10 Weeks Pregnant

I've felt a little better the past couple of mornings.

Ginger water was immensely helpful at the beginning.

I seem to have gotten a stomach bug because on Thursday k couldn't even get out of bed.
I was still sick but functioning on Friday and back to my normal nauseated pregnant self on

I've been struggling at work but Tuesday I finally felt like I was close to being a good teacher again. It was heartbreaking, then to feel so sick on Thursday. Thankfully, I was off that day.

I ate a lot of BEC sandwiches.

I threw up 1-2 times a day except for Thursday when it was 4x.

I feel so much skinnier at the end of this week. I don't feel like weighing myself but I have my first OB apt on Monday.

9 Weeks Pregnant

Digest pregnancy isn't working as well this week. Sunday and Monday were pretty rough.

Monday I started getting blurred vision from elevated blood pressure (130/90) caused by dehydration.  My vision improved when I forced myself to drink but my nausea increased. I leaft one period early and my blood pressure was 130/70 which the OB/Midwife office thought was just fine.   

Tuesday I started feeling well enough to make dinner and granola, but during the night the acid got very bad and I threw up acid in the early am and the early afternoon. The nausea was gone and if it hadn't been for the acid I'd feel great! I got a prescription for Protonix. We'll see if it helps like it did for Asher.

This is the most unbearable week so far. The acid is worse than the nausea which is also
Bad, when I don't have one I have the other and both affect what I need to eat in opposite ways and it feels impossible to find something to eat. If I don't eat, though, the nausea and vomiting becomes unbearable.

The end of the week got better, when I discovered steeping ginger in hot water. My afternoons were okay--like 12-4ish. I also feel better at home than at school.

I'm still throwing up once or twice a day

Seven weeks pregnant

 

I'm taking B6, Dramamine, and Zantac in addition to the Digestion Support essential oil blend from Heritage. The essential oils are helping for sure. The Zantac some too, I don't know about the other two.

Yesterday it was chicken noodle soup. Today it's goldfish and apples that brought me out of the nauseated funk. I can't wait until it is just one thing for at least a couple of days at a time. @

I didn't throw up this morning! Drammamine seems to be the key. And peanut butter sandwiches. I feel much better this morning than I did the rest of the week.

So far this one seems the easiest--still miserable but I'm not throwing up too much.  Hopefully that will remain the case


I've noticed the Dramamine is making a difference.

Fresh, spring air makes me feel so much better!

My heart has all but stopped racing.

I'm down to nursing Bear 2-3 times a day now. It works fine as long as I don't do so when I'm hungry or early in the morning.

Acid is a big problem again. Worse than the nausea.  

The heart racing is definitely related to sugar.

These are some tough, tough days and they are dragging by so slowly.

I have so much extra spit.

Also, everything has turned up a notch. I have yet to find a good that will agree with me for more than 24 hours.

I threw up 2x on 3/14. I haven't thrown up every day, only about 3/4 of them. It scares me that it happened twice today.
 

Six Weeks Pregnant

 

Mild nausea came on 8/28 and was managed by food and carbonated water and digestion support after the morning had passed.

I hate mashed potatoes. But right now the very things I hate abut them make me roll back my eyes on delight and calm my stomach. So weird!

Nausea is increasing a little every day. Still haven't thrown up yet.

I hate peppermint EO! I loved peppermint with Baby Bear's pregnancy. I put lemon EO in u water bottle.

Not sleeping well at night and not super sleepy during the day.

3/3- threw up a tiny bit for the first time and also took Zantac for the first time.

3/4- couldn't sleep all night. Threw up in the early am. Feeling horrible. Really, really bad.
 

3/5 morning sickness has really settled in. Yesterday I was less nauseated by noon but still feeling awful. I felt awful most of the day. Ironically some martins rolls calmed my stomach yesterday. I went to the chiropractor for lower back pain and he adjusted lots of things including my round ligament. I haven't thrown up yet today. I think it's safe to say this is going a bit better than Baby Bear's

The vomiting seems to be limited to the morning so far. My highest levels of hormones will be in the next two weeks so I'm praying I can get through it.

38 weeks

 

I'm super gassy this week. 

TMI, but my stools are really soft.  

