toilet paper tuesday and gender prediction myths.

toilet paper has become a hot product in my house.  i use WAY too much of it in one day.

after browsing the baby boards today, i came across "toilet paper tuesday".  basically, every tuesday during pregnancy, you wrap toilet paper around your belly (below your belly button) and log how many squares it takes to go all the way around.

at 4 weeks & 5 days it took 8.5 squares.  hopefully the number doesn't increase for a month or so!

now for gender prediction myths.  i know, it's lame and cheesy. but my husband is out of town and i am bored.

1. baking soda test- i think you're supposed to use a paper cup but all i have is a plastic one.  put a tsp of baking soda. then a tsp of pee. yeah its gross but after you pee on so many sticks the nastiness kinda goes away.  if it fizzes its a boy, if it doesn't do anything....girl. 

2. chinese gender chart- you enter your month of conception and age you will be when the baby is born. and bam. it's supposed to be like 90% accurate.  we shall see. don't fail me china!

3. gut feeling- mother's intuition. simple enough.

4. ring test- apparently you're supposed to take your wedding ring and put it on a necklace chain. lay on your back and hold the necklace above your belly.  if it swings back and forth its a boy, if it goes in circles its a girl. 

and the results are:

1. girl
2. girl
3. girl
4. inconclusive. first went back and forth, then in circles. twins?

wow. ummmm. wonder what jon's gonna say. his "gut" says boy but what that really means is....he wants a boy.  this is SO cliche but i truly honestly just want a healthy baby.  if i got to pick i'd go with a boy.  but on the other hand, we could have the first girl in the family!

it's gonna be a while until we get to prove (or disprove) these theories (@19-20 weeks).  all i know is that whether its ELIAS GIDEON SMITH or MAKENA RYLIE SMITH, that kid is gonna be so stinking loved and anticipated!!



*with our first, all the charts said boy. can't wait to meet my baby someday to find out if it was true.

4 weeks. peachy.

ok now is when i start to calm down when it comes to the constant posts.

stats- i was 4 weeks on thursday, according to my lmp (last missed period).  which puts my estimated due date at february 23, 2012.
                symptoms have been mild but have included:
                           -headaches
                           -slight exhaustion
                           -gassy (pleasant i know.)
                           -hungrier than normal at times
                           -minor lower back pain

i'm trying to embrace the hunger part, considering in a few weeks the sight of food may make me vomit.  i've also been drinking between 65-100 ounces of water per day.  i'd say i average pee breaks about every 17 minutes throughout the day.  i'm considering investing stock in toilet paper.

my first prenatal appointment isn't until july 18th.  my 8 weeks is on july 14th, my birthday. but with my brief history of 8 week dr. appointments, there's no way i was going on my birthday.

we won't be telling anyone else about the pregnancy until 8 weeks (family & possibly a few VERY close friends) and 10 & 11 weeks for everyone else (when we are in SD for isaiah's birth).

it was only right to name our little bun in the oven.  our first was named "thumper" after we saw that amazing and perfect little heartbeat at 6 and 7 weeks flickering on the screen.  this one has become "peachy" or "little peach". guess why?

and now the belly (or lack-there-of) pictures begin.  don't judge me.

embracing these"abs" for the next month or two.

i guess we celebrate father's day early in this house.

let me just say that i didn't cave out of pure impatience!

jon was out of town from yesterday to tonight so it made it easier for me to keep my secret.  i just browsed all the crazy-drama boards on babycenter.

anyway, jon calls me this afternoon to ask if i wanted him to take me out for a nice dress-up dinner tomorrow. naturally i said yes.  then he goes on to explain how we deserve it cause of his crazy work schedule lately and how we will get a nice bottle of wine.  uh oh.

i knew right then that i had to tell him tonight.  i had come up with all kinds of ways to get around drinking or pretending to drink if we were at home, but going out? that's impossible.  (i swear we aren't lushes.)

i went out and bought a plain white onesie and decided to decorate it.  i taped it to the inside of the garage door with some balloons and a f-day card so he would see it when he came home.

