37 weeks

Full term! Yay! I did a little jump for joy last Weds when I officially turned 37 weeks. Its a peaceful feeling knowing that your baby is "fully baked" and now its time to just coast until labor/delivery.

This week I also started to work from home. What a nice little period of time that only really first-time mommies are able to enjoy. Think its a bit different the 2nd time around when you are responsible for a toddler. I feel great and am happy that I have a few weeks to relax, enjoy the amazing weather, and take advantage of sleeping -- since I know that will be a thing of the past once baby arrives!

Today is also hubby's 32nd Birthday. We are going to a Spanish restaurant in DC- I'm looking forward to what will probably be our last dinner out on the town. =)

Work Baby Shower

Yes I complain with the worst of them about my day to day job but really-- I work with amazingly great people! My CACI Family threw me a baby shower last Thursday and I was floored with how much they did for me, it was so unexpected. They had Danny come and surprise me, invited Karen, and others that I used to work with that are no longer in the company. They reserved the huge conference room on the 2ND floor and had balloons, ice-cream Sunday bar, a huge yummy cake, refreshments, finger foods, and adorable decorations! I felt so touched and baaaaaaaaaaaaad for all the trouble they went to! The craziest part was the huge display table covered with gifts!

Gifts from our registry and other necessities collectively from the group. Each item was adorably wrapped and displayed in the white basket.

All of the CLOTHES that we received as individual gifts from team members and others that I have worked with in the past. Each gift bag I opened up had an endless supply of dresses, booties, socks, outfits, sleepers etc - I'm worried she won't have enough days to wear everything before she outgrows it!

I cannot believe how generous people have been to our little baby. How lucky we are and she is.

Nursery Time!

I made a door name sign using her middle Korean name

The glider we finally purchased after much back and forth.

Baby's crib

Her chest

and finally...another shot of her growing closet!

Everything is washed, folded, and ready to be worn!

Hospital Bag

Had a great birthday weekend!

The hubby jump started the last stretch of preparing for the baby by surprising me with a packed suitcase full of things he had purchased to make my hospital stay more comfortable (nice to haves). Among the items are the super soft robe, slippers, and fuzzy socks from Brookstone, a wall and desk calendar specifically for mothers, a list of all the foods I've been craving (he made sure I ate everything from the list all weekend), jolly ranchers for the labor room, coupons for books, and a gift certificate to purchase any remaining items for the hospital (night gown, travel toiletries, books etc). So thoughtful and appropriate to the occasion as always.

So bag is now packed and I have one less thing to worry about, yay!

Danny's pre- Fathers Day

Ooops I totally forgot to write an entry about Fathers Day back in June! I was so quick to post about Mother's day but I guess thats sort of the way of the world though? Mother's Day seems to outshine Father's Day by far. Dannys mom always likes to ask each Mothers Day-- "Do American's even celebrate Fathers Day? tehehe"

Even so, I wanted to write a quick note on what future daddy received in appreciation foreverything he has done for our baby (and me) throughout this pregnancy:

1. tool kit so he can properly put together things for the baby

2. a little girl's fishing rod, so he can eventually take the baby on a father/daughter fishing trip that he's already mentioned

3. a new shirt, just because he hasn't gotten himself any new clothes in a long time

Father's Day may not be as revered as Mother's Day (and rightfully so...no? hehe) but I know our baby is going to having an amazing daddy, so I thought it deserved an entry for our memories.

Baby Library!

Allison's very first books have arrived!

Its extremely important to me to have our baby exposed to reading and books at a very early age, especially since I am such an avid reader. Although as an infant she won't understand what they are, having them in her environment and reading to her (if only just to hear our voices) is one of the ways I would like to bond with our baby. Hopefully she will grow a passion for reading and books like her mommy! I'm still on the quest for the type of bookshelf or display I want to start off with but went ahead and ordered baby books so I could have them on hand throughout the next year, while we continue to grow her little library. I chose some of the classics and also books recommended by little cutie/bookworm, Annabel.

