Back to the Home blog

I will be posting again on our regular home blog now that the pregnancy is over. If you have just been following this blog and not my original, here is the link to our regular blog.
http://alyssandustin.blogspot.com
I will use my pregnancy blog again someday to journal any other pregnancies of mine in the future...
Hope you have enjoyed reading my journey through pregnancy.  :)

Baby Room Pics

Here is our baby room with a grey and yellow theme with teal accents. We reserved the empty wall space for pictures we will take of her and wooden letters of her name above the crib.

 Here is my rocking chair that my dad bought for me through craigslist. It was a great deal! Great condition and it is verrry comfy :) Thanks Dad!

I'm Ready...

I don’t think it’s REALLY sunk in yet... maybe a little at times; when I feel her kick, or when I’m with Alyssa and all of a sudden I think, she’s pregnant! With my Baby! I’m going to be a dad! Sometimes I think, I helped make a PERSON! It’s weird, but really cool!  I’ve also had the thought that I can’t believe that I’m allowed to have my own child. I still feel like one and yet I’m going to be responsible for another. Haha

I can’t wait for the moment she is out and we hear her cry. I remember being in the room when Dallin, our nephew, was born. It was something I had never felt before and he wasn’t even mine. I can only imagine... I already know I’m going to cry.

Some emotions.
I’m afraid. I’m afraid that I won’t be a good dad and that I won’t know what to do. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to provide for my family the way I want. I’m afraid.
I’m proud. I’m proud she is joining our family. I’m proud that she will have God in her life, that she will know where she came from and where she’s going. I’m proud of her. I’m proud of Alyssa. I’m proud.
I’m excited! I’m excited for bedtime stories. I’m excited for messes. I’m excited for laughing and crying.  I’m excited for MY family to grow. I’m excited for the unknown. I’m excited to teach her. I’m excited to learn from her. I’m excited for her to call me dad. I’m excited to watch Alyssa be a mom. I’m excited to be a dad. I’m excited for her. I’m excited!
I’m sad. Actually... no I’m not.
I’m happy. I’m happy she’s a she. I’m happy she’s healthy. I’m happy she’s mine. I’m happy that Alyssa is her mom. I’m happy it’s now. I’m happy.
I’m ready. I’m ready to show her off. I’m ready to change diapers. I’m ready for little fingers. I’m ready for no sleep. I’m ready to be protective. I’m ready for new baby smell. I’m ready for daddy-daughter time. I’m ready to be a pushover. I’m ready for her.  I’m ready. I think...


Ready or not, here she comes.

-Dustin

Last maternity photos before the big hurrah

These first photos were taken at our new cottage house just messing around for fun. I don't really like showing my stomach but I knew I had to get some pictures of it because most likely I will want them later I guess...

 I wanted to do something symbolic of the fact that we are doing a water birth. I found a few maternity photos online of women laying/sitting in the water but I didn't really feel like doing that. First of all because lakes and stuff are dirty/nasty and they are cold unless you are in Hawaii or something. So I just stood up to my knees instead :)

Latest week bump photos

30 Week Photo:

Here we are in San Francisco where we celebrated our 4 year anniversary in August. We ate a very nice dinner at The Melting Pot thanks to my mom as a gift :)

 35 Week Photo:

This photo is in front of our new old country house out in the country surrounded by vineyards and it is just the right size for us.

 37 Week Photo:

Here is my family at Doran beach one Sunday after church. It was verrry warm that day and Jelina flew her little kite she was excited about haha. We had a little picnic and hung out.

39 Week Photo:

Dustin and I went walking another Sunday at Spring Lake and I wanted to take a "symbolic" photo of me having a water birth.... Dustin obviously doesn't have enough fingers for the number 39 so we will try for a 40 week photo next week if I am still pregnant :)

Name tease...

So we have the baby name narrowed down to 2 names, and one of them we are leaning more towards, but thought we would keep the runner up just in case it just doesn't fit the day of haha.
That's all for now.
Just thought I'd share that we basically know but we aren't telling anyone yet. Nobody gets to tell us what we shouldn't or should name our child. :) Because the name we choose is the name we choose. HA!
Seriously though. you better like it. Because SHE will make the name awesome. The name won't make her awesome. :)

Hangin' Out

The first part of my maternity leave we were busy getting the house ready, finishing projects, and driving around a lot to get stuff basically which made time go by and we felt busy. I wanted the baby room done, our living room done (since I know people will be coming over and I know I would be dying inside with it not finished), and the storage stuff done. It's not perfect yet but its livable and doesn't look like a tornado went through. I know once you have a baby you shouldn't worry about messes or stuff like that. But I know I would. I HATE it when my home is messy and not looking good/organized for when people come over. That is something I will definitely need to work on. But its more the feng shui of the furniture, pictures on the walls and the organization of the house that I am more crazy about. Don't get me wrong shoes and clothes laying around the house twist my insides but I like it when the decor flows.
I may or may not have mentioned this before, but our new house has basically no storage minus a small shed outside, a small tiny closet in the babies room, and a pantry off the kitchen. SO. We made the pantry our walk-in closet because it drove me crazy originally having our closet seen by the world every time you walked in the back door (Dustin drilled a pole against a wall to hang our clothes on). It was madness.
The shed is packed with stuff we don't normally use like suitcases, holiday stuff, Dustin's bajillion cords/techy stuff, binders of stuff/memorabilia, etc.
Annnnd the tiny baby closet is packed to the rim with all sorts of randoms. I hate dressers and I wasn't planning on it, but we may have to get one for the babies room.
So anyway, now that a lot of stuff is done and we have organized our house for the most part, I can relax at home and not have to waste $5 a gallon driving around Sonoma County. It's like pins and needles every time I look at the level of gas we have left in our car. I think there is a little elf stealing our gas over night. Stupid gas.
I keep trying to tell myself to "make sure I relax" before this baby comes. And not just lay about the house. That part is easy, but to relax my mind and enjoy the quiet alone time I have to myself. To take in these last alone moments with Dustin, to mentally prepare myself for the reality and not take up my thinking time of what I need to do around the house or errands.
 For example, when a girl is getting engaged, a lot of the time she is so focused on the planning part leading up to the wedding that she forgets to really take it all in and enjoy the moment. We did a wedding photo shoot a couple weeks ago and the bride was rushing us taking pictures and worrying about this or that and not enjoying her day as much as we thought she should have. And that is what I am trying to do these last couple weeks I have before this little girl comes and changes EVERYTHING. 
The only thing I wish we would have had time and money to do before that day comes, is to get away with Dustin and stay somewhere for a weekend with just us. But, moving is expensive, preparing a house for a baby is expensive, and freaking gas costs are outrageous!!!!!! So no getaway for us.
All I have to do as far as errands go are to chill, make freezer meals, go on walks more, and sleep.

Picking a name

I am thinking a little too hard about this picking a name I think. But it is going to be this girls name for the rest of her life. Shouldn't it be important??? I like research every name based on popularity, what the general public has to say about it, the name meaning, if it gets mispronounced/misspelled too easily and if it goes well with our last name.
There are only like 4-5 middle names to choose from. And how often do people really hear the middle name anyway? How many people really know what my middle name is?

Waiting game time

So we are nearing the end of this pregnancy... Crazy. Feels like I have been pregnant for a long time. Finding out in February feels like forever ago. My maternity leave started last week. My midwife said its normal to have 3-4 weeks off before the due date and then 6 weeks recovery time after the due date. Not quite as long as I was hoping for, because that means if we want any extra money I need to go back to work the beginning of December. Of course my boss told me I can come back whenever I need to and they won't require me to come back on on the exact date my disability insurance ends. I'll have to wait and see...
To briefly summarize my pregnancy, I didn't have any cravings, never had any sickness/nausea, no Braxton hicks or whatever, my stomach hasn't itched yet, I don't have to run to the bathroom all the time like people expect women too (I can control myself), no extreme hormones and not a crazy nesting period.  I like things clean and organized anyway and so it didn't feel any more different than how I was before. I would say I have been pretty close to how I was pre-pregnancy.
There are a couple things though like in my first trimester and my third trimester I am in now I was pretty tired, I have had some heartburn this month which is very uncomfortable and something I never had before, and I think this month I will start to get more emotional... I feel it coming like a wave sneaking up on you.... Watch out Dustin lol.
The heartburn thing has been the most annoying thing so far. But I looked up some things that help it like eating bananas, drinking peppermint tea, and avoiding highly acidic foods and sugar.When I first started having it I was like, "What is this burning in my throat!?!!!!" It almost made me mad haha.
I have my labor bag all ready to go and chillin' in the baby room (FULL of stuff), we have a carseat all ready and set up, and the baby room is all ready and has been for quite some time. I knew how it was going to look basically before we were pregnant haha.
Now its just a waiting game. My only concern is I won't know who my midwife will be when the day comes. All of them at the Women's Health and Birth Center are on call. I have met all of them, but there are 2 I am reeeeally hoping I don't have. One is really floopy, doesn't really listen to what you have to say and is one of those people you find yourself squinting your face wondering what the heck she is talking about. She just doesn't seem all there which is a concern... :/ The other one is just plain mean and strict. She is like one of those teachers in school that if you get distracted or whisper something to the person sitting next to you, she stares at you and sarcastically says, "Please share with the rest of the class what is so important that you felt the need to disrupt my lesson."She actually did that in one the classes we had to take at the birth center! It was scary and intense. She makes you feel kind of uncomfortable, like you don't know anything and are going to irritate her with anything you ask.
I can't decide which of the 2 crazies I would rather be stuck with.
Now I have a lot of down time at our little country house, since Dustin takes the car a lot. I plan to make a bunch of freezer cooked meals to get ready for not having energy to make anything for meals after baby comes. I only wish we had a bigger freezer. :/
Other than that... I got nothin' but waitin'.

Fatty comin' through!!!

Oh man. So weird. So irregular for me to have to grab onto chairs or the car door to get up or ask for simple tasks I sometimes attempt to do myself I admit... But I am safe about it. I am not an idiot people.
We have taken a couple weekly photos that I just really don't want to post because I am so huge! I don't like being fat and waddling around everywhere with people staring at me. I don't enjoy it. Sitting on our couch in the evening with Dustin is uncomfortable.
Amazing.
SITTING down is uncomfortable.
Lame.
I find myself taking a lot of naps with my kitty Nala. She follows me around. Whatever room I am in she is in. So wherever I plop down to lay down because SITTING is too much, she usually snuggles up next to me. Rahjah will too if I am laying on the daybed in the baby room, which he believes is HIS bed. They both have tried laying on my stomach too... like its a perch or something.
It will be interesting to see how they react with the little noise maker on her way...

Some maternity photos... :)

Maternity Leave

So my maternity leave starts in 2 weeks... a month before I am due basically. I only have 9 weeks off.. as far as disability insurance goes. I could take more time off in December if I wanted to but I won't be getting paid so I will have to make some decisions after baby is born. :/
Time is flying and every week I get fatter. I look in the mirror in the morning getting ready and I almost do a double-take. I say to myself, "Dang I'm getting fat. Why is that basketball there? Oh ya that's right..." Haha. It looks very strange in the mirror. So weird that my stomach is huge. My belly button is stickin out. You can see it over my clothes. Get back in there! I like my inny haha.
I won't miss hearing from every single guest that comes into the restaurant 4 same questions.
Every time...
1. When are you due?
2. Do you know what it is?
3. Is this your first?
4. Are you excited?............(I hate that question)
I also won't miss all the gift certificate buying that goes on over the holidays. It gets crazy at the restaurant. You have to have someone extra at work just to take care of those things. It isn't that annoying... but it kinda is :)
I will miss seeing a couple people at my work. Like Angela, my boss. She is so excited for me. I look forward to bringing the new baby into the restaurant just so she could hold her...

Just Words.

Anxious.

Scattered
Tired
Contemplative
Impatient
Backache
Agitated
Random
Spacey
Unbalanced
Breathe

Pregnant.

Perfect Timing

We're moving again. 3 Homes in under a year. But this move I feel will make our lives happier. Our apartment before was good in the sense that we didn't have to pay rent. On the other hand, we couldn't handle 3 jobs with a photography hobby on the side, have a baby and be a happy family. As soon as Dustin got home from work, he went straight to work at home and there was no us time. Adding a baby in the mix would just be... well not healthy for our relationship.
So starting this weekend we are moving into a cute little house in a quiet country area. It is an older little house with a unique set up. It is perfect for the 3 of us minus the lack of any closets and a tiny master bedroom. The small bedroom is workable, but the closet space is a project that we will work on. With help of Pintrest, Dustin's extra imaginative mind... and my dad's building skills, it will work.
Our backyard is a vineyard, we have a barn (not ours, but it is the owners and it makes the property pretty :)), and it is so cute!
Moving into a new (old) house under 2 months before a pregnant girl is due, can be recognized as not good timing for most. The 3rd trimester is nesting stage and you can't move anything...

Which, well, the not being able to move anything is actually perfect timing for me. I get to supervise!

I should be pregnant again when we move into our own house in the future.

Perfect timing. :)

"I'm blocking you out..."