There was no cervical change as of last Thursday's appointment but the perineum stretches Dave has been doing for me are working because Rosie says I'm much more relaxed down there. 

I weigh 202 as of last Thursday.  That's 25lbs more than my pre-pregnancy weight of 177 (which was 7lbs more than I weighed when I got pregnant with Bunny)

The baby is about 6.5 lbs and the head is down. 

My belly is measuring a week ahead--39 weeks. 

I'm feeling great so far this week.  I'm eating more variety and feeling less queasy, though it's still a struggle in the morning.  

I'm suddenly feeling SUPER hungry when I wake up in the morning.  

According to Dr. Jones, the relaxin in my system is really at work--what's most likely been causing the backaches that were coming in the evenings and were gone by morning.  

Very little nausea. 

Having a couple of very painful Braxton Hicks contractions during the night. 

I have a hard time getting out of bed without pain at night.  Getting up also causes contractions--usually the most painful ones come when I've been sleeping. 

My capri pants that I wore with Bunny's pregnancy are too tight.  I think this is because my belly is lower with this baby because I'm smaller and weigh much less with him than I did with Noelle...I weigh 25-30lbs less at the moment. 

My contractions are getting more painful and coming more frequently every day.  During the day it's usually when I'm active.  However, they come sometimes when I'm at rest too, and sometimes I'll get them regularly during the night. 

The baby seems to be active and then sleeping on alternating days.  

32 Weeks

I started testing my sugar this week.  It's been right where it should be, except for a couple of times, usually in the mornings.  Exercise seems to really help keep it down.  Also, to keep my fasting numbers low, it seems to help if I snack in the middle of the night.  I've started eating salami and muenster once or twice a night.  Also, a snack of protein and carbs before bed helps.

I've been feeling better in the mornings since sugar testing.

I have total exhaustion.  I have been napping every day for over a week now.  If I don't nap, my body shuts down.

I threw up Kashi cereal once--Wednesday evening, the first night of sugar testing.

I have been feeling much better, overall.  I'm wondering if it's the new diet?  I hope not.  If I pass (as I feel I will) I plan on eating whatever I want. 

I threw up at Dave's family picnic.  I'm wondering if it was partly the exhaustion of a busy weekend and partly that I can no longer eat when I need to.

We've settled on the name I've been wanting forever.  I really wanted to make sure it was a name that my husband loved too, and he has grown to love it.

Sleeping (at night) is getting more achy and difficult.  I still sleep well when I sleep but I usually wake up a few times uncomfortable, hot, or hungry, and need to eat and then turn on the TV to go to sleep.  They say sleeping with the TV isn't good, but if that's the truth, why do I fall asleep every time I turn it on? 

I'm feeling like I'm missing out on Noelle's life again.  I get easily short with her and often need to just rest without her wiggling beside me.  I listen and watch her play with her Daddy and get so jealous that I can't be there with them.  I try to snuggle and pur into her when I'm capable, but it's not as often as either she or I would like.  I don't want to lose the wonderful relationship we had before I got pregnant.  I feel like I've been partly missing out on the past 7 months of her life.  When the baby comes, I'll be better capable of playing with her, but I'll also have less time to do so. 

Smells are bothering me again.  

31 Weeks

 

My glucose results came in and I failed.  This means that I either have to take a three hour test or test my sugar for two weeks.  Since the 3 hour tests requires actual fasting and then 3 hours of testing while hungry, there's no way I can do it.  I've opted for the 2 weeks of pricking my finger and controlling my diet. The nurse at the midwife's office thinks I might have failed since I took the test right after being sick.  My midwife seems to think it's possible that I have Gestational Diabetes because of Bunny's birth size and because of how quickly this baby is growing. 

I'm worried about this pregnancy now.  I'm worried I'm going to have to switch to an OB from my midwife, I'm worried that the baby is going to be too big and they're going to insist on a C-section.  I'm worried that my baby won't be healthy. 

I'm starting to feel sick again.

Friday, I had to ask Dave to pull over so I could throw up on the highway.

I'm trying to eat lower sugar and/or carbs but my body seems to want thinks like fruit juice and whole grain cereal.  Since I'm having trouble with the sparkling water alone sometimes, I've started mixing it with juice and that's seriously calming for my belly.

