3rd trimester

I know, I can't believe I'm already here either. I wanted to take the time to document how I'm feeling and what life is like getting larger with child.

First of all, I'm officially "pregnant" looking. I get the no doubt looks from people. Not to mention MANY comments from strangers galore. Which is okay.

Along with looking pregnant, I definitely feel pregnant. I've had rib pain for weeks that is just getting worse. I had no idea it would feel like my ribs were being pulled and stretched. I also feel my little Liam getting cozy and cuddly under my ribs, whether it is his head or foot. I can't even sit in certain seats that cause me to slouch for too long because my rib cage starts pushing and pinching my uterus. That's when I'm forced to lie down on my side, which is always sooo relieving. Aahhhhh. :-)

I'm also starting to feel myself doing the pregnancy waddle. You know the waddle ;) I try to walk as straight and normal as possible but the pressure and weight of the baby has me moving quite differently. Mainly very slowly. I can't walk very fast at all.

I feel my tailbone and sciatic nerve bothering me occasionally. But that usually depends on if I've been sitting in a certain chair or position for too long. But its not too bad, yet. ;)

I haven't even mentioned the restroom trips! Holy cow! Its like my body said, "oh I'm in my third trimester now? That's my cue to pee ALL the time!" I'm serious it happened like clockwork. Its definitely not fun, but what can ya do?

Okay, enough of the negative stuff. Now with the positive! I can honestly say that even with the aches and pains, I LOVE being pregnant! There's nothing better in this world than feeling your baby in your belly kicking, jabbing, moving, and twirling. He has hiccups quite often, which is so comforting because I know he's still alive all throughout the day, even when he's sleeping or not moving for whatever reason.

CJ's really coming around with the whole baby idea. Well, depends on the day. The other day he laid his head on my belly and the baby started kicking his head like CRAZY. He didn't move until the baby stopped, which went on for like 20 minutes! It was so special. Also, CJ and I were talking about parenthood and all that fun stuff and he said, "I'm really excited to hold Liam, but still terrified to raise him." Frankly, I feel the exact same way! Haha. Can't blame him there. His excitement depends on the stress level of the day, which his levels have been kinda high lately since his mom has been battling Leukemia.

Well, I think that's all for right now. Here's a big belly pic of me this week (30 weeks). I'm getting anxious to meet this baby boy but soooo nervous about labor/delivery and getting everything ready for him. Oh the bipolar life of a pregnant woman. :)

Ultrasound #3 - 27 weeks

Today we went in for our 3rd ultrasound with Kelly (an awesome friend who is a sonographer and she is great enough to gimme free ultrasounds). Technically it's my 4th but the one I had with my doctors office sucked and only gave me 3 horrible pictures. But here are some GOOD looks at what our baby boy looks like. Plus some videos that are too cool!


This baby has NECK ROLLS! possibly the makings of a fat baby? We shall see :) We are looking at the back of his neck, from a side view. As if we were looking at his ear and side of his head. Hope that makes sense! So the rolls are the back of his neck.


Stefan nose or Johnson nose?

Ooohh I love his lips! Pretty sure they are his daddy's lips.

Our Christmas

We had quite an eventful Christmas this year. We decided to take our usual trip to Utah to see my family and CJ's mom and stepdad. Well we left on Sunday the 18th and decided to spend time at his moms house first. Everything was going smoothly besides a yucky cold I came down with on Tuesday. This was my 4th cold since getting pregnant in July. It wouldn't be so bad if my colds didn't last 2-3 weeks every time. Since I'm pregnant I cant do a lot of self-medicating to get better faster, so I end up just suffering through it from weeks on end.

Anyway, we spent 4 nice days in Mt. Pleasant with his mom and stepdad. While we were there, CJ's mom was getting some test results from her doctor that were coming back questionable. She was scared but we kept reassuring her that everything would be fine and that we were sure it was no big deal. We were wrong.

Before we get to that let me continue with our trip. After spending 4 days with CJ's parents we were off to my parents house. We got there in the afternoon and my grandma came up from their apartment and I got to chat with her for a few minutes. But I hadnt gone down to see grandpa. Not just because I was busy playing Michael Jackson's dance game on the wii with my sisters and nieces, but because ever since my grandpa had his stroke and starting getting really frail and sickly looking I had a hard time seeing him. It hurt my heart to see him in a wheelchair. Not to mention he could hardly hear or speak. I know thats no excuse but that's how I felt. And I wish I had gone down to see him more.

Well the next day grandpa came down with bronchitis. But despite him being sick, I heard he had been in a great mood all day, which wasn't normal for him. He was especially happy that my dad agreed to take him for a drive to the air force base to look at the planes.

Later that evening my dad continued to check on him since he was sick and my dad kept commenting on how big grandpa's eyes were. He said they were open so wide that maybe the medication from his illness was making him a little spacey. Not 30 minutes after that my grandma calls my dad for help, claiming something was wrong. It was scary and I couldn't go down to see what was going on but many of my siblings went down. My dad began administering CPR while on the phone with 911 because my grandpa stopped breathing. My grandma was crying and was scared as they worked on her husband, but she is an amazing example to me. She then went to the corner of her apartment and said a prayer. She turned around, completely comforted and stated that it was time for grandpa to go. I know the spirit was there and told her everything would be fine. My brother Kyle was there and was there when she prayed and he said her change of composure was unlike anything he'd ever seen. The ambulance arrived, took grandpa, and announced him gone at the hospital.

Now back to CJ's mom. The same time my grandpa was taken to the hospital and we were waiting for word of his death, we got the very depressing phone call informing us that CJ's mom has Leukemia. What an emotional night that was.

But its amazing how things work out because we were able to stay 3 days longer than originally planned for the funeral. And because of that CJ was able to go visit his mom almost everyday after she was admitted into the hospital to start chemotherapy. Which was about 5-6 days. She is receiving chemo in salt lake city, which was only about 25 minutes from my parents house.

Saturday was the funeral. Now remember how I came down with a cold? I still had it at this point, 9 days later. Except on Saturday I woke up with a totally plugged up left ear. This had not happened to me before so I was nervous about ear infections. I went to the funeral (unable to hear outta that ear) and we got on the road after the funeral. My ear remained plugged and on Tuesday (January 3rd) which also happened to be my birthday, I came down with the WORST ear pain ever. Tears were involved and so was pain in my teeth. We went to urgent care and it was definitey an ear infection and I got some antibiotics. The pain is gone but I'm going 11 days of having a plugged ear and its still just as plugged as day 1.

So that is our Christmas and birthday tale. CJ bought me a Toshiba Thrive for my birthday (kinda like an ipod) which has been sooooo much fun. And this post was more for my journaling purposes, so I can remember what happened during that very busy Christmas. I'm very grateful to have been in utah with my family for my grandpa's death/funeral and Joleen's cancer diagnosis. What an eventful holiday season! So for sticking through and reading the entire thing, here are some Stefan family portraits that we were able to squeeze in on Christmas. Enjoy!



The odd family.
The funny family.
The "normal" family. HA!
The modern family. This is more like it :)

Maternity Photos

While CJ and I were in Utah for Christmas, we took some maternity photos courtesy of my sister Karly. I loved how they turned out, especially the way the colors pop. Here are some of the regular ones, about half of them CJ was being silly in. Typical CJ. I'll have to post them later. I hope you all enjoy! :) I was about 24 weeks pregnant here.

25 weeks pregnant

Am I looking huge or what?! Where did this belly come from?

21 weeks

We're pretty sure we're going with the name Liam Stefan Johnson. :)

Here's a picture of me and my belly yesterday. I've definitely POPPED!

Dear baby boy

Hi my baby boy. I just wanted to take some time to write down some of my feelings and experiences I've been having now that youve been in my belly for over 5 months now.

How are you doing inside me? Is it starting to get tighter in there? It seems as though you're having a lot of fun kicking, twirling, spinning, and jabbing at your mommy. I'm not complaining, I like to feel you inside me.

In fact, it still doesn't feel real even though youre making your presence known. I'm still in denial a little bit. I've been aching to have you for over a year and now that you're finally on your way, I still don't believe it. But the kicking is SO nice because its like you're saying to me, "mommy, I'm alive and I'm healthy! I'll see you in a few months!"

I hope you're happy. And I hope I'm doing all the right things I need to do to keep you alive and kicking.

You're kicking here and there pretty consistently but I notice you kick a lot between 6-7 pm every night. Depending on when I eat dinner. And you've especially started moving around A LOT this week (20 weeks).

Your daddy and I are still discussing names. He really wants to name you Liam, and I love that name too. But we're still tossing other names around. It's fun and frustrating at the same time!

I can't wait to find out what kind of person you'll be. Will you be a good sleeper? I hope so. How about a good eater? Well, your part stefan which means most likely. Will you have red hair like your momma? Or dark brown hair like your daddy? I just can't wait to meet you! I'm gonna give you so many kisses! So be ready ;)



Love, your momma

P.S. We got this picture taken of you just this week! You're getting bigger and so cute!