I was the most excited to finally be able to use these precious book stickers that say "From the Library of Allison Nara John" that we received as a gift, all the way from San Diego.

How did she know?

These adorable book stickers melt my heart each time I see them. Not sure why but it mean so much to me to be able to label each book and make them our baby's own.

These stickeres are simply handmade with kindness and love, courtesy of gracie k. designs.

Thank you so very much.

30 weeks today!

30 is a good number. Allison is due on the 30th, my birthday is on the 30th, I enjoyed entering my 30's (despite how much I complained about it) and it just sounds like I've made it quite far in my pregnancy. I'm also very glad I waited to have a baby in my 30's (32 to be exact)...I look back at my 20's and there is no way I (me personally) would have been mentally capable. I'm glad we waited until we had a solid home, stable financials, and an overall comfortable place for her to enter this world. So yay to 30 weeks today! I'm feeling very peaceful, content, and prepared at this moment--we are ready for you Allison Nara John!

The dizziness, sudden tiredness, some nausea I've been feeling lately I figured was just a result of 3rd trimester symptoms but I received a call from the doctors office and they told me my last blood results showed that I was slightly anemic. This is great news! All I have to do is take additional iron supplements on top of my prenatals and hopefully all those yucky symptoms will go away.

Side note: I know I'm going to look back at this entry and laugh at my naive self so wanted to clarify what I meant by "prepared". I mean as much as you can possibly be for a hopeful, first-time mommy. I'm quite aware nothing will fully brace you for the mental breakdowns, the lack of sleep, the cracked nipples, and all the other not-so-nice things that people don't like to discuss. Ignorance is bliss!

What has Danny been doing to prepare for our baby? Running. Sound strange? I thought so too but when I asked him the other day why all of sudden he was running everyday - he replied "I have to be in shape for Allison because she's going to kick my butt".

There are surely different ways to display love --upfront & center or behind-the-scene and not so apparent. This is just one sliver & preview of all the different ways and colors that Danny will express his love for our baby and I'm so excited to see the layers unravel. Especially the very most unapparent ones. <3

Home Stretch (literally)

Its hard to believe I'm already heading into my 3rd trimester, time has been flying by and I've got to have had the easiest pregnancy! These last few months are definitely going to be the most challenging though, mainly due to the physical strain which is putting more & more pressure on my sciatic nerve/back, slowing blood circulation, leg cramping etc. I could have sworn it took me awhile to really show a lot (maybe not until 5 months or so) but now I'm stretching/growing at a rapid pace! Even people at work see me and comment "What happened?"...umm I'm pregnant people, you've known this. In about a month span I went from "awwe" to "whoa". I can't complain though, bigger belly means growing baby which is only good news! I'm measuring at 28.5 and I should be reaching 40 by the time I am ready to deliver.

We went to my 28 weeks check up this past Thursday (same day as Miso!) which was the Gestational Diabetes/Glucose test. It was very routine and I haven't gotten a call yet from the office. No news is good news so I won't have to undergo the 2ND exam. I wasn't really worried about it though. I thought I'd be the type to freak about every type of test they do on me wondering & worrying about the results but I seem to be average/normal on every level.

Not sure if this means everything will be smooth sailing through the birth as well or if nature is saving some surprises for me in the delivery room...YIKES! I have zero pain tolerance and the only words on the forefront of my mind will be "epidural" & "now". I know and realize that every woman goes through the birthing process but that little insight does nothing for you when you start to hear words like ripping, tearing, forceps, stuck etc. I love it when doctors describe pure pain as mere "pressure" or "discomfort" aka The Dentist. I'm a big sissy and I never pretended to be otherwise. Oh well, what can you do right? There's only 2 ways for the baby to come out and neither seem very pleasant but as long as she's healthy we'll all be OK. =)

Its not easy to relay appreciation & gratitude to the extent of how much you truly mean it.

