy. I went to the gym and the mall to “walk” him out several times and I figured that with everything I was doing it had to help speed things along. I was wrong. I now believe that the baby comes when they decide. Kyle decided to come right on his due date.

I woke up in the middle of the night with some contractions. I remember having the thought again, “this might be it”.  The contractions kept coming but I was able to fall back asleep.  When I woke up the contractions were coming every 10-15 minutes regularly. I called my midwife and we decided to keep in touch through out the day. It was a Friday so Ben was home. We packed the car, went to the grocery store and the UPS store, ate at Subway and then came home and put Hallie down for her nap.  By this time my contractions were coming every 5-7 minutes and were getting more intense but did not hurt at all. We decided that because my last labor was only 5 hours and it was Friday we didn’t want to risk the chance of getting stuck in traffic and having the baby in the car. So after Hal’s nap we dropped her off for a possible sleep over at our friends house. (Ben had told her earlier that she would get to go play at Paige’s house and she talked about it the rest of the day. She didn’t want to do anything else but “go pay paige house”.)

We got to the birth center at 3:30 p.m. and got settled in. My contractions were still coming but nothing hurt. I was dilated to a 5 and was relaxed, calm, and excited all at the same time. We took a walk, ate some food, read from a book that we’ve been working on together and chatted with the midwife.  Things started to pick up and people started arriving. My birth assistant and hypnobirthing instructor both came. Plus, a new birth assistant who needed to attend more births came. (They asked me if I cared if they called her and invited her. I told them I didn’t mind and we would have a party. lol)  After my hypnobirthing instructor Sarah got there we decided to take another walk. It was while on this walk that I really had to start concentrating on relaxing during my contractions.  They started coming every 1-2 minutes so we walked back to the birth center. (During this whole time we are just chatting and telling jokes.) Ben was so encouraging. He would tell me over and over again how good I was doing and how proud he was of me. (The perfect coach.) When we got back I listened to my ipod with my hypnobirthing scripts and tried to relax. I asked to get in the jacuzzi but the midwife said that it would slow things down and I wasn’t far enough along. Hello!!! I was having contractions every 1-2 minutes and was defiantly far enough along. We blame hypnobirthing for fooling them. 🙂

During the whole thing the midwife and 2 birth assistants stayed in the other room and came in intermittently to check the baby’s heart rate and then leave again. (This is what I requested in my birth plan.)  Sarah, Ben and I read scripts and talked during the next hour or so. Things really started picking up and I started to get very uncomfortable. I was in a lot of pain and my contractions were coming right on top of each other. I kept breathing and Ben tells me now that I was still really relaxed. (Although in my head I was thinking this sucks!)  I felt like I needed to push but my water hadn’t broken yet. They encouraged me to push anyway and boom my water broke! (with gusto I might add) haha. Two minutes later I said I wanted to stand up and out came Kyle’s head on that very push. (Gotta love gravity) My midwife told me to stop pushing for a second and then she coached me when to push and when to take a break. I was very grateful she did that because I ended up not tearing at all!!  Kyle came out with his hands behind his head like he was sun bathing at the beach. My midwife said she had never seen anything like it before. Lucky me… I got to deliver his head and arms at the same time! They laid Kyle on my chest and then after checking his color they left us alone for half an hour for “family bonding time” they call it. After that time was up they came in did his weight etc. and I showered. We rested and signed papers then went home 3 hours later.

I’m so grateful I did hypnobirthing. I now believe it is the best way to have a baby naturally. If you ask Ben how this birth was compared to Hallie’s he will tell you night and day. With Hallie I was freaking out for 5 hours this time he said I only freaked out for the 12 minutes I was pushing. This labor was also 5 hours long which isn’t bad compared to a lot of women’s. I’m so grateful I have healthy pregnancies and deliveries. What an honor it is to be part of God’s plan in bringing His children into the world. I can’t believe I have two now!  I can’t imagine my life with out either one of them.

So who wants to borrow my hypnobirthing book?!

Me at the birth center.

Ben and Kyle at the birth center.

Brand new Kyle!!

Very tired parents!

