THE BEAUTY OF HENNA

I don't know if everyone remembers the HEINOUS haircut that accompanied our pregnancy announcement back in 2009, but it was bad -- REALLLLLY bad. I had been dying my hair auburn for nearly a year, and learned that I would not be able to use hair dye for the first few months of pregnancy. So, I had to go back to blonde. From red. What a nightmare. After many lightening applications and a failed attempt to ash out the red, my hair was fried. There was no way around it, I had to get it cut. I had this adoreable little ear length style in mind. Did I get the adoreable little ear length style? No. I got butchered. The first haircut was miserably uneven and led to a second cut that resulted in boy short hair. BOY SHORT. Today, nearly 17 months later, my hair is still only shoulder length. Don't let anyone tell you that your hair grows faster during pregnancy. It's a fallacy. Think about it. You're metabolism slows down to allow for better absorption of nutrients. Hello!?!?! Your metabolism slows down. Everything slows down. Even hair and nail growth. Bonus -- less frequent shaving. It's beside the point. Flash forward to today. I am back to red -- which clearly I love if I was willing to go back to it after my experience -- but this time I can continue to color. I have been using henna and THAT my friends is approved for use during pregnancy. Unless you are genetically predisposed to some kind of very rare deficiency -- which I am not. So -- absolutely freaking YAY!!! I can remain a redhead and I don't have to cut all of my hair off -- YET. Henna is ubber permanent ( I only had to do the length of my hair once -- it hasn't faded) -- if I ever want to go back to blonde it's snip snip!!! At least I won't be pregnant!!! Maybe I should knock on wood. LOL -- I just did.

EARLY PREGNANCY SYMPTOMS

Yep -- that's right -- I'm feeling em. I was so lucky with Miles. No pregnancy symptoms. It was such an easy pregnancy. This time around, though, I am definitely experiencing some of the "stuff". Woohoo. I imagine that there are ladies out there who's morning sickness (or -- as in my case -- all day sickness) is way worse than mine, but it ain't no picnic. Some days are better than others, but on the days that aren't, I get waves of nausea that come and go. Sometimes I can't even turn my head without feeling queasy. It's a blessing and a curse. It's so exciting to be feeling the pregnancy, but, it's still what it is -- NAUSEA!!! As for other symptoms - lots of fatigue. I love LOVE to sleep these days, which is next to impossible with an 8 month old. So -- I love LOVE to fantasize about sleeping. That's about it. My uterus is already starting to swell -- it's not noticeable to anyone else, but my pants are fully aware. Let's just say -- a little snug. Oh -- and -- ACNE!!! What??? It appears I have traded one skin condition for another. Last pregnancy -- it was a rash. This pregnancy -- acne. I have had 4 eruptions since we tested positive. That's 4 eruptions in a week. I look like a teenaged boy. They are mostly on my neck, which is a little more tolerable, but they still glow a mean angry red and they hurt like the dickens. How long does that last????

MISSED AUNT FLOW!!!

Not that I was expecting it to come, but there was a small voice of fear in the depths of my brain that whispered -- "What if it does come?" It didn't. Turns out that all of the pregnancy tests that we took were right. We're still pregnant. YAY!!! I love saying that. It's such a wonderful way to be.

UPDATED 4 WEEK PICTURE

As bloated as I felt last night, I couldn't, in good conscience, let that be our 4 week picture. As excited as I am to start having a bump, I knew that picture was soooooooooo misleading, and that people would be disappointed to discover that that belly had nothing to do with baby, but everything to do with way too many buffalo chicken wings. I felt like a bloated ball of poultry and way toooooo much sodium. So we did a reshoot this morning and this picture is more like it. I guess I should stay away from the high sodium Frank's Red Hot!!! WHAT??? It was a craving!!!! ;0)

OUR 4 WEEK BELLY PICTURE

So -- here we are -- back to it. We were so giddy taking our 4 week picture. We forgot how much fun it was to take these pics and how much we loved seeing the changes every 4 weeks. The black and white picture is our Miles 4 week pregnancy picture. As you can see, my belly is nowhere near as flat as it was before I had Miles, but it still looks pretty darn good. That being said -- I do have a belly full of buffalo wings. So, no -- I don't think I'm starting to show yet. Although, my uterus does feel swollen and I have been experiencing stretching and pulling -- so maybe slightly???? They do say that you can begin showing as early as 5 weeks with second and third babies -- I don't know that I'm ready for that. Yikes. Naw -- just a little mummy tummy and some 'licious wings!!!

4 WEEKS PREGNANT -- OUR LIL' POPPY SEED

How your baby's growing:
This week marks the beginning of the embryonic period. From now until 10 weeks, all of your baby's organs will begin to develop and some will even begin to function. As a result, this is the time when she'll be most vulnerable to anything that might interfere with her development.

Right now your baby is an embryo the size of a poppy seed, consisting of two layers: the epiblast and the hypoblast, from which all of his/her organs and body parts will develop.

The primitive placenta is also made up of two layers at this point. Its cells are tunneling into the lining of your uterus, creating spaces for your blood to flow so that the developed placenta will be able to provide nutrients and oxygen to your growing baby when it starts to function at the end of this week.

Also present now are the amniotic sac, which will house your baby; the amniotic fluid, which will cushion her as she grows; and the yolk sac, which produces your baby's red blood cells and helps deliver nutrients to her until the placenta has developed and is ready to take over this duty.

