Kyle Brandon Kirtley is Born!

Kyle Brandon is here! He was born June 22, 2012. His Due date was the 29th, so he came a week early, thank goodness.

Here is the labor story (Don't read this paragraph you don't like graphic labor details): I was having high blood pressure for the second half of the pregnancy, but the last month, the doctors started to get worried. They had me come in three times a week to check the baby's heartrate. They put me on a stress test to see how his heart looked over a period of twenty minutes. He always looked great so they did not induce me, but they informed me that they wanted to induce on his due date because of the high blood pressure. I was really adamant that I wanted an all natural birth, so this made me pretty upset. On June 21, I asked the doctor to strip my membranes to see if that would get my labor stared naturally. Well, it WORKED. All day I felt cramping (which is a usual side effect of stripping your membranes.) But I never felt anything too strong, so I didn't think I was in labor. They never came in waves like they say they should, so I could not time them. I went to bed that night in a little bit of pain and fell asleep practicing "Hypnobirthing" which relaxes your body as you do visualization. I woke up around 3 and could not stand it any more. I tried many positions, but could not get comfortable. I woke Sean up and told him I thought I was having contractions, but I needed him to help me time them, because I couldn't feel them start or end. It was just a consistent cramp. He told me to try to sleep. (Typical Husband) YEAH RIGHT. It was much too uncomfortable. I think I fell asleep for about an hour but by four I couldn't rest anymore. I went walking around my house to try and ease the cramps and when I went to the bathroom, I saw part of my mucus plug come out, and then the whole thing! I knew that meant labor would probably start soon. Little did I know, it was almost over. I called my mom to get help. I asked her to help me figure out what was happening. Was I in labor or what? She said if I could walk around and talk that I probably wasn't in labor. (which I could do just fine.) I tried to tidy up the house, but that was a joke. I couldn't manage to do anything but pace the floor. She told me to go get in a warm tub and see if the cramps go away. Well, by the time I got in the water it was pretty bad. My cramps got VERY intense! I tried to go to the bathroom and almost screamed in pain because of the pressure. Once I got in the water I felt two huge surges and on the second one I watched my water break! "Sean! my water just broke! We have to get to the hospital now!" I realized that what I was feeling was SERIOUS labor. By then it was 5am and we tried to get dressed and Kenzie in the car to go over to the hospital, but I couldn't move very fast with the terrible cramping and water leaking out! We finally made it to the hospital and entered through the ER. I told them to hurry because I thought I only had an hour left before the baby was coming, and they didn't seem to believe me and took their grand old time. Once I was in my room, I asked for a nurse who would like to help with a natural delivery. My nurse actually turned out to be LDS! She was so sweet. She checked me and I was already at a 7-8cm. She raised the bed for me and I labored for about twenty minutes standing up with my head resting of the bed. Sean took Kenzie home, where Lisa and Dani had come to watch her. I felt like it was time to push so they got me up in the bed just in case. I was fully dilated!!! I wanted to listen to my Hypno music, but I was in too much pain to find my ipod. All the doctors came in and got things ready and Sean was still not back. I tried a couple pushes, and realized I still had a few more minutes because the baby was still up high. Sean finally made it back to the hospital, just in time for the delivery. I told everyone that I didn't want any help holding my legs or coaching me about when to push. But after a couple pushes on my own I realized that I had forgot how to do it. (Looking back, I think that if I had just waited longer, my body would have done the work on its own, but I wanted to get it over with!) I asked the doctor to help coach me when to push and she suggested I push for ten seconds at a time. That helped a lot. It was really exciting when he crowned and I knew he was almost here! After ten minutes of pushing he came out!!! It felt like my whole body tore, but actually I didn't tear at all. They put him on my chest and I kept saying, "He looks just like Kenzie, he looks just like Kenzie!!!" He was so blue, I was worried for him but they said he was fine. I had the doctor wait to cut the cord until all the blood was out. Sean ended up being persuaded to cut it...even though he didn't plan on it! I was so happy he was here! He was so perfect! I loved him instantly! His hair was wet and wavy and looked really red. His nose was REALLY crooked to one side from being squished so long! He had a beautiful hour of skin to skin. After an hour they weighed him and measured him and all that good stuff. The nurse gave him a little bath and laid him under the lights.

Kenzie and Sean's family arrived and Kenzie got to meet Kyle for the first time. She walked it and Sean lifter her up to see him. He was screaming from just having his bath. Kenzie was so precious and softly touched him. I started bawling. It is a special thing to see children meet each other.   

My two perfect babies next to each other!

 I still had the overwhelming thought that he might have down syndrome, since they told us his chances were higher because of the spot on his heart they had seen on the Ultrasound. But I was too afraid to hear the answer, so I just sat there worrying. Finally I asked Sean what to do, and we decided to ask the nurse. She laughed it off and said he DEFINITELY didn't have downs. She reassured me many times, and finally the worry was erased from my mind.

HE WAS HEALTHY AND PERFECT!!! My prayers were answered.

H

He weighed exactly 8 pounds and was 21 inches tall. Born at 7:21 am.