The bad taste in my mouth is back.

The baby likes to kick my ribs and the places deep in my pelvis.  It's painful.

Pregnancy insomnia has hit.  Last week, I was sleeping like a baby again.  This week, I'm uncomfortable an unable to sleep, though I suppose this is partly due to my recent glucose test results.

30 Weeks

I got a stomach bug that made my nausea and gas almost as bad as the first trimester.  I didn't even know it was a stomach bug until Noelle started throwing up.  It just felt like pregnancy--nothing was different but sudden, uncontrollable vomiting. I called my poor midwife twice and freaked out over the phone with her complaining that nothing was helping.  She suggested I had a stomach bug but I was sure it wasn't.  I called her back when Noelle threw up and said she was probably right.  I have so much digestive trouble with this pregnancy, she had a hard time believing that I never have these types of problems not pregnant.  I had to tell her twice that this only happens pregnant.  When I'm not pregnant I can tolerate anything.  Anyway, she decided to switch me back to Protonix instead of Zantac and advised I use either Beano or Gas X to help with the gas.  The Beano did nothing, but the Gas X helped considerably. 

My mom visited.  It was God's perfect timing because she was here the entire time my body was recovering from the bug. 

The last three days of this week I felt better than I have yet during this pregnancy.  I was able to finish the last bit of painting on Noelle's room, and also her curtains. 

Tuesday, I took the glucose test.  I almost threw the juice up.  I couldn't fast, but ate and egg and cheese before hand.  I finished it then grabbed a Bacon Egg and Cheese bagel at McDonalds (the only McD food I EVER eat, and then, only rarely) and went home.  In about 2 hours, I felt better, like the sugar took that long to make its way out of my system.

With Protonix, the sparkling water sometimes makes the pregnancy sickness worse.  Sometimes, it still helps.  

29 Weeks

I'm starting to get lower backaches

There is noticeable cramping/Braxton Hicks when I exert myself. 

Lots of dairy this week (minus milk)

I'm getting true morning sickness--it's worse in the morning but it seems to be a reaction to the Zantac--like it's making my insides burn.  However, I'm also sick if I don't take the Zantac. 

28 weeks

I'm getting a lot more little cramps and aches this week.  

I get Braxton Hicks contractions when I get up from laying down or when I have a lot of activity or stress. 

I feel badly in th emorning for 1-2 (even 3) hours after taking Zantac.

Some days I feel badly in the afternoon for 2-3 hours before I have to take it again.

Maalox helps a little bit but tastes terrible. 

I can drink juice with no carbonation this week. 

I'm getting lots of painful/uncomfortable kicks/baby movement.

I already feel like there is no more room for this baby.  He's growing up into my chest rather than out. 

Foods this week:  Broccoli, cottage cheese, applesauce, chicken sandwich.

27 Weeks

I've begun to waddle here and there. 

I've gained 9 pounds.

The baby is measuring 2-3 weeks big.

Rosie says to eat no carbs if I want to keep his weight down but since I'm only just now able to eat carbs, I don't know that I'll do that.  Honestly, carbs are what I'm craving now.

After sleeping like a baby all pregnancy, I'm getting some insomnia.  

The top part of my navel is starting to poke out. 

I've started opening my bra to a bigger band size so I feel like I can breathe.  This baby is definitely making his way into my chest cavity.

Dave and Noelle got the stomach bug and my morning sickness subsided while they were sick, just long enough so I could take care of them.

Snickers "craving"

24 Weeks

I actually look pregnant this week.  

I've been queasy every evening. 

My daughter's been REALLY into My Little Pony so we've been snuggling on the easy chair together every evening and watching an episode or two--depending on how queasy I am and how little I feel like moving to get her ready for bed.  Honestly, it's just easier to wait until her Daddy comes home to let him do it.  He gets home between 8 and 9pm most evenings.  I know it's terrible to let her stay up that late but I have two reasons for it: 1) I'm just not feeling well and 2) She gets to see a little more of her Daddy this way.  Usually, she doesn't go to bed right away if she stays up til he goes home because we don't want her to equate his arrival with bedtime.  We want them to get to play together.  

