Week 6.

Today marks the beginning of week 6.  This is what my little peanut looks like currently:


Pretty spooky looking, to be quite honest.  It’s amazing how a life transforms so dramatically. 

Here’s what’s going on inside:

- I am floating inside the amnion.
   
- There's a cord where my belly button should be.
   
- My windpipe is also forming.
 

- Already, my heart beats faster than my mother's!
   
- I have really, really short arms and legs.
   
- I can't pronounce cerebellum, but I have one.
 
- If I could see, I could see my insides!
   
- My brain now has five main sections. (6 wks, 4 days)
   
- More of my brain shows up almost every day. (6 wks, 4 days)

We’ve been telling a few more people here and there, but my pregnancy is still a secret to most people until we get to go to the first appointment which is next Monday, August 22.  Joe is becoming more and more excited about the possibility of having a boy, and my gut instinct this go round is telling me boy. My early symptoms seem to be different in some ways, so I’m wondering if this is just a normal pregnancy thing or if this is because we’re going to be blessed with a little boy.  Either way, I will be super happy.

My upper respiratory infection seems to be getting better, but it’s being replaced by other aches and pains that are just as irritating.  It was nearly impossible for me to sleep last night because I have a super amount of pressure/pain in my lower left back that shoots through my ass and into my leg. I’ve read about sciatica, but I think it may be too early to be experiencing this.  Whatever it is, it certainly sucks.  I hope it doesn’t stay around for too long because I won’t be a happy camper. 

No morning sickness yet, and I’m hopeful that will stay away this time.  Things are starting to taste funny now, and I am wondering if I’m going to have any food aversions this time like I did the last.  I’ve been craving more healthful foods instead of my usual carb-y nonsense, so let’s hope this trend continues although as I’m tying this, the thought of chili cheese fries seems more appealing than a salad.  I guess we’ll see how this pans out over the next few weeks.

I’ve been having a hard time sleeping through most nights, but that’s because Anna has been waking me up nightly.  The issue is that I can’t fall back asleep after this (which was never a problem before). 

Oy, it certainly sounds like I’m complaining a lot in this post.  I just wanted to write about all of my symptoms so as to never forget! 

I’m looking forward to Monday when we’ll get to see the baby for the first time (and hopefully hear his/her heartbeat, too). 

Week 5.

By the time this posts, I will be well past the 5 week mark.  I’m just going to post my weekly updates every day until I’m caught up to the week where I currently am.  Since I wanted to keep this hush for a while, this is how it will have to be, yo. 

Today marks the beginning of week 5 for the little peanut.  Here’s what’s going on inside:


The baby looks like a long tongue or a partially severed snake.

(I know it says 3 weeks.  I am 5 weeks pregnant with a 3 week old embryo.  Confused yet?)


   — The three main sections of my brain are here.

   — Blood vessels seem to be forming everywhere.

   — My heart is shaped like a long tube.
  
   — My heart is beating! (3 wks, 1 day)
 
   —  Part of my thyroid gland is here. (3 wks, 1 day)

Today was my first OB visit.  I decided to go today because I’m dealing with some sort upper respiratory thing and didn’t want it to turn into full-blown pneumonia.  When I was first pregnant with Anna, I got bronchitis immediately.  OR whatever germ it is that eventually turns into bronchitis.  By 6 weeks, I was hacking up my lungs, and if Anna’s lungs had been developed by that point, I would’ve hacked hers up, too.  To avoid this nightmare again, I called my OB’s office and was surprised to get in the next day (today).

Since I’m still so early, we opted out of an ultra-sound and just did the un-fun stuff like my annual exam and discussing which foods to eat and which foods to not eat (pretty much everything).  You don’t truly realize how limited a pregnancy diet is until you’re on it yourself.  No sushi?  WHAT?  I can’t have 20 cups of coffee anymore?  No fair!  It’s all worth it in the end, though.  That’s for sure.

They confirmed via pee test that I’m, indeed, pregnant.  However, I’ve already confirmed this with the 35 pee tests I’ve taken at home.  Here’s a digital test just for funsies:



My Dr. wrote prescriptions for lots of stuff but recommended that we take a wait and see approach with this upper respiratory thing just to make sure I don’t take unnecessary antibiotics.  So, here’s hoping that my body does what it’s supposed to do and just heals itself.  Then again, I have a little life force sucking away all of my life force, so who is to say if my body can even accomplish this huge task.

Here are my other early pregnancy trials and tribulations:

- My hair is a rat’s nest.  Knots, falling out in clumps, dull, flat, hideous.  Honestly, my odd hair was one of my first tip-offs that perhaps some weird hormonal thing was going on (aka pregnancy)

- Exhaustion but inability to sleep a full night (most of this is due to my precious toddler)

- Sore boobs

- Mild nausea, no real food aversions at this point. 

