34 weeks-getting close

Only 6 more weeks to go.  The excitement is building as well as the emotions.  Trying to coordinate Zack and I leaving work and my mom and sister coming to Colorado when we really have no idea when Miss Sierra is going to make an appearance is a little bit difficult, if not stressful.  Will she be like Peyton and be late, or be like I feel she is going to be and be early?  Or will she decide June 23rd is a great day to be born?

Midwife appointments are now every 2 weeks, but I'll actually be there every week from here on out because I have a class to attend next Wednesday even though it's not an official appointment.  Her heartbeat today was loud and strong, her head right where it should be in my pelvis.  The little wiggle worm is super active, but continues to be active upside down, the way she should be.  As for me, my blood pressure is still fabulously normal and I'm right on target with my weight gain.  I'm also measuring right on track (I was always small with Peyton and had been small with Sierra up to this point).  The pain in my low back has mostly subsided, but I am extremely uncomfortable most of the time because of her activity and the weird positions she gets into.  My abs are actually sore most days to the touch because she pushes so hard.

I started really nesting today.  I rearranged Peyton's room, moving the rocking chair into ours and organizing the clothes (for the second time).  I also started a bag to take with us to the midwifery with baby clothes and blankets, a birthing playlist for my Ipod, and have washed the cover for the car seat so that it's ready to go into the car.  Now all we need is the baby...

32 weeks-getting close, but oh so far

I went in for my 32 week midwife appointment yesterday.  All the blood work from last month is "great."  One thing about being pregnant is I find out a lot more about my overall health picture than I'd know otherwise.  No gestational diabetes, blood counts are perfect, iron levels are through the roof.  It's good to know that I'm in such great health considering I've felt not so great.  Sierra has turned head down with her butt and back off to my right side.  I could've guessed that because I suddenly stick out a lot farther and there's really nothing on my left side except the occasional foot.  Her heartbeat was really loud and strong this month on the doppler.  I saw the midwife yesterday that I saw for my final appointment before Peyton was born last time around, so we got to reminisce.  The biggest thrill of the appointment was making my appointments for nearly the rest of my pregnancy.  I go in at 34 weeks, then the following week I have a 35 week "midwife chat" with other mamas due the same time as me to make sure we're prepared, then I have a 37 and 38 week appointment set up (the 38 week being the day before my 32nd birthday).  That makes it feel so close.  And yet, when I think about 8 more weeks until my official "due date," especially continuing to work, it feels so far.  I'm really hoping she comes as a birthday present to me, but since Peyton was late, it's not likely.

As far as how the pregnancy is going, I'm having more and stronger Braxton Hicks contractions, warming up for the big event.  My low back has been a problem, but Zack and I have discovered a method of applying pressure to it every night before bed that seems to put things back in place and decrease the pain, tightness and sciatica.  Sierra gets the hiccups quite a bit and since she's turned I feel them really strongly.  She's getting more cramped in there so the kicks are more stretches now that have my whole stomach at times moving from side to side.  We're debating whether or not to go to a refresher birth class (is it worth the hassle of trying to find a sitter for Peyton).  We're both ridiculously busy in May, in preparation for things to get crazy in June, so I don't know if we'll do it or not.  She moves around constantly, but is crazy active at night, making sleep difficult.  I'm sleeping better, but finding less and less ways I can lay comfortably all night long (and of course I'm getting up several times to pee).

We are really excited and anxious to meet little miss Sierra.  Hope it isn't too chaotic in the days following her arrival.

28 weeks, 5 days and counting...

28 weeks in my Mountain Midwifery T-shirt

It's official, 3rd trimester!  I am so anxious for Sierra's arrival.  I was not ready at all at this point with Peyton, now all I want to do is hold her in my arms.  Of course, I was not this uncomfortable with Peyton either.  I gained 9 pounds since my last prenatal visit!  9 pounds!  That's way more than I've ever gained between appointments, and I don't care that I went almost 6 weeks this time instead of 4, that's ridiculous.  I know how it happened.  I'm exhausted and eating poorly.  I'm craving sweets like they're going out of style, and eating on the run way more often than I should.  I'm also not drinking nearly enough water, so I'm retaining fluids (my feet are slightly swollen by the end of the day and I just feel bloated).  My goal for this next month is to drink at least 3 liters of water a day and start eating healthier and start back up with yoga.  I had blood work taken and did my glucose test at my last appointment, so hopefully all went well.  Her heart rate was good and I'm measuring 2 cm small, just like I did with Peyton throughout my pregnancy.  I'm also getting hot.  It's only April and we haven't had that many above 70 degree days, but I feel like I'm cooking when it is that warm.  Oh, and I can't sleep.  Weird dreams and limbs falling asleep wake me up constantly (and a snoring hubby keeps me there).

Sierra is a mover and shaker, literally.  I don't know what she's doing in there, but there may be gymnastics in her future.  She's started with hiccups too.  And she plays the piano on my bladder constantly.  Every time I stand up I have to go to the bathroom and sometimes she hits it just right so that I instantaneously have to pee.  There are times when I feel like I can't breathe, my back hurts, the places she pushes on my stomach feel bruised and are incredibly painful to the touch, the pressure I feel in my lower abdomen makes her feel like she weighs 50 pounds, and my legs are just wrecked by the end of a work day.  I worked up until 39 weeks with Peyton.  That seems like an impossible dream right now.

As ready as I am to not be pregnant and as ready as I am with baby stuff (got some all in one cloth diapers given to me, which was the last thing on the list of things to buy before she's born), I don't think I'm prepared.  I spent a whole lot more time preparing with Peyton and Zack and I spent a lot more time discussing how baby was going to change our lives and how we were feeling.  I feel like life is just going on as usual, and one day, poof!, there will be another baby.  Hopefully starting yoga back up will help with that and maybe Zack and I can find a day of the week that we can spend some time in the evening "bonding over baby."  Without taking a prenatal class, we'll have to be disciplined ourselves.  It was a lot easier when we had somewhere to go to not blow it off.  We are taking a refresher course, but it's only one night, not a series of 2 months.

So, 3 more months until we hopefully meet our happy, healthy baby girl.  The wait is hard and long and hopefully I'll find the energy to take better care of us in that time and be a good mom and wife.

Introductions

As we did with Peyton, we will have a blog going for our new edition, Sierra Judy Johnson.  That's right, we're having a girl.  If you would like to follow the blog, please join so you can get emails when the big moment arrives.  It sounds like Cathy, Connie's sister, has agreed to be our on the scene reporter (or via phone if she's unable to be here) and blog when labor begins until the big event.  It worked out great last time, even though it wasn't the original plan, since the midwifery's wifi was down.  We will be birthing again at Mountain Midwifery.  We are so excited to be working with them again.  They are a wonderful group of midwives and nurses that really empower you during the whole pregnancy and labor experience.  We can't wait to meet Sierra, although Peyton seems completely unenthused about the prospect of a sibling.  We're working on him, though, so hopefully by the due date, June 23, 2011, he will be asking when his baby sister will be coming home.

Connie, Zack, and Peyton too.