I've been painting Noelle's room and I feel better when I do it.  I just keep a cup of seltzer water on hand and put my iPhone on either the audio Bible or my iTunes and paint away.  

We bought the Sodastream machine--it lets you carbonate your water at home and it cost us about $80 but it will be less money in the long run because I was drinking so much Perrier and San Pellegrino that it was killing our grocery budget.  Now, we have to replace the C2O every 10 days or so which means that we have to add about $15 to our grocery budget.  That's less than the $30 per week we were looking at.  Since buying the Sodastream, I've been hydrated well for the first time all pregnancy.  My pee is no longer dark and/or cloudy, I'm peeing more often, and sometimes it's clear. 

My libido has been stronger all pregnancy.   With Bunny we didn't even have sex once a month but with the little Buddy I'd do it a couple of times a week if we saw each other that often.  This is just another one of my pregnancy suspicions come true.  I was convinced that women pregnant with boys gained less weight and enjoyed sex more and so far both have been true for me.  

I actually got sick!  Not pregnant sick but like really sick.  I got some sort of respiratory thing--a mild cold perhaps.  It wasn't that awful as colds go, but not something I enjoyed dealing with pregnant.  That disproved another pregnancy theory I had--that I couldn't get sick while pregnant because my immune system is so strong.  Still, in two pregnancies, that's the only time I got sick despite frequent exposure to germs and it passed very quickly, so I think my immune system might just be a little stronger during these 9 months. 
 

23 weeks

Still a name dilemma

There has been more vomiting this week.

He starts wiggling right when I start eating these days. 

I've been peeing a lot. 

I discovered that drinking sparkling water calms my stomach and helps me to get my liquids in.

I think I've been getting a couple of random Braxton Hicks. They feel differently than they did with Noelle because with her it felt like soft, menstrual cramps.  With him, I just feel my uterus hardening.

I'm still pretty snotty and congested without actually being sick.  

The baby is very active and has LOTS of hiccups. 

22 Weeks

I've actually started getting hot sometimes--it's more like a hot flash thing but at least I'm not freezing all the time anymore like I was in the beginning.

I ate three bags of fruit snacks the other night before bed and--poor baby--he was jumping like a Mexican jumping bean for over an hour!  I guess with me not handling sugar too well he has quite the reaction to having it.

He's moving a lot.  I'm not just feeling him when I'm at rest but now even when I'm walking around and doing stuff.  He especially after I eat and most especially I notice it when I come home and have my "naptime."  He's always pretty active then.

I'm still having queasiness every day and the mornings are the worst but I can say that the morning sickness is just about as over as I expect it to be.  It was at 5 months with Bunny that I finally felt myself and yesterday I hit the 5 month mark and I'd have to say it's the same.

My Zantac is really starting to work, though I feel it's also switching my diet around.  The acidic foods that I not only was able to eat but I craved while on Protonix (apples, grapefruit, kiwi, juice) now seem to cause me acid issues.  I've started drinking seltzer water like it's going out of style to help move the gas in my esophagus, though.  If I can burp, I'm usually okay.  It's when I can't that I get the urge to vomit.

I haven't been needing Dave to get me breakfast.  That was the case for a week a couple of weeks ago but then I went back to needing it regularly again so it's nice that I've been mostly self-sufficient this week.  I'm still eating eggs and that's still the most palatable food for me.  Currently I take my eggs with bits of ham, cheese, and chopped tomatoes.  My mouth waters just thinking of it! Hopefully I won't get sick of that any time soon because I keep having to change how I eat my eggs for that reason.  First they were scrambled, then omelets with cheese with spinach or peppers, then scrambled with ham and cheese and sometimes tomatoes, then fried, and now back to scrambled with ham and cheese and sometimes tomatoes again.

My boobs have started getting itchy.  Are they really going to grow again?  I mean, they've gotten fuller but there's no way possible they can grow larger than they did with Bunny.  I was a 36G for goodness sake! Certainly all that skin is still there to be filled out?  I'm not even fully filling my pregnancy bra from before, though I need it because I'm overflowing from my regular ones.  Also, there's been some dried colostrum present for a couple of weeks now.  With Bunny I wasn't sure what that was, but now I know it's just a reassuring sign that everything is going as it should.

My diet seems to be changing.  On the one hand, I'm unable to eat the fruit I liked to eat before, but on the other hand I'm able to eat some cheesecake which means that sugar is becoming okay and some almonds with chocolate chips.  I also found some sweet potato chips I really like and I think I can have rice crispy treats.  Now I had ALL of those--eating the way a stereotypical pregnant woman is expected to--the other day and I threw up a couple of hours later.  But since, I've been only eating some of it a little at a time to try to figure out what the offending food is and I'm thinking that it's maybe the chocolate but I can't be sure.  Wheat and most grains are still out though I'm still eating popcorn and recently I found I can eat Fritos.  I'm thinking the reason I can eat cheesecake is that it's got some protein and fat in it and I really need that.  I know that not all those calories are good ones but at this point gaining too much weight isn't really a concern and I just need some nice, fatty foods that will hold me over so I can stop eating all the time.

My varicose veins are painful and seem to be spreading on my right leg.  My left is fine.  There's only one spot where there painful and probably popped out beyond the ability to go back--that's on my ankle where I started getting those bruise-like spidery veins with my first pregnancy.  The other places where they're popping, I can tell it's not permanent at this point.  I don't know what I"m going to do about support hose come summer, though, because I don't see that even being a possibility with me being a generally hot-all-the-time person even when I'm not sick. 
 
Bunny loves her little brother SO much.  She is constantly pulling out toys from her collection to give to him and we have a large gift bag that is already almost full of his possessions.  We've also bought him a couple of things together and she just loves picking them out with me.  She's already possessive of him and can't wait until he comes.  I'm so, so glad that she loves him so much already.  

19 weeks

If I could sum up this past week in one word it would be "productive."  Not that I'm more productive than I was before I was pregnant, but I am so much more productive than I have been in the past few months.  Bunny has been watching less television, I've actually gotten to tackle a few tasks besides the regular laundry/dishes/sweeping trio, and I've been making dinners regularly.  Like real dinners that I planned, shopped for, and follow a recipe to make. THAT is progress for me!

My bladder is so weak.  It's so much weaker than it was with Bunny.  I remember losing bladder control with a sneeze or a cough when I was 8 or 9 months pregnant with her, but apparently my Kegels aren't as strong this time around.  I exercise them regularly as I'm supposed to, but they just don't contain the pee the way they used to.  Oh well.  I had a cold this week and as I got to the coughing part, I wore a pad because I couldn't imagine the thought of leaking during school.  Yuck!
The baby is moving so regularly! I just fall in love with every wiggle and kick.  Bunny felt him or her move this past Sunday for the first time, and Dave felt the baby on Wednesday.  The fact that both of them are feeling movement at a point so early that many women don't even feel movement makes me feel better about always feeling fetal movement so early.  That, and I talked to other women who are feeling their babies for the first time at about 10-12 weeks, far before the magical "16 week mark" that doctors say you will feel movement for the first time. 

My varicose veins are ridiculous.  For not really having any with my first pregnancy, I'm completely off guard to have them so quickly.  They started in the spider veins I got on my ankle with Bunny and are quickly spreading throughout my calves--especially my right one.  I wear knee high support hose and that helps, but without them on, my ankle really hurts.  My mom says that her varicose veins stay with her even years after pregnancy.  That's discouraging since I hate wearing pantyhose even in the coldest months and I don't really want to be strapped with them the rest of my life.

The nausea is still here, but it's small.  Some days are better than others and the thing that manages it best is food.  The more paleo my diet, the better I feel, though that's not always the case.  I have been allowing more grains in--gluten free grains--and I seem to be able to stomach them fine, but I definitely feel a bit better without them.  Also, my first week eating rice and corn flour coincided with a cold--the first sickness I've ever gotten pregnant.  I mean, supposedly your immune system is worse when you're pregnant, but not mine.  Mine is like steel during gestation, so I don't think it's a coincidence that going to grains (which unfortunately are really bad for you despite what the culture says--they bring down your immune system and make your gut really unhealthy for the good bacteria--a shame since I LOVE me some warm bread!) allowed me to get sick.

