Third Trimester

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay on belly shots. I was having problems posting any photos for a few days. I am 27 weeks now which marks the beginning of the third trimester. I am feeling great and could not ask for a better pregnancy so far. My belly is slowly but surely getting bigger. The baby kicks and punches out of control now and he has even hit some organs that have made me jump. My next doctor appointment is September 13th and at that visit they are going to do the glucose test. This is where I have to drink some type of liquid, wait an hour, then have my blood drawn in order to determine if I have gestational diabetes. Then after that appointment I have to go to the doctor every two weeks. The last month I will be going every week until I deliver. This weekend we are going to a wedding in Savannah for one of Jason's classmates. We are leaving early Saturday morning and staying the night there and returning home Sunday morning. Ironically, my great friend Jennifer has flown out from California this same weekend to check out spots in Savannah for her own wedding next year. So I will get to see her too. My parents are coming and staying the night at our house while we are gone so that they can practice their babysitting skills on Chopper. He is very excited about having them here because he loves them, especially my mother because she gives him treats when we visit them. Now that Leo is gone Chopper is allowed up in the house and he follows my mother where ever she goes, just like Leo did. As you can see I have a new belly ring in. Well this is one that my fabulous coworker and friend, Keona, gave me for my birthday. Its not really a pregnancy ring but it's longer than regular ones and made of plastic. I do have some pregnancy belly rings that Jason got me for my birthday but they are quite long and tend to get caught on clothing so I am holding off on those. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend!!

Sue goes to Sturgis

We went on a road trip with family for nine days and had a blast. It was my parents, Jason's parents, my sister and her boyfriend Jamie, then Jason's aunt Judy and his parent's friend Peter. We flew to Denver, Colorado where my parents picked us up after they drove up in the truck and trailer with the motorcycles aboard. We headed to Sturgis, South Dakota and met up with the rest of the crew, who drove from Virginia and Ohio. In Sturgis we stayed at Buffalo Chip Campground where we camped for three nights. You heard that correct...camped out...literally in a tent! There were thousands of people there and they had concerts there every night. It was so loud at night with all the motorcycles driving by at all hours of the night. I slept like a baby except the last night when it was soooooo windy and rainy early the next morning. For the next five days we traveled by motorcycle and car through South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and back through Colorado. We saw Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Bear Tooth Pass, Red Lodge, Snake River, Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Dubois (thanks to Red Dog from the Outlaw Saloon), Crazy Horse and the Black Hills. Last but not least all the wildlife we got to see on our journeys, such as thousands of Deer, Antelope, Elk and huge Buffalo! The Buffalo were crossing the street in Yellowstone and would stop traffic while they all crossed the road. We had such a good time together and look forward to our next family trip.

week 23

The mark of 23 weeks pregnant has come. As you can see my belly is growing real good now. Chopper wanted to be in the picture just so you would not forget about him. There are articles that I have seen that say you need to get your animals prepared for the new baby months in advanced. He is so good with our niece and nephew that we should not have any problems. He may just feel a little sad at first with all the attention on the new baby. The baby still does not have a name. He has been kicking and moving around like crazy. At night we like to have "playtime" before going to sleep and the baby really likes to punch his daddy. Jason is able to have an experience that is all his own which is him putting his face up against my belly and gets "punched and kicked" by the baby. I have been getting more and more uncomfortable at night and trying to start sleeping on my side. They say sleeping on your left side is the best but I am a stomach sleeper so it's hard. My mother bought me a pregnancy Boppy pillow for me to snuggle up with at night. The pillow goes under my head down the front of my body and then between my legs. It feels so good to cuddle with when sleeping on my side. Thanks for a great birthday present mother!

I had to call my doctor the other day because I was experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions that were waking me up in the middle of the night. Well they told me that I probably needed to be drinking more water. I thought it could not be possible but apparently you should drink at least 96 ounces of non-caffeinated fluids. So the nurse told me to drink until I could not imagine drinking anymore and drink some more. Some contractions are brought on by dehydration so I have been chugging away since. She also told me that if they continued to wake me in the middle of the night that I would need to go straight to Labor and Delivery for them to monitor me. Thankfully they have not bothered me at night since my chugging fest has begun. I am still getting them randomly but they are not waking me. We will leave the disturbed night's sleep to the 3-4am trips to the bathroom. That's it for now...Off to chug-a-lug land I go!