C'mon 2nd Trimester...

I am so tired of being sick! My house is in shambles, I'm tired all the time, my husband's going crazy, I'm short with Elena and cranky with Josh... You can definitely file the 1st trimester under reasons having another kid will NOT help save your marriage. Having a kid SO does not make marriage easier!

Anyway, so I'm obviously DONE with this whole first trimester thing. I had a couple days (in a row, no less) of feeling pretty normal towards the end of last week. I mean, I still had to make sure I ate regularly, but I didn't feel as if I could be minutes from puking at any given time. Unfortunately, it was all just a tease and, starting yesterday, I'm back to feeling pukey all the time. Which is just mean- to have a nice break and then have it taken away! Stupid hormones...

The good news is I am 12 weeks on Wednesday, so I really should start feeling better soon. And the baby is about done forming, which I think is just amazing. It's incredible to look at a newborn and look at how tiny the fingernails and toes and everything is. To read this morning (I get a week-by-week newsletter thing) that by the end of the week our baby already has toenails and is pretty much done forming, and just needs to grow and mature and develop a little more is amazing. I mean, the baby weighs like 3 ounces right now... imagine how small THOSE fingernails are! It's pretty amazing... such a God-thing, because there's no other way that would be possible!

Anyway, I guess it makes feeling awful pale some in comparison... I mean, if that's what's happening inside me, I guess I can put up with a little sickness. But I still wish it would hurry up and go away!!!

Always, ALWAYS Bring Your Trashcan

An important lesson I had the pleasure of learning yesterday... oh, the joys of being pregnant!

So, yesterday I wasn't feeling so hot from pretty much the minute I woke up. But, as this is pretty normal right about now, I didn't worry too much about it. I tried eating some oatmeal, and that didn't help. So I tried a sausage mcmuffin, hoping that the protein would help. I was smart enough not to eat the whole thing and make myself too full. And it seemed to help for awhile. But, once at work, I started feeling yucky again... so I tried eating some animal crackers. Unfortunately, they were a little old, and had a funky aftertaste to them, which pushed me RIGHT over the edge... I threw up a little in my trash can, and thought I could make it to the bathroom. Not so much... I ended up puking all the way down the hallway about halfway to the bathroom, had to go finish in the bathroom, and then clean myself up. Of course, I managed to get it all over my shirt, in my hair, IN MY SHOE... but I got myself relatively cleaned up, and went to find a mop for the hallway. Thankfully, we have the nicest janitor ever, and she cleaned it up for me. So I went home and took a shower and changed clothes, and then headed back to work, even though all I wanted to do was curl up on the bed and take a good long nap. It was a rough day...

Anyway, thought I'd give everyone a pregnancy update! Most days are not like that, although I'm not having very many "good" days right now. Today is almost as bad as yesterday, I just haven't puked yet. I'm hoping I can skip that part today! Gum helps some, water helps some, I've been eating pretzels all morning... but nothing really makes it go away. I seem to remember it being the worst right about now the last time, too... the Valentine's Day vomit-while-driving incident, and the puking-in-the-parking-lot incident were with a week or two of where I am now... But I'm 10 weeks now, so just a few more weeks and this should be going away. With Elena it started going away around 13 weeks...

In case you can't tell, I've been looking back at Elena's baby blog, it helps to see that I lived through this last time. And I keep thinking of what my mom said- Mommies don't remember it very well, which is why some families have more than one kid!

Guess I just keep John 16:21 in mind: "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world."

Someday (around April, I suppose) I will be happy, and will forget all of this yuckiness!

P.S. As an update from last time, yeah, the diabetes test didn't happen. I got about 3 drinks in and threw it all up in the sink. Awesome start to a day... I called and the nurse said "Well, why don't we try it next week?" and I said "Why don't I get the rest of my bloodwork done, and we'll play the diabetes test by ear." SO not happening this week, OBVIOUSLY...

First Look

Well, we had our first look at Baby Loo #2 yesterday! It was really nice to go and really get proof that there's a reason I've been exhausted and sick for the last month! :) Dr. B. said everything looked good and healthy, we saw a good heartbeat, and we could even see the arms in the picture. #2 (sorry Ruth) is right about an inch long, and that's the head to the left with the arms right below it, and then the rest of the body. I was right on the due date, it's April 14th. Everything with the baby looks great.

Mommy, on the other hand is (in Josh's words) "a yak machine." And I've discovered the dangers of potty training a toddler while struggling with morning (or all day) sickness. Laney is wearing "big girl panties" most of the time now, and she's really good about going potty in her little toilet. HOWEVER, she's not so good at going poop in the toilet. So, yeah, the other day we were home alone and she pooped in her panties. So, then I'm trying to shake out the underwear in the toilet, and I started to gag. And, well, once I started, there was no stopping it. So I headed for the kitchen (after pinning the dirty underwear between the seat and lid of the toilet so they wouldn't fall in) to hopefully get away from it. Yeah, didn't help... continued gagging until I started throwing up in the kitchen sink. Laney, meanwhile, keeps yelling at me from the bathroom, where she is still standing, not cleaned up yet! But I can't stop puking, so I guess she tried to clean herself up with some toilet paper, because she walked into the kitchen holding a handful of it. I sent her back, finished my puking (I'd only eaten a granola bar, I'm not sure how I threw up for that long), and headed back into the bathroom. The panties were still hanging in the toilet, there was toilet paper all over the floor, and the shower curtain had fallen over her little potty, and she had sat on it, so there was poop all over the shower curtain, too. All I could manage was to clean Laney up (and put a pull up on, no more big girl panties for that evening!) and shut the bathroom door. Luckily, I have the GREATEST HUSBAND EVER, and he has been on poop duty ever since.

Josh really has been amazing, because I've not been doing a very good job of keeping the house clean, and he's been helping. Plus, he's a go and do kind of person, and usually we are always going and doing. But I just don't feel up to it, so we've been doing a lot more laying on the bed and watching a movie. And I think that gets old for him, too. But only a couple more weeks of this yuckiness, and then we'll be on to the fun part of being pregnant!

OH, I forgot the not-so-good news from the ultrasound... so, since I had gestational diabetes last time, I knew they would test me earlier than the typical 27-29 week test. And Dr. B. said the same thing at the appointment. So I asked how early they would test now, and she said "Oh, you'll get the stuff today, we need it sometime in the next week." Are you kidding me?! I can't even keep good food down, and I'm supposed to pound that nasty flat sprite?! Oh, yeah, THAT'S gonna go over REALLY well! So, on Tuesday morning I'm going to have to drink that in the morning, and then head to the lab at 7:30. Not looking forward to THAT! Plus, if it does turn out positive, how am I going to follow a diabetic diet when the main staples of my diet right now are crackers and mints? Great... I just keep having to remind myself that it'll be worth it in the end...

We're Outed!

Well, we told everyone this weekend! And posted this video on the other blog, and on facebook:

We had Laney tell everyone, which has been really fun. Of course, she wouldn't be nearly as excited if she actually knew what "I'm going to be a big sister" meant, but it's been cute anyway! :)

I did video part of her telling Grandma & Grandpa Looten, so here's that video...

Much screaming followed, of course! :)

Anyway, it's been fun telling everyone, and it's nice not to have to hide it anymore. Can't wait until my first doctor's appointment next week!

Joke's On Me

Funny joke... I said Monday evening that I wasn't sick yet.

Tuesday... sick as a dog. And I have been, all day, everyday since.

I don't remember it being this bad last time. I remember it being bad in the afternoons/evenings, but not as bad all day. This time, holy cow, it's all day long. And it's not pretty. I've got a box of cheerios and a bag of peppermints at work, and they help some. But, mostly, I just sit here feeling like I have whatever I ate last at the base of my throat, waiting to come out.

Who thought it'd be a good idea to do this again?!

We did manage to make it through church last night without anyone finding out- I ate a lot of mints and drank a lot of ice water. So now we're pretty much in the clear as far as family goes, to surprise them all this weekend. Glad we're telling early, though. I'm not sure how I kept it a secret last time! Oh, wait... they all knew and were just waiting for me to tell them! :)

Oh, to be done with the first trimester...

This Weekend

Well, this weekend we are going to tell everyone about Number 2, as we've been affectionately calling this baby. It's a couple of weeks earlier than we told anyone last time, but we kind of don't have a choice- either we tell this weekend, or we're going to be busted this weekend, so we may as well do it on our terms! We're headed back to Springfield for SDC this weekend, and I just don't see how I can explain why I don't want to ride any rides without being busted (my stomach's upset? Nope, that'll bust us, too). I mean, we could tell an outright lie (my back's been bothering me, etc) but I like to avoid that. Refraining from mentioning or dodging questions is one thing, outright lying is another!

Anyway, so the plan is to put Laney in the shirt Saturday morning before we head to the city, and then to invite my family out to eat on Sunday and have her wear it then. We'll see how that works!

As for the actual pregnancy, I find myself echoing words from the last time: not a lot of symptoms, besides that whole lack of a period thing. Although, that's not entirely true... I am absolutely EXHAUSTED! I don't remember being this tired last time, although Josh says I was. I guess I didn't notice because I could actually come home from work and pass out on the couch all evening. With Laney around, I can't do that now! But not a lot of sickness yet, so we're praying that continues!!

Hard to believe our family is going to grow again!!

TWO PINK LINES

YAY, WE'RE PREGNANT! Again... :)

So got up early this morning to take a pregnancy test... I was going to wait until after this weekend, but, you know, it's been well established that I have no self-control. So, when my period didn't start yesterday (the latest day it was supposed to) I decided I didn't want to wait anymore. Maybe I just shouldn't buy the pregnancy tests until the day before I am supposed to take them... if they're in the house, I'm using them! :)

Anyway, so there's the exciting news!! According to my WebMD Pregnancy calendar, he/she will be due around mid-April. We were kind of trying for mid-May, since that would be better as far as timing- my six weeks wouldn't be up before school was out. But, then, God likes to laugh at our plans- seeing as how Elena was also supposed to be born in May/June, and yeah- she came in September!! Oh well, I probably won't go back to work in May anyway, if I do it will probably be from home. Which will give me all summer home with Laney and the new baby!!

So, this time I have been feeling a little sick to my stomach already, although that was mostly last week, and it seems to have passed... for now! I'm sure it will be back! I have also been so stinking exhausted that I could hardly keep my eyes open. And one thing I noticed this time that I don't remember from last time is that I have been having some seriously weird dreams. Other than that, no major symptoms... but I'm totally excited! And so is Josh, although he's a little overwhelmed at this point! :) Oh well, he's got until April to get used to the idea!!