17 weeks

My 17th week was my first mostly positive week since being pregnant.  I was able to stay up almost every night until Dave came home, I actually left the house and hung out with people, and I had moments where I felt almost 100% human.  Now, in the beginning of my 18th week, I've regressed a bit, but that's okay.  Each good day (and the bad ones too) are a gift from God.  I'm just trying to see it that way.

I bought some long, peasant skirts at Rue21 a couple of weeks ago and I bought them in XL so I'd grow into them, but as this pregnancy has gone I've only lost weight and not gained it thus far so the skirts sagged and dragged on the ground.  But this week, I noticed that my growing girth finally held them up! Yipee! I haven't weighed myself, but I'm guessing I may have added some pounds finally.  My midwife said I'd gain 4-6 pounds between now and my next appointment towards the end of February.

I'm still on the same weird diet.  I still have trouble if I divert from it for more than a few bites.  Even a couple of bites can sometimes throw me into a few hours of sleepiness.

Baby movement is becoming more pronounced.  It's not necessarily more or less movement than it was between 13 and 14 weeks, but it is more pronounced.  I feel so much closer to the baby as a human being when he or she moves.

I'm sort of hoping for a girl for the logistics of things.  We could turn the spare room into a playroom rather than another bedroom if it were a girl, and that would help streamline the organization of the house.  Of course, I'd love a boy too.  Everyone else is pushing for a boy. 

I'm still lounging around watching more tv with Bunny than I'd like, but I'm kind of resigned to that.  Even when I'm feeling well, I'm not usually up to the sort of play she prefers.  Dave and I have noticed that I am her snuggler, and we snuggle ALL THE TIME, and he is her jungle gym.  It's nice, though, because this pregnancy has allowed her to bond with her father in a way she hadn't before.  I'm sure it's just the breastfeeding thing, but she has been so attached to me since birth that it was pretty much me or nothing and she only wanted Dave when I wasn't around.  Now, she wants him for certain things and me for others.  She's learned how things need to function with me in my delicate state and has easily and happily adapted. 
She has really integrated pregnancy into her play a lot.  All of her dollies are becoming big sisters too, and sometimes one of them or her will be sick because "they have a baby in their tummy."  All her dollies get to experience all the things she experiences.  I love how I get to see the world through her eyes that way. 

And my goodness, but isn't she so much fun to listen to! She lets me sit while she plays and fabricates stories that may or may not involve me.  I listen and interact verbally and just laugh and laugh at her antics and her creativity.  It's amazing.  I just fall in love with her more and more every day. 

This week, Dave didn't have to wake up and get me food at all.  There were even mornings where I didn't eat until I'd been up awhile.  Again, that is an area where I've regressed, now that I'm halfway into my 18th week, but still, it gives me hope.

Noelle likes to nurse her dollies lately.  She informed me that she would help me nurse the baby when s/he comes, and I had to tell her that only I can nurse the baby because God hasn't given her milk yet and he will when she gets her own babies.  

16 weeks

Towards the end of this week, things started getting exponentially better.  Now, of course, this doesn't mean the "morning sickness" is over, but it has subsided to a more manageable level.

I am still limited to meats, fruits, and veggies--oh, and popcorn--weird, but it's true. 

I started doing some new things this week--like actually hanging out with people, doing some shopping, and even visiting my hubby at work.  I've been so STARVED for that.  Also, I stayed up and waited for Dave to come home (at around 8:30-9:00) three nights this week! This means that I not only slept solidly through the night, but that I also started experiencing exhaustion through the day since I cut my hours of sleep down from 10-12 to 6-8.  It's okay.  I'll take that for much needed time for my husband.

I'm still feeling the baby move, and it's intermittent.  One day I'll feel him/her lots and then I won't feel any movement for a few days.  I think I only feel the really big movements.

I went to see my midwife this week and we heard the heartbeat again.  It was still strong and fast, just as it should be and this time she didn't have to go searching around for it.  It came up on the sonogram (is that what it is called?) right away.

I have tried a few foods that are really off limits, but they mostly continue to be off limits, unless I eat small amounts before bed because I'll be resting then anyway.

This has been one of the best weeks so far.  It really has! I'm starting to return to my normal self, and to be a bit more productive.  I even have a few craft projects going again, and if you know me, you know that's a good sign! I'm not myself unless I'm sewing or knitting!

15 Weeks

More throwing up--Saturday into Sunday.  It coincided with Noelle getting a stomach bug so I wonder if I got the bug and didn't realize it because my body already feels sick.

I had a couple of days where I felt GREAT--like %90- %95 my normal self.  I even went crazy cleaning the house a couple of times.  It didn't last long, like it normally does when I'm healthy, but it was enough to be encouraging.

I tried sneaking in some chocolate and cereal, and it made me feel sick again.  It's definitely not worth feeling terribly to try to eat the foods I love.  Not at all.

I found that I can eat baked plantains, so I'm gonna have to go get and make more of those.  Maybe that means I can eat my baked sweet potato fries again.  They weren't agreeing with me there for awhile, but that was back when almost nothing did.

I'm peeing more frequently, but not a lot at a time.

My stool is very soft and regular--gross, I know, but very pertinent to this pregnancy.

I'm starting to get some varicose veins popping out in my ankle.  These are the same ones that started with Noelle, but they're getting worse.  I wear knee high support hose every day and long skirts to hide the ugliness of them.  I can't wear full length hose because the pressure on my stomach would make my morning sickness worse, but I also can't find thigh high support hose so far.  I need to look more but feeling ill as I do, it's not a huge priority to go traipsing around on errands such as those.

14 Weeks

Things are steadily improving this week and I'm SO HAPPY to finally be in the second trimester!!!

I had my first pregnancy backache this week.  I was afraid, at first, that it was going to be debilitating like it was with Noelle, but I went to the chiropracter right away and with minimal adjustment to my back and my round ligament, it disappeared.  It hasn't returned. 

I started having some pretty bad headaches. My midwife thinks it's probably the Zofran.  I was going to go to my doctor about it, but then they went away. 

I'm down to taking Zofran every other day now.

I had more blood in my stool twice so I called my GI.  They're going to do a Flexible Sygmoidoscopy (I'm not spelling that right and I don't care) where I take an enema and then they push a camera through my lower intestines.  They can do that without putting me under.  Also, I got permission to eat and take my meds because if I don't eat, I'm afraid the vicious cycle of dehydration and vomiting will begin again.  One of my sisters had persistent bleeding in her stool and it turned out to be cissures, so I'm thinking that is what it is for me too? 

I'm avoiding grains now, and have less indigestion.  In fact, I'm feeling a lot better without eating grains or sugars.  I eat apples, grapefruits, eggs, cheddar cheese, and sometimes nuts.  I also can eat meats, and I find I need to eat 2-4 helpings of meat or protein a day to survive.  

12 & 13 Weeks Pregnant

So, my 12th & 13th weeks were some of the easiest so far, but somehow I never got around to writing about them...maybe because it was my mornings that were great, and my evenings were pretty awful, not every evening, but a lot of them.

My constipation disappeared too.  I didn't even do much differently, although it came around a time that I started eating less vegetables (I was eating salads every day and suddenly they stopped agreeing with me).  I'm still eating lots of Macintosh apples, though.  I had a couple of days (mornings) where I felt so good that I ate a couple of normal things.  On the Saturday before Christmas we all went shopping and I felt so good that morning that I ran around the house doing lots and lots of chores.  On Christmas Eve, I was also feeling fantastically most of the day.  I cleaned dishes, swept and mopped the kitchen (woah!) and baked three dishes--cookies, coffee cake, and meatloaf.  However, my indigestion (I'm not sure even if that's what it is, but it's a queasiness that seems to be an excess of sweetish acid in my stomach) is heightened by grains and sugars and stuff--the food that most people eat all the time-- so I discovered that if I stick to apples and protein (meatloaf and omelets and cheese) my stomach feels pretty good.  I also discovered that spearmint leaf candy and these weird strawberry laces candy that I found at the Mennonite store seem to quell the acidy feeling I get 10-30 minutes after eating.

Overall, though, everything is getting better.  I have seemed to continue a pattern of throwing up about once a week, but overall I'm not too nauseated.  Queasy, yes.  Not nauseated.  The queasy feeling is awful, though.  It's not that I'm feeling HORRIBLY, but I'm just uncomfortable enough not to be able to be myself most of the time.  Blah.  I just want it all to go away.  I just want to feel better, or find some medicine that helps things.  I'm thinking once the holiday ends and my midwife is back in her office (I don't even know if she took a vacation, actually) I'll ask her if we can try a different type of medicine.  I mean, I could try the Zantac again--it was a huge success with Bunny's pregnancy, but since I vomited so much on this one I'm afraid to try it.  Actually, I'm afraid to change much since it's only my meds that are keeping me from experiencing HG again.  I mean, I guess I'm still "experiencing" it, but I'm no longer vomiting in copious amounts.  Even on the meds, though, I've felt deathly ill until week 12 and 13.  And now I just feel slightly to moderately miserable.  I'm just praying that soon, very soon, I'll be over this part and to the glowing part.  I mean, I was sick in some capacity all 9 months with Noelle, but I remember glowing, happy times too.  I remember gaining back the capacity to clean my house on a regular basis, and to teach without gagging. I remember happy moments amidst the miserability that is pregnancy.  I'm just praying and hoping they come back with this one (and I'm trying very hard to have a good and accepting attitude about it since I did beg God for this child even though I knew that I might experience awful morning sickness again.

Today, for the first time, I am pleased to say that I did not take Zofran this morning and I'm feeling just as well without it as I did with it on all the days prior.  I guess that's a good thing.  Zofran doesn't take away the queasy feeling, but the sudden need to vomit and do it now disappears with it unless I've eaten something that my body really doesn't want to digest, in which case, I'll vomit anyway.

I believe I first felt the baby move at 9-10 weeks (and I'm sure I wrote about it here too), but I'm feeling him/her more and more and finally having a handful of moments where I feel I'm bonding with the human inside of me.  I feel the baby between 0-3 times a day and it's always, "Was that really the baby or just gas?"  I mean, I can usually differentiate the two based upon where I feel the stirrings, but still, s/he's so small that those movements are hard to distinguish.  I keep praying to feel it move because it will be February until my next midwife appointment and that's a long time until I can hear the heartbeat and feel signs of life again.  Besides, on days when I have long spans of time without morning sickness, there's nothing much to let me know that my baby is still living.  Maybe I'm crazy but I just get worried that he or she has stopped living--that I've done something to hurt him/her.  Dave says I worry too much and he's right and honestly I'm not nearly as worried as I would be with Bunny--there would be days I'd be worried to tears with her.  It's just, maybe this is selfish, but I've been through such an awful ordeal so far, and ticked so many weeks off my "time" that I can't bear to miscarry at this point and have to start it all over again.  It's more than that, of course.  I think any woman, no matter how much she's attached herself to her unborn baby, loves that baby with the fierce maternal instinct that God placed inside her.  I mean, we've already discussed names and nursery plans and future Christmases and family portraits with our new baby in mind. I didn't come this far not to be able to hold him in my arms.

Bunny is doing much better.  Can't say the same about my parenting skills, though they are improving somewhat as my overall feeling improves.  We've had more moments where I've been able to play with her--barbies, card games, dress-up, painting--and I'm so grateful for that.  But when I'm feeling especially poorly, I have so little patience for her and I spend so much time apologizing for being grumpy or short with her.  I don't know how much of that she can comprehend.  But she has adjusted to things as they are.  She has been so kind, selfless, and caring.  She's been more obedient when I ask her to put her toys away or go pee on the potty.  She's always a joy, even when she's a booger, but these past couple of weeks, she's really adjusted to things.  One of my sisters asked me if I was feeling better and Bunny chimed in quickly and incredulously, "No, she's not feeling better because she still has a baby in her tummy!"  My little precious.  What would I do without her sweetness to wrap around my heart?  I don't know. She's my treasure.  My princess.  My life wouldn't be complete without her smiles, giggles, stories, and songs.  I look at her so often and I wonder what her sibling will look like.  It's nice to have an idea this time.  With the first one, you don't really know how he or she is going to come out and who they're going to favor.  With the second one, at least you get an idea.  I cant imagine how much I'll love TWO little adorable people.

I don't know what else to say.  This was supposed to be a more uplifting post about how things are looking up but at the moment I'm feeling queasy and frustrated so it didn't turn out that way.  They are looking up, though.  I guess what frustrates me is that I just want to be normal now and I still have such a long way to go.  July is so far away still...