Baby Johnson: 34 weeks and feeling good!

I'm not sure if it is that I've gotten used to not being able to do as much physically or if taking the advice of my mom to eat more chocolate and drink hot chocolate really works or if I really just am feeling better and more positive these days. Or maybe it was just the act of writing everything down! I've also seen my physical therapist friend the last several weeks and even though I have a really hard time making time to do the exercises when I'm at home, I think doing the exercises and making sure my hips are aligned during the appointments has in fact helped a bit. These days I still hobble around a bit and don't go for long walks, but my hips aren't quite so painful and the thing that is ailing me most is actually the skin on my stomach, or maybe the muscles just underneath, stretching out and pulling, especially if I move suddenly. I've started to get stretch marks around my belly button similar to with Cora, but I think they are progressing a bit quicker and more suddenly than last time. I'm really not quite sure how this baby is supposed to keep growing and pushing my stomach out!

At 32 weeks I drove to Billings for another ultrasound and to check on the baby's cyst. It turned out that the cyst was actually a bit smaller than the month before, at about 1.75cm by 1.8cm, so they told me I don't need to come back at 36 weeks. Good news! They also told me that she weighed around 4 lbs. 3 oz. and was head down. Basically the doctor said that they could do another ultrasound around 36-38 weeks in Bozeman if they wanted to make sure everything was for sure okay for delivery, but most likely they would do an ultrasound on the baby after birth and again around 4-6 weeks once the mother's hormones leave the baby to check on the cyst. The doctor in Billings is guessing that the cyst will resolve on it's own. Yay!

Luckily Cora has been sleeping fairly well lately, going to bed around 8:30pm and waking up sometimes as early as 6am, but plays in her room until we get her around 7am. She has been sleeping on the floor with blankets for the last few weeks and is not interested in sleeping in her bed, but at least she is sleeping through the night, so we don't really care. She still naps 1-2 hours each day at school and on the weekends. Neil and I have been going to bed around 9-9:30pm shortly after getting Cora to bed and I'm often awake for 1-2 hours in the early morning while our cat, Rooney, decides to wake Neil up early as well. So we aren't feeling super rested, but not much to do about that. The days seem to fly by. Getting Cora ready for school and her lunch ready between 7am-8:15am (she gets to watch some Curious George and has been getting dressed on her own the last few days when we set out clothes for her), Neil leaves for work around 7-7:30am, then I take Cora to school between 8:20-9am (Cora moved upstairs to the preschool as of December 1st and the check in process takes a bit longer with putting stuff away, writing her name, washing hands, etc.), then work has been busy pretty much 9:30-5pm straight, then I leave to pick Cora up and we get home at about 5:45pm, making and eating dinner 6-7pm, bath time, getting ready for bed, stories, singing, and then sleep between 8-8:30pm. And by that point Neil and I are so exhausted that we head straight to bed as well, or maybe watch a few minutes of TV or read a book. With the ski resort open and in full swing Neil works on Saturdays, but is off on Sundays, so we'll go swimming or sledding or hang out with friends, or stay home and relax or do some cleaning. This weekend we got our Christmas tree!

Two weeks ago, the weekend after Thanksgiving, all three of us came down with a stomach virus and we all started throwing up Saturday afternoon going well into the evening. No fun at all, but I was expecting we'd get it at some point this fall/winter (the same as we have the last couple years). Of course being 8 months pregnant with a stomach virus is pretty much the worst thing ever. I didn't think I was that dehydrated, but then I started having Braxton hicks contractions every 4 minutes for a couple hours, so at the advice of my midwife I had my fireman neighbor take me into Bozeman to the Labor and Delivery department to get some fluids and monitor the baby. They gave me two bags of fluids over a couple hours and the baby's movements looked great, so I got home at about 3:30 in the morning. Ugh! At least those viruses pass quickly and I was feeling pretty well back to normal in the next couple days. Of course I've bleached the bathrooms a couple times since then and insist on not having anyone over to our house for at least a couple weeks and all of our hands are red and sore from washing all the time. Don't want to spread that to anyone at all!

I'm still having contractions fairly often and they seem to be more frequent in the mornings and evenings. I just keep trying to drink lots of water. At my 32 week check up with my midwife she said it'll just keep happening until I eventually go into labor, but they're not worried about them causing me to go into labor early at all. My blood pressure was still great at 106/62 or so, but it was around 34-35 weeks with Cora that it started going up, so they will continue to monitor it.

Otherwise holiday events are also in full swing with a friend's pie party last weekend, we took Cora to see the Nutcracker ballet (which she did enjoy!), gingerbread house making evening at another friend's house, town Christmas Stroll and seeing Santa (which Cora was not a fan of), resort holiday dinner next week, etc. The couple times Cora has seen Santa she was really excited to see him and wave from a distance, but did not want to sit on his lap at all or talk to him. I think the next two weeks until Christmas are going to fly by and then I'll be on vacation for 11days trying to do last minute organizing and preparing for the arrival of our new baby girl! Hard to believe she'll be here so soon.

Here I am at about 29 weeks: