Week 35!!

So this week has been more than eventful, some good and some scary!

Last Friday started it all; I had an ultrasound in addition to my normal non stress test, which tests for how many kicks and movements Cooper does in a certain period of time. The ultrasound went fine as far as I knew, until Tuesday, but we’ll get there in a little bit. The ultrasound technician wanted to make sure before I left that a doctor had reviewed the results, so she reviewed them with one of the doctors and I was able to leave and go to work. The rest of the story comes later.

I learned on Friday night that my cousin Erica had been induced and had her baby Evy! My grandma called to tell me, so 4 babies down, Cooper is all that is left!

Saturday was my family baby shower in Henryville at Grandma’s church. It was lovely! Most everyone attended, Stephanie and Erica rode down with me and we helped decorate as best we can, but I tell you, my mom was on top of it, she and my grandma and brother had about everything done when we arrived an hour early! My mom, she is an amazing lady, spoils me rotten even now. The shower was just great. I had a good time and I hope that everyone else did too. It was so great to see all of the babies, well, minus Evy who was still in the hospital of course! It was my first time to meet Mr. Oliver Matthew Ramsey (my cousin Abby’s baby) and boy was he cute. Finn and Layne were cute as usual; those boys have the funniest faces!! There are a couple of pictures from the shower below. Everyone was so generous at the shower; we got so many nice gifts to help us out with our little man! J Cooper is so fortunate to have such a wonderful family!!!

Sunday came and we were all pretty pooped and pretty much just took the day off. We didn’t leave the house, didn’t even make it to church. We are BAD!!! But it was nice to spend the day relaxing at home. I did laundry and washed all of Cooper’s stuff, getting it ready to put his room together the next day.

Monday was the day we put Cooper’s room together! There are a couple of pictures below, we’ve got everything in his room except for two small tables, both will hold one of the lamps that I repainted, one will also have the baby monitor on it. Other than those though, the room is all setup. I think it looks pretty great in there and I cannot wait to bring him home!!

Tuesday is when the drama starts….. I had my normal Tuesday morning NST (non stress test), and I was supposed to meet with a new different doctor that day as well. So, I arrived for the NST alone, as usually Tim doesn’t go with me to these because these visits are so routine and this way he doesn’t have to miss as much work. Well he was running late so he decided to stop by and meet the new doctor. When he arrived, I was still waiting in the waiting room and I was thrilled to see him. I have learned that going to the doctor the day after a holiday isn’t a great idea, lots of waiting!

Anyway, I had my NST, and Cooper was a busy busy man. He didn’t stop kicking and moving around in the 25+ minutes that we were in for the test. They couldn’t even get a baseline heart rate for the little guy…. Finally they decided that he wasn’t going to calm down and they let me get up and so we headed over to visit with the doctor. The doctor came in after a long wait and told us that I had low amniotic fluid. He seemed very concerned about this and said that there were many options for what we could do, but that he thought that Cooper would come earlier than 38 weeks. This was hard news to hear, I held off the crying until after we left the office, but I was very emotional and cried nearly the entire way to work. Tim decided to leave our expedition at the office and drive me to work because I wasn’t going to be fit enough to drive myself. We scheduled another ultrasound and doctor visit and did that on Wednesday.

Wednesday during our ultrasound, Praise God, there was an excellent amount of fluid. I had a different technician doing the ultrasound this time, and she seemed concerned that she wasn’t finding the same results as the other tech, but she seemed pleased that I had plenty of fluid. When we met with the doctor, he said he was thrilled with the results and didn’t think we had anything to worry about. We are scheduled for another ultrasound next week, just to make sure that everything is ok, but we are also being scheduled to enter the hospital on October 2^nd for preparation for induction which should happen on Saturday morning October 3^rd. Cooper should arrive sometime later that day!

Today was uneventful, thank goodness. It has been a busy week, and I’m so thankful that today was calm! I needed it. Tomorrow I go in for another NST, Saturday is my baby shower at Erica’s house for my Indianapolis friends. It should be fun!

3 weeks & 1 day before we go into the hospital!!!

Week 34!

Week 34! Cooper will arrive in 4-5 weeks! Wow! It won’t be long now! Since I started the twice weekly appointments last week, I’ve had one and the doctor visit and then I have my second Friday along with another ultrasound to measure Cooper’s growth. Tuesday’s appointment was pretty low key – I had the baby monitoring for 15 minutes or so, which is pretty relaxing and cool to see his heart rate fluctuate and to know that he is doing well and kicking so much even with an audience! J The doctor thinks that he’s doing wonderful. I saw Dr. Gates this week, he is a super cool doctor, says that Cooper is measuring really well as far as growth, but is glad we’re doing another ultrasound on Friday just to make sure all is well.

Sleep has become harder this week - I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night or Wednesday night - was sick on Sunday night - so I'm really hoping that I can get a good night's rest tonight! I'm exhausted and being this tired doesn't bode well for working all day long! I'm so glad we do not have many activities tonight - dinner and picking up around the house is probably all I'll do!

Last Friday’s appointment for the baby monitoring went well too, we were in and out quickly – Cooper is a good kicker! I see soccer in his future! (Even if his daddy opposes =] )

Saturday my Dad came up and he and Tim did a lot of trim work around the house – Erica came over and she and I painted the dresser for Cooper’s room and also assembled a side table to sit beside the rocking chair. Erica got a coat of paint on that as well. That morning I went down to the south side of town to buy the breast pump from my friend Shannon (Thanks Shan!) and visited with her and Jackson for a little while. That boy is such a cutie, and a squirmy one too! Then I went to Andrew’s tennis tourney to check in on him, back home to go and fetch supplies for Dad and Tim, as well as get everyone lunch. I came home to eat then to Andrew’s second match. It was a super super busy day that day! Dad stayed until around 10pm and we finally made him make his trek home for the night!

Sunday Tim and I went to church and when we arrived home, it was to a crowd of neighbors and family and friends to surprise me with a baby shower! Stephanie put the entire thing together, she’s such a sweetheart! We had a great time visiting with everyone and are so thankful to have such great people surrounding us! The remainder of Sunday was spent doing very little except laundry. We were just pooped!

Monday we did our running around town, grocery shopping, haircuts, dropping my ring off at the jewelers for re-dipping and polishing to make it look brand new for when it fits me again! It was a busy night!

Tuesday night Andrew had a tennis match at Lawrence Central, Tim made it for some of the match and I headed home to get dinner going.

Wednesday night was our last child birthing class, so we “graduated” from that and we are glad to have our Wednesday nights free again!

Thursday – Today Andrew goes to Bloomington for another tennis match and that should be a late night for him. Good luck!

Tomorrow is the ultrasound and baby monitoring, Saturday I have my family baby shower and then hopefully some relaxation on Sunday! Busy Busy Busy! Have a great weekend and upcoming week everyone!!!

Week 33!

Cooper was growing and kicking more as we got closer to week 33! He is growing and so am I! My belly button is beginning to pop out more and more, the turkey is getting closer to being done!

This past weekend, we spent Saturday being lazy for the morning, sleeping in until nearly noon! Then we went to get some lunch and spent the rest of the day working on lamps for Cooper’s room and working on fixing up a chest of drawers that we’ll use now for his dresser/changing table.

Sunday we spent with my dad – he came up to help out to visit and to help with some things around the house – cutting Stephanie’s and Cooper’s doors and closet doors down so that they would shut with the new plush carpet! He also helped us replace some outlets and with a few other things Tim had going on, including trying to figure out why our outlet on the back deck wasn’t working. All in all, it was a super nice weekend!

The week was full as usual.

Tuesday morning I had my first non-stress test to measure how active Cooper was – he was VERY active that day, lots of kicking and variability in his heart rate, which is what they hope for, but usually do not see in babies only 32-33 weeks old. The doctor wants me to have another ultrasound next week, so that will be on Friday September 4th. Tuesday evening Andrew had a tennis match, so we went there after work.

Wednesday was the third child birthing class and the tour of the hospital. We really liked St. Vincent’s hospital and I’m glad we will be having Cooper there! It is really nice!

Thursday was a super busy day at work for me, and then Andrew had another tennis match so we got to watch him play again!

Tomorrow I have another non-stress test, those will be twice weekly – Tuesdays and Fridays, with me seeing the doctor on one of those visits….. Super busy week as usual, I’m sure next week will be just as busy!

Below is a picture of the lamps that we worked on for Cooper's room!

Week 32 & Cooper's Room

Another week! 32 down, only 6-7 more to go!! I am growing like a weed; it is getting more difficult to sleep for very long on one side. I feel like a rotisserie chicken – constantly turning over during the night. That along with having to get up to pee so often makes a person pretty tired in the morning!

I had my A1C test done on Monday and it turned out good, it was 5.8 which is down a tenth of a point from last month’s test and my doctor seems to be happy with how I am doing. Finding food to eat for breakfast is becoming more and more difficult, my insulin to carb ratio is pretty low at this point, one unit of insulin to every 3 carbs that I eat. So I try to stick with lower carb foods, which is kind of difficult because I don’t want eggs and bacon – so I mostly end up eating low sugar oatmeal. It’s not too bad.

Cooper is pretty active these days, he’s kicking and moving around all of the time that I’m sitting, and this past week he’s been really good at finding one place and pushing on me pretty hard. So I in turn push back on him, and it is a neat feeling, I don’t know what part of him that I am feeling, but it’s neat to feel his body through my skin. Weird, but neat!

You can see from the pictures below that we finished up all of the painting in Cooper’s room!
We had quite a crowd over on Saturday August 15th to help us, and we are so excited about how well it turned out! Bobbie Bowser, My Mom, Shawn, Erica and Tim and I were all in that room for a majority of the day painting those monkeys and trees! WE LOVE THE ROOM!!!

Andrew worked all day on Saturday after his scrimmage tennis match and Stephanie went to help her friend Lauren move into her apartment at Ball State.

On Sunday, Erica came over and helped paint some more, and Stephanie also helped a ton with the trees! Monday night I painted his name on the wall and the closet so that we could have all of the painting done before the carpet was to be installed on Tuesday morning. Sunday was a big work day around the Johnson household… Tim and Andrew ripped up the existing carpet, took out all of the nails and were general handy-men! Then Andrew mowed the grass, such a hard worker! Stephanie worked hard too she painted a table that Tim had up in the garage and that she is now using as a bedside table. It looks really good!

Tuesday the carpet came and boy is it nice! It is so cushy and plush! IT’S WONDERFUL! The only thing about it is that it is much thicker than the carpet we previously had and so Tim is going to have to trim Stephanie’s and Cooper’s closet doors and also their bedroom doors so that they will shut!

Wednesday night we had our second child birthing class – only two more left. Next week we get to tour the hospital, which should be fun!!

Andrew has his first tennis match of the season in Lebanon today, wish him good luck!

Week 31

We've made it to week 31! Cooper will be here between weeks 38-39, so not too much longer!

I apologize for not posting last week, it has been a busy time in the Johnson household getting ready for school to start, working on the house and especially in Cooper's room.

We've done quite a bit in there, ripped out carpet, primed everything, painted the ceiling, painted the walls, traced up the trees, grass, vines and monkeys and started painting in some of the tracings.

Thanks so much to Shannon & John for getting us the overhead projector!

A picture of Cooper's room in progress is below - this picture was as of Tuesday August 11th.

This week we have been busy bees and expect that to continue through the weekend.

We started off the week on Sunday with a trip down south for my cousin Erica's baby shower. This was a couples shower, so Tim and I went down for that. We arrived early to eat lunch with my dad, we went to Cheddar's! YUM! Then we arrived at the shower and had a great time visiting with family in the 90+ degree heat and humidity! It was great to see everyone and espcially great to see the new babies, Layne and Finn!

Monday night was our only "free" night we spent that painting in Cooper's room.

Tuesday - Tim went to Andrew's fall sports meeting, I stayed home to paint some more.

Wednesday - we had our first child birthing class.

Thursday we are leaving early from work to spend the afternoon/evening at the Indiana State Fair. It should be a good time.

Andrew started school on Tuesday the 11th, Steph is enjoying her last few weeks as a free bird until school starts in late August.

This weekend we are having a few people over to help paint in Cooper's room, Mom and Shawn, and maybe Bobbie and Erica. It will be such a great help for us! We are having our new carpet installed on Tuesday the 18th, so we'd like to have all of the painting done before that happes!

That's it for this week, thanks for reading!

30 weeks & Cooper's Room (in progress)

Never got to post anything for this week, will make sure to not miss another week!

29 weeks!

Well, we've made it to 29 weeks!

Last Saturday, John, Shannon, Jackson, Joni and Erica came over for dinner, we made Shannon's famous pizza on the grill! I thought it was pretty good, however, I doubt that with as long as it takes we'll ever make it because we are too hungry to wait that long!! =) It was good to visit with all of them. Jackson is such a cutie! He slept almost the entire time they were over.

Sunday was running some errands and working a little bit in Cooper's room.

Monday I had another ultrasound, turns out Cooper is measuring a few days early, but nothing to worry about. We found out that we'll probably schedule his arrival anytime between weeks 38-39, which means anytime after October 1.

Tuesday, Andrew had his wisdom teeth taken out, he is still puffy a bit, but recovered nicely :)

Wednesday night, Tim and I attended our breastfeeding class, that was something! Fox 59 came in and taped our class for a little bit, we were on the news for a split second.

That's about it for this week, read more next week, less than 10 weeks to go before Cooper arrives!