ROUND LIGAMENT PAIN

I woke up this morning with these sharp twinges down and around my uterus. I kept telling Jason that they hurt but that they weren't like cramps. I was certain that I had felt them before, but it wasn't until this afternoon that I realized what they are. Freaking round ligament pain. I know, I know. This early??? I didn't know that it was even possible. So, I looked it up and sure enough there were several forums with women complaining of round ligament pain at just 4 weeks pregnant. I guess with second pregnancies the body already knows what it's doing and gets to work right away. I thought I would have a few months before I would get to experience these bad boys again. They are yowsa!!! The good news??? I am for real -- round ligament pain and all -- preggers!!! Bring it on!!!

FOR THE NEWBIES!!!

For those of you who didn't get a chance to checkout our blog from our first pregnancy -- you can access it in the right column under blog lists. It's entitled "Our Pregnancy Journey". We chronicled nearly every detail of our pregnancy with Miles and we intend to do the same with our wonderful baby number 2!!!

WE TESTED EARLY!!!!!

So -- in true Amanda fashion -- I could wait no more!!! We had the home pregnancy test sitting in our bathroom -- it was so easily accessible. Jason warned me that we would likely get a negative result, but, that since it was 4 days early, it didn't mean anything. I had to do it anyhow. Despite the fact that I knew I would face significant disappointment. To our astonishment and relief -- we got a positive!!! POSITIVE!!! We are officially preggers. We're in a family way. We're cookin' a bun. We Baby Danced successfully and now we are overjoyed. We are literally floating on air as we take in the reality of the fact that we get to be pregnant all over again and we get have another beautiful bundle of baby. Of course, it is soooooo early. We will only be 4 weeks pregnant this weekend. So, we are still in a very delicate phase of pregnancy, but I am taking it easy (by easy -- I mean napping tons), doing my workouts, and continuing to take all the necessary vitamins. Here we go. We have moved past the TTC phase and we officially have... "Another Bun in the Oven"!!!

OUR CURRENT CHART

OUR TTC CHART -- IT'S VERY -- ORGANIZED

This is probably the most organized Basal Body Temp. Chart I have ever seen. At the very least, it is the most organized chart that I have ever had. This chart is missing today's temperature, but if you had to guess what it might be, I'm sure you could. That's right -- 98.3 -- again. The temps. are supposed to climb like this, it's just an indication of a normal cycle, but what we want to see is that it continues to climb past my date of expected menses. If it drops then I am not pregnant, if it stays up, then I am. Usually. This isn't always the case with people who have irregular cycles, but this was the case for me when I got pregnant with Miles, so I am assuming that we can look for a steady increase this time as well. So -- yes -- they climb, but like this??? In this sort of step-like pattern??? I've never seen anything like it. It's pretty cool, and we have a lot of fun each morning predicting what the temp. is going to be. I bet that tomorrow mornings temp goes up. We'll see.

TO TEST EARLY OR NOT TO TEST EARLY...

We are, obviously, getting really anxious to confirm our pregnancy suspicions. We also know, from past experience, that even though the at home tests say you can test up to 5 days before your missed period, the reality is not such. At least not for us. We tested 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 days early with Miles and received a big fat negative every time. We did not actually get a positive test until the night of my missed period. How lame!!! So, we are faced, once again, with the decision to spend gobs of money on early pregnancy tests that may or may not be reliable, or we can just wait another 6 days and test once. It seems like the answer is obvious, but when you want nothing more than to see that beautiful positive result, the days feel endless. But -- BUT -- we will wait. Drats.

Everything still tastes like it was dipped in drain cleaner..... ugggg

DYSGUESIA -- WHAT???

That's right -- Dysguesia. No -- I didn't just sneeze. I am not having a seizure. No no -- I am simply having a very common early pregnancy symptom that is also referred to as -- a bad taste in the mouth. We still haven't tested yet, but the symptoms are multiplying and we have added Dysguesia to the list. All day long I have had this very bitter, nasty taste in the back of my mouth. I thought, at first, that the strawberries I was eating hadn't been cleaned properly. But, no matter how many times I washed them, they still left a nasty taste on the back of my tongue. So did the apple that I ate later, the walnuts, and the carrots. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!! So, we turned to our trusty friend and enemy (I say enemy because you can look up too much pregnancy and newborn stuff) Google. Lo and behold -- Dysguesia. Very common symptom in early pregnancy -- as well as throughout. This symptom is all together very new to me, as I did not experience this while pregnant with Miles. In fact -- the nausea I have been experiencing is mild, but much more significant than I had with Miles in the first few weeks. So -- it looks like maybe this possible pregnancy isn't turning out to be as identical as we had first thought. Who knows. All I know for sure is that nothing tastes good and I can't enjoy satisfying the major cravings I have been having. BUMM-er!!! Well -- either way -- we still have something like 7 days left until we can test. We are slowly witteling down the days!!!!

IMPLANTATION SYMPTOMS?

We have 10 days left until we can start testing for pregnancy, but we are already sure that our efforts have been successful. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but there are many positive indications that we have concieved!!! Firstly -- Basal Body Temperature -- we recorded a temperature dip followed by a temperature spike, which is indicative of Ovulation. After baby dancing at the appropriate times, we recorded a few more days of steadily climbing temperatures!!! Very good sign for a positive conception. We just need to record a few more days of elevated temps to be certain. The other indicator???? Implantation cramping, fatigue, and nausea!!! I have been feeling wiped out the last 2 days and can barely stay awake past 7:45pm at night. The nausea has been very mild, but has been accompanied with a very familiar burning and cramping in my uterus. It's as if I am pregnant all over again with Miles. We know that every pregnancy is different, but for me, fertilization and implantation appear to be identical in both pregnancies. If I am indeed pregnant. This could all be overzealous hope -- and we won't know for sure until we test -- but we are enjoying our gut feeling at the moment. If we're not pregnant -- we just get to enjoy, yet another month of baby dancing!!!! lololololol!!!