the next few hours dragged.  when i finally heard the garage door go up, i grabbed the camera and assumed the position.  the pictures will tell the rest of the story...

surprise! even knoa is excited :)

the best part is that he thought all this was a father's day present from kona at first hahaha

excited baby daddy

proud parents-to-be!

are you serious??

i know what you're thinking. are you really gonna blog about this pregnancy everyday for the next 250 days? no. i promise i won't.

but bear with me for this week, lots to talk about to catch the world up to speed!

yesterday after i discovered that i'm growing a person, jon and i headed for the gym. (relax. i didn't do any ab work.)  as we were driving there, out of the blue jon goes, "when can you take a pregnancy test?:"

are you serious?!?

i never would have guessed he was keeping track of my "cycle" or that the thought of me taking a test would have crossed his mind!  being caught off guard, i had to think quick.  i responded by telling him that i couldn't test til next week.  he then proceeds to tell me how we have to do it together, and that while he's out of town (he leaves sun-thurs for a work trip) that i can't test without him.

damn, now i feel like a biotch. i "promised" him that i won't.  at that moment i almost told him, but i decided at this point i should just wait so i explain WHY i took the test without him. 

oh, and i "poas" again this am and the line was much darker. that was comforting.

the bottom one was yesterday. top was today. 

am i seeing things?

needless to say i've been peeing every morning when i wake up.  today my best friend suzie is leaving after a week of being here.  as routine, i got up before jon. peed. waited. saw nothing. went back to bed.

for some reason tho, i didn't throw it away.  i tucked the test in my bathroom drawer and went about my day.  took sooz to the airport, yada yada yada, etc.  a few hours later i remembered that i had kept the test.  i took it out, stuck it up by the light, twisted and turned.....

and there it was.  for the first 30 seconds i was convinced my eyes were playing tricks on me.  it was barely a line.  but as they say, a lines a line right?

i was so excited! but at the same moment i realized how excited i was, i also realized how scared i was.  here we are again.  the joy of the "line". but its a whole different game this time.  now's when the praying starts.  well actually, the praying started a while ago but now its full force.  

i know i know, you're DYING to know what happened next! well...nothing actually.  i decided that i am gonna keep my big mouth shut about it for the next 5 long days and wait to break it to baby daddy on father's day.

this is NOT going to be easy.

dizzzzzzzy.

ok, i know it is WAY too soon to tell, but i just know i'm pregnant.  more than anything i have this gut....(uterus?) feeling :)

i started to wonder when i got constant headaches, slight nausea and the fact that everything that my husband did got on my nerves. and i mean EVERYTHING. sorry babe, love you.

but when i would stand up and get dizzy spells it was a done deal in my head.  the only time that has happened to me was when i was pregnant the first time. 

i have 50 hpts (home pregnancy tests. you'll learn the lingo, eventually.) that i got on amazon for $10 so naturally i will be a poas (pee on a stick) addict. 

speaking of which. i'm gonna go pee...

8 days past ovulation (dpo)= negatory. 

still too early to tell. i'll try again at 11dpo.

roller coaster.

long story short.

fell in love with the man of my dreams. got married. moved across the country. got knocked up.

romantic right?

sounds simple enough. but no.

we traded in our beach towels for an endless supply of peaches, got in the car and drove 2200 miles and what felt like 79 hours from san diego to atlanta to pursue a new career for jon.

day 1 in atlanta= positive pregnancy test. holy crap. unplanned. scary. awesome. exciting.

fast forward to 4.4.11. probably the worst day of my life thus far.  we lost our precious baby at 8 weeks.

now not only am i in a new place, i know nobody, i'm away from my family, AND i just lost my first baby.  talk about crappy and heartbreaking.

ok that was depressing enough.  no more of that. doc said wait about 2 months and you can try again. it took losing our "little thumper" to realize....hey, maybe we do want a baby now.

r.i.p angel baby. to me, you'll always be our first. can't wait to meet you someday. we love you.