Happy Valentine's Day!

Jake and I decided to share the love and tell the world about Baby Schachle on Valentine’s Day!  We sent out a few Valentine announcements to our close family and friends and put up a post on Facebook. I also decided it was time to tell my work about the pregnancy. As you can tell in our last picture… this baby is beginning to pop and it’s getting a little hard to hide. :)

I’ll have to take a moment and brag about my WONDERFUL husband!  I got to work on Tuesday and had an email from Jake that said check the inside pocket of your purse.  He had put a gift card to Motherhood in my pocket book the night before!  This growing belly has slimmed my wardrobe so it will be nice to buy some replacements.  Later on that morning I had a delivery!!!  Not just a dozen long stem red roses, but 13 long stem red roses were delivered to my work! My hormones kicked in and I immediately starting crying! I am so lucky to have such an AWESOME husband! I feel as if I should be wearing a crown :) I made Jake a nice dinner and homemade chocolate chip cookies. He also got a sweet card that was full of all kinds of mushy stuff :) 

Here is a picture of my beautiful roses:

On other news…  It’s Tax Season and Jake has been a slave to work.  We are counting down the weeks until Tax Season is over and counting up the weeks of our pregnancy! We will be 12 weeks on Friday!

I hope everyone enjoyed time with their “honey” and had a Happy Valentine’s Day! Glad we could make it extra special by sharing the news of our little Love Bug.

Welcome to our blog!

We have a lot to talk about and want to make sure our family and friends don’t miss a minute.  The first few blog entries have been stored away for this very exciting day!

Jake and I have been keeping one BIG secret…

Drum roll please…  We are expecting a baby August 31st, 2012!!!

Yep, this is going to be one fun filled summer!

It all started just a few short months ago…  In October we began talking pretty serious about starting a family, so I took a few trips to see the OB.  Everything seemed to fall right into place and before we knew it we were using our ovulation kit.  Then… well, we all know the story of the birds and the bees.

The next few weeks crept by. The OB doctor ordered some blood work around the time I ovulated and called me with some exciting news. She told me my progesterone levels were very high, which indicated an excellent ovulatory cycle. The doctor told us we could take a pregnancy test on day 28. 

Tick Tock… Tick Tock…  Monday, December 19^th was Day 26 and I could not wait any longer. I knew it was a little early but we wanted to take the chance.  I went to the bathroom and followed all the instructions one by one. I called for Jake and we both stared at the pregnancy test sitting on the counter.  My heart was beating 90 miles a minute… slowly but surely one line turned pink and then, OH MY GOODNESS, two pink lines meant we were pregnant!!!  We were in such disbelief.  The same sentence that came out of mouth the day Jake proposed followed suit as we were standing in the bathroom looking at each other… “Are you Serious??” “Are you Serious??”  Jake also could not believe his eyes as he asked, “Should I pee on one of those sticks?”  To say the least we were ecstatic and you couldn’t wipe the grin’s off our face that night

Sharing the News…

Jake and I wanted to do something very special to announce the pregnancy to our family, so with the help of my best friend Laura the announcement idea was created! It was just a few days before Christmas when we found out we were pregnant and wanted to make this a very special Christmas for our family. It was a perfect time to share the news of a new baby because my sister Kim and her husband Phillip would be traveling in from Florida, and Jake’s Grandma Shirley and Aunt Sheryl would also be in town from Virginia. Everyone was so SURPRISED!!! We were able to get everyone’s reaction on video. Check out the announcement video below:

Video upload coming soon...

8 week Blog Entry:

Baby and I have made it through 2 months already! It is still so hard to believe that I’m pregnant.  Pregnancy has been a breeze so far. I have been very blessed and thank God every day for this sweet baby and for a healthy pregnancy. So far I have had no morning sickness nor have I thrown up. I do have some typical pregnancy symptoms but nothing to complain about. My bedtime has changed from 9:30 to 8:30 due to the fatigue and my appetite has increased a TON! I’m super excited I don’t have to deal with the nausea/vomiting because man does food taste good when you’re pregnant!  Jake grilled some BBQ Chicken the other night and I sat at the table and drooled the whole time I ate it. It was delicious.

Enough about me already… Here is an update on Baby at 8 weeks:

How your baby's growing:

New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

The most exciting thing happened this week! I ordered a fetal doppler so we could listen to the baby’s heartbeat throughout the pregnancy.  Abigail and Zach came over after Church on Sunday and I was telling her all about my new fetal doppler. I pulled it out and showed it to her- She was impressed and wanted to try and listen to see if she could help find the baby’s heartbeat. I warned her that I had tried a few days ago and couldn’t find a heartbeat. I thought we were still a little too early to hear anything. It was worth a try so, we put the doppler on my belly and went to searching again… rolling it from left to right, up and down.   WOW! What did we find???  A sweet little heartbeat galloping about 160+ beats per minute. We were so excited!!! Abigail got out her phone and recorded baby Schachle’s heartbeat! It’s the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard! This made everything much more real.

Listen to me and Abigail as we hear Baby Schachle’s heartbeat for the first time.