Our joint & co-ed baby shower for Allison & Olivia was this past Saturday and it was such an amazing day! Karen and I ideally wanted a "field day" type of shower that was fun for all guests (kids and adults) as a pre-thank you for sharing in this experience with us and the girls went above and beyond to make this happen for us. From beautiful diaper cakes, personalized onesy's, an amazing melt-in-your-mouth picture cake, delicious food, outdoor & indoor games, moon bounce, pool -- you name it we had it and in such an organized fashion too, makes mama proud!

I've attended baby showers and provided gifts in the past but being on the receiving end of this is a whole new experience. I couldn't believe how much we received for Allison (and future babies) and I don't think people realize collectively how much it truly helps Danny & I. Opening up each item that was specially wrapped, colorful tissue paper, reading thoughtful cards, and seeing an item that our baby will soon use aroused such an overwhelming & happy feeling. Gratitude like that just can't be expressed in a small "thank you" card and I wish I could do more to show our appreciation.

*To the girls that are like my family-- THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR EVERYTHING.

*To all of our generous guests-- We are so grateful and can't wait to pay it forward (and back) when the time comes for each of you to grow your families.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose..."

So I wanted to dedicate one specific entry to how we named our baby girl. Its not an exciting story or anything but naming your child is one of the biggest decisions a parent will make (pre-birth). A name is something the child will carry literally for the rest of their lives and you want it to be special and meaningful. Even as little girls, mothers have often dreamed or thought of how many kids we may have and at some point selected favorite names we would hope to one day use. That is why finding out the sex of the baby (whether in advance or when you give birth) is such a momentous occasion. The waiting does not start when you conceive but as a young girl dreaming of her future family.

There are many beautiful, popular, interesting, and trendy names out there right now. However Danny and I are on the conservative side and really wanted a more traditional name that may be common (that's ok!) as long as it has substance and meaning for us. We know that our baby will make her name special in her own way.

The entire weekend after we found out our baby's gender we had discussions revolving around potential names. After serious consideration on a few names each of us liked we came back to the only one we could agree on. We also definitely wanted to choose a Korean middle name for our child to not lose our heritage, especially since our last name is "John". =D

We made sure that his parents gave us their blessing on the name we chose and so here we have it:

Allison Nara John

Allison meaning: Noble kind; of the noble sort
Nara meaning: Happy

{어떤 세계} a world;a realm 달나라 the lunar world;the moon 동화 나라 a fairy-tale world;{(a)} never-never land 꿈나라 a dreamland

Allison means "kind" and one of the meanings of Nara (pronounced Nah-La) means "a world" in Korean and "happy" in other languages. If our baby girl is anything like papa, she will be kind & happy through & through and of course already means the world to us. <3

Memorial Weekend, Preparing for our baby girl

This entire Memorial weekend was dedicated to preparing for the baby. We painted the nursery (thank you Billy samchun!), ordered her bedding, started collecting room decor, and purchased her nursery furniture (not to mention the full-on house cleaning and re-organizing). Danny's parents were extremely generous and bought her the crib and mattress. We also ordered the matching combo unit (changing table/dresser) and the additional chest. And of course her collection of mini clothing and wardrobe is well underway. =)

I decided I wanted her nursery paint color to be a creamy, light beige color so I could do more with accessories. I wanted a clean, peaceful, calming, sanctuary for her and it turned out quite nice, I love it. The bedding I chose is mostly white with pops of blues. Her quilt will also be blue. I wanted to avoid the baby themed decor so I went hunting at a few of my favorite stores, World Market and Home Goods where I found a white wooden floral hook and these great crate/storage boxes that have a romantic garden theme that I absolutely love. Karen and I went to the Arlington Flea Market on Sunday to do some browsing as well. My goal was to find an old vintage bookshelf that I could repaint for her in a rustic white or green. I ended up finding really pretty vintage floral prints in white, blues, and greens that will go perfectly on her walls.

