Baby's First Clothes

My mom, Sandy (Jeff's mom) and my sister have already started shopping for the little baby. We are definitely going to try and see the gender at about 18wks, but if we didn't want to then I think we would have some unhappy family members :-) I hear there aren't many gender neutral outfits in the stores. Here is a little peek into Baby Schrades' closet...

Of the outfits that Aunt Jenn gave us, I like this one the best (of course, I love brown).
It says B-A-B-Y across the chest.



Sandy sent us this. She said she saw it in a magazine and had to run to the store and get it that day. The picture doesn't do justice for how soft it is!



The yellow outfit, with the little ducks, was the first one to arrive for the baby. My mom said she couldn't wait. I think she went shopping the day after we told her.

Sandy picked up the cute little hippie-baby outfit at a craft fair in Memphis.

Belly Gallery - 3 Months

I can tell I'm showing, but nobody else can. Tyson was bored with this exercise...

Bad Haircut - Pregnancy Meltdown #1

Has anyone ever cried over a bad haircut? Well, trying being 3 months pregnant and getting a bad haircut. I went to a new guy yesterday on the recommendation from a friend who has cute hair. It's horrible. I have to pin my bangs back they are so short. Anyway, the point is that something that would usually get me down for a few minutes had me crying hysterically on the way home last night. I was laughing about it this morning, so it was obviously the pregnancy hormones.....at least that is my excuse...no arguing with a pregnant girl.

Too Tired to Post....(happy birthday Scott!)

Last night was one of those nights where I woke up at 3:30 to use the bathroom and didn't really go back to sleep.

Just as I was bragging about being able to relax....

Happy Birthday Scottie Schrades!

Learning to Relax

I was thinking yesterday about how I've gotten so much better at relaxing. Before I was pregnant I was somewhat of a Type A personality. I would get out of bed on Sunday morning as soon as I woke up and feel like I had to get a million things done before the work week started back up. Now Sunday afternoons are for 2 hour naps and watching football (well, Jeff watches it). Other than the house being a little less clean, it's amazing how the world goes on even though my "to do" list isn't getting done as quickly.

Oh yeah, the triathlon....Baby Schrades and I finished the bike race, but that's about it. Racing with two was not as easy as I had thought it would be, but at least my time will be easy to beat next year...

Baby's First Triathlon

We're heading to Wilmington this afternoon so that we can be there bright and early tomorrow morning for their annual triathlon. This year I'm on a relay team with two girls from our softball team. I'm doing the bike leg, which is probably the least strenuous....well, at least the way I ride a bike (slow). Jeff was going to do the swim leg, but they had trouble finding a 3rd leg. We say we're both going to try and do the whole thing next year. It's in September, so that will give us 5 months to get ready after the baby is born. We'll see. It's a Sprint Triathlon, by the way, so that is only a 3/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run.

Enjoy the first weekend of fall....

Two Dreams it's a Girl

Since I've been pregnant, I've had two dreams about the gender of the baby, and both times it has been a girl. The first dream was on the day that I took the first positive home test. I knew I was going to take the test in the morning, so I think that explains why I dreamed about babies all night. In this dream she looked like Jeff's mom, Sandy. This makes sense because if Jeff was a girl I think he would look like Sandy. The second dream was just a few days ago. I dreamed that we got an ultrasound where you could see the baby like you were looking through a piece of glass. She was a pink little baby with a chubby, smiley face. I remember thinking that she looked like my nephew (he has a chubby little face and a huge smile). Even though it was just a dream, I woke up feeling warm and fuzzy and like I had bonded with the baby overnight. Dreams are nice.

Blog from Tyson

This is Tyson Schroeder. I'm pissed. I was fine with the news that I will be getting a little brother or sister, as long as it doesn't mess up my daily routine. Everything was fine until today. Mom says that she needs to start working on keeping her booty in shape, so she's decided to get up at 6:30 every morning for a 2-3 mile walk. I don't care if SHE wants to go for a walk, but I was sleeping so soundly this morning when she informed me that WE were going for a walk. She said that she took it easy on me and we only went for 1.8 miles, but it felt like more. I'm only 15 lbs. And to make matters worse, I just got a bath this weekend, but I'm so small that the hair on my belly gets wet from the grass. So now my belly and feet are dirty. I'm not so sure about this baby anymore....

Cheese Toast

This is my new favorite food. After weeks of being tired all day, I didn't sleep well at all last week. Twice I moved to the couch in the middle of the night to watch TV. Since every time I would get up I would get a little snack, I thought that perhaps I was waking up because of hunger. Soooo, I've started eating a piece of whole wheat toast with melted chedder cheese before bed. I'm not sure it's related, or what it will do for my figure, but I've slept like a baby ever since. I have Hilary and Holly to thank for this idea. Holly would eat cheese toast for breakfast every other day while she was pregnant, and Hilary said that she ate a grilled cheese sandwich almost everyday while pregnant with Carter. It's great to have friends that are pregnant while you are.....

Tyson Turns Two!

Our first baby turned 2 yrs old yesterday!

Tyson after a day filled with greenies, chicken and birthday fun....

Explanation of "Schrades"

If you're confused by the title of this site, then you probably don't know that you pronounce our last name, which is Schroeder, as "Shrader". Rymes with "trader".

I think Jeff's college buddies started calling him "Schrades" and his email address has always been "jbschrades" (jeffrey bryant).

I thought that "Baby Schrades" was more fun than "Baby Schroeder" or "Baby S".

So there you go...no more confusion.

3 lbs so far

I forgot to mention that I've gained 3 lbs since my last appointment. I was looking at it like I've gained 3 lbs in the first trimester, which is average, but my when I told mom she said, "Oh, so you've gained 3 lbs in 4wks". I guess that is another way to look at it...

2nd Visit with Mary Charles

We heard the h/b for the 2nd time today! Maybe it shouldn't be, but it's a big milestone for us because I feel like we're officially pregnant now. There is so much pressure these days to not tell anyone until you're through your first trimester. We're not quite through the first trimester, but we're at 10 1/2 weeks and Mary Charles, our midwife, said that we're through the risky part of the baby's development. Yippee!

It took about 2 min for her to find the little baby's h/b, because it's so small, but when she did find it she commented that it was fast. I asked her if it was a boy or a girl and she said girl with confidence :-) It's just an old wives' tale that a fast h/b means it's a girl. I forgot to ask her exactly what the speed was. At the first appt it was 152.

Other than listening for the h/b, she went over a few other things with us. It turns out that I'm RH Negative. This means that my blood type (A-) is negative and I'm lacking a protein on my red blood cells. This used to be a big deal, but now they have medicine (RhoGAM), that they can give the mother during the 7 month of pregnancy and immediately after birth. If I don't get the shot (I will) then there is a small chance it could affect this pregnancy, but a bigger chance that it would affect our next pregnancy. What happens is if the baby I'm carrying now is RH+, and if some of it's blood gets into my system at delivery, my body would see it as foreign and create an antibody to kill it. So if my next baby was also RH+, my body would have this antibody that would try to harm it. If, by some small chance, Jeff's blood is also RH-, I wouldn't have to get the medicine. If we're both RH- then the baby would also be. Stats show, however, that 85% of white folks are RH+. Anyway, seems like RhoGAM does the trick and it's not a big deal.

We also talked about an optional 2nd trimester screen that can be done. They take a few drops of blood and send it to a lab to check for defects such as down syndrome. I don't think we'll get the test because there are a lot of false positives and there is nothing that can be done if there is a problem (except for termination of the fetus). I think the test is mostly for women that are above 35 and have a history of defects. Any mommies have any input here? What did you think about it?

And lastly, I asked Mary Charles what she thought about doulas. She's been delivering babies for 30 years and said that, in her opinion, doulas make things easier with natural births and she likes working with them. They provide no medical knowledge, but instead provide a comforter for the mother and father. Her role would be to make sure Jeff and I are not anxious and are as relaxed as possible. We're still on the fence about a doula, but it's nice to have MC's opinion.

Very long update, but we only have monthly appointments now and I want to make sure I record everything while it's fresh on my mind. Thanks for checking in on us!

Shanna and Jeff

9 months preg at the end of the day...

When I wake up in the morning I look pretty much the same as pre-pregnancy, but by the end of the day I swear I am ready to have the baby. I've read on message boards that this is common. It's not the uterus or the baby that I see sticking out, just my bloated belly. You all know how this feels....like you've just had a big Thanksgiving Dinner and you're not totally comfortable. It's fun to get a glimpse of what a pregnant belly will look like...

It's looking pretty gloomy in Raleigh today, but I don't think we'll get anything from the storm off the coast except for rain and a little wind...

Pants kind of tight...

I think I'm approaching the stage of pregnancy where you don't look pregnant yet, but all of your clothes are pretty snug. I haven't had to use the rubberband trick yet (where you unbutton your pants and wrap a rubberband around the button and through the hole to expand the waistline), but may be there next week.

Week 10 Update

We go for our 2nd appointment with the midwife on Thursday. Hopefully we'll get to hear the h/b with this tool they call Doppler (a high powered stethoscope). The books say that 10wks is the earliest that most people hear the h/b with the Doppler, so hopefully it we'll detect one for us.

Mommy update: I'm having what we think to be a pretty good 1st trimester. I was nauseous for wks 6-8 almost all day, but not to the point to where I got sick. Wk 9 was better, but this past Fri-Sun the mild nausea came back and all I wanted to do was sleep. It's so nice to not feel guilty about being lazy all day!

Daddy update: Jeff is getting good at saying, "Poor Shannanana"...it makes me feel better.

Puppy update: Tyson has shown no changes. Some books say that animals can sense the pregnancy, but Tyson has always been clingy and loving. He does get in trouble nightly, however, for begging for food. He softly growls for a while, then he moves to short, stern barks. When that doesn't work he pretends that he has to go to the bathroom. Of course we let him outside and then he prances back in, expecting a cookie. He knows how to play the game. We have to do a better job with Baby Schrades....

Oh yeah...Tyson will be 2 yrs old next Sunday, Sept 18th!!