Baby Gear

Since I am getting close to entering the “half-way” point of this pregnancy, I decided it was probably time to start researching all the items we will need to have in place when Baby Schardt arrives. I have been good thus far and not bought a single thing for the baby because I know once I start buying stuff I won’t be able to stop.

Late last week I fired up my Google search engine and began pouring through pages of baby gear consumer reports and “top 10 must have registry items”. I was immediately overwhelmed at the amount of stuff that is out there for babies. I tried to keep my searching to the most essential “start-up” items like cribs, car seats, strollers, and breast pumps, but was quickly distracted by all the adorable nursery bedding, stylish diaper bags, and cute clothes. It is a good thing that I like to shop and that I am a fairly decisive person or getting the nursery in order would be a nightmare. The only problem is; I want to make sure that all the gear I am buying is safe for Baby Schardt. I feel like every few weeks there is a 20/20 report about cribs or car seats hurting and even killing babies. However, I keep telling myself, you can only do so much research and then you just have to trust that the product you are buying is going to be safe. I figure, if I combine research with a vigilant eye on our baby, hopefully they will survive the first few critical years of life.

After all my clicking around on the internet, I decided to make an excel spreadsheet that I am calling my”baby gear wish list”. This is helping me to keep organized with all the items I am researching, and more importantly, to get a tentative idea of how much all this baby stuff is going to cost so we can start budgeting. We have not started a registry yet, I figure I will do that once we find out the sex in a few weeks. For now, I am having fun shopping around and day dreaming about what it will be like to actually put the baby in the car seat, crib, or stroller. And I keep telling myself that our grandparents successfully raised our parents, who are all healthy, happy humans, and they sure did not have all the latest baby technology available to them.

Look at how much baby gear has evolved...baby carriage to baby travel system pro

In other news, Matt and I enjoyed a wonderful, relaxing four day weekend in Crested Butte this past weekend. It was nice to get away from all the stress and craziness of life and just enjoy the beautiful mountains. Baby Schardt, Eros, and I got some good hiking and snowshoeing in, and Matt was able to ski. We also enjoyed visiting with my Dad and Carrie who were up for part of the weekend, and we brought up another couple from Matt’s unit who we have recently met. It was fun getting to know them better and we enjoyed their company.

My boys playing in the snow

Hiking Peanut Lake Road at 17 1/2 weeks.

I am 18 weeks today, time sure is flying by, I don’t know where the month of February went! We are looking forward to our doctor’s appointment on Friday, it is always comforting to hear the babies heart beat and ask any questions to the doctors we might have. Iwill post an update after.

Baby Movement or Stomach Gas???

They say that between 16-18 weeks you should start to feel your baby move. The books describe the feeling to be that of a butterfly/flutter in your stomach. For the past week every so often I feel a faint flutter like feeling in my stomach, but I can’t quite determine if it is Baby Schardt kicking around or stomach gas. As I mentioned in my previous post, I have had a fair amount of stomach gas this pregnancy so it is hard to tell. However, the flutter feeling is definitely a new feeling in my belly so maybe it is the baby.

I was thinking I would have an “ah ha” moment the first time I felt the baby move. My mom tells me the story of my first movement in her belly. She was listening to Boy George on the radio (did I mention I am an 80’s baby!), and I kicked her. My poor little one is going to be told that I could not quite tell if they were gas or not. Maybe, I will have “the moment” once the baby gets a little bigger and I can better feel its movements.

In other updates, “Happy 17 Week Gestation” to Baby Schardt! I love you little one! The books say that baby is about the size of my outstretched hand right now and is starting to put on a little fat. Every time I see sketches of the fetus, I am in awe that I have something like that growing inside of me. Pretty amazing! I am still feeling good and enjoying this nice warm week we are having in Colorado. Makes me ready for spring to arrive.

We have our 18 week doctor’s appointment next Friday where we get to schedule to ultrasound to find out the sex of Baby Schardt. I can’t wait. If all goes well, we should know by the middle of March. Maybe finding out the sex will end up being a St. Patties Day gift for Grandma Schardt.

Happy Hump Day!

A Shout Out to My Valentine

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day I thought I would dedicate this post to my husband and best friend, Matt. I may be slightly biased here, but I think I have the BEST husband in the world. I really hit the jackpot in the marriage arena. We starting dating in 2000 and 11 years later, I love him more than ever. This pregnancy has made me realize how incredible he is and how unconditional our love is. Here are just a few of the reasons why I love him so much…

• He still tells me I am beautiful even though my body is slowly changing from its usual athletic self into a pregnant mamma.

• He has taken it upon himself to read all about how our baby is growing and how to take care of it when it enters the world. I often times find myself learning things from him about our baby!


• He tries as hard as he can to make all our prenatal appointments and holds my hand when I get nervous going to the doctor.

• He is understanding of my unusually gassy state…sitting next to me some evenings is not the most pleasant experience, but he never moves away.

• He can always make me laugh when I am feeling down.

• He does not give me a hard time for spending all morning laying on the couch under a blanket as I muster up the motivation to start the day.

• He is perfectly happy with a date night including Papa John’s pizza and me falling asleep on the couch to our latest Netflix movie pick.

• He is understanding of my completely unnecessary and random emotional breakdowns.


• He has fully committed to being my partner in this journey. It is awesome going through this experience knowing I am not alone. I truly feel like we are in this pregnancy together, while I am carrying the baby, he is equally invested and excited for the arrival of Baby Schardt.
  

Also, as promised here is a picture of the “bump” at 16 ½ weeks. (Note, I really am happy about this pregnancy, but I always feel so awakward taking these pictures that my facial expressions don't relay the happiness. I will have to post some less posed phots on here in the upcoming weeks.)

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes…

Welcome Family and Friends!

Thanks for following along in our journey toward parenthood. I am a little behind in starting this blog so I will try to catch you all up on the past 16 weeks. Here it goes…

About 11 weeks ago I took a test that would change Matt and I’s life forever. After a few weeks of not feeling quite like my normal self, Matt suggested that I make a doctor’s appointment to see what was wrong. I had been busy working a monster proposal for work and was chalking my extreme exhaustion and stomach pains up to overwork and stress. With Matt’s suggestion to see a doctor in the back of my head, I thought maybe I should rule out pregnancy before making the appointment. We had decided a few months earlier to go off birth control with the expectation that it would take 5-6 months before my system got itself on track for baby making.

I decided to take a pregnancy test that afternoon. Funny how such an easy test produces one of the biggest results one will find out in their life. Setting the stick down on the bathroom counter, I went to rest on the bed not really thinking it would show a positive result. Eros, our dog, started nudging me to get up and I figured I should go see what message had appeared on the stick. To my utter shock it said “Pregnant”. I looked again, and again, brought it out into different light, set it down, and looked at it again. Yes, still “Pregnant” the stick read. I really thought my eyes were fooling me. All of the sudden a sense of pure excitement and happiness overwhelmed me. My heart was beating out of my chest as I called Eros into the bedroom to tell him he was going to be a big brother (yes, I am a crazy dog lady, but I had to tell someone!). Matt was a couple hours away from getting off work and I could not WAIT to tell him the news. I paced around the house for the next few hours eagerly waiting for him to come in the door while periodically checking the stick to ensure that it still read “Pregnant.” Finally, he was home and I could share the news.

There are those moments in life that you picture in your head growing up, you see them played out in movies, and they are always perfect. Finding out that we were going to become parents was one of those moments that I had pictured in my head for the past few years, and telling Matt the news as he walked in the door with his hands full of Army gear was not how I had pictured it. But it was perfect nonetheless. He dropped his backpack and looked at me with a big smile on his face. We gave each other a big hug feeling a sense of closeness that cannot be described. Together we had created life.

With an incredibly thankful heart I had entered into a phase of my life that I will never forget: Pregnancy. Sitting here at 16 weeks, I am still undecided if I enjoy being pregnant. While I am thankful everyday for this gift that God has given me, pregnancy has definitely been an adjustment. I am constantly thinking about how my actions will affect little Baby Schardt. Working out, my eating habits, chores around the house, and my body, have all been altered. I was lucky to have a fairly smooth first trimester. I suffered from slight nausea here and there and extreme exhaustion, but don’t have any of the horror stories that some of my friends have shared. The biggest highlight was seeing Baby Schardt on the ultrasound screen at our 8 week appointment. Matt was able to attend with me and as he held my hand we saw a little peanut shaped object appear on the screen with a healthy beating heart. Simply an amazing experience!

8 Week Ultrasound

Now that I am a few weeks into the second trimester, I am starting to feel more like my normal self. My energy is back, and I am starting to enjoy food more. With increased energy has also come increased activity, which has been much needed in my life. It feels good to be able to get back into a workout routine! My body is also slowly starting to take the shape of a pregnant woman. My sister went maternity clothes shopping with me last weekend and it sure does feel good to be wearing some looser fitting clothing. I may or may not wear maternity pants for the rest of my life, or at least every Thanksgiving from here on out :). While watching the “bump” grow is exciting, it has been a bit stressful to see other areas of my body getting larger, but I guess that is all part of the experience.

13 week "bump" (I have popped quite a bit over the past 3 weeks and will post an updated pic soon)

Well, that pretty much covers the past 16 weeks. It has been a whirlwind of emotions and I am so thankful to have my best friend by my side during this experience. My goal is to post a new blog at least once a week throughout the rest of this pregnancy, so stay tuned for plenty of updates, pictures, and stories as Matt and I continue on this journey. I am so thankful and excited to share the experience with all of you!