July 9th, 2010 @10:32 pm

7 lbs. 14 oz.

20 inches long

Little Kyle at 2 1/2 days old. My good friend Lindsey took these pictures and then designed the birth announcement. She’s good!

Hallie loves her new baby brother. She always wants to help take care of him, “hode him”, “watch him”, “see him” and “kiss mouth” (which is hilarious because he kisses back).  She has been throwing quite a few fits in hopes to get more attention on her rather than the baby, but we expected this!

My two little lovers. Hallie is so funny with her serious face. 🙂

Big sister holding baby brother.

Big sister “lay down wid baby Kyle” (She wanted to share her favorite blanket with him.)

Usually we head up to all the monuments in DC for the big 4th of July celebration. We have absolutely loved it the last two years. However, this year with as many contractions as I have constantly and the unbearable heat we decided to stay home and take it easy. Sorry Hallie no fireworks for you this year. (I know I sound like a mean mom but when your child does NOT sleep in despite how late she goes to bed AND is grumpy the next day AND you are 9 months pregnant it just makes sense to miss the beautiful explosions and skip your one of your top holidays.)

Here is Hallie in her cute 4th of July dress.

I gotta tell you how much I LOVE the pool. It is seriously the perfect place to be during summer. Hallie loves it as well and asks for it constantly. We are so grateful for good friends who take us to their pools. 🙂 Thanks again Lindsey we had a blast!

Isn’t she just the cutest?! When I ask her to say cheese she does the sign for the food cheese. lol

Taking a break from swimming to eat snacks. Good thing my awesome friend Lindsey brought enough snacks for Hallie to mooch off of.

The local AMC movie theater has an awesome summer promotion where they show already released kid movies for $1. Hallie has never been to a theater and so I decided before this baby comes I would take her. We got to go with one of Hallie’s little friends Olivia and her mom Stella. The two girls are only weeks apart so it makes things fun.

The little Bean CharCho ate the ENTIRE time!! I guess whatever worked to keep her entertained. (She never even makes it through a movie at home.) I’m glad we got to do this little adventure before her brother came.

P.S. We saw Monsters Vs. Aliens

Holy cow can I not be pregnant anymore!! Even my maternity clothes don’t fit around my extremely large belly!  Every where I go people stare at me like “wow she’s going to pop!” I even had some rapper thug guy at the mall ask me if I wanted to buy one of his super cool spray painted shirts for my baby. He said that I was going to “pop soon, right?” I smiled, laughed and said “yes soon”. haha it gave me a good laugh.

Overall I still feel really good, just huge! I got up 5 times last night to pee-yep that’s annoying! I have about a million contractions a day but they are pain free and don’t ever get more intense. Two things that I have noticed about this pregnancy that are different from Hallie’s are: 1-Ache. I don’t have any!!!! YAY. With Hallie it was bad. 2-weight gain. 40 pds with Hallie. 25 pds so far with this baby.  One thing that is the same is the fact that my hair has once again turned red! Once I have the baby it goes away.  Weird I know!

Tuesday was our 3 year anniversary. Everyone who is married understands the feeling of time going by fast but yet feeling like you’ve been married forever. It is true! 3 years is still newlywed time but here we are almost two kids later. I feel like we have been married forever and I love it!

Life is busy these days with Ben working full time and going to school at night. So Tuesday I wrote Ben a mushy letter and he bought me beautiful flowers, but other than that it was a normal day. Today (Saturday) however, our friend watched Hallie (thanks Anna!) and we went off to celebrate with a bunch of Portuguese soccer fans. (So romantic I know!) Ben found a Portuguese restaurant that was playing the world cup game between Portugal and Brazil. Ben wore his Portugal jersey and I wore his Portugal scarf around my neck. (I was supposed to wave  it when they scored a goal!)

As soon as we walked into the resturant we were overwhelmed by the smell of smoke. The place was full of portuguese fans who were smoking. We sat down and ordered some Portuguese soda and bread. They were delicious! After the first half of the game the owner noticed me with the scarf around my mouth and told me he could turn on a t.v. in the back (non-smoking) area. By taking the opportunity to get out of the smoke we gave up the authentic feeling of being in Portugal watching the game. Oh well, if I wasn’t pregnant we would have endured it longer.

In the end neither team scored a goal and we went home disappointed. However, it was my first time ever watching a World Cup game and now I can’t wait to see another one. Man my husband is lucky he married a girl who likes sports! 🙂

My beautiful flowers!! I love orange and pink together. (Not sure if Ben knew that or got lucky.) lol

In the back “smoke free” room at the Portuguese restaurant.

FYI: Ben served his mission in Portugal. That is why we were supporting them despite the fact that I know dozens of Brazilians and not one portuguese person. haha

It has been so hot here in Virginia that we are always looking for an opportunity to go swimming. Hallie loves it! She calls her swimming suit her “soup”.

Swimming in her new little pool:

Playing at a park:

Swimming at a friends “Big water” pool:

Where do I begin?! Seriously I have no idea…. We had the most wonderful trip and I have like 80 pictures which I know I can’t post all of. So which do I tell about and which do I leave out? Well, I think I will take this post in pieces so I don’t overwhelm anyone.

Hallie loved helping Grandpa Crane in the garden. It combined 3 of her favorite things: Grandpa, helping, and being outside!

After working so hard in the garden Hallie was a little dirty. Grandpa volunteered to bathe her in the kitchen sink. (I guess that’s how he used to do it in the good ol’ days.) haha

One of the two reason’s we made the trip. Ben’s younger brother Brogan got married to his sweetheart Stacey. It was such a beautiful ceremony in the Salt Lake Temple. What made it even better was the fact that I was sitting next to my handsome eternal companion. Marriage ROCKS!

We were able to meet Stacey the day before the wedding. Talk about cutting it close! We went out to breakfast and enjoyed getting to know Stacey just a little bit before she joined our family. A funny side note: Hallie liked Stacey way better than Brogan even though she has met Brogan several times and she only just met Stacey. Welcome to the FamDamily Stacey! We love you already!

While waiting for pictures outside the Temple Hallie and Aunt Marci looked for ants. (Hallie’s new FAVORITE thing to do.)  Between looking for ants every time they were together and calling Marci “Aunt Marci” Hallie connects Marci with the little black ants. 🙂

More searching for ants.

Ben and I at the reception that night.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa Romrell’s house Hallie got to meet her one and only cousin for the first time. She was so excited to see baby Carson in real life instead of just on skype. We told her he was her cousin and that his name was Carson so naturally she calls him “GUS”.  So cute!!

Remember how I said she loves to help. Here she is helping change Carson’s diaper. Just practicing for the many diaper changes she will be in charge of in the near future. haha

Carson sticking his finger in Hallie’s ear. She better get used to it with a little brother coming soon!

Cute Cousins!

Pushing Carson on his car.

Hallie and grandma playing with bubbles. Hallie was spoiled with all the attention she got from everyone. There was never a dull moment because there was always some one to play with. She really was in heaven. It was so fun to watch the constant excitement and happiness on her face.

One afternoon I got to escape and go see my highschool friends. I love these girls! Each one of them has accomplished so much in their lives. I love keeping up to speed on their blogs. Even though it has been 8 years since we graduated we can still get together like no time at all has passed. This time we were excited to find out that Lena is getting married! YAY!! Wish I could go in August.

Most of the trip we spent with family and so I only saw a couple friends. This is me and my old roommate Michele who I absolutely ADORE! She just had baby Lily 2 months ago. I was so excited she drove up to see me at my parents house. We got to spend a couple hours catching up and reminiscing about all of our good times together. (The biggest change we have noticed in ourselves since getting married and having kids is that we aren’t funny like we used to be. What’s up with that?! We used to be silly and crazy and now we are responsible. Dang it!) haha

One of my old mission companions also drove up to see me. Honivah Rafaranirindraibe (I just have to write out her whole name!!!) She is from Madagascar and I love her to pieces. She kept me laughing constantly on my mission. Honivah just found out that she was accepted to BYU provo starting fall semester. Congrats to her!!!