Our plan throughout pregnancy is to take a belly picture every few weeks. It's amazing to see this little baby growing from the outside. Here is our 8 week picture:



9 Week Blog Entry:

  The days up until this week have really crept by. This week we had our first OB appointment. Our appointment was on Friday morning at 8:30. We were so excited because we were going to get the chance to see our little baby on the “Big Screen”. Our first OB appointment lasted about 2 hours. They started from one end and went to the other… lol.  It was finally time for our ultrasound and the doctor was in position! We watched the TV screen in front of us as baby Schachle appeared! It was AMAZING! We could see the heart beating and his/her little arms and legs wiggling.  Just as soon as the doctor got a perfect shot of little baby, he/she wiggled and turned around giving us our first view of his/her backside (the side we will be wiping and diapering really soon). Tears filled my eyes as the doctor continued with the scan… what a wonderful gift Jake and I have been given! God is Great and we are so blessed! I pray every night for this sweet baby and the chance God has given me to experience a baby growing in my womb. It is the most incredible feeling in the world.  The ultrasound picture above is Baby Schachle at 9 weeks measuring right about 1 inch.

How your baby's growing:

Your new resident is nearly an inch long — about the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce. She's starting to look more and more human. Her essential body parts are accounted for, though they'll go through plenty of fine-tuning in the coming months. Other changes abound: Your baby's heart finishes dividing into four chambers, and the valves start to form — as do her tiny teeth. The embryonic "tail" is completely gone. Your baby's organs, muscles, and nerves are kicking into gear. The external sex organs are there but won't be distinguishable as male or female for another few weeks. Her eyes are fully formed, but her eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. She has tiny earlobes, and her mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. The placenta is developed enough now to take over most of the critical job of producing hormones. Now that your baby's basic physiology is in place, she's poised for rapid weight gain.

Our journey to parenthood is in the making and what a precious gift we have been given!

10 Week Blog Entry:

  I’m doing pretty good with blog updates… catching every week as it goes.  My plan is for this to continue once we go “Live”.  New this week:  I got my lab results back from our first OB appointment and I am Anemic. The nurse explained this is very common in pregnancy and my Iron levels will continue to drop unless adequately replaced with a supplement and/or particular diet choices.

Attachment: During pregnancy you need a lot more of this crucial mineral. Here's why:

The amount of blood in your body increases during pregnancy until you have almost 50 percent more blood than usual, so you need more iron to make more hemoglobin.

You need extra iron for your growing baby and placenta, especially in the second and third trimesters.

So, a new prenatal vitamin was called to my local pharmacy and Jake stopped by the Grocery store to pick up Liver for dinner… lol.  Joking- I’ll take Pork Loin instead…

How your baby's growing:

Though he's barely the size of a kumquat — a little over an inch or so long, crown to bottom — and weighs less than a quarter of an ounce, your baby has now completed the most critical portion of his development. This is the beginning of the so-called fetal period, a time when the tissues and organs in his body rapidly grow and mature.

He's swallowing fluid and kicking up a storm. Vital organs — including his kidneys, intestines, brain, and liver (now making red blood cells in place of the disappearing yolk sac) — are in place and starting to function, though they'll continue to develop throughout your pregnancy.

If you could take a peek inside your womb, you'd spot minute details, like tiny nails forming on fingers and toes (no more webbing) and peach-fuzz hair beginning to grow on tender skin.

In other developments: Your baby's limbs can bend now. His hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over his heart, and his feet may be long enough to meet in front of his body. The outline of his spine is clearly visible through translucent skin, and spinal nerves are beginning to stretch out from his spinal cord. Your baby's forehead temporarily bulges with his developing brain and sits very high on his head, which measures half the length of his body. From crown to rump, he's about 1 1/4 inches long. In the coming weeks, your baby will again double in size — to nearly 3 inches

11 Week Blog Entry:

 The weeks are starting to fly by! I can’t believe we are only 1 short week away from our Second Trimester!  I also can’t believe how much this little baby is starting to grow.  He/She has really popped out lately and has started to show. I went shopping and had to buy my first pair of maternity jeans! I was getting tired of unbuttoning my jeans every time I went to sit down or eat a meal…. Lol.  I keep asking Jake, “do I look fat, or do I look pregnant?” He always has the right answer... “No Amanda, You do not look fat, you look pregnant.”  Hahaha…   What do you think? Keep the comments to yourself, unless you’re as smart as my husband J

How your baby's growing:

Your baby, just over 1 1/2 inches long and about the size of a fig, is now almost fully formed. Her hands will soon open and close into fists, tiny tooth buds are beginning to appear under her gums, and some of her bones are beginning to harden.

She's already busy kicking and stretching, and her tiny movements are so effortless they look like water ballet. These movements will become more frequent as her body grows and becomes more developed and functional. You won't feel your baby's acrobatics for another month or two — nor will you notice the hiccupping that may be happening now that her diaphragm is forming.

… I love the way they compare the baby’s size to a piece of a fruit … It will make you think twice when you walk down the produce isle in the grocery store.


11 Week Belly Picture: