Pregnancy - Third Trimester

My Aunt Sheryl and Aunt Dianna (Brian's Mom's sister-in-laws) threw me a wonderful shower this weekend. The rubber ducky theme was adorable and was part of both the decorations, the food (a fruit bowl cradled in a large blow up rubber duck), drink (ducks floating in punch) and games.

There were a lot of friends and family there and it was so nice to see and visit with everyone.

I can't believe how many gifts that we received. There were so many wonderful things for Baby Hansford.

Pregnancy - Third Trimester

Our doctor's appointments are every two weeks now. Today our doctor was not available due to a delivery, so we had our apointment with a nurse practitioner. Prior to meeting with her, though, we did some of the basic checks with the nurse - weight, blood pressure and urinalysis. I am still continuing to have bloating problems and gained 5 pounds in two weeks. At first, the blood pressure was highly elevated, which concerned us because of the discussion with the doctor at the last appointment regarding preeclampsia. I asked the nurse to take it again and it came out okay. Phew! The urinalysis was also okay.

The nurse practitioner gave me a perscription for some medicine to help with the severe heartburn that I have been experiencing the past few months. Of course, as with all of these visits, the best part was hearing his heartbeat - loud, fast and clear.

Pregnancy - Third Trimester

The electrical is done and the flooring in the areas where the walls were tore down were repaired by the flooring guy (ForestFloors). We decided not to get the 10yard dumpster (since we spent that money on the flooring). Brian's parents came up and cleaned out all of the non-reusable wood to burn at their house. The drywall pieces went into the garage for periodic loading into our regular pickup dumpster. Brian's parents will take the doors to Habitats for Humanities. Brian and his Dad built all of the framing for the new walls and have installed the pocket door.

Today they are going to purchase and put up the drywall. Brian is also hoping to get at least one layer of mud on, but since the drywall will involve a lot of smaller cuts (not entiresheets), he is not sure how fast it will go.

As for my responsibilities: The curtains are done (including thetie-backs) and I also sewed two pillows (one in the green and one in the yellow). My next project is to sew a yellow tablecloth for the decorator's table that I bought to work as a side table next to the rocker.

Pregnancy - Third Trimester

I have been feeling the baby move a lot more now. In fact, it is constant and continuous and I sometimes wonder if he will ever sleep. He has his moments of high activity and moments of low activity, but everytime I begin to think that he has settled down... there he goes again.

Pregnancy - Third Trimester

Brian completed all of the tear down this weekend.

Brian's parents andDawn came up on Sunday and we went to Menards and bought the two bedroom doors, some 2x4s for the walls and other supplies. After our doctor's appointments on Monday, Brian and his Dad worked on building the wall that closes off the old nursery door as well as taking a look at the electrical.

They decided that the electrical was beyond their capabilities, so they called around for someone to come out and take a look at it. They found someone to do some minimal moving of the electrical for the light switches to accommodate the new floor plan, run a light and switch for the hallway upstairs, and run a light for the new nursery closet. Brian and I had to go back to Mendards last night to pick up a light to have installed in the hallway. The electrician (DeJonge Electrical) will be back out to the house todayat 4pm to do the electrical work discussed.

Pregnancy - Third Trimester

My doctor's appointment today showed that I have been gaining an excessive amount of weight in the last two appointments. My face, arms and legs have become excessively bloated as well. After talking to the doctor for a while, we determined to take a couple courses of action: 1) limit my work hours to 40 hours per week and 2) bed rest while not working. The doctor expressed his concern that this excessive bloating may mean that we will soon see the other signs of preeclampsia (or toxemia). In the doctor's experience, those who have preeclampsia start with 2-10 weeks of severe bloating before developing the tell-tale signs. These tell-tale signs that we are looking for is protein in the urine and high blood pressure.

Brian Back Injury

Brian had his doctor's appointment today with the orthopaedic surgeon and received a clean bill of health. He is cleared to return to work this week (and Brian can't wait). The doctor gave Brian a huge list of exercises that he should be doing 3 times a week for the rest of his life in order to try to prevent further back injuries in this same trauma area. The doctor also recommended that Brian take one baby aspirin a day to help with the arthritis in his spine (glucosamine won't work in this area, as glucosamine targets joint areas).