Week 35

I know it's been about 4 weeks since I last posted for this pregnancy.  I have my reasons, though!  These last weeks have been spent in Utah, and we were so busy I barely kept track of where I was at anyway.  But the biggest reason, and I know this is going to sound stupid, is I couldn't take my picture in the same spot as all the other ones!  I have this thing for continuity.  So, even though we had been in the car for 6 hours, I was happy to take my 35 week picture in my same ol' spot.  Even Claire got in on the action!

I'll do my best to quickly recap the last few weeks.  Mostly, things have remained the same, with both Johnny and I getting bigger every day.  He's remained very active.  The first weekend that I was in Utah, my Mom felt so bad about how uncomfortable I looked that she bought me a maternity support belt.  It makes such a difference!  After a couple days of wearing it, however, I started to have some really bad back pains.  Bad enough that I started to wonder if I was experiencing back labor.  I'm still not sure, but I think it was mostly the support belt.  Turns out, it works best when I'm up and about...and not so much when I'll be sitting.

I still have done well keeping my swelling at bay, and for the most part remained comfortable during my stay.  Admittedly, it got increasingly harder to be pregnant with each passing week, but at this point that's expected. Time kept on passing...

We did have one little incident, right before we left to come home to California.  The day before we had planned on leaving, I had been experiencing menstrual cramp-like pains throughout the morning.  I chalked it up to having done too much the day before and tried to ignore it.  I had already determined that they weren't regular contractions.  I went swimming, and that relieved some of the discomfort, and then headed off to a much anticipated prenatal massage.  The massage was wonderful, though I was still big and pregnant when I got off the table!  Shucks.  I went back to my Mom's and was so relaxed I started dozing on the couch a bit.  After about a half hour, I realized that I was consistently waking up from contractions.  I starting timing them, and sure enough they were exactly 10 minutes apart.  This kept up for over two hours, and then started to fizzle out.  I went to bed, but was still in quite a bit of pain, and consequently didn't sleep at all.  I spent the whole night fighting what felt like Restless Leg Syndrome throughout my entire body.  And I had the most awful pain on the right side of my incision.

I called Ali first thing the next morning, just to make sure that she felt okay about me traveling, and to keep her up to speed.  I've kind of been lectured already about not calling her when I have concerns, which doesn't sound like me at all! :)  She wasn't so much worried about the contractions as she was the pain in my right side.  We decided it would be best to go get an ultrasound to check on the integrity of my uterus around my scar tissue, and to have a vaginal check to verify if I had dilated or not.  So we booked a hotel room in St. George (deciding to take the trip home in two legs), sent the kids to Jenny's to play, and went to the hospital for the first time in three pregnancies (besides to deliver)!

What a colossal waste of time!  First of all, I couldn't stand the smell of the labor and delivery ward.  The very sight of the room, with it's bed and adjoining bathroom, made me anxious with memories of immobility and pain.  It was quite a surprise for me to feel that way!  But both Danny and I were immediately glad that we have chose to have Johnny at home.  And that was only driven closer to home by the lack of care and attention we received there.  After being in the bed, hooked up to electronic fetal monitoring, for almost three hours, we were dismissed to go home without the ultrasound.  I did get a rather brisk vaginal check which determined that my cervix was closed.  At this point, Danny and I were so ready to get out of there we didn't argue to get the ultrasound.  And as it has turned out, I haven't had the pain since.

We got home a couple of hours before my scheduled appointment with Ali.  The appointment went great!  I am still looking good, and Ali was again amazed by my amazing blood pressure. :)  When we checked on Johnny, Ali was satisfied with his heart rate and his growth.  Actually, it seems as though he still has plenty of room to grow!  He's not a small baby, but he's not overly big either.  I was actually relieved to hear that!  The one thing that was of concern was his positioning.  He was dangerously close to turning posterior.  Ali suggested some cat-cow yoga poses to encourage him to rotate his back to the front of my belly.  I did them as instructed, and woke the next morning with the most debilitating pubic pain I've ever had!  I made it until 10:30 before I called Danny sobbing, and asked him to come home.  I couldn't move!  Luckily, he was able to come home and help.  I spoke to Ali again, and she said that the pubic pain was actually a good sign that Johnny had rotated like we wanted.  She prescribed the maternity support band again, and though the pain is still there, it isn't not nearly as bad.  We're pushing on true!

So, according to babycenter.com, Johnny should be weighing in at a hefty 5 1/4 pounds and over 18 inches long.  I'm assuming Johnny is closer to 6 pounds. ;)  We have our birth planning meeting on the 24th of July, and we determined that I only need to make it to July 28th for Ali to be comfortable delivering the baby.  I'm making a huge mistake, and hoping against hope that I go early.  I suppose we shall have to wait and see!