The amazing BabyK #2

I think I may have already used this photo, but you seriously do not want to see what I look like on a regular basis right now. I brushed my teeth today and that is an accomplishment since shoving a long slender brush in your mouth with the non stop nausea is uh hum well really unpleasant! So instead of focusing on me, let us talk about BabyK #2. A must for expecting mothers is to get onto the BabyCenter website and sign up for weekly baby updates. It is unreal how fast your little tadpole becomes a baby with a beating heart and ears and a pancreas! The following is some news from my 7 week update. The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo (or tadpole as I like to refer) and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of its tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Our baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry. If you could see inside your womb (which I know may gross some of you out), you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering the peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of its nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of our baby's brain is growing, and the liver is churning out red blood cells until bone marrow forms and takes over this role. The baby also has an appendix and a pancreas (see I told you pancreas), which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. So you see, we really have a baby in there! It is unreal to think that this little tiny "poppy seed" at 5 weeks is now "a blueberry" and has hands and feet. I know I am pregnant and hormonal, but this work, this the work of your body is truly a miracle. I mean a miracle. You know and have witnessed other women who have carried babies, but until you carry one yourself, you don't know the magnitude of this gift. Even with severe morning sickness, I can sit back and think that I am so blessed and so incredibly lucky to be able to go down this road once again. God has given us this second child and I (we) will do everything in our power to care for it - even while in womb. I will keep this environment that my baby calls home in tip top shop. OK...dry my eyes and move on I know! So I will tell you that the nausea has not let up a bit and probably is a bit worse. Sometimes I can't even talk as I fear moving or talking may send me to the living room (or the bathroom to those of you that are not pregnant). I can eat a bit and have managed to pick up a few pounds that I lost. I told one of my Pilates clients that I lost 5 pounds and she was MAD! She said that is so not fair! Trust me, I would rather not be in this situation. This makes me have a better understanding of what my Sister-In-Law went through - bless your soul Gerry. I understand now, thought I did before, but did not have a clue...NOW I get it...in a VERY big way! Love you all!

My Name is RALLLFFFF...

OK...so if you have not read my last entry you must immediately STOP and scroll down to the last post. It is a must for you to understanding this my new name Ralllffff. Seriously...I'll wait right here!

So your back and you now are up to date with the news. Ahhh...another baby! How sweet, how precious, how am I ever going to get through this photo (see above) with the fire burning holes in my back, Vivian kicking and grunting all the while trying to suppress the bodily function that accompanies pregnancy - Ralllffff! Yes, I already feel sick, like you went out the night before and partied til the sun came up, went to breakfast with your friends and forgot to take Tylenol and drink water before bed. That kind of fuzz in your mouth, nausea that lasts ALL day kind of feeling. By all means I am not complaining (well too much) as I am as happy as can be and am so thankful I feel sick. I know that sounds weird, but this way you know your body is still doing what it needs to be doing to keep your little tadpole safe. The reason you feel sick is with every passing day - I kid you not - your hormone levels nearly double. So you think you act a bit nutty when you have a period, think about doubling your hormones everyday. And men wonder why we might be a bit testy. Hell yeah our insides are going crazy and we still have to cook dinner when the smell of chicken makes you want to pray to the porcelain GOD....AAAMennnn! So my Mother is reading this thinking oh honey, I want you to be that happy pregnant girl you were last time, and I still am. I am just being honest with my girls. You know telling you like it really is all the while enjoying it in this very peculiar way. Liking to be sick, a novelty to most of you, but to the Mommy's out there, you understand. Sick, but happy! Scared, but optimistic! Worried, but assured! Terrified...well just terrified really! So I have made the decision that I am going to be that happy pregnant girl again. I really feel like you have to almost verbalize that to yourself. I am going to be happy and upbeat even though at times I feel very tired and sick. Once you tell yourself that you are not going to make crazy outbursts of emotional slashing to your husband then you have to follow through. I had an episode during the last pregnancy that opened my eyes to the unleashing of hormones! I turned into a demon - Fraser was actually scared of me and with due right! I was a beast from a dirty swamp who rose up to tongue slash my loving husband into submission and apology for something he did not do or need to apologize for. I later swore I would never reveal the beast again. It actually scared me too, I could not control myself, I mean at all. If fire and smoke would have come out of my mouth I would not have been surprised. I just kept firing at the poor unsuspecting soul! So I then told myself I will stop, take a breath and think if I am really angry or if my hormones are just ticking me off. Most of the time, in fact, maybe every time, I could say my hormones were wanting to attack my husband or the person at the check-out for taking too long or the solicitor on the phone. You get the point. Take a minute, access the issue and decipher your feeling verses the ugly hormones and usually you can just laugh at yourself for almost getting angry with your husband for putting the spoon in the wrong place! So I guess this nausea is going to be here for a while and I guess I will need to just barrel through the next 6 to eight weeks and hope that the feeling goes away as I enter into my Second Trimester. Let us Pray...AAAmen!