- I sound like a 30 pack a day smoker w/ this upper-respiratory issue. 

So, we’re moving along as we should.  I go back to the OB in two weeks for an ultra-sound and blood work.  It will be fun to see the baby on the screen and know someone is actually in there.  By then his/her heart will be formed, so hopefully we’ll get to hear it beat.  I can’t wait!

Oh, and Joe has finally gotten over his initial shock of it all, and he’s, dare I say, kind of excited!  He’s really excited at the possibility of this baby possibly being a boy and carrying on our last name.  He would be the only male in our family (at this point) who could do that, so this poor kid already has a lot on shoulders (if he is, in fact, a he).  I guess we’ll see soon enough.

’Til next week!

And so it begins…again.

I’m pregnant.

Yep, you read that right. 

I found out on Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 7:53 a.m.  How do I know the exact time?  ‘Cause I sent Joe a text of my pee stick exactly 3 minutes later when this pink little stripe showed up:


I know it’s hard to see, but I promise you it’s there.  And it came through in only three minutes.  And it came through 5 days before I should’ve really tested.

You see, I’m not known for being a patient person.  When I feel like something is “off” with my body, I pee on a stick.  What was off the night before?  I was an emotional, sobbing, tired wreck of a woman.  Watching Beyond Scared Straight shouldn’t really cause a bucket load of tears, but it did with me.  As I sat there with a soaking wet t-shirt from all of the tears I shed, I took a step back and thought, “Self, what the hell is wrong with you?  Could you be?  Are you…PREGNANT?”  Nah, no way.  Not me. 

Just an hour or two prior to that, I fell asleep in Anna’s bed.  I had such an inescapable exhaustion that was very reminiscent of the exhaustion I felt the first go-round.  So, I took a step back and thought,
“Self, what the hell is wrong with you? Could you be? Are you…PREGNANT?” Nah, no way. Not me.

Joe and I were in the “one and done” camp.  I had a few weeks of baby fever insanity.  That’s all it takes.  Well, not ALL it takes, but this is a PG-13 blog. I spent 9 months wishing and waiting for Anna to happen, but this baby happened much more quickly.  So, I think of this baby as a miraculous gift from God.  Granted, I think all babies are miraculous gifts from God, but this one is certainly a gift.  I already love him/her and can’t wait to blog about this pregnancy journey. 

Joe is still in shock mode, but I know he will eventually get used to having more than one child.  It’s certainly going to be an adjustment, and I will admit that I’m not looking forward to the sleepless nights, breast-feeding issues, inability to go out for date nights very often because now we have TWO kids which will mean double the babysitting expenses or double the aggravation for our family if they watch the kids. Daycare = Oy Vey!  Diapers again, oy.  Bottles, jar food.  Eeek. 

I wasn’t an active blogger when I was pregnant with Anna, so I truly regret not keeping better track of things.  It would be so nice to be able to go back and compare week to week.

My good friend Dusty over at All Things G&D kept a fabulous record of every week of her pregnancy, and I plan on doing the same.  Since I’ll be keeping things on the down-low for a while (until I’m at least 8 weeks pregnant), these posts will be hidden for a while.  Hopefully it won’t be too confusing for the 2 people who read this blog. 

I may as well start with my symptoms.

- Extreme exhaustion
- Hormonal, crying ball of mess

- Sore boobs
- Heartburn/indigestion (although they say you can’t get this so early on in the game.  I beg to differ).
- Night bloat (stomach is flat in the a.m. and bloated at night)


I can’t honestly say that these symptoms are much different than my normal monthly symptoms, but now that I know I’m pregnant, it all seems to make sense.  I don’t have the extreme sensitivity to smells this early on like I did with Anna. 

So, here we go!

Summer bubbles, havin’ a blast.

Now that summer is drawing to a close, thankfully, I want to cram as many summer fun photos in as possible.  So, anytime my child forces me to go outside with her, I grab my camera and hope to catch a few moments of childhood bliss. 

Watching Anna play takes me to a peaceful place where there are no bills, no jobs, no annual pap smears.  It takes me back to my own childhood where I would play outside all day and only come back home for meals.  How nice would it be to go back to that time and experience that level of freedom for just one more day? 

I know that with the world in the crapper the way it is, that level of freedom will be non-existent outside of our house.  So, I choose to allow my child to be free and express herself in other ways.  Like the way she dresses, for example.  On her days off of school, she can wear whatever the heck she wants.  Mom’s high heels?  Sure!  A winter jacket with a tutu?  Go for it, child!

Today’s outfit of choice is this beauty that she chose all by herself.  While she may not win any fashion awards anytime soon, she certainly looks adorable!

 

I hope you’ve had an enjoyable summer!  We’re looking forward to the fall!

A brilliant idea.

Since Anna is on the cusp of three-dom, I figure it’s a great time to start implementing new and fun activities into our schedule.  Our options for outside activities are pretty limited since we live in the sweaty butt-crack of the sun, so any activity we choose must have the following:

1) Central A/C
2) Food
3) Loud sounds to distract others from my independent and sassy three-year-old.

This past weekend Joe finally had some time off of work, so we excitedly discussed the possibility of going to the beach for the weekend.  Granted, the beach is missing #1, but the gulf breezes and sand castles would more than make up for it. 

Since we’re brilliant, we told Anna the night before about the next day’s activities.  “Anna, guess what?! Tomorrow we’re going to get to go swimming and play outside in the sand!”

Of course she was excited.

I wake up to this.



I had to break the news to her because of course her memory is like a vault and she forgets nothing.  Before she could throw one of her Titanic-sized tantrums, I compromised and told her that we’d take her bye bye to watch Cars II on the big TV. 

Of course if she hears the words, cars, TV and bye bye she gets excited.  So, she soon forgot about our failed beach excursion and started picking out her outfit to wear to Cars.

The day wore on and on, and every other minute I got to hear, “Mommy, we go bye bye and see Cars on big TV?”  Of course the showing we could attend wasn’t until 2:40, so I had to answer this question at least 206 times.

We all got ready and left fairly early just to get her to stop asking us when we were going to go bye bye.  This meant that we got to the theater early.  I figured she’d be easily amused by the sights and sounds and would have no issues waiting from 2:00 p.m. ‘til 2:40 when the movie would start.

Yeah.  No.

She wanted to play in the arcade.  She wanted to use the bathroom, and now that she’s Miss Independent, I can no longer be in the bathroom stall with her.  She shouts, “NO, MOMMY, GO AWAY!” and all of the people in the bathroom stare at me like I’m Chester the Molester. 

We finally decide to go to where the movie entrance is, and we hear that the earlier showing is ending.  People start leaving, and Anna is ready to go in.  This was around 2:30.

We grab our popcorn and belongings and head into the theater.  We decide to get a seat at the top because that’s what smart parents do.  The big TV lights up, and I think we’re finally getting somewhere.

Then the previews begin.  And keep going.  And going.  And going.

All the while Anna is flipping out of her seat, leaning on the seat in front of her, shouting that the TV is “too loud,”  running up and down the theater stairs because she loves stairs, saying she wants to go because it hurts her ears, yelling that she’ll be right back and heads down the stairs again. 

I glance over at Joe, and he has his – I told you so and you didn’t listen – face. 

I sink into my chair and then grab my popcorn, my Diet Coke, my purse and Anna’s bag and walk down the stairs with my tail tucked in between my legs.

I look down the rows at all of the good girls and boys and wonder where we went wrong, what was the one second of something we did that made Anna a movie terror.  Did I eat too many sour cream and cheddar potato chips while pregnant?  Stand too close to the microwave?  Or am I just naïve to think that a vocal three year old would sit perfectly still in a movie theater for 2 straight hours?

So, if we ever attempt to take her to another movie before she’s thirty, I will do the following:

1) Get to the movie theater exactly 30 minutes AFTER the movie starts and just have Joe sit in there saving our seats until we get there.
2) Muzzle my child.
3) Leash my child.
4) Take a Xanax.

At least Joe got to gloat and do the “I told ya so” speech as we were walking to the car with a screaming toddler.  ‘Cause you know as soon as we left the theater she wanted to go back.

$15.00 on a movie ticket.  $8.50 on a drink and popcorn.  Taking your three year old to a movie way before she’s ready.  Priceless.

The burning bed.

A few weeks ago Anna made the big transition from crib to full-size bed.  I had planned on keeping her in her crib until she was at least 16, but once she became Spider Man and decided that cribs were for chumps, I made the unfortunate decision to switch her to a grown up bed.

I ultimately decided to forgo the traditional toddler bed with rails and give Anna the guest bed which had been turned into a glorified bow holder in my Piggy’s Place craft room.  I did this because 1) I’m a cheap bastard and didn’t want to spend money on a bed with rails (which I now regret) and 2) I figured Anna would easily transition into this new phase of life much as she’s easily transitioned into every other phase of life. 


Potty training…a BREEZE.
Crib to full bed transition…a sick, satanic joke.

To make Anna more excited about being in her big girl bed, I forced myself to go to my least favorite store on the planet – Target.  (That’s a bit of sarcasm for those of you who are unaware of my Target addiction.)

I wanted something cute, something that matched the pink and brown curtains we already had in her room and something cheap.  So, I went with this set:


The brown wasn’t a perfect match, but for $60 for an entire set of bedding, why split hairs?  (This is how cheap people think.)

I took apart Anna’s old crib and moved the guest bed into Anna’s room for final placement.  I washed all of the bedding and set everything up for her.  She was pretty darn excited.


I decided to place it against the wall until I was confident she’d be able to stay in bed without falling out.  I’ve since moved it to another location of her room to allow for more play area.

The first night went great.  Anna was super stoked to have her own big girl bed.  I was super stoked to know that if she did happen to fall, it would be much less of a descent than had she fallen from her crib.  It was a win-win.

How cute is she?

(Sorry about the crappy cell phone pictures.)

Are you sensing a great turn to this story?

Good, you should be.

I switched her to the big girl bed on July 6, 2011.  She slept in it for one solid night.  Every night since then, we’ve been re-enacting the Exorcist – 360 degree head spins and all.

Here’s how a typical night in our house goes.  I’ve made some drawings to better illustrate my personal hell.


Me: Anna, it’s 8:30, time for bed.
Anna: No, mommy, watch Spider Man!
Me: No, bed time.
Anna: OK, mommy, you lay down me?
Me: OK, but just for a few minutes, and then you have to go to sleep.
Anna: OK, mommy.

I wake up at 3 a.m. and go to my own comfortable bed with sheets that aren’t made out of sandpaper.  Within about 30 minutes, my child is screaming from the hallway for me to come back to her bed.  Or she will try to worm her way into our bed which means that Joe and I are hanging on for dear life (as illustrated in this fine graphical representation – I drew this beautiful picture before Anna had hair):



Rinse, lather, repeat.  Every.single.night.

Now I know why Target is able to sell entire bed sets for $60.  They use recycled burlap potato sacks to cut down on costs.  This explains why I wake up in a puddle of my own sweat with skin abrasions and lesions from sheet friction.  Of course Anna doesn’t care – it’s just toughening her up.

Here’s what I’ve resorted to to avoid this nightly ritual.:

”Anna, if you go to sleep without mommy, I will buy you a pony.”

”Anna, if you go to sleep without mommy, I will buy you a shiny, new Corvette.”

”Anna, if you go to sleep without mommy, I will  take you to the North Pole to see Santa.”

None of it works.

I read to her, some nights she falls asleep in the middle, others she chooses to interrupt me to talk about She-RA.

I bribe her with candy and toys and diamonds and pearls – none of it works.

Friends, nighttime is my time.  I need this for my sanity.  I need this to be a good mommy and wife.  If I can’t watch Celebrity Rehab soon, I am going to need to be hauled away in my own burlap sack. 

How you can help.

I truly believe that there are more good people on this earth than bad; people who love others and want to help when tragedy occurs.  I need the good people to come forward now.

With so  many news-worthy topics taking the forefront lately, I just want to try to help push the Alabama (and Mississippi) storm tragedy to the front again.  There are thousands of families with no place to call home, no warm bed to sleep in at night, no food to put on their table and no comfort anywhere around them.  Please let’s not forget them, let’s not forget the absolute terror they went through only a week ago.  Let’s also not forget the lives that were lost – well over 200.  That’s 200 families that will never be the same.  200 moms and dads and brothers and sisters and children who lost their loved ones. 

My good friend Beth has been tirelessly working to try to coordinate donation efforts in Alabama.  I can remember how chaotic things were after Katrina, so my heart goes out to her.  Lots of the organizations in charge of coordinating everything are just so under-staffed.  There are thousands of people wanting to volunteer and very few people giving them direction.  Thousands of boxes of food, water, supplies – all of it is just sitting waiting to be dispersed to those in need. 

Beth found a way to get essential items to the victims more quickly through the Christian Service Mission.   She has setup a link through Amazon.com where you can purchase essential items to be delivered to the mission.  All purchases go directly to the relief efforts.  There are many items on the list, so please do what you can – every little bit helps!

Here is where you can donate:
ALABAMA TORNAO RELIEF AND SUPPORT AMAZON LINK

All items will be shipped DIRECTLY to the mission and will be dispersed immediately to those in need.

Beth wrote a pretty incredible blog about everything that went down – she includes many links and footage of the storms. Check it out here!

So, good people, please help.  Please share the Amazon donation link, this blog, Beth’s blog, anything.  Please tell your Facebook friends, Twitter followers, MySpace friends (if anyone even uses MySpace anymore), etc.  The more we spread the word, the more these victims will be remembered and taken care of.  They need you.

God bless.