All of these things are in the pictures above including "big sister" Roxy who was helping in her own way =). The pink walls are what we were actually covering with her new paint color, not a fan of pink! The nursery is no where near complete but I wanted to document the work in progress so I can look back and remember this time with fondness. When I started hanging up her first little onesy in her new room, I took a moment to smile...each step closer we get the more exciting and real everything becomes. What a feeling of nostalgia these events will bring in years to come.

20 Week Ultrasound, 5.15.09

(1st picture is the "girl" part they circled and the 2nd is a face view)

20 weeks is a happy time. You are half way through your pregnancy, you can feel your baby kicking, you have a lot of the initial genetic testing completed.....and you can find out the gender of your precious little one!

Our experience at our 20 week ultrasound was the most exciting thing I have encountered thus far, in my life. Not sure if all new mothers feel that way but for me it definitely took the cake. What makes me even giddier is knowing that this is going to be one of many, many milestones to come, wow am I going to be spoiled!

First off, I was so excited the night before I barely slept. Danny and I had planned for weeks to make a day out of it and both took off work. We had our ultrasound scheduled in the morning, planned on heading to the mall to finally be able to purchase our first gift for our baby, grab lunch, and then head to my 20 week check-up. We were certain we were having a boy (along with the rest of the world) and so we were excited for the confirmation of this good news and also hopeful of normal growth progression of the baby.

Nancy, my ultrasound tech, was really nice and extremely professional. We had little waiting time and I was scooted into the room almost immediately. She began her examination like clockwork- showing us the head, spine, heart, each leg and arm etc. I had already started crying at this point (pregnancy hormones) because it just dawned on me that without any effort on my part this baby was actually developing with all its little parts, perfectly. Miracle is a word that is often thrown around with pregnancy but I finally really got it. (Took me 20 weeks but I got it!)

Nancy then told me to roll to my side and I felt the anticipation of her looking for the parts she needed to see. I was squinting up at the screen trying to make out anything/something when she calmly said, It's a girl. Pause. Silence. Hmm, perhaps she doesn't know what she's doing, is what I was thinking while quite confused. Danny and I looked at each other and both said very loudly WHAT? Are you sure?? She was slightly startled and asked "Yes, looks like a girl...hope this is a good thing?" We started laughing and continue to barrage her with the "Are you sure's??" I went to the restroom, lost control of my tears, and ran back for our pictures. When she handed them to us I had her re-explain why she thought it was a girl. Just checking!

If I could capture one moment and tie it up with a bow, it would the look on Danny's face and that instant we were told that we were having a little girl. Tehehhee. I pretty much cried the rest of the afternoon. I knew I had always wanted a girl but to this extent I did not know. Yes, 20 weeks is a happy time. =)

Mother's Day Weekend

What a great weekend!

Full of sunshine and quality time. The hubby and I headed into DC to enjoy the weather. We went to the Wax Museum and an early dinner at Clydes, courtesy of a GC he received from dancing like a maniac at a Wizards game. Will baby inherit daddy's skill, or lack of =) ? On Sunday (which is reserved for real mothers) he surprised me in bed with McD's breakfast, a thoughtful card, & a gift certificate to a pre-natal massage. Really? Wow. Totally unexpected and so undeserved.

What do I mean when I say 'real mothers'? I mean those that have already walked that journey. Pouring their hearts, tears, and love into the very existence of the little innocent lives they have helped create. To never give up. I have yet to cross that threshold and can only hope to shadow those mothers before me.

We also watched the movie Sugar in the theater. What a great movie about the hardships of immigrating to the States for a dream of a better life for your family against the challenges of language, education, & money. Without the option to fail. That movie combined with a touching & amazing Mothers Day blog I read of GK's made me want to point out (to myself) to remember these times of leisure and pampering, like I had this weekend. I live my day-to-day complaining about the little things when I have everything I need at my fingertips and only when I see snapshots into hardship & triumph do I stop to really appreciate what I have been given. What a charmed life compared to those before us and how easier we all have it because of them.