Other women who have had children feel the need to share their stories of pregnancy/birth when they hear that you are pregnant. There is this one chick at my work (she drives everybody crazy...) and I swear she tries to freak me out every time we work together. It is hard to take her seriously, if you have met her you would understand. Apparently her mom was a drug addict while she was pregnant. So it kinda explains the twitchy, fast talking, paranoia about her. Anyway... She had these "HORRIBLE experiences during pregnancy"... and she shares them and other stories she has heard all the time. Yesterday I told her, "Throw anything you got at me. Whatever you tell me won't effect me because I am simply blocking your stories out, as well as any other stories people have to share to try and freak me out."

She shared anyway making her story much more dramatic after...

But it's true, and there are some moms out there who respectfully agree with me that every woman's story is different. Some do have miserable experiences and some have it pretty easy. I will listen to other's stories. But they don't scare me. I won't know how the labor will go for me but I am going into it with an open mind and a positive attitude for once (I am normally not the most positive person).

Child Birth class...

Had our first child birth class this last monday and we have 3 more to go. We watched a video that Dustin and all the men just loved seeing... We tried positions for the men to help the mothers ease some pain when the time comes. We talked through the stages of labor and the teacher had us practice some interesting techniques to teach us meditation and mental exercises. It was interesting but helpful. Next week we are supposed to bring pillows and stuff... Oh boy..

Choosing baby names...

This process is more annoying than I thought it would be. Dustin doesn't like basically all the names I really like. I want very unique different names. And it seems like he leans towards traditional names.
The only response he gives to the names I say are either, "That sounds like a black name." Or "I dunno...." Or I get a shrug.
(Deep breath....)
So no, we have not picked out a name or our top 3. You will know after she is born... hopefully...

I'm cool, I'm cool...

I am getting so FAT!!!!!!!
Well, I feel like it anyway... To some women who have had babies before say I am pretty small. But my midwife says I am healthy and at my right size.
We went to see her yesterday by the way for a check-up and Dustin came this time. I don't usually ask many questions when I go, if any. I should take Dustin more often because he asks a lot and is very chatty. He thinks of things that I don't really think of or care to ask about. If/when I am curious about something I go to the internet and research. But it's nice. I just sit there and listen when Dustin is curious haha. He and my midwife were very chatty :)
I guess you could say I am not really worried about anything. I haven't had any problems or ANYTHING the last 6 months, I believe I am pretty healthy and I am just not a worrier I guess.
I am just, content. Confidant. Prepared. Relaxed. Ready for whatever.
In fact, I am going to attempt hiking in 100 degree heat in Utah next week, up to Lake Blanche at a high altitude on my birthday. I got this. I think.. :)
I don't want to be a lazy prego person who just sits all day and is afraid to do anything normal or using being pregnant as an excuse for everything. The only excuse I will enjoy having is that I am pregnant so it is okay that I am hiking slower than the others and that I don't have to carry a heavy large backpack bahahahaha! Dustin will be carrying everything heavy, it's great. Haha.
People keep saying I shouldn't be doing this or that or this or that. Relax people.
#1 thing people freak out on me about is when I eat fish and how often I eat it. People, do your research. In a nutshell fish is GOOD for you and the baby. As long as you eat fresh fish that isn't SUPER high in mercury, you're good. Chill guys.
#2 is that I am "too small" or really tiny for how far along I am. I had a girl ask me at work if I was starving myself... What. Seriously? Ha. Every woman is different. My midwife says I am perfectly healthy and at the right size. She is the boss. She knows what she is talking about.
#3 is how I never got sick at all and that it is so strange I had no nausea. Is it really that strange? You're just jealous :)
Those are just a couple. I have had a bunch of other random ones that I kind of just laugh at. I think it is partially because majority of doctors make all these women/people worry about everything and convince them that only their doctor knows what is right for them. HOW long have women been giving birth to babies???
Anyway, I could go on and on. But I am rambling and I want to go get some chocolate.
Bye!

Photos I want

Here are some examples of photos I really want to have in our life with the new baby coming. 

 

Time is flying!

I am 6 months along today. Whew! As I sit here on the couch watching my stomach jerk about as if this little girl wants out NOW I am thinking, wouldn't that be nice. 9 Months is a long time. Can't we get this over with already. I don't really understand those women that say they loved being pregnant... Especially since the majority of them actually have sickness/nausea.  3 months will go by quick. Our lives will be definitely different after 3 months... I am not looking forward to going through the process... but I am looking forward to meeting her and see a healthy happy baby :)
This 5 pills a day, super healthy food lifestyle better pay off! :)

Bump Photos

4 WEEKS:

I told Dustin we were pregnant at 4 weeks on his birthday. This was taken in front of my parents house where we were living temporarily at the time.

