Bennett's Birth Story

Here I am, determined that our sweet little bonus blessing would NOT be the only one without a birth story! Bennett Lee joined us on Sunday, January 11th, 2026 at 11:07 am in Room 707. I'm so happy and blessed to share his story, including a little about my pregnancy.

It's not a secret that Bennett was a surprise. After having Hallie (our rainbow baby after we lost our daughter Hope at 20 weeks), I felt such relief and gratitude, but I also didn't feel...done. There was a sense of longing that remained, and I wasn't sure if that was just because we had a baby girl in Heaven that I would always miss, or if there was another child planned for us. I tried to shake the feeling, even prayed for the longing to go away, but still it lingered. Aaron felt done, and to be honest, the conversation was a tricky one to navigate and led to some lingering disagreement between us for a year or so. But I knew Aaron had to be on board if we were going to have a fourth child, and I understood why it made total sense to be "done" with three. Still, the desire lingered as the months ticked by, and I did the mom math for what one more baby could look like for us in the wedding "off season"- in November, or in January, and when I would have to be pregnant if that was going to happen. We weren't "trying", but I wanted to be ready if we ever decided to. I distinctly remember looking at my app at the end of April and thinking we had missed the week where I could have gotten pregnant for a January baby. Finally, right around early May, I felt a sense of peace, and tried to focus on all the new fun things we could do if we were truly done with babies. Hallie was approaching three at this point, the end of the diaper era was coming, and with it a sense of "freedom". I booked us flights for November to Cancun, but decided to wait a couple of weeks until my period started before I booked the non-refundable resort. 

And then, it didn't. It could be off by a couple days, so I wasn't too worried. I happened to have a pregnancy test at home from a few months back, and so I decided to take one on May 13th, while Aaron was out at The Brim. We had just done a Cooper's Hawk wine tasting the night before, and I was getting ready to go to a dinner with a bunch of ladies from our church. To my shock, those two pink lines showed up pretty quickly. I called Aaron, shaking, and told him the news, which I knew he would need to process. Honestly, after finally switching my brain to thinking we were "done", this pregnancy, and all that came with it, were a lot to process. I knew of course that I had wanted another baby, but there is also anxiety that comes with a pregnancy and all that we knew could happen. Not to mention- could we really handle four kids?! One of my friends legit asked, "So is everyone done having babies?" at dinner that night, and I almost spit out my water in the room full of young moms. I was still in shock. As we were walking out of the restaurant, away from the others, I blurted out to her, "I just took a test and I'm pregnant!" I needed someone to know.

Time went on and we started sharing the news with people. The fear turned into joy as we navigated my "advanced maternal age" pregnancy at the ripe old age of 36. I went to several high risk scans due to my age, and we discovered that I had a velamentous cord insertion into my placenta, which can lead to complications with the baby not getting enough nutrients and growing at the proper rate. This meant that I had to do additional ultrasounds, plus non stress tests in the hospital once a week for the last four weeks of my pregnancy. We did find out Bennett was going to be a boy, which was such a joyful experience. And, praise the Lord, everything marched along just fine with my pregnancy. In fact, I worked out up until four days before he was born, and I also did not get sick a single time! Bennett was breech up until about 36 weeks, which had me wildly nervous about a C Section, but I literally felt him turn inside of me one night as I was going to sleep. I'm so grateful for that.

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A post shared by Kelsie Kleinmeyer (@currentlykelsie)

With Addie's birthday on January 9th, we were really hoping to avoid a shared birthday. Bennett was due on Friday, January 16th, and I knew that they wouldn't let me go past my due date due to my age. I was ten days early with Eli and Addie, and two days early with Hallie, without any of them being induced, so I was hopeful I would go on my own prior to that. As his due date approached, we did go ahead and schedule an induction for that Friday the 16th, so that we knew we had a plan and an end in sight. With this being my fifth delivery, everyone kept telling me it would go fast and to be prepared! 

I started having Braxton Hicks here and there around January 6th. That day, I was at a one and 40% effaced when they checked me at my doctor's appointment. Angela, Aaron's sister, had come into town for Addie's Birthday and was staying in our basement. I went to my fourth and final non stress test in Labor and Delivery on Addie's Birthday, January 9th, and all was looking good. I knew I would for sure have a baby by the next Friday. That night, we prepared to host Addie's Family Birthday Party at our house. I was having sporadic contractions, to the point where I spent most of the night on the couch while everyone else helped with the party. I had wanted to get through Christmas, then New Year's, and now I just wanted Addie and Bennett each to have their own day. I felt like any time he wanted to come after that, we were good to go! The contractions stalled, and we went on with our night. 

The next day, January 10th, I took Addie to a gymnastics birthday party. As I sat there and worked on my laptop, I started having contractions again. They were getting more regular, so I started timing. We had planned to go to my parents' house in Platte City to cheer on the Bears in their playoff game against the Packers. We knew Angie could take our kids home in the van if we needed to head to the hospital, so we decided to pack up everything and take the truck along, just in case. We got to my parents' around 5pm and I was having some contractions on and off. I think I was worrying everyone a little breathing through them. They seemed far enough apart and eventually stalled out, so we decided to take our kids home and put them to bed at halftime. Then Aaron, Angie, and I cheered on the Bears to a WILD playoff comeback win, while I packed things up and set them out for Addie's "Friend Party" the next day. I had a feeling I wouldn't be attending: when you know, you know. Then I tried to get a little sleep.

It's kind of a running joke between me and Aaron that I always go into labor in the middle of the night (so we get no sleep- especially me). This time was no different. I started timing about 12:26am and, although the contractions never got super close together, they never stopped. And they were getting more intense. I knew this was for real. They were still around 10 minutes apart, but at 4:15 am I decided we should go to the hospital. Angie was sleeping in the basement, so we just needed to call my mom and let her know we were headed to North Kansas City Hospital (newly named NKC Health). She was there for the other kids' births and we wanted her there one more time.

We arrived at the hospital about 4:30am. When they checked me, I was at a 3 and 90% effaced. That was good progress on my own since my appointment on Tuesday, and my sweet nurse, Miranda, assured me I was going to have this baby. They put the monitor on me and Bennett had one little dip in his heart rate, so she told me they would definitely admit me. I worked through contractions with Aaron, and it felt like they were asking me about the epidural almost right away. I was good with getting it, even if it slowed things down a little, and so I had the epidural in about 6:30am, and was at a 5.5 shortly after. 

It was pretty smooth sailing from there. At 7 am shift change, Dr. Daniels came in and said she was ready to break my water to keep things moving. (Dr. Newman was my doctor but Eli was actually the only one of our kids that she delivered.) Kayla, my fabulous day labor and delivery nurse, did an amazing job moving me back and forth with the "peanut" ball to keep baby moving down like he should. Kayla told me she didn't think we were going to need any "Birthday Party Juice" to have this baby, and now I'll never think of Pitocin the same way! She said she thought he'd be born by noon. Things started picking up pretty quickly and I was feeling some discomfort around 10:40am. Kayla checked me again and we were almost ready to push. Once I was at a 10, they called Dr. Daniels in, and two contractions and four total pushes later, Bennett Lee was out at 11:07am- just minutes into Second Service at Church, so my dad was able to show the first photo of him off during greeting time and some of the ladies in my Bible Study were crying happy tears when they noticed.

There is truly no feeling like the inexplicable peace of having your baby on your chest, healthy and there- on the outside, and me healthy too with no stitches or complications. I always feel like a beast after delivering our babies, and this final time was no different. Bennett weighed in at 7lbs 10 oz, almost our biggest baby, which is humorous with the whole velamentous cord concern. He was 20.5 inches and absolutely perfect. 

We moved down to the Mom and Baby floor around 3pm. (Thank goodness Aunt Angie was able to take the kids to church and Addie to her "friend" birthday party at Michael's and host that successfully that afternoon.) Family was able to come visit us, and we had our amazing nurse Katie (who was there when we delivered Hallie!) again the next day. Elizabeth was our incredible night nurse and I had the best time chatting and laughing with her. Truly, everything worked out perfectly. 

The kids were able to come that evening and there is nothing better than your kids meeting their sibling. My heart. Hallie didn't seem happy because she had recent experiences with hospitals and she was convinced that I was going to "pass away" since I was in the hospital with an IV. So she really perked up once Bennett and I were able to come home. I cried in back seat of the Baby Blue truck on the way home, and we let Papa Bob "drive" via Blue Cruise for a little as we came North on 169. We really wish he could have met Bennett.

Bennett’s name means “little blessing/blessed”, and is derived from benediction- “a spoken blessing that invokes God’s favor, peace, and grace upon people, often closing worship services + New Testament letters.” He’s our perfect little final blessing! 🥹 Lee is a family middle name (actually on both sides!), shared with Uncle Austin and honoring Aaron’s Dad (whose middle name was Leeroy)- and it means shelter/safe haven! Truly, he is the perfect final blessing we needed at the perfect time. I'm so grateful I never gave up on the nudge I felt to have one more little life to love. Baby Bennett is here healthy and safe- and absolutely perfect!

We love you so much, Bennett Lee, no matter what, and we always will!

Currently,

Kelsie

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Hallie's Birth Story

Hallie Kaye Kleinmeyer joined us on August 19th at 7:31 am. We are over the moon in love with our precious little rainbow baby. We knew that this pregnancy and birth would be different after the loss of our last baby in September, and we hoped and prayed for a healthy, live baby and a redeeming birth experience. We are so thankful that we got both, along with a reminder of God's perfect timing and a wild story connected to her name! 

Eli and Addie both came ten days early on their own, so it was easy for me to mentally expect the same for this little lady. My due date was August 21st, so I was thinking August 11th would be the day. Once we got into the first week of August or so, I started going on lots of morning walks around the neighborhood, but I honestly didn't feel like my body was ready. I had a disappointing lack of progress at my baby appointments, and it was almost like I was late or overdue before we even hit my actual due date. We also selfishly wanted Baby Girl to come during a free week in August when we didn't have to worry about any receptions out at The Brim (and the logistics of small business ownership that don't just stop when you have a baby), and when we wouldn't have to worry about missing Eli's Back to School Night or First Day of Kindergarten! I'll admit, I was starting to get a little impatient and frustrated, which seems silly now.

We had the chance to try to schedule an induction early, but I didn't feel great about that. We called just to see if it was an option, but they were full that day so we took it as a sign that we needed to be patient. We went ahead and scheduled an induction for the day after my due date, Monday the 22nd, knowing that we would go in late that night if I was overdue and we would be guaranteed to have my doctor for a Tuesday delivery. At that point, we knew we would also be avoiding any weekend wedding conflicts. I was happy to have a plan in place and felt more at peace. What happened would happen. But honestly, I didn't want to be induced. Not only did I hope my body could go naturally and avoid complications, but I also had memories of being induced last September to deliver our stillborn baby, and I really wanted to avoid that if possible. Sure it was much different, but mentally there were some things I connected with that experience. 

On August 18th at 8:45 am, I had another baby appointment. When they checked me, I was at a one and maybe 50-70% effaced. This was super disappointing after all the walking and encouraging her to come that I had attempted. Even though my doctor was going to be out of town, I knew I preferred going into labor on my own versus getting induced. So they went ahead stripped a few membranes, and we figured we'd see what happened. 

We made it to Eli's Back to School Night, and got to drop off his school supplies and meet his teacher. I felt at peace that if I ended up not being able to see him get on the school bus for his first day because I was in labor, that at least I got to go and take a photo with him and know that he was set as far as school went. It also helped that we had put him on the bus for his two weeks of summer school, and we had already gotten the tears out of the way! Turns out this was my last pregnant photo.

After Eli's Back to School Night, we went to a local restaurant for dinner to celebrate. While we were sitting there, I started feeling a few mild contractions. After having three kiddos, I knew enough to know what a real contraction was versus the Braxton Hicks and small contractions I'd been walking myself into for the last few weeks. We came home and they continued every ten minutes or so. I didn't want to overreact too quickly, since I went to the hospital and had to go back with Eli because I wasn't in active labor and was only 38 weeks. But I was past 39 weeks this time, so things would be different. Anyways, I continued to have contractions, so I slowly packed my hospital bag (yes, I procrastinate on that), did loads of laundry, took a shower, and got the kids to bed in between the contractions. 

Around 9:30pm, Aaron called his brother just to keep him posted on what was happening in case we needed to make a 2:00 am call for him to come over and sit at our house while we left for the hospital. I always seem to go into labor or need to go to the hospital in the middle of the night.  I also called my mom (who had pretty much been living by her phone for the last three weeks) and let her know I had been having contractions for a while and that she may want to be prepared. 10/10 recommend having your mom there. We didn't originally plan on it with Eli, but I am so grateful she was there for his, Addie's, and Hallie's births.

I continued to breathe and work through contractions at home, timing them every 10 minutes from when they had started at 7:30pm until about 3:30am. I never slept, though I tried. I would just lay on the bed, then roll over and stand to work through a contraction, add it to my note on my phone, and then lay down again. They were definitely getting more intense. Even though they weren't five minutes apart, which is usually the marker for going in, I woke Aaron up and told him it was time to at least call the hospital. We found the number to call, and I couldn't even talk to the woman on the phone because I was working so hard through a contraction. She told us to go ahead and come on in. We called Austin to come over so we could leave, and let my mom know to head to the hospital to meet us.

We arrived at North Kansas City Hospital at 4:30am. They got me into a room and when they checked me I was at a 5.5. Hooray! I was relieved to know I wasn't crazy and that this was actually going to happen. There were some underlying nerves knowing what we'd been through the last time we were in labor and delivery, but we had no reason to believe we wouldn't be leaving without a baby this time. Our nurse, Amy, was incredible. I worked through more contractions and had my epidural around 6:30am or so, when I was at about an 8. My doctor, Dr. Newman, was out of town, which we knew would happen, but she actually had only delivered one of our kiddos (Eli) so that didn't worry me much. Dr. Lovitt delivered Addie and our last baby. 

My water never broke with any of our babies. Dr. Heizman came in when I was at a 9.5 and broke it, and we knew it wouldn't be long now. There was one contraction where Hallie's heart rate dropped a little bit, and Aaron and I were a little nervous. He asked if everyone knew our story and that we had lost a baby before, and of course they knew since it was in my files. But thankfully Dr. Heizman didn't seem concerned. Soon it was time, and two pushes later at 7:31 am, Hallie was in my arms. Hearing her cry was an inexplicable relief. I definitely felt her coming out more than I did Eli and Addie, simply because my epidural didn't have as long to kick in. But that was okay, because I also didn't have an epidural with our last baby (who was much smaller, but still). So it was redeeming to feel things a bit more and to hold a live baby on my chest. 

Although we did find out we were having a girl this time (another redeeming experience to change it up in the ultrasound room since that was where we found out we lost our baby last time), we still hadn't told anyone her name. After they handed her to me, I announced that her name was Hallie, Hallie Kaye Kleinmeyer. Hallie means "praise the Lord" and Kaye means "pure/rejoice". Kaye also is Hallie's Aunt Angela's middle name and Grandma Elaina's middle name, and was short for an Aunt Katherine on Aaron's side- who helped watch and raise his mom and aunts while his grandma was working. We also wanted another -ie girl name like Kelsie and Addie, and I liked how it all sounded together. The meaning was also what sold us.

Right before Hallie was born, our nurse team switched at the 7am shift change. We got Jaryn (a wonderful male nurse) and Katie, who normally worked on the mom and baby floor, but happened to be training on Labor and Delivery. After we had a little time to ourselves as a family of three, Katie came back in. She told us that she knew our story and we were already special to her, but she wanted to share that she also had experienced the loss of a child. Her daughter had been born at 26 weeks and lived for 12 days before passing away. Her daughter's name? Hallie Mae. And to think we were there at the exact time to have her as a nurse, and we had our Hallie Kaye. Goosebumps for us all. God's timing is wild. Katie told us she also has her rainbow baby, a son, now and that she knows how extra special and precious Hallie is to us. Pretty amazing. 

We moved up to the Mom and Baby floor and continued to have incredible care from nurses like Brenda, Brittany, and Sarena. North Kansas City is truly the best! I continued to just take in all of the joy and delight in all the things I got to do this time that I would have given anything to do with our last baby. I also had no stitches and no pain meds after the fact and felt amazing. Recovery was a breeze and I was so grateful, especially with two other crazies to take care of at home. It also helped that Hallie is such a sweet and easygoing baby. 

With an August due date instead of the January one we had expected, things had also changed regarding COVID and the visitor policy. I didn't have to be tested before I delivered, and our kids got to come meet their baby sissy in the hospital! That was one sweet and unexpected perk. It was wonderful that Hallie got to meet her aunts and uncles, grandparents, great-grandma, and other special friends. Another bonus was that we made it home the night before Eli’s first day, so we got to see him off to kindergarten! When it was time to go home, we got in the van and started pulling away from the hospital. That's when the tears really started to flow. Once you know what it's like to leave the hospital without your baby, it is inexplicably joyful to leave with them. 

We are so, so grateful for and in love with Hallie. She is the most precious gift and we are truly praising the Lord for her over and over again. She will never replace her sibling, but she is the best reminder of God's redeeming love and faithfulness, even in the hard times. I can truly say I can't imagine life without her and that having her was worth all the pain, heartache, and fear we had to navigate through since last fall. We love you so much, Hallie, and we always will, no matter what! 

Currently,

Kelsie

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ONEderful World First Birthday Party

It's hard to believe, but our sweet Addie Jo is already one! Crazy to think it has been a whole year since she joined the world- a baby girl- the sweetest surprise. Addie made it just before the pandemic started, but that didn't mean she escaped a pandemic birthday. Even though we were unable to host our usual large shebang like we did for Eli's first few birthdays, we knew we still wanted to celebrate our precious girl. If you're looking to plan a "ONEderful World" first birthday, or even just a pandemic first birthday, here are all of the details!

I knew that I wanted to do a fun little theme and play on words for the party. Eli had a "Onesie" Party, which was super fun, and you can check out all of the details here. I wanted to bring along a lot of the fun elements from his party, like the time capsule and One Second Every Day video. But I also wanted something new for Addie. Addie moved into the same nursery that we had for E, and it is travel/world themed, so I figured why not use the decor from her bedroom to plan around a theme? (This is my favorite new mom hack for bday parties. We're planning a Dino-FOUR party for E using his Dino decor, and he had a Three-Rex Party last year!) 

I have also always loved the lyrics to "Your Song" by Elton John, so I wanted to incorporate those into the birthday theme, making it "How ONEdeful Life is When You're in the World". So it was a nice mix of "one", the world, and gratefulness for our sweet girl. I was able to get a dear friend's daughter to write the lyrics so I could frame them. I went with the original lyrics for this piece so that I could keep it in Addie's room beyond her first birthday. They turned out so beautifully! 

I wanted to keep the decor pretty, but simple. I was thinking rose gold, pale greens and blues, and some gold. I found a super reasonable "one" balloon banner on Amazon that also came with six cute confetti-filled balloons that Eli and Addie loved playing with. (Just be careful, we popped them after the party and confetti went everywhere)! I also ordered a tissue banner from Amazon that honestly took way more time than it probably should have for me to put together, but I did love the final result! I may use it again for future birthdays! I also did a simple monthly photo banner and a wrote out a few of Addie's "stats".

Other than that, I gave the theme and my ideas to the ever-talented Hailey the Cake Lady, and she ran with it. She made the most beautiful and delicious smash cake for Addie, larger cake for guests, and amazing sugar cookies. If you are local to KC, you should definitely check her out for any of your baking needs! The last thing I did was tie in a bit of our theme through our meal, which was for immediate family only. Since we can't really travel the world right now, I labeled food from different countries! We did chips and salsa (Mexico), pizza (Italy), Greek Salad, and Asian Salad. It was simple but kind of fun. 

Because of the pandemic, we chose to do a FB Event and then "go live" with Addie's smash cake. It was super fun, and a way for people other than our immediate family to see Addie dive in to some sweets. That girl doesn't mess around! It was fun to see people comment on there and family from out of town were able to participate too! I also used the FB event to share a link to a "virtual" time capsule form, where people could fill out what they normally would have done in person. Then I just took the results and recorded them on the time capsule time sheets to add to Addie's time capsule for when she turns 18!

Finally, I did keep up with my One Second Every Day app, so you can watch Addie's below! I shared it in the FB event as well so people could view if they wanted. I love having a little moment from each of her first year. I did one for each of Eli's first three years, so I will probably do the same with Addie.

All in all, it was a good, simple, and fun celebration with our sweet Addie. Hopefully "pandemic birthday" pivots will end soon, but for now this was a great way to celebrate our little lady. Life truly is wonderful with her in the world! Happy Birthday, Addie Jo. You are prized and precious! 

Currently,

Kelsie

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THREE Rex Birthday Party

We've been blessed with another whole year of Eli! Although we considered skipping a birthday party this year with the birth of our sweet Addie in January, we decided we really wanted to give our sweet boy a chance to be celebrated, especially since he has been navigating his new role as big brother so well. We had such a great time with his ONEsie First Birthday Party and Taco TWOsday Party that I wanted to find another fun theme. And since he's obsessed with dinosaurs right now (and was one for Halloween), a THREE Rex party was the perfect fit! Here are all of the details in case you'd like to throw your own!

Decor and Theme Apparel 

I love to find fun decor that is not only cute but also cost efficient. Eli loves dinosaurs so much that he has dinosaur bedding, so I switched out his sheets and hung up his dino sheet as a backdrop. His were from Bed, Bath, and Beyond, and are discontinued now, but you can find a bunch of ideas here.

With his sheets as inspiration, I went with green, blue, and silver as his main colors, with a gold accent. I purchased his THREE Rex balloon set on Amazon: it came with the big number three, the rex balloons, and a dino balloon. The three and the dino balloon can be filled with helium, but considering that the helium shortage meant spending $26 on helium to fill them, we just inflated them and hung them or set them on the floor. I spent less than $10 on all of them. I also picked up balloons, streamers, and dino plates from our local Dollar Tree.

I made a simple twine banner for downstairs, designed and printed off some fun things on Canva, and did a birthday party online evite for invitations. I also printed off these dinosaur footprints, had E color them, and then cut them out and put them around the house! I love these fun, free ways to accent the theme.

I was going to put Eli in his Halloween dino costume, but it was actually quite warm on the day of his birthday and the costume was fleece, so instead he wore a little dino t-shirt I found on clearance at Carter's a long time ago. You can find a bunch of similar options here for your little dino. We didn't ask people to dress in theme, but some did if they had dinosaur options!

Food and Drinks 

After some research getting ideas online, I decided to play up the dino theme and have some fun with our food and drinks. We had Dino Nuggets of course, along with Pepperoni and Three Meat Pizza Rolls for our "carnivores". For our "herbivores", we had a large veggie tray. We also had "Dinosaur Bone" pretzels. I made "Lava Juice", which was really just Crystal Light Fruit Punch (which was quite delicious). Here's my document if you're interested in printing the little place card labels.

The real show stealer for the "sweetivores" were the amazing desserts from Hailey the Cake Lady. She not only made delicious Oreo cupcakes and the cutest dinosaur cookies, but she made the most incredible dinosaur cake! That dinosaur on top was actually edible and made out of fondant. Such talent! The top layer of the cake was the most delicious strawberry cake ever, and the lower layer was vanilla. If you're local to Kansas City, definitely use her for a delicious, affordable option for all of your dessert needs! Here's her Facebook page!

Activities 

Although we didn't attempt many crazy activities this time around (I mean, we did have a six week old), we had a few fun things for people to do. We had some printed dinosaur coloring sheets and crayons for the kiddos, along with a "what's your dinosaur name" sheet. We also had some dino hats out (from Dollar Tree) for people to wear and take photos with our backdrop. Of course, blowing out the candles on his cake was a highlight. It was probably my favorite part of the night- he was all smiley and so adorable!

Although I missed some days, I did manage to keep up with most of Eli's third year, so I put together another One Second Everyday video, and then Airplayed it and looped it downstairs on the TV along with his first and second year videos. Pretty crazy to see a second of nearly every day since he was born!


I also printed off and filled out another time capsule sheet, and made lists of Eli's stats and favorite things to toss in as well. All in all, it was an amazing time celebrating our not-so-little guy with friends and family who love him (and us) so well. We're excited to see what year four brings.

Happy Party Planning!

Currently,
Kelsie

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Addie's Birth Story

In case you haven't heard, Baby K is here and SHE is named Addie Jo Kleinmeyer. We were thrilled to welcome Addie at 6:56 am on Thursday, January 9th. Both of our babies were ten days early and born on Thursdays, so apparently that's when my body likes to go into labor. Addie is the sweetest little girl and a precious gift, and we were honestly so shocked and delighted that she was a girl! (We didn't find out gender ahead of time.) I loved recording Eli's Birth Story, so here's the story of how our Addie girl came into the world!

On Wednesday, January 8th, I felt a few contractions here and there at school. Since I'd already done this whole thing once, I knew they weren't close enough together to be worried about, but I also knew they were actually contractions and not just Braxton Hicks. I had a doctor's appointment the next day, so I figured I could get checked there. (I hadn't been checked at all at this point, so I didn't know if I was dilated or effaced at all- but I did feel a lot more pressure.) Ironically enough, I remember thinking to myself as I left school that day that I may not be back for a long time. Maybe it was because I was mentally thinking that Eli was born ten days early, so if this baby came at the same time it would be the next day! 

That afternoon, I drove out to meet Aaron on our property at The Brim for a tour, with a mild contraction along the way. I remember joking with him that I was doing my best to just keep this baby in. After the tour, I picked up Eli and told my mom that I had been having some contractions here and there. She told me that she didn't have any plans all weekend, which ended up being a good thing!

I went home and worked on dinner, but felt myself having to stop here or there to breathe through contractions. Again, they weren't super consistent, about 25 minutes apart or so, so I didn't worry. But I did have a feeling that maybe this was actually "it". Aaron told me to go sit down because I was doing too much, but even while I sat on the couch I would randomly have contractions. Eli saw me breathing and was worried about me, but we just told him that our baby was getting ready to come!

Aaron and I climbed into Eli's big boy bed to put him to bed together that night, and though neither of us said it, there was an unspoken confidence that this would be our last night as a family of three. We soaked up the sweet time reading through Pete the Cat, and I handed off the book for Daddy to read a couple of times as I worked through some contractions. I attempted to "sleep" at about 9:40 pm, but woke up around 11:10 with random contractions- apparently I love going into labor in the middle of the night! I glanced at my watch here and there, and when Aaron heard me rolling over to my hands and knees and breathing through contractions at around 12:15 am, he asked if I was timing.

He got up and turned on the lights and started timing. I now know that I had back labor, which I didn't realize at the time, because when a contraction would end it seemed like it never actually ended. There was always this dull constant pain that I felt which made it seem like my contractions were constant. (I definitely don't recommend back labor- it is more common when babies are in a weird position, and Addie was head down but of sideways which was triggering the pain).

Aaron timed until about 1:15, and then told me he was going to call his brother to come to our house and be with Eli, who was sleeping. I was a little worried that this wasn't going to be "for real", and we would be bugging everyone for no reason, but a few more contractions in and I was pretty confident this baby was coming. Aaron also called my mom, who had been a huge help during Eli's 17 hrs of labor, and she headed our way to follow us to the hospital. I labored at home a little longer, and we pulled up the hospital about 2:00 am.

They got me up to labor and delivery and I was at about a 4, which I was honestly a little disappointed in. But I also knew that labor went quicker the second time around, and I was grateful I made it in time for a possible epidural. Since I was only at 38 weeks and 3 days, I had to "progress" in labor or they wouldn't be able to admit me, and they also couldn't induce me since I wasn't 39 weeks yet. I had a little PTSD from Eli's labor experience (going to the hospital, making no progress, going home, laboring until an 8, and coming back), so I was worried I would have to go home again, but thankfully I made progress and made it to a 7 very quickly.

Then it was time for the epidural. It took a few tries (and breathing through a few contractions) to make it work, but thankfully both Aaron and the nurse advocated for me (she said she shouldn't still be hearing me contract), so we had the anesthesiologist come back and she put something through that made me go numb a little more quickly and thoroughly. The back labor still wasn't completely gone, but I definitely didn't feel my contractions anymore, which was a relief and huge blessing. They moved me around a few times, broke my water when I was at a 9, and waited for me to reach a 10. I was able to rest a little, but it was all going so much more quickly than it did with Eli that I honestly couldn't believe I was as far along as I was.

Of course, coming in at 2:00 am and being close to a ten just after 6:00 am meant that my normal doctor who delivered Eli wasn't there. They had to call in the doctor who was on call for me, but it was time to push just before 7:00 am. I only pushed for 18 minutes (which would have been even shorter if they weren't waiting for the doctor to be in the room), and then little miss Addie was here at 6:56 am!

Aaron and I had both secretly wanted a girl, but we just wouldn't say it. Because of that, along with the fact that I had PUPPS (which is 70/30 odds in favor of having a boy), I was completely convinced that we were going to have a boy. We had to come up with a new boy name, since Eli was our no-brainer boy name the first time around, so we had worked extra hard to have a boy option that we figured we would be using. I completely understand why people find out if they're having a boy or girl beforehand, and think everyone needs to do what's right for them, but wow is it fun to find out in the delivery room! With Addie being born at 6:56, and shift change happening at 7:00, there were a whole host of people in the room who were cheering and crying right alongside us as Aaron called out, "It's a Girl!" We have a video of that moment and I'll cherish it forever.

My eyes were closed so I didn't know until he said it, but I honestly was so surprised and thrilled. We just kept saying we couldn't believe we had a sweet little girl, Addie Jo, and that she was here in less than 7 hours of labor. Eli was a 4:08 pm birth, so this time it was crazy to have it all done and over with before breakfast time (and I joked that I didn't even have to miss a meal)!

Once again, we had incredible nurses, like Lola (pictured here), Jen, Meg, Mackenzie, Erika, and several others who loved on me, Aaron, and Addie so well. Gosh, what a blessing nurses are to care for you so kindly at your worst and most vulnerable, just acting like it's no big deal when they deal with some pretty gross and hard stuff.

Once we moved up to the mom and baby floor, we got to hang out a little bit and then Eli finally got to come meet his baby sister (which, for the record, he totally called with unwavering confidence the entire pregnancy). He was a little worried about the hospital (where he kept telling everyone that he didn't have a boo boo), and he didn't like the looks of my IV. But he warmed up a bit when he got to sit on the bed with Mama and we told him that Addie was his baby sister and she was finally here.

Our family made their way through throughout the day, and we loved getting to surprise them when they came in by introducing them to our baby girl- what a sweet surprise for us all. We ended up having typical Missouri weather, with Addie born on a 65 degree day, and then freezing rain moving in the next day, and 3.5 inches of snow the next day, so that meant fewer visitors getting out in the nasty weather. We had to stay a little later because of it, but it was sweet to have the extra time just Aaron, Addie, and I in the hospital together (with the help of the nurses and the nursery) before heading home to our new reality as a family of four.

All in all, I am so grateful for another incredible birth experience, where I was able to make it a good chunk of the way on my own without medication, go into spontaneous labor ten days early (again), get an epidural for relief, and see my baby on my chest just seconds after she was born. That moment is inexpressibly wonderful.

Welcome to world, sweet Addie! You are prized and precious. We love you so much, no matter what, and we always will.

Currently,

Kelsie

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