Hair Issues from Well Water

When we moved into our house in Texas we went from city water in California to a well in Texas. I grew up on well water, so I never thought I would have issues with my hair. I was in for a surprise between the humidity of South Texas and the well water. 

In California I used conditioner once or twice a month after I washed my hair. I have been using BeautyCounter Daily Shampoo to wash my hair twice and then I use Maple Holistic Sage Shampoo. I started using the Maple Holistic Sage Shampoo when I was pregnant with Cash and experienced ridiculous dandruff. The dandruff was definitely a pregnancy thing because once Cash was born it all went away.  Danielle Walker from Against All Grain had mentioned she used this shampoo when she was pregnant with her daughter.  It was a game changer for me. It helped my dry scalp and took the dandruff away. I have continued to use it ever since to help with my dry scalp. 

When we moved to our Texas home I was struggling so bad with an itchy scalp. I felt within 2 days my head had build up even though I wasn't using any hair products. A blogger Lauren McBride mentioned she had started using Living Proof Triple Detox Shampoo to help the build up she was experiencing from her well water. I bought some to try because I was desperate. This helped my hair for a little while. 

I was still having issues with build up on my scalp. I did some research and found out it was most likely from the minerals in our water. I bought a water system to filter our drinking water and a shower filter. My scalp and hair GREATLY improved by adding the detox shampoo and the filter. 

I mentioned early I rarely used conditioner in California. My hair was very healthy. Between the well water and climate changes my hair over the past year has become dry. I had started to notice it was more difficult to comb my hair our after I washed it. I had my hair trimmed and the lady told I would need to use a hydrating conditioner every time I washed my hair. I went back to using the Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Mask. I use this each time I wash my hair now. I only wash my hair about every 6-10 days. 

I have started using the Honest Company Detangler Spray before I brush my hair out with a Wet brush. The detangler spray really helps condition my hair as it is a lightweight leave in conditioner too. I love the smell of the wild orange vanilla scent the detangler spray has too! My hair spells amazing for a few days from it!  My hair has greatly improved by making all these changes. It took me over a year to figure all this out. 

The hair products I use to wash my hair:

BeautyCounter Daily Shampoo

Maple Holistic Sage Shampoo

Living Proof Triple Detox Shampoo

Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Mask

Honest Company Detangler Spray 

Shower Filter

When I was trying to figure out what shower filter to buy I did a search on Amazon. I found the one with a lot of reviews for hard water. The title of the shower filter I went with was 

AquaBliss High Output Revitalizing Shower Filter - Reduces Dry Itchy Skin, Dandruff, Eczema, and Dramatically Improves The Condition of Your Skin, Hair and Nails. Well that covered all of it right there! It has worked great for us. I replace the filters every 3-4 months. By the end of month 3 I can start to see a difference with my scalp and I know it's time to replace it. 

Hopefully this post will help someone who is struggling with water changes to find some products that will work for them.

Gestational Diabetes Test while Eating Paleo

I have ate a paleo diet during this pregnancy. I felt it was important to hopefully keep any MS attacks at bay while I’m pregnant and hopefully have a less severe attack afterwards. Autoimmune issues seem to go into remission during pregnancy then rear their ugly heads with a vengeance after you give birth.  

I did a lot of google searches to see what people did for the gestational diabetes tests that didn’t drink that nasty drink. I was determined I would not drink that stuff. You can google it to see what’s all in it and decide if it’s right for you. For me it wasn’t the right choice. It has corn, dyes, and sugar. Things I don’t consume. I feel drinking that stuff would make my sugar go insane and wouldn’t give me a clear reading.  I did do the glucose test when I was pregnant with G. I felt extremely awful the rest of the day after the test was over. 

I had read about different tests that some doctors will do instead. When my doctor brought up that I needed to get my test I had done my research as to why I wouldn’t take the test. I told her my reasons. She tried to tell me medicals reasons why I should. I asked her for other options. I was very clear I wouldn’t drink the glucose drink. I asked for another test or told her I would check my sugar daily. Thankfully they allowed me to get my sugar tested after fasting 8 hours and used those numbers. I passed with flying colors. Actually my fasting numbers were almost below normal. 

I really feel that eating a paleo diet has helped me have a much more normal pregnancy than I had with G. This baby is growing on track and my sugar has been stable. My fasting sugar levels were high with G. I was able to keep it controlled with diet. He ended up being induced because they didn’t feel he was growing well inside me. These are things I’m not experiencing this time. I also know that every pregnancy is different. I do feel having a healthy diet has helped me greatly with my MS and this pregnancy. I do experience MS issues daily, but it isn't as severe as when I was eating anything and everything. 

Disclaimer: these opinions are all my own. You need to follow your doctors advice. 

Preparing for Baby on a Budget

We weren’t planning to have any more children after G. I got rid of everything. Then we decided to have 1 more. Our friends and family were super generous and bought us everything you could imagine for G. The child has never wanted for anything.  I had every baby gadget imaginable. 

I decided this round we didn’t need everything. There are so many things you use for a few months. I decided there were 2 things I felt had to be brand new - a car seat and crib. Car seats are non-negotiable for me. Amazon sells open box car seats. They are brand new but the box could be damaged. I was able to buy one for less than $50. The box was fine too. The car seat was completely wrapped up, box unopened and in great condition. The same car seat cost $150 at Target. 

I wanted a gray crib. I added 2 of them to my Amazon wishlist and watched the prices. I was able to get one for $100. I bought a brand new mattress at Babies r Us with a coupon when they were going out of business for $40. It was when they still accepted coupons. 

Crib

Car Seat

I wanted to show you were you look for the used & new options on Amazon. If you are using your Amazon App you will find it below the Add to Cart. If you click on the Used & New option it will show everything available at different price points. Be aware you may have to pay for shipping with some of the sellers. I always look for items Amazon is selling with Prime. Sometimes they get returns or the boxes just get banged up. As long as the product is fine I don't care if the box isn't perfect. 

I wanted a Rock n Play, bouncy seat, swing, play mat and double stroller. All these things I didn’t need brand new. I started looking on Facebook groups early on, so I had plenty of time to wait for a deal. I found a bouncy seat and baby gate for free. I got a Rock n Play and play may for $5 each. I REALLY wanted a 4Moms swing. This was a want not a need. I kept watching for one and found one for $50 in perfect condition. I was able to get a sit n stand Joovy stroller for $40 and a snap n go car seat stroller for $20. 

G still uses the stroller a lot. I feel we will need a double stroller. I will want to go on walks, to the zoo and outings. So the Joovy has an option to sit, stand and for a baby. There are so many double stroller options out there. I make Art crazy with how many strollers we have. All of them serve a purpose. You can't use an umbrella stroller on a hike and I don't want to use my Bob stroller when I am going shopping. 

A friend has a bumbo, bassinet, and exersaucer for us. Friends have given us clothes, bedding, blankets and swaddles. 

I have watched stores/online for diaper and wipe sales. I’ve been stocking up when I find a good deal. I don’t want to buy too many newborn diapers only because I don’t know how big the baby will be. 

We’ve really shopped on a budget for this baby. He won’t be using this stuff that long, so I don’t feel we need brand new stuff. We also are for sure done with having anymore babies after this little guy.  Physically I just can’t handle another pregnancy. This one has been really hard on me. I’m soooooo thankful for this little guy and I would happily do it all over again. 

What are your must have baby items?

What actually is Grace?

I feel this year I have been learning the actual meaning of grace in my life and what the Bible actually teaches. I feel mans teaching has been so wrong over the years. I went to see Jen Hatmaker in February. She talked about the Good Samaritan helping the certain man in Luke 10. One thing that really got to me was how the Bible talked about this certain man. In the Bible it doesn't talk at ALL about what this man had done. It doesn't mention if he was homeless, drug addict, a great man, provoked the thieves etc. It just talks about the people who didn't help him and the one man who did. WOW! To me that was so powerful. There are so many times we don't help people because we don't think they deserve to be helped. I don't think that is what God wants from us. To make a judgment or determination who needs to be helped. Well I helped them one time, they screwed up and they don't deserve to be helped again. Think if God treated us that way? 

God is gracious and loves to give us good gifts. We do not have to strive in life for anything. We do not have to be good enough or do the right thing in order for God to give us grace, the desires of our heart or to be there for us. His grace is undeserving, unwarranted and something we can't earn. His grace is freely given to us. So often I was taught the reasons I went through trials were because I did something to deserve these trials. That I won't see God's grace through trials because I haven't earned his grace. Yikes! This is a horrible teaching and it isn't what the Bible teaches at all. You get to the point you don't want to even try anymore because what's the point. 

Over the years I have been through a lot in my life. I have always seen God take care of me. I have been through a lot of crap in life. There is so much of my life that I have not shared on my blog. I have shared some of the crappy parts here. Growing up my parents didn't shelter us from the trials of life. Instead we all prayed about them as a family and tried to trust God. People can say well children shouldn't experience that stress. I can see that point. I have to say that experiencing the trials life threw at us as a family from a young age has helped me deal with trials as an adult. Some times trials happen because of bad decisions or because there aren't boundaries in place, but that does not mean God's grace isn't there for us!!!!!! Those are lessons you have to learn in life. 

I love the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury. It really has spoke to me while we have been going through some rough times in life. Sometimes we need to just stop and let God love us. Let Him show us his grace! 

Reckless Love Lyrics

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me

You have been so, so good to me

Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me

You have been so, so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me

You have been so, so good to me

When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me

You have been so, so kind to me

And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

There's no shadow You won't light up

Mountain You won't climb up

Coming after me

There's no wall You won't kick down

Lie You won't tear down

Coming after me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine

And I couldn't earn it, I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

Songwriters: Caleb Culver / Cory Asbury / Ran Jackson

It’s a BOY!

We are getting another son!!!  

When I first got pregnant I really wanted a boy. Then G realized I was having a baby he insisted it was a sister. For months I heard it was a girl. I started to think we were having a girl. I was a little shocked to hear it was a boy lol

I asked G the other day what should we name the baby? He said "ummmm how about we name him Jesus? I really like Jesus. He so nice." He has been calling the baby Jesus. 

We can't wait for our little boy to get here! 

Miracle!

Last week I announced on social media that we are expecting a baby in July! We are so very excited! 

This baby is a true miracle and our rainbow baby. I haven't shared on my blog about wanting another child or our struggle. We had been told by numerous doctors G was a miracle and we probably never would be able to have another one. I went through a period of where I was grieving. It was a very difficult time for me. I feel I haven't been able to make very many choices when it comes to my health. They have all been made for me over the past 5 years. 

I am so very thankful for little G. He is seriously the brightest miracle in my life! 

I found out I was pregnant right before Thanksgiving. I honestly didn't have much hope this pregnancy would continue.  A lot was going on right then. I had my sister coming to visit. I was going with my mom to Mayo Clinic for some health issues. I just tried to continue with life and I would go to the doctor after to see what was going on with the pregnancy. I didn't tell anyone I was pregnant. I just didn't want people worrying or giving me their opinion on things. This one wasn't planned at all and was a surprise. Yes, Yes, I know where babies come from and how they can happen. lol  I am not going into the details of the 6+ months before, but there wasn't much hope. 

We waited awhile to tell family and even longer to tell our friends. 

G felt he had to tell everyone! He was with us at a doctor appointments when the doctor was talking about the baby and we could hear the heartbeat. G says momma open your mouf let me see that baby? He thinks the baby is the hangy thing in the back of your throat. lol

He then went to school and told everyone he was having a baby sister. He told the people at Sonic when we got our soda water he is having a baby sister. I had my friends little girl with me the day I picked up G from school, so his teachers thought that is who he was talking about. 

He has been so excited. He keeps asking hasn't the baby been in your belly long enough?

At night he will pat my belly. He said I need to pat the baby, so it won't cry and go to sleep. 

What will little Post be? Boy or Girl? We will find out later today!

Miscarriages & PTSD

I have been thinking about writing a post on how PTSD is real for someone who has gone through numerous miscarriages. I have so many thoughts roaming around in my head on this topic. Miscarriages are so much more common than people talk about these days. I am not sure why it is kept quiet. If people feel shame, they don't want to talk about the heart break or what the reason actually is, but I feel it's something we should talk about more. 

