Bye-bye Boboo, aka, Binky!!

Yay! We are now a binky-free household!! The Binky Fairy was a miracle worker!

The first night Carson cried half-heartedly for about 30 minutes as his box of binkies sat outside his door awaiting the fairy.

Binky Fairy emptied the box of pacifiers . . .

and left a guitar and (really hideous) Superman costume.


Naptime the next day was a breeze, no crying.
Bedtime the second night, no sweat, again, no crying.
Just a super happy guitar playing Superman.

I know that we are just very lucky and can only hope that our second son will be as easy going as Carson.

Guitar singing dude in action!

Enough writing . . . Finally Some Videos & Pics!

Bath time is ALWAYS fun now because every night is a different colored water thanks to Target bath tablets! I highly recommend them! No staining, I promise.

Carson and Jackson are learning to play together. Here are some cute videos!! You HAVE to turn up your volume to truly appreciate them. Also, they are all short so painless to watch ;-)

First up, Tug-o-War Round One- Ends well for Jackson. However Carson gets frustrated by the loss and hucks a hard ball at the window!!




Round Two- Jackson wins again. Carson frustrated again. This time rockets the hard ball at ME!!





Third and final round- Jackson again the victor. This time with a wall slam and some whining by Carson.

The Binky Fairy is Coming!!!!

Last night at dinner, I mentioned to Carson that the Binky Fairy would be visiting soon. I explained that she would take his binkies and leave a present. He seemed somewhat skeptical.

I realized that I needed to REALLY emphasize the present part and went TOTALLY overboard in a matter of seconds.

Silly novice Binky Fairy promised Carson not only a REAL guitar but ALSO a Superman costume!!!

Before bedtime, Daddy had another talk with Carson about the impending visit. Carson began to buy into hook, line, and sinker. However he balked a tad when Daddy explained it wasn't just the bedtime binky but all the back-up binkies in the drawer AND the one he takes to Ian's on Mondays.

Yet low and behold, Carson came running out of his room this morning, binky in outstretched arm, shouting "Where's my TAR?!?!" (that's Carson for guitar).

I quickly jumped on board. "Tonight, Carson tonight!! She's coming with your guitar and Superman!! But she wants ALL of your binkies to give to the new babies."

He ran back into his room, gathered them all up, and we ceremoniously packed them in a little box. He decorated it and I addressed it to the Binky Fairy. He was VERY excited.

Then it hit me. Where on EARTH am I going to find a Superman costume in March?? Thank goodness for the year-round Halloween Superstore on Canyon Rd. One very odd looking blue and maroon polyester suit with cape left. $24.99

And thanks to the keen shopping memory of a mommy friend, she pointed me to Target for a real, strings and all, child-sized guitar. $29.99

I really, truly hope tonight goes well with the Binkie Fairy and that Carson forgets immediately that she is the most generous little winged creature around. She clearly is not related to the Tooth Fairy because I've heard she's a tightwad that only gives out dollar bills ;-)

Getting Out the Door

I barely made it out the door today with just one child . . . how on EARTH am I going to do it with two??

Carson spent the day with Nana since she is on spring break and he packed his "activity bag".

Here is the list of everything I packed, carried out the door, and PILED in the front seat of my car:

1. Diaper bag (monitor, noise maker, diaper for naptime and change of clothes)
2. Carson's lunch/snack bag
3. Carson's giant activity bag (even though he truly didn't need any of it-but insisted on it)
4. Carson's bike and helmet
5. Jackson, our dog
6. My briefcase
7. My lunch/snack bag
8. My purse
9. My "shower, make-up, hair stuff & work clothes" bag for after my morning work out
10. My jacket
11. Carson's jacket

UNREAL!!!! And to think I get to do it all over again this afternoon to bring him home.

Baby Rader #2 Is A ........................

I know I'm long winded but you'll have to read this post to find out . . . .

Up until yesterday I was convinced we were having a boy.

The Chinese calendar said that Carson would be a boy. True. The Chinese calendar has been right for everyone I know that's done it. It said boy for B2 as well.

Plus I've just felt it was a boy all along.

Then my girlfriend found out on Wednesday that she was having a boy, and at her 12 week ultrasound (US). She sent me the US pic and there was clearly a penis.

So of course, I instantly pulled out Carson's 12 week US pic and low and behold, there was a penis that I'd never noticed before (we didn't find out until 18 weeks with him). It was really shocking that I missed it back then.

Then, I dug out B2's 12 week ultrasound and there was NO SIGN of a penis. This completely made me question my boy thoughts.

Today was the most amazing day! For those who laughed and teased me about going in early and paying out of pocket to find out the gender of baby #2, it was TOTALLY worth it!!!

We started with a fun lunch at Red Robin with Grandma & Grandpa Rader, Nana & Poppa, and Aunt Liza and Uncle Ga. Then we all headed into Ultrasona Feta Fotos. While in the waiting room, we heard a very dismayed voice in the ultrasound room say, "But it was supposed to be a girl!"

This gave me shivers since we really, really want a boy and clearly this mom didn't get what she wanted. Then she came out, with two boys already in tow! Obviously she was hoping #3 was a girl.

We all piled into the room and anxiously watched the large TV screen in the corner. The ultrasound technician was wonderful and let us all watch the baby jump around. I, of course, was searching the screen of any sign of a penis. I thought I saw it but it can be confused with the umbilical cord so I didn't want to freak out.

Then the tech showed us with her pointer .......................... a PENIS!!!! We are having a boy!!!!

We all cheered and clapped and spent the next 15 minutes watching the most active little baby boy you've ever seen. This was the third technician to tell us that he is much busier than an average baby.

The super sweet technician even treated us to a free bonus! The 3D/4D ultrasound!! We are so lucky! It was pretty amazing to see our little 4 inch baby kicking and punching. The only scary part was that at 15 weeks, the bones are just starting to solidify so they don't always show up on the screen.

For a good minute (which felt like an eternity), I thought our baby only had one leg. I finally asked her about it and she reassured me that both legs were there! It was a little scary and my mom told me later that she was thinking the same thing.

On the way home, Jeremy told me that he is so glad we are having a boy and is so excited for "brothers" but that he realized we would never know what it would be like to raise a girl. Princess dresses, tea parties, and prom dresses . . . I started crying, which surprised both of us.

I'll blame it on the hormones because I am truly excited we are having a boy. But yes, my girl name that I've had picked out for years will get tucked into a memory bank somewhere because we are only having two children.

3D/4D Sideview- this is the infamous "one legged" baby shot.

3D/4D looking down on baby, spread eagle with boy parts in full viewSame view but baby boy is covering his parts with his hand
2D side profile

2D- The money shot!!!

Working on posting video of ultrasound. Check back if it's not up the first time!

NO MORE POOP

Carson has been potty trained for 4 months now. Then stupid me decided to try messing with his daily laxative. After hearing that one of Carson's little friends was down to a 1/2 dose a day, I thought, why not try it. Let's move from soft serve to ice cream, if you catch my drift. Firm things up a little.



Duh! Within days we started noticing "skid marks" in Carson's underpants. The skid marks became thicker and heavier until we realized he wasn't pooping on the potty but somehow things were just coming out on their own in a thick, grossssssss, paste.

By the time I realized I'd caused a problem, the only way to "un-do" it was to go back to 1 cap of laxative a day. Only it is very hard for a little body to make an adjustment like that. So once the "cork popped" so to speak, we then had liquid goo and juicy toots for three days. It was AWFUL!!! 4-5 pairs of underpants a day.

It all came to a head on Thursday. This is the day of the week when I have Carson and Ian. While Carson is potty trained, we were still dealing with the transition diarrhea. Ian is pee-pee potty trained but refuses to poop on the potty. Here's how it went down.

10:30- arrive at Out of this World with both boys

10:50- Carson runs over, "Mommy, me poopy"- think we've made it to bathroom in time but no. Remove nasty skid marked underpants and send him back out to play with only jeans on.

10:52- head out to car to get spare underpants. Stop Carson from going down the slide and put new underpants back on.

10:57- Wonder where Ian is. See him in "poop stance" hanging on to a rail with both fists clenched and a vacant look in his eyes. Run as fast as I can but it's too late. This time I get smart and grab new underpants from the car before we get to the bathroom. Scrape poo off for the second time that morning.

11:00- tax accountant calls with the grand total but then says, "I have to get one question answered and I'll call you right back.

11:02- Steaming hot pizza is picked up at window and as I'm setting it on the table, Carson runs up, "Mommy, me poopy".

11:03- Standing in bathroom with Carson and his underpants full of poo. Bag the nasty underpants and begin scraping off the bum. However this time it is everywhere from the backs of his knees to the toilet seat to the elastic band of his underpants. As he's bending over for me to clean him (with his head on the disgusting bathroom floor and me trying not to cuss) he says, "Mommy, me love you so much" Made it slightly easier to not want to return him to the stork. Once again let him head out just in jeans. Meanwhile wondering at what point accountant is going to call back and wishing pizza wasn't getting cold.

11:08- Run out to get more underpants, thank goodness Ian's parents pack multiple spares because I'd exhausted my meager supply. Accountant calls. Pizza is now cold beyond the point of cheese solidifying.

11:10- It's a good thing the pizza place doesn't serve beer because this pregnant woman might have downed a pint at this point!!!!!!!!!!

Update as of Saturday: I think we've worked out the poopy kinks of messing with Miralax doses. I would highly recommend to NEVER do it unless your doctor or pharmacist has advised it. Today we're back to occasional skid marks with the majority of the the poo making it into the potty. YAY

Give and Ye Shall Receive . . . My Preggo Loot

I broke down yesterday (with Jer's permission) and purchased my wildly fantisized after SEVEN MATERNITY Jeans!!! So excited and so happy that I didn't go the eBay route. I ended up being two sizes different in the regular length pants and will have to have them hemmed but they fit way better than the first petite pair I tried on. I am in Seventh Heaven (pun intended ;-) Can't wait to get them back from the alternations people at Nordy's!

I am reaping the good karma I bestowed by lending out my preggo clothes. My equally generous friends are now lending me clothes at an astonishing rate! A huge thank you to all of you! Abbie, Michele, Melissa, and Tasha!!

This morning I performed what we like to call "fashion show" at our house. I tried on each and every piece of maternity wear and meticulously labeled them (in hidden spots of course) so as to get them back to their rightful owners. Carson couldn't help himself and got into the act as well! I should have snapped some pictures for blackmail during his senior prom. Nothing like a two year old boy in a maternity blouse!

So now I am ready to get bigger in style! The only thing I'll (in theory anyway) have to shop for are short and some skirts to keep cool this summer. That isn't to say I won't stop shopping completely ;-)

Baby Predictions and Binkie Addictions

Seven days until we find out if we're having a boy or a girl!!! So excited to find out! Carson tells us every day that it's a baby boy. With our last pregnancy he always said baby sister so I'm very curious to see if he is right!

In the meantime, Carson's friend Eloise made some predictions of her own. Eloise's mommy Laurel had to keep a very straight face during a very, very funny conversation. She shared it with me and now I have to share it with you!

E: Kristin has a baby in her belly?

L: Yes, Carson is going to be a big brother

E: Is it a baby sister or a baby brother?

L: They don't know if it is a girl or a boy yet.

E: I think it is a girl like me.

L: Maybe, but they don't know yet.

E: They need another girl in their family to have 2 girls and 2 boys (This kind of thing is a big deal to her these days)

L: OK

E: Eloise will help with the baby. If Kristin says (and she hold up her hand to her mouth like she is yelling out to someone) 'Eloise, will you get a diaper for the baby.' I will get one for her. I am a helper.

L: That would be nice of you.

E: Babies have little fingers. Can I hold the babies hand if I am soft?

L: Probably, but we have to be very gentle

E: I will teach the baby about Princesses because Carson does not know about Princesses.

L: That would be nice.(long pause)

E: Mommy! I can send my paci's to Carson's baby sister!

L: (not missing a beat) GREAT IDEA! Let's pack them up tonight!

E: OK

Note from Laurel: Soooooooo we have packed up all of her paci's. She has been in bed for an hour. Haven't heard a peep. Wish me luck. Tomorrow morning might be crushing ..... or it might be the most magical morning of the past 3 years.

Following up: Eloise woke up at 5 pm a little unhappy without her paci and managed to dig one last hidden paci out of her stuffed animal pile. Then proceeded to skip naptime because it was impossible to sleep without it.

The funny part is, Eloise, just like Carson can sleep just fine at school without a paci/binkie. Apparently it's us mom's that have the addiction.

Tonight we went to dinner at Eloise's house (thanks Laurel to a SCRUMPTIOUS dinner). Eloise was bursting with excitement to hand over her box of pacis for the new baby. Laurel and I secretly hid the box back in a cupboard for emergency use only ;-) Hopefully Eloise sleeps peacefully tonight!

Pesky Pregnancy

After a piece of cake pregnancy with Carson, this next little peanut is sure not making anything easy for me. I can't blame the blood clot issues on him/her and am glad that he/she is a strong little thing to overcome that issue.

The good news is that my midwife feels that the spotting over the last few days was probably caused by my working out. Hopefully it was just the last of the clot working itself out. But just in case, I'm supposed to take it easy the rest of the week. LAME.

SIDENOTE: The blog is having some technical difficulties. For some reason the spacing is all wacky and the paragraphs are all running together. My apologies since I've had some especially long posts! If anyone has any HTML coding suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

Also, many thanks to Melissa for coming to my rescue and sharing several pairs of maternity pants with me! Yay for small, generous friends!

Carson's First Wedding & B2 Update

Carson has the honor of being in a close family friend's wedding in May. My mom and I took him to get fitted for his tux on Saturday. It was the cutest thing ever and fortunately he just barely makes it into their smallest, size 3 tux.


The lady fitting him called him, "a perfect little gentleman" and said he was the most cooperative little boy she'd worked with in a long time. I just hope he'll be as cooperative for the wedding!

XS Shirt accented with a hand tattoo

Way too big size 4 jacket!
Rather stylin' with camo pants!

But why have you measured every part of me?

Really? Black shiny shoes? I don't think so Mom!

Carson Update: I've bragged about Carson's Good Nite Lite to every other mother and definitely sold a few lights for that company. Unfortunately we experienced a complete failure of the system on Friday morning.

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Carson woke up at 6:30, ignored the fact that his light was still a blue moon and came out of this room. He is not allowed to come out until it's an orange sun. I had to put him back in his room THREE times! Much crying ensued. It happened again the very next morning.

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Then the Target toy catalog arrived. Carson drooled over every item and declared, "Mommy me NEED it" . . . . and he declared it for at least two items on each page. But he definitely got stuck on the Handy Manny tool box. Handy Manny is his favorite show right now. He watches two-four episodes a day. Our DVR religiously records them.

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Being the sucker that I am, we went to Target immediately for this little treasure (not knowing that it sings a VERY loud, obnoxious song and the tools dance up and down with glee). However, we made a deal. Carson has to wait in his room until the light turns orange or Handy Manny's tool box goes in the closet for the whole day.

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This morning at 6:30, "Mommy, Mommy". I ignored it. "Mommy, mommy." Forget about it. Then he opened his door and came into my room with the announcement, "Me poopy Mommy" (translated to he needs to poop). So I helped him with his business, took him back to his room and re-explained our "deal".

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I think he got it because he didn't come out until exactly 6:45 on the dot. I am SO curious to see what happens tomorrow.

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B2 Update: 13 weeks- I was so excited to start working out again on Friday! It had been 8 weeks since my last Baby Boot Camp work out!

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Class was killer and Trainer Danielle KICKED MY BUTT! I had no idea muscles could atrophy so quickly. I could barely keep up and was incredibly sore the next day. In fact now two days later, I'm still super sore. I did take it somewhat easy in class, half walking, half running, and adapted most of the high impact exercises into low impact. I even walked two miles the next day to try to work out the soreness.

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Unfortunately I woke up to spotting this morning. This is so frustrating and disappointing. I thought the blood clot issues were behind us and yet, here I am again. I am not worried about the baby but will have to call my midwife in the morning to report the spotting. And I am pretty sure she's going to tell me no working out for at least another two weeks.

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It's just so hard to accept the fact that Carson's pregnancy was so easy and normal, and nothing has been that way with this pregnancy or the miscarriage pregnancy. Life likes to keep you on your toes I suppose.

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Another update, none of my maternity pants from last time fit. They're all too big!! So I went shopping yesterday. Nothing fit quite right until I accidentally tried on the Seven For All Mankind Maternity Jeans.

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Anyone with a denim fetish will know exactly what I'm talking about. These jeans are about as expensive as they come but fit LIKE A GLOVE!! I LOVED THEM!!! I can't stop thinking about them. But I just can't find a way to justify $210 for a pair of jeans that I will wear for the next 5-6 months.

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I've been searching eBay all night and morning for a used pair but haven't found the perfect pair just yet. I have some time as I'm still in my regular jeans with the help of a Bella Band. Keep your fingers crossed that eBay comes through for me!

And Baby Makes Four!

And the announcement that everyone has been waiting for!

First, Santa and the Stork crossed paths this Christmas. The Stork left a small package for Santa to drop in my stocking. He mentioned it be 9 months before I could unwrap it.

Then in Hawaii, while everyone else was drinking Mai Tais and enjoying sushi, I was sucking on an O'douls. Yes, Baby Rader #2 is going to be joining us sometime around Sept. 12!

Here is he or she at age 12 weeks 4 days.

Carson is thrilled to becoming a Big Brother . . . even though he has NO idea what that means!

Meanwhile, I had to laugh looking back at my first pregnancy picture with Carson. Here I am at 12 weeks. Slim and trim! No baby bump.Here I am at 12 weeks with B2 (Baby #2). Even though I weigh 7 pounds less and actually have lost 3 pounds since the start of this pregnancy, I have a very noticable baby bump.For comparison, here I am at 17 weeks with Carson. Strangely the same size baby bump as I am now sporting at 12 weeks. I'm scared to see how big I'm going to get!

And for everyone wondering what B2 is going to be . . . we have invited all three grandparents to a special luncheon on March 21st. We are all going to cram into a tiny ultrasound room to find out together if we are expecting a boy or a girl! It will be cozy and exciting!

The road to a sibling for Carson has been a bit of a roller coaster. We actually began this journey back in April of 2008. It took five long months and then in August we became pregnant.

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Unfortunately at our 12 week ultrasound on Halloween (the day we were planning to announce our pregnancy), we discovered that we had lost the baby. It was called a "missed miscarriage".

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Sadly the baby had passed away at 8 weeks but my body somehow didn't get the message. It was very emotional, especially since we'd actually seen the baby via ultrasound at 7 weeks and its little heart was beating away.

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Fortunately the surgical procedure to take care of the miscarriage went well and we were able to get back to life fairly quickly. Most couples are advised to wait 3 months before trying to conceive again but our doctor gave us the green light right away due to my excellent health and emotional state. At that point we were just looking forward to enjoying our upcoming trip to Hawaii in January.

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On New Year's Day I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. I was a little disappointed but with Hawaii coming up in a few weeks, I was also looking forward to a few Mai Tais and some yummy sushi. The following Monday morning, I realized that I had a dentist appointment later that afternoon and while I didn't feel pregnant, I did take another pregnancy test just in case (you can't have xrays while you are pregnant).

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The test was negative. No biggie. However, 30 minutes later I happened to peek in the garbage can just one more time and there was a faint pink line on the stick!! I truly didn't believe it. The directions say not to read the test after 10 minutes because of incorrect results.

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So just to be safe, I passed on the xrays at the dentist. Ironically, my super sweet dental hygenist (whom I've known for almost 20 years) was also the first person to know when I was pregnant with Carson for the same xray reason! Too funny! We had a good giggle about it.

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Needless to say, I was not convinced I was pregnant. With Carson and the 2nd pregnancy, the preggo stick turned PREGNANT within a minute and was dark pink. With this one the line was faint and didn't turn for a long time.

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I left the dentist and headed straight for The Dollar Store. $3 later I arrived at my office, grabbed a styrophom coffee cup, and beelined it for the bathroom.

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Oh yes, I took another pregnancy test in the bathroom at work. And sure enough, another faint pink line. A little more convinced but not 100%. I considered asking my officemate to pee in another cup for me but figured that would be a tad suspicious.

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On the way home, I bought the MAC DADDY $20 pregnancy test. Convinced it would convince me. I peed, the lights flashed, the hourglass tipped, and sure enough, it shouted "PREGNANT" at me.

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Still not convinced. I called my midwife and asked for a blood test. She humored me with not one but two blood tests a day apart to confirm that yes, I was indeed pregnant. And just in time for Hawaii. We celebrated with O'douls and California rolls in Maui.

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Then our pregnancy took an unexpected turn. The night after we turned "6 weeks" and returned from Hawaii, I experienced heavy bleeding. I'll spare you the gorey details but I thought for sure we were miscarrying and almost didn't call the midwife.

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I did call though and they got me in the very next day for an emergency ultrasound. After a very long, stressful night, we arrived at the ultrasound clinic pretty convinced that our baby hadn't made it.

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Fortunately the baby was still in there and alive! The little tiny heart was ticking away! The other news was that they were able to identify the source of the bleeding. There was a subchorionic hemmorhage (or blood clot) next to the baby. It put us in the category of "threatened miscarriage".

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Not a fun diagnosis but somewhat of a relief to have identify it and learn more. The prognosis was good but still risky. I was put on "limited activity" with no working out and no lifting.

Anyone who knows me and remembers my previous low tolerance for bedrest, knows this was a very challenging time for me. But I did my best and did it for the baby.

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Over the next three weeks we went in for weekly ultrasounds to monitor the baby and the blood clot. It was a long three weeks with daily bleeding. Fortunately the blood clot "bled out" and by our third ultrasound at 8 weeks, things were looking very positive.

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I was feeling a little nervous last week (11 weeks, 4 days) and my sweet midwife said come on in! She dopplered me to hear the heartbeat. Pesky little baby was turned the wrong way so she ended up having to wheel in a portable ultrasound machine. It was so wonderful to be able to see the little jumping bean on a tiny little 3 inch screen and confirm he/she was still in there!

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Throughout that time and to this very day, I really have no other symptoms or side effects of pregnancy. It's really strange but nice overall. With the 2nd pregnancy I experienced terrible all day sickness, gained a pound a week, and my boobs felt like they'd been pummeled in a boxing match. None of the above this time. In fact I've lost three pounds, and that's in spite of not being able to work out.

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I will be 13 weeks as of Saturday and looking forward to working out again soon! Our midwife has been absolutely wonderful and we are very excited to spend this pregnancy with her and her fellow midwives. As of right now, I'm hoping to deliver this baby without an epidural. Jeremy is hedging his bets on the fact that I will cave. Maybe we'll start a pool ;-)

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So this blog will now have to become a family blog and I will try to post equally on Carson and B2.