Week 14, hardly showing. That is inara "smiling".

Well, this pregnancy has been a rollercoaster ride so far! I found out I was pregnant the first week of October of 2011 after one or two negative pregnancy tests. Symptoms of normal first trimester nausea did not settle in until about 7 or 8 weeks or so. Then it was constant nausea. A few weeks later (Nov. 9) I had an appointment with my nutritionist and she told me that I needed more liver support supplements and that really made a difference in my morning sickness. I think I was on 6 liver support supplements a day for a few weeks! Another acquaintance of mine had a similar issue early in her pregnancy. I wish I would have known this the first time around!

I could only eat a few foods. There was one week, all I could eat was Chipotle's hard taco's. At home I wanted nothing to eat. I even had a stomach flu issue, so I couldn't. Everything I thought of eating made me sick and I didn't want to eat. I was so tired until I saw my nutritionist as well. The house fell apart and poor Inara started to learn what playing independently really meant.

The thought of my supplements made me ill too! I had to work up to what I needed to take during pregnancy! ugh.

We were in Germany house sitting for a friend when I was 11 and 12 weeks. Here is a photo of week 12. I took it myself so it's not very good.
The second trimester is so much better. I gradually increased my food choices as my belly started to grow. I was finally able to take all the nutrients I needed and the baby as well. The nausea has mostly subsided. Upon seeing my nutritionist in December, she told me that extra thyroid support is vital. Something about reverse t3 needing to be absorbed appropriately ensuring all is working well. I sometimes feel bad that Inara did not get the same treatment I am receiving now as I'm sure she would have benefited from this in the long and short run.

Recently, I have been on a serious weeding-out, decluttering, organizing and knitting phase. I completely blame pregnancy, but I tend to do this in spurts anyway. I realize that I have TOO MUCH STUFF for our quaint house. That's a term real estate agents use when a house is small and you may not have enough storage. Don has finally cleaned out SOME of this things from my supposed room in the basement. Lets face it. My knitting, scrapbooking, quilting and books take up a lot of room! Plus we need a secondary place for Inara to play so I can actually take part in these hobbies on occasion or do some mending from time to time. Some toys are now also being housed in my room too.

I have been knitting furiously and have already completed a baby sleep sack, a hat, and baby mittens so she will not scratch her face as much as poor Inara did. I have yet to decide which of my beautiful fabrics will be used to make her her first baby quilt. It took me a year to complete Inara's so I guess there is time. I was more focused on the crib bedding sewing than quilting when Inara was born.

I have also started doing prenatal yoga and hopefully more often than I did first pregnancy. I asked my chiropractor how I can work to prevent bad/breech positioning of the baby. He said it was vital to start doing stretches and exercizes that keep things open. I feel so great after doing a session (even though Inara and the dogs try too hard to "participate") This was somewhere around week 17. Here is a photo in the middle of week 17.
Yes, although we are having a homebirth, I was having some anxiety about this pregnancy and not sure why, we decided to have an ultrasound at week 21. All was good from what they can tell and it was at this point that my intuition was confirmed that we are having a girl! I was truly starting to trust my chiropractor and nutritionists reflex testing too! Now to decide upon a name...

This last shot is horrible of me as Don lazily took it from the coach in week 21. I suddenly got HUGE! Please don't mind the ever messy house in the background. I'm getting slower by the day!