I have been pregnant a lot!  I have 1 miracle little boy that I cherish so much! His entire pregnancy I didn't feel I could really relax. I didn't love being pregnant at all. I did love feeling him kicking inside me. Once I could start feeling his kicks it helped me relax just a little bit. He would kick a lot if I ate steak. There were times I would eat steak just to feel the ninja party inside! I just felt I wouldn't ever be able to relax until he was born. Once he was out it was such a relief! I remember when they laid him on my chest the relief I felt. Hearing his little cry was so sweet! 

I have gone through numerous miscarriages. More than you can count on 2 hands.  They were soooo difficult! Every time I would get pregnant there was hope that things would be ok. This time things would be different. This one would make it! And numerous times I was met with such heart break. That hope you get when you see a positive pregnancy test, but then the fear that set in after you have been through a miscarriage. You are excited, but it doesn't ever last. It's hard to stay excited when you have faced heart break over and over. You don't share with people you are pregnant because you don't want to hear their comments. You have to protect yourself from stupid people's comments. 

People have no idea how to respond to a miscarriage most of the time. Here are some things you can say to someone when they lose a baby:

• I am sorry for your loss.

• I am sorry you have to go through this. 

• You are in my thoughts and prayers. 

• Can I bring you dinner or a coffee? Or just bring them a meal! Sometimes people don't want to put you out, but if you show up at their door with a meal they won't refuse it. 

• I can't imagine what you are going through, but I am here for you. OR I know what you are going through and I am here if you need to talk. 

Things you should NEVER say to someone:

• Have you thought about adopting?

• Something must have been wrong with the baby, so God decided to take it. 

• Maybe God feels the earth has enough people, so we need to stop populating it.

• You shouldn't try to have anymore babies.

• You need to relax and not stress about being pregnant or a miscarriage. 

• It's better to have lost it now than after it's born. 

I have had people say those lovely NEVER statements above to me. WTF! I am not going to even go into the nasty thing I have wanted to say to people. People are stupid! 

For someone who has gone through numerous miscarriage once you get pregnant every trip to the bathroom is scary. You worry you might see blood this time. Prior miscarriages go through your mind often. I went through 7 miscarriages in one of my offices. One was really bad. I stood up from my desk not even knowing I was pregnant and all of a sudden there was a gush of blood on the floor. Those memories don't just go away the next time you get pregnant. Instead those memories haunt you. You worry this time could that happen again!

Being pregnant after a miscarriage is such a scary thing! My heart goes out to all of you who have experienced a miscarriage. I also understand the scariness of trying to have a baby after experiencing a miscarriage. 

Pregnancy Highs & Lows

It is hard to believe it has been almost a year since I was pregnant. Last year at this time I was anxiously waiting for little G to come. I remember last year people saying I would forget about most of the pregnancy issues after the baby came. I thought yeah right I won't ever forget this craziness. 

A friend mentioned heartburn recently on Facebook. I forgot all about the heartburn. The only way I could keep it under control was to take apple cider vinegar each day. When I took a tablespoon of that daily the heartburn stayed away. 

I struggled with trying to work out while I was pregnant. The round ligament pain was terrible. Prior to getting pregnant I would walk on my lunch breaks at work. I had a route I did daily and it took 30-35 minutes. When I was pregnant I could do about half that. I would have to stop along the way due to the round ligament pain. 

Oh and the wonderful morning sickness that stay around for 17 weeks. I kept reading how for most women it went away after 12 weeks. I was so so excited to get to the 12 week mark for numerous reasons. When the morning sickness stayed I was not happy. It wasn't morning sickness. It was all day sickness. It only went away when I ate. So when I was eating something it was gone. As soon as I was done eating back it came. It was hard to eat healthy foods when all that sounded good was french fries. 

I was really careful with any type of medications doctors suggested. They all will offer up drugs for morning sickness. I didn't want to take any chances. I had read women taking Zofran to help with their morning sickness. To me I needed to just suffer through it and not take a chance with my child. I am so glad I felt that while I was pregnant because now there are all type of warning commercials out about the side effects of Zofran. 

Now let's talk about some of the perks of being pregnant. This one still is strange to me. The head on my hair grew like crazy, was full, and never got dirty. The hair on my legs stopped growing. I only had to wash my hair about once a week and shave my legs every other week. Talk about major perks!

There was the perks with sleeping early on. I could sleep all the time and so deep. Then the sleeping got rough towards the end. I love sleeping on my stomach. 

I LOVED feeling the baby kicks! It was the BEST feeling and my favorite thing of being pregnant. G would kick like crazy after steak. If he had been quiet I would eat steak and he would play a soccer game inside me. Friends would tell me I would miss the kicks. I miss them just a little bit. Now I get hugs and kisses from the sweetest little boy!

We will be celebrating G's 1st birthday in about 3 weeks. Hard to believe it has been a year already. 

Birth Story

Pregnancy was nothing like I expected and neither was my delivery. I am slowly learning I need to stop setting expectations. 

The doctor had decided it was best for me to be induced at 38 weeks. My placenta wasn't delivering nutrients like it should to the baby. The baby was head down and we were scheduled for an induction on September 3. The doctor warned me it could take 3 days. I laughed because I thought he was kidding. He was NOT kidding as I was about to learn. 

We had to call labor & delivery at 4pm on the 3rd. I couldn't wait until 4pm, so I called at 3:15pm. One nurse said she couldn't find me on the list. I about lost it! She transferred me to the head nurse at that time. She found me on the list and asked us to come in at 7:30pm. We dropped Sammy off at the inlaws. We told him we would see him in a couple days. We had dinner, put our stuff in the car and headed to the hospital. For the first time in over a week I was no longer nervous. 

We arrived at the hospital where we were put in a triage room. There weren't any rooms clean at the moment. The doctor came in to talk to us on the plan for the evening. As long as the baby heart rate stayed up they would keep the pitocin on until the baby came, but if his heart rate dropped we needed to talk about a c section. The doctor checked me and I was a finger tip dilated. At 10pm they set us up in a room and started pitocin. Around 11pm the contractions mildly started. I could feel them sporadic. Art went to sleep and I watched the clock. I was way too excited to get to sleep. I think I slept 2-3 hours all night. It didn't help the nurses kept coming into the room too. 

The next morning (Sept 4) it was crazy town in L&D. So many babies being born. We were put on the back burner since the active labor took priority. The nerve. lol  I was able to shower, walk around and then hooked back up on pitocin. They decided to try a balloon catheter to try to get me to dilate more. I was only a 1 at this point. Oh the pressure I felt when it was put in. Holy bazooka! I kept breathing because I knew giving birth was going to be a lot worse. My doctor was on call, so we were REALLY hoping the baby would come when he was on call. He told the other doctor on call if I went into labor to call him, so he could come deliver the baby. 

The next morning (Sept 5) around 5am the doctor came to check me after they removed the balloon catheter and I was a whooping 2. The doctor stripped my membranes at this point to help get things moving. That was ROUGH! Contractions starting coming a little closer together. I finally lost my mucus plug after the membranes were stripped. Early afternoon the doctor on call came in & broke my water. She said I should start to feel contractions in about an hour. HA! I started to feel them right away. It got painful REALLY fast. I asked the nurse what type of pain meds I could have. I could have one that was put in my IV that would make me feel like I was drunk or an epidural. I asked for the drunk drug after 41 hours of labor. I needed something to take the edge off the pain. 

I got one taste of pain free and knew I wasn't going to make it without an epidural. Art had been pushing for me to get an epidural because he couldn't handle seeing me in pain. I asked the nurse when I could get an epidural? She said right now if you want it. I said get there here before these drugs wear off. 

I had been throwing up throughout the day. I had to asked the anesthesiologist to wait while I threw up. It took about 15-20 minutes to get the epidural put in. I felt relief almost immediately when it was started. I could see on the monitor the contractions were coming harder and faster. I couldn't feel a thing. Why I had this crazy idea not to get an epidural I have NO idea! Bring on the drugs!!! No reason to be a hero when it comes to pain. 

At 10pm I was at a 3. We decided it was time to get some sleep because it could be awhile still. I had decided at that point the baby would come on Sunday. I was so hungry and thirsty. I asked my nurse if I could have a popsicle. She brought me a grape one. I HATE grape, but I wasn't going to complain at this point. It was the best grape popsicle I have ever tasted in my life. One of my internal monitors fell off around midnight, so the doctor checked me I was a 4. Finally moving along. At 1:45am the doctor came to check me because I was starting to get a fever and I was a 5. A fever never developed! My temp had started to go up, but went right back to normal. 

At around 2am I woke up to a lot of pressure. I really felt I had to go to the bathroom. Part of me was embarrassed because how was I going to do that? Finally I called the nurse at 3am. I told her I am having A LOT of pressure. The nurse said that is a good thing because your body is progressing. She went to get the doctor to check me. The doctor said not much will probably have changed in the past hour. I remember looking at the clock and it was 3:15am. The doctor checked me and I was a NINE!!!!! WHAT!!!! She said I probably had another hour before I was a 10 and a couple hours of pushing. My body was telling me this was going to be a lot faster than an hour to get to a 10. I called my BFF to come to the hospital. She arrived at 3:45am right when I started to push. 

At first the nurse was counting. She was annoying to me how she would get to 9 and hold it for way tooooo long. Finally Art took over counting. It was calming to me to hear him count. I had been pushing for about 40 minutes when I thought this is never ending the doctor said push one more time he is almost out. Then I hear he is here. I thought I would push the head out and have to push the rest of his body out. Once the babies head came out the rest of his body just came out. They laid him on a blanket on my chest while they cleaned him off. I started rubbing his little feet then he started crying. I started crying because he was finally here. My little miracle!!!! At that moment the 51 hours of labor was worth it! I would have done it all over again. 

Arthur George was born at 4:28am 5 pounds 8 ounces 20 inches long. 

25 Weeks

How far along: 25 weeks (as of 6-3-14)

Maternity clothes: Yes! 

Sleep: Sleep was very good. 

Best moment of this week:  Feeling him move around. He moves throughout the day. I love feeling the kicks. 

Miss anything: I don't really miss anything. 

Movement: Yes, he is kicking away!

Food cravings: Veggies!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Certain smells get to me. 

Have you started to show yet: I don't have a stomach. I just look like I have gained weight. 

Gender: Boy!

Belly button in or out: in

Wedding rings on or off: on 

Happy or moody most of the time: Emotional this week

Looking forward to: Going to see a bunch of my friends in So Cal!

Expectations Ruin Everything!

Expectations usually end up disappointing someone. I had expectations of what I thought pregnancy would be like. It has been NOTHING like I expected. I expected to love every minute of being pregnant, love being able to gain weight, enjoy pregnancy once I passed week 12, because this was the moment I had waited for my entire life! I remember being a little girl dreaming of the day I would be a mom. Unfortunately all those expectations were a big disappointment. 

I recently told my mom I don't think I will ever be one of those women who says they miss being pregnant. Some people have told me they loved feeling the baby move inside of them. I do not love having him sit so low while using my bladder as a trampoline. I do love feeling him kicking higher up! I won't miss it though only because I would much rather have him here, so I can look at him to make sure he is safe. 

This is pregnancy number 10 for me. I thought once I hit week 12 I would calm down and enjoy being pregnant. I have had different worries or concerns the entire pregnancy. There are soooo many tests you go through and each time you worry will they find something. Even though I have made it to 28 weeks I still worry what if something goes wrong. I think that is a normal thing for someone who has had 1 or 9 losses. It is hard! That scared feeling in the back of your mind creeps in. Add in hormones and it can be a little worse. 

Would I do this again? Without a second thought! Every time we went through a loss I would think can I do this again? In a few months my heart would start to heal enough that I felt I could go through it again. I always prepared myself that the next pregnancy could result in a loss and I needed to be strong enough. I knew eventually though we would have a successful pregnancy. My heart always knew I would be a mom. I couldn't give up. I had some terrible things said to me by people who thought they were being caring. They would ask why I kept trying, maybe I needed to calm down and stop worry, maybe God didn't want us to have a child, there were lots of children that needed to be adopted and the nonsense continued for 5 years. It came to the point where I stopped telling people about a loss because if I had to hear one more crude comment I might end up in prison. 

Pregnancy is hard no matter how prepared you are, but there are some good parts to it. The second trimester has been one of the best. I FINALLY feel back to normal physically. This is the first time I have physically felt good since surgery in January 2013. If I could live in second trimester I would stay here forever. Someone needs to learn how to bottle this and sell it! I would buy it for a lot of money. lol 

My hair has been amazing. It is full, doesn't get greasy, I don't shed and it's shiny. I would lose handfuls of hair in the shower each time I washed it over the past year. It was awful! I was on a every 3 to 4 day hair washing schedule. Now I wash it every 7-8 days. This is one of the things I will miss terribly bad. I hate hate hate washing my hair. It is such a chore. 

I only have to shave once every other week. How fabulous is that! It's just as fabulous as not having a period for 9 months. Who cares if you bleed like a mother after birth. You had 9 months of heaven. lol

There are good things and bad things. You can't go into pregnancy with expectations or saying you will do certain things. I had plans to work out and eat healthy. lol What a joke! The first trimester I choked down what I could just to survive. The second trimester round ligament pain killed me when I tried to exercise. I had to walk like a granny if I just wanted to get a 1/2 mile. 

I have read so many blog posts about how wonderful pregnancy can be. I thought there needs to be a reality to what it is like. Heartburn, round ligament pain, gestational diabetes, peeing every 15 minutes, stretch marks, bladder used a trampoline, breasts the size of cantaloupes, worrying, looking fat instead of pregnant, sleepless nights, moodiness, crying one minute laughing the next, acne, fabulous hair, and the list goes on & on & one.  I have around 80ish days until my due date, but who is counting. Honestly I am enjoying every minute of this because I know this could be the first and last. 

27 Weeks

How far along: 27 weeks (as of 6-23-14)

Maternity clothes: Yes! 

Sleep: Sleep was very good. Sunday I actually slept through the night for 6 hours straight. That is almost unheard of for me without 1-2 bathroom breaks. 

Best moment of this week: Hearing his heartbeat and recording it. I love that I can listen to it anytime. 

Miss anything: not this week. 

Movement: Oh yes, every single day. He is quiet from the time I get ready to work until around 10am. Then I feel him until I go to bed throughout the day. Evening time he is very active. 

Food cravings: Taco Salad! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing in particular. I have been feeling queasy after I eat sometimes. It is strange. 

Have you started to show yet: Finally getting a rounder belly. Art cheered the other night he was so happy I am starting to look pregnant. 

Gender: Boy!

Belly button in or out: in. It is starting to get shallow. I never thought I would say that. 

Wedding rings on or off: I can't wear them at night, but I can wear them during the day. I really thought they were on their last leg. So far so good. 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy! 

Looking forward to: My due date!  lol I just can't wait for this little guy to get here!

24 Weeks

How far along: 24 weeks (as of 5-27-14)

Maternity clothes: Yes! I found some maternity jeans & capris at Babies R Us for $5 each. I wish I had bought another pair of the capris. They are super comfy and what a fabulous deal!

Sleep: Sleep was very good. 

Best moment of this week: Ultrasound of the little guy. He is growing just perfectly.  

Miss anything: Just vacation lol

Movement: Yes, it's almost daily

Food cravings: Orange Juice

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week

Have you started to show yet: Starting to show some

Gender: Boy!

Belly button in or out: in

Wedding rings on or off: on 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy! 

Looking forward to: working on the nursery

23 Weeks

How far along: 23 weeks (as of 5-20-14)

Maternity clothes: Yes! I have one pair of black Rockstar Old Navy jeans that still fit. I am so glad I bought these!

Sleep: Sleep was very good. 

Best moment of this week: Enjoying vacation, relaxing on the beach and with family & friends

Miss anything: not this week...it was vacation time!

Movement: Yes, he was very active after I ate steak. I think he likes beef!

Food cravings: Fish! Good thing because I ate a lot of it. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not this week

Have you started to show yet: Starting to show some

Gender: Boy!

Belly button in or out: in

Wedding rings on or off: on 

Happy or moody most of the time: Happy! 

Looking forward to: Next ultrasound next week!