The Story of Kai - April 2015

This baby was a bit of a tease.  It all started a week and a half before his actual birth on a Monday.  I was having some very regular contractions, so I took the kids to the park and walked and walked.  I made dinner and started timing contractions.  They were 8-10 minutes apart and then got down to 4-5 min  For FHE Branson gave me a blessing.  We packed our hospital bag and called Branson's Mom to come stay with the kids.   Then we went to the park again and I walked and walked.  We went home and got kids ready for bed and then the contractions started to go away.  It was false labor and I was so disappointed.  The blessing was very sweet and comforting though.  I was promised a good delivery and a healthy baby.  I'm so grateful that Branson has been able to give me a blessing before the birth of each of our babies.

I had contractions off and on over the next week.  On the next Tues. afternoon I started having more consistent and intense contractions.  I had Branson bring home pizza and we called his Mom to  come stay with the kids.

I wanted something to do and to keep the contractions coming so I decided to mow the lawn.  Branson watched me as if I were a little crazy.  After that I started walking around the block with Lana while she roller skated.  Olya saw me and offered to walk round the park with me.  We went to the park and walked from 8 - 8:30.  It was a perfect, gorgeous evening.

When I got home and we started to put kids to bed the contractions were slowing down again.  Branson's Mom was already almost to our house and I just wanted to see what was really going on so we decided to still go to the hospital.   I cried the whole way there because I was afraid it wasn't the real deal and that they were going to send us home.

In triage they told us I was now dilated to a 2, whereas at the doctors earlier that day I was only at a 1.  We stayed an hour and didn't progress, so we decided to go home and get some rest.  Karie was very sympathetic and supportive.

The next morning we sent the kids to school and then Karie, Torv, and I went for a walk .  At the end of the walk the contractions were fast and hard.  I decided I would take Torv to dance class and then go to the doctors to see if I was progressing and should go on to the hospital.

We ended up waiting until Lana got out of kindergarten to go to the doctors.  By then the contractions had slowed down again.  I was feeling silly about going in again.  The Dr. checked me and said I was a 3 and could go on in to the hospital anytime.  We had some lunch, picked up the boys from school early and sent all the kids home with Grandma.  I opted to take a little nap at home.  Then Brans and I walked around the block twice to get things going and headed to the hospital.

By the time I got there I was a 4 and excited at the progress.  They put us in a room and a few hours later I was still a 4.  They put me on petocin and the contractions got me going fast and hard but still little progress.  I was hurting pretty good and a little discouraged at how slow it was going, so I got an epidural.  The Dr. was a little concerned also that baby's heart rate would dip every time I had a contraction.  Also, when he went to break the waters there was no water that came out.  They were afraid the baby might be breach so they did an ultrasound but it all looked good and he was head down.

About an hour later I was getting the shakes real bad again and feeling worn out.  The Dr. checked and said I was a 7.  I was just getting to the point where I felt I couldn't keep going anymore and was about to ask Branson to start praying for me when things started to happen.  It was just after I was a 7 the nurse started getting everything ready to deliver.  Then  I could feel the baby's head and they started to have me push .  4 or 5 pushes later Kai was here!

They wiped him down a little and plopped him on me while Branson cut the chord.   Then I got to snuggle him skin to skin for the next hour.  He was absolutely perfect.  Born at 10:27 pm weighing 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

Such a precious moment to finally get to meet the amazing new little person Heavenly Father sent to us.

The kids came to meet their new brother the next morning.  They all wanted multiple turns holding him, except for Torv.  Caden kept asking Torv if he wanted to feel Kai's hair or hold him.  Torv shied away and said, "No, I don't want him to bite me!"

Caden couldn't get enough of him.

 Brecken's turn.

 And Lana too.

Torv was keeping his distance.

 All of the kids!

Ridin' with Grandma

One of our favorite things to do in the summer is to go up to Grandma's and ride her horses.

Torv helping to sweep out the barn:

Lana leading Darby out to the corral.

Brecken holding Shasta while waiting for a ride.

 Lana riding all by herself, she is quite the cowgirl.

 Brecken and Grandma doing some figure 8's.

Putting them to work young, mucking out the stalls.

Caden's quite the cowboy.

Lana even got to brush the horses.  So much more fun than playing princess palace pets.

She got to give the horse a shower too.

Howdy.

McPhee Reservoir

We had another fun filled week of camping in Colorado the first week of July.  We stopped for lunch in Moab and baby it was hot (like 110).  We brought the chocolate into the restaurant so it wouldn't melt in the car.

Torv didn't sleep the entire 8 hour drive until we got to the campsite and all the other little indians got out of the car.

We had the perfect week for boating, hot and sunny.

Torv loved the boat too.

Chillin' with Aunt Britt.

Grandma has the best faces.

Their not related, are they?

These two dudes were getting adventurous.

Taking a break from tubing to do some swimming.

Little Miss Beautiful.

Grandpa teaching Sally to surf.

Playing on the beach (mud).

The boat is magic for getting babies to nap.

Grandpa brought this great board to teach the kids to water ski.  They were all brave and did it! 

 Branson surfing.  He is really good at it now.

 Caden skiing.

We started the kids skiing from the beach.  Then Branson or Karl would catch them and haul them in to shore when their turn was upl

Grandma has the best faces ever!  Here she is surfing.

 Lana skiing.

 Leah surfing.  I have learned how to let go of the rope yet.

We also love to go to Mesa Verde and explore the Indian Ruins.

We hiked down to Long House this year and got to climb all through it.

Hiking down the side of the cliff to Long House.

Grandpa playing with the boys during the tour.

Climbing up into the house.

And hiking back up to the top of the cliff.

We were pretty warm after all that hiking.

Aunt Sally took all of these amazing pictures.  Here is a cactus in bloom on top of the mesa. 

Brecken and Gage.

Then we took a little tram ride around the top of the mesa to viewing areas where we could see other cliff dwellings.

 The babies enjoyed all the wide open spaces for running around and playing.

Bridger and Torv.

Young cousin love!  

Blakely and Torv

OK, let's go.

 We had some amazing sunsets back at camp.

Cousins, just barely 2 and almost 2.

Aunt Sally taught us how to make brownies in oranges in the campfire.

It was pretty yummy.

Aunt Britty brought sweatshirts to decorate.