You can read more about that on a previous post about his birthday.

15 WEEKS:

This photo marks when I first starting showing an actual "bump." We took this at 15 weeks at the beach one Sunday. I love Dustin's facial expressions :) We want to take the important (event markers) week photos with Dustin as the one expressing what week it is because I feel very stupid standing in front of my bathroom mirror with my phone taking the picture.

18 WEEKS:

I haven't been taking pictures week-by-week like people want, mainly because I forget. From 16-19 weeks we didn't know how Dustin was going to do that with his hands... So we skipped those. Plus I hadn't really changed much during those weeks.

When we revealed what the baby's gender was, that was at 18 weeks so here is that bump photo.

22 WEEKS:

Here is my 22nd week photo marking my halfway point basically, that we took overlooking some vineyards in Healdsburg. We are going to try to take photos in a different location/background each time. Dusty is a little scruffy in this photo... He is growing it out for some cowboy shoot he is doing for his work... I grew a lot more since 18 weeks.

30 WEEKS:

Here we are in San Francisco where we celebrated our 4 year anniversary in August. We ate a very nice dinner at The Melting Pot thanks to my mom as a gift :)

 35 WEEKS:

This photo is in front of our new old country house out in the country surrounded by vineyards and it is just the right size for us.

 37 WEEKS:

Here is my family at Doran beach one Sunday after church. It was verrry warm that day and Jelina flew her little kite she was excited about haha. We had a little picnic and hung out.

39 WEEKS:

Dustin and I went walking another Sunday at Spring Lake and I wanted to take a "symbolic" photo of me having a water birth.... Dustin obviously doesn't have enough fingers for the number 39 so we will try for a 40 week photo next week if I am still pregnant :)

"Hiyyya!"

It feels like a big goldfish is swimming around in there... Haha It is not just butterfly 'flutters' anymore. She is moving all the time and it is so weird but cool at the same time. Last night we were eating at La Rosa mexican restaurant and I had some spicy tacos, (mild tacos to Sierra or to those who like spicy stuff) and all of a sudden BAM! Outloud I said, "Woah!" Dustin looked at me funny ha.
So I have noticed she kicks bigger with either spicy foods or a lot of liquids (water or juice). I am just over half way. I can't imagine what it will be like later... Eeee.

Dustin's first "fathers day"

Let me first say that Dustin got 2 early fathers day gifts. One I will mention later in the post. But the other Dustin got the night before (June 16th, 2012). He felt little baby girl kicks as we were falling asleep in bed. I drank a lot of water right before just so he could feel her. She gets very active right after a lot of liquids haha. It was sweet :)

Even though the baby isn't here yet we still celebrated fathers day a little bit. I made root beer floats with "Dads Rootbeer" and Dustin loved it!

I had bought him a nice laptop case lined with leather for fathers day but last month he kept saying he needed one really bad and he was going to go out and buy one without knowing I already had one for him that was monogrammed with his initials too. So I gave that to him early. 

Then we went over to my parents to have a bbq with lots of food like corn and pesto, kabobs, potato stacks I made, fruit salad, mixed greens, oysters and fish! 

It was delish!

Baby Shower #1

On June 7th, 2012 I had a baby shower with my best and good friends at one of our closest family friend's home (Valerie Hardisty). Most pregos have their baby showers later on but I had a few really close friends of mine that were in town in Santa Rosa that week and I really wanted them to be there. So we will have a fun family one later on with possibly another dessert bar only more chocolate themed.. :D

 We had a dessert bar that was themed with lemons and yellow-ish items. Lemon bars, cupcakes, snickerdoodles, candy, lemonade drinks... 

I think it turned out pretty well. 

Thank you Pintrest for all the wonderful ideas :)

  We played some very interesting games like...

 "who can make the best diaper on their partner"

"Bopping for nipples..."

 And "golf"

They had to swing an orange that is inside nylon pantyhose and move a baby bottle across the room without using their hands.. Very entertaining! haha

At the end my mom brought out a crib that she got me! Yay! She did a lot for the party and spent a lot of money which I am very grateful. Thanks mom!

It was a lot of fun and I am so grateful for all those who could make it and who brought some very cute gifts :)