Holy Heartburn!

My, my, my! I have never experienced heartburn that fast in all my life! I seriously layed down for like 10 minutes to get Roman down to sleep and got terrible heartburn! I never got heartburn like that with Roman and I am just over 4 weeks preggers! Now I am all nauseated and even though I am so tired I am afraid to go lay down! Ugh- and it begins!

We met with our midwife on Wednesday for an interview- Margaret Lipton, the only CNM in town! I really like her! She is a Christian and definitely knows her stuff, doesn't take any chances either. Although she is a little over-concerned it seems with my chances of having a babe with Spina Bifida. You see, my borther has Spina Bifida and having a first degree relative increases your chances of having a baby with the same birth defect dramatically. It also seems that Roman and I may possibly have Spina Bifida Occulta judging by the small dimple each of us has at the top of our cracks (I know it sounds weird, but there really isn't any other way for me to say it!). I think, for me, I am a little more paranoid about this pregnancy just because it is my second and my brother was the second also. Over the last few days I have really just had to make the decision to give it over to the Lord- He knows exactly how this baby should be and I need to trust Him in that. We have decided to forgo any early blood work screening (as those tests are usually inaccurate anyway) and just wait to find out at the 20 week ultrasound. In the mean time I am trying to have faith and live in peace with this mystery. Only time will tell. Pray- just pray.

BIG FAT POSITIVE!!!

Well, that just about says it all, doesn't it?! Okay, okay- I will elaborate! So, we have been trying to get pregnant since May- this was month #5. All summer my cycles have been all wonky and unpredictable- a lot of the time I wasn't even ovulating- so it has been difficult to try to find the best times to do the baby dance! My cycle in August/September was finally back to normal and I was just oh, so sure that I was pregnant. I was finding pregnancy symptoms left and right! I was completely convinced that I was having morning sickness and sore boobs and the whole deal (even though I don't have a terribly large amount of feeling in my breast tissue since I started nursing Roman- I have quite a bit of stretching scar tissue). It also didn't help that I had other friends who were trying at the same time and getting pregnant- I have a total of 10 friends who are pregnant! No joking! Plus a couple of others who just had babies and have been having me babysit! Definitely doesn't make the whole situation any easier. You start wondering what is the matter with you- even though I know that God has the best timing, it is not always easy to roll with the flow of His plans.

So this month I was determined to not get my hopes up. I just kept telling myself that this wasn't the month and eventually it would happen when it was supposed to- hopefully. If not, I figured that in a few years we could think about adoption. In spite of this I still thought that we should make every effort to take advantage of the opportunities the Lord provides, just in case He decided that this was the month. With that in mind I was waking Jer up in the middle of the night, calling him home from work, trying all the recommended positions on MDC, and taking my temperature and charting like there was no tomorrow! I didn't want to get to the end of the month and think that we didn't get pregnant because we just hadn't tried!

Well, as you can see, the Lord did have this month in mind! This last weekend I noticed that my luteal phase was getting longer than normal, so on Sunday I decided to take a test. I used a First Response test that had come with some ovulation tests I had bought, and for about 30 seconds a very, very, very light line (more of a haze) came over the results window and then disappeared. Well, I still hadn't had my period, so I decided to test again this morning- 3 days late. This time I used a digital Clear Blue Easy test, like I had with Roman, and sure enough it flashed "Pregnant." I had actually just taken the test and set it down on the sink, when I turned to grab something off the back of the toilet and it jumped out at me- "PREGNANT!" I actually gasped! I don't know why I was so surprised but I was!

I then came out and told Jer the news. He just got a big grin on his face and wanted to hug and kiss Roman. He then hugged me and prayed for our family and new baby- it was very sweet. However, he then went into a long list of things that needed to be accomplished before the baby arrived and began talking about all of this money that we needed to have in savings! He quickly got up and said, "I have to get to work! I have a lot to do!" It was pretty funny!

So, how am I? Tired. That is pretty much the only pregnancy symptom I have noticed so far- I feel like I could fall asleep standing up! Oh- and smell! Jodie (my MIL) brought over some balloons for Roman and every time I get anywhere near them the smell of the latex just about knocks me over! Other than that I am feeling pretty well, we shall see how the two pregnancies compare! I bought the same Pregnancy Journal as I had with Roman so that I could look at them side-by-side and see the similarities and differences. It shall be an interesting 9 months! Well, actually 8 since I am already in my 4th week! I don't know my actual due date yet because my cycles have been so irregular, but I e-mailed the midwife this morning and hope to hear back soon!

That is one of the things I am so excited about with this pregnancy- using a midwife and having a homebirth! Jer and I have been talking about it the last couple of nights, just in case I was pregnant, and he is totally on board. The only thing he said he wouldn't want to do is an unassisted birth, which is fine with me because I wouldn't want one anyway. He also said that he would feel terrible if anything were to happen, but I reassured him that in most instances homebirth is safer than hospital birth and that we have to have faith that the Lord is watching out for our little family. I fully believe that God will step in and direct us into the best situation if anything is wrong- I have seen Him do it before! All in all, I have a great peace about it and can't wait to see how things transpire! This weekend we will tell our families (it is so hard for me to wait- my brother was here all day and I have talked to my mom twice!) and just take it from there! Stay tuned for the latest! I plan to blog a lot about this whole experience!

Transformation!

Wow- so check out my new hair, or my new hair cut rather, I guess that the hair was already there! First I guess you better see what it looked like before (right and left). It may seem silly, but this was a big deal for me! This is the shortest I have ever had my hair in my life (see below), by far! It was really necessary though. You see, about 4 months after I had Roman my hair began falling out in handfuls. While you're pregnant you produce hormones that prevent you body from shedding the hair that it naturally would, so after you have the baby all that stored up hair that should have been lost over the last nine months suddenly begins to fall out! And boy did it ever! My stylist said that I lost about 50%of my hair (luckly it was very thick to begin with so all the loss left me with a fairly normal head of hair, although thin for me).

All the loss was annoying but the big problem actually started when it all began to grow back in! Suddenly I had these ridiculous short little hairs all over my head! Along my part it looked like I had cut a small mohawk! It was downright goofy looking! For the first time since the third grade I had bangs and you could literally lift up my hair and find these new hairs growing back in ALL OVER my head!

Well, the regrowth started in about 9 months ago, so the little hairs are now about 4-5 inches long and (before my cut) could clearly be seen in a line around my head and framing my face. I felt like my hair was completely out of control! You know those afghan dogs with the long droopy ears and hair- that is what I felt like! Positively hideous! (The picture to the right shows how long the new hairs were at this point)

So I decided to take the plunge! When I finally decided to make the appointment I knew there was no going back- it was all coming off! My amazing stylist, Annie Grieve at Strata Salon Spa, was suggesting some longer cuts at first, but I just told her, "Annie, I look terrible! Just do what you have to do to make me have cute, sassy, flirty (Chic & Savvy, hehe) hair! I don't care what it takes- Just do it!" So she did- and she did an amazing job at that! I feel so much freer- ready to conquer the world, or maybe the pile of laundry in my closest anyway! Sometimes a nice big change and a little less weight on your head (literally) is all you need to kick start a fresh beginning in your life! Oh, how nice it feels!

To top it all off, Jer watched Roman while I was gone, which hasn't happened in quite a while due to some pretty serious separation anxiety Roman was dealing with. But they hung out last night and they both did great! Jer gave him a bath and a massage and everything! When I got home the look of shock on Jer's face was priceless! I don't think he expected that much hair to be gone, and honestly I was nervous to show him! After the initial stun he did much better and made a point to tell me I was beautiful throughout the night, which was very nice to hear. Roman just giggled when he saw me, like he knew something wasn't quite the same and that dad was fairly amused by it!

It was an interesting evening all around, to say the least! Liberating and gratifying all in one! So, go cut your hair ladies- but make sure you get the best stylist you can possibly find! And don't hold back of be safe- just go for it!

Fall is in the air...

As I gaze out my front window right now I blatantly reminded that summer is no longer here. The wind is blowing, the sky is gray and the leaves are beginning to change colors. Normally I dread fall- all the gloomy days seem to string together. This year, however, I am actually looking forward to the change of the season. There are lots of changes going on in my life right now and so it just seems to fit.

Jeremiah says he is going to start working on our basement this weekend- a much anticipated and long awaited change! I am working on my postpartum doula training through DONA, steadily getting my reading done so that I can prepare to attend a workshop. Roman is growing and talking more- he even started telling us when he needs to go to the potty! He doesn't always make it in time, but on the whole he is doing much better than I would ever expect a 17 month old to! The picture to the right shows the first time that he actually "smiled" for the camera! We are also trying to get pregnant (as many of you know) and tonight I am going to get my hair cut (I will try to post before and after photos tomorrow and explain the whole situation!).

Chic & Savvy Mamas is also beginning to get more business. The BOLD Red Tent Event was fantastic! What a wonderful experience! I think it was the perfect venue to start getting my name out into the community for the first time! I made lots of encouraging connections and hope that things will really start to pick up. This little community is so soggy that if I can just show mamas how "non-hippie" natural parenting can be I know they will want to change!

OOO- I almost forgot! I also finished my latest pair of longies for Roman, made with the Uraguanian wool I blogged about a while back! They turned out beautifully and are so soft! I just have to make the drawstring and they will be finished! They are a little long but I want to make sure that they would last throught the winter. I will have to post a picture of them in action as soon as I get one! Speaking of projects I really need to get back to working on things for Christmas! I was hoping I would be much farther along than I am right now, and if I don't get back on it soon there is no way I will be done in time!

Well, I suppose that is all for now. It feels so good to blog again- I forget how therapeutic it can be (even if I did loose a lot of my readers during my temporary lapse in blogging- oh well, I can only do so much!). I think I am back though and ready to blog again! See you back here soon!