Mental note: remember these moments and always be grateful.

"Whoa...you're showing now!"

I got that quite a bit at work late last week...I'm definitely showing more and more a little each day! I'm still wearing regular tops sometimes for work but the cardigans are being stretched across me now, which probably makes it even more obvious & a little silly looking =).

Minus a few weird episodes, I feel so lucky to have had such an easy breezy pregnancy so far. I can only hope the 2ND half will be the same. Everything seems to be running like clockwork, even related to feeling the baby move. I started to feel flutters in my 16Th week but its definitely stronger now heading into my 19Th week, and also more consistent during the night and mornings. Haven't felt a hard kick yet-- can't wait for that!

Counting down the days until May 15th. =)

16 Week Checkup, Friday 4.17.09

This past Friday we had our 16 week checkup which was very brief & routine. The doctor checked the baby's heartbeat and they drew additional blood for the secondary part of the screening. Our baby's heartbeat dropped to 159-164 (at 12 weeks the rate was at 170) which is all normal.

The exciting part was that I was able to schedule my Ultrasound for the gender test! On Friday, May 15th I have both my gender ultrasound in the morning and my 20 week checkup in the afternoon. Danny and I plan on making a day out of it and finally go shopping once we know if the baby is a boy or a girl! I can't wait!

I haven't "popped" out yet, I am gradually getting a little bigger each day but nothing obvious overnight like some of the other girls. I am barely showing through my clothes still. I'm getting a little anxious about this but I'm sure I'll soon be so big, I won't know what to do with myself (or the belly)! I know I'm still early but your mind starts to find things to worry about, even if unecesssary!

Whats strange is that my back has been hurting from early on. Most back pains are caused by the need to support a large belly so I think mine has to do with the years of bad posture I've had. With everything shifting inside, my back's not happy about it so its probably only going to get worse. However, I'll take the back pain anyday over morning sickness so I still consider myself very blessed to have had such an easy pregnancy thus far.

May 15th-- can't wait!

To Pop or not to Pop

So the other preggars seemed to have had their belly's pop recently. I'm still early, having just started my 14 weeks this past Weds (3.5 months along, officially starting my 2ND trimester) but am anxious to see when it will happen! I get sort of a immediate preview having 2 good friends that are pregnant only a week/3 weeks ahead of me so the anticipation for things are much more 'real time', if that makes sense.

This week I started acquiring maternity work clothes-- mostly for comfort purposes, from the GAP. I got my first pair of maternity jeans awhile ago (Pea in a Pod), maybe I didn't need them yet but they sure are comfortable! I love maternity pants, I don't know if I will ever go back! Its a genius idea putting elastic waist bands on everything, just genius!

On a related note, to balance some of this need for bigger and stretchier clothing--this past Saturday, Yena and I had our 1st pre-natal Yoga Class. We have this class for 7 weeks, every Saturday.

Whoa, am I out of shape! I was so sore the next few days from squats, I could barely walk. I really like the class and am glad it will focus on strength area's that we will need to support the baby (back, thighs, pelvic area, etc). It's definitely a softer, easier, version of regular yoga but I'm still hoping I don't have a hard time keeping up! We were among the earliest in the class, there are women who are much further along so I will be quite shamed if I cannot do some of the moves. No more putzing around-- time to get back on the active train!

12 Week Sonogram, Friday 3.20.09

We had our 12 week check up this afternoon afternoon and it seemed pretty routine in my mind. I knew we were doing the important nuchal testing but I honestly wasn't stressing too much about it. What can you do right?

We got into the room and our OB explained the testing and what he was looking for which was all familiar since I had heard about Karen & Miso's recent experiences already and also had read up on it.

I'm laying there as the baby pops up on the screen, I had to ask....is that the baby moving or the probe moving? For some reason I was expecting our baby to be pretty still and subdued but he was squirming and dancing around so much I started laughing hysterically! I actually had to mentally get it together to calm down. In that moment and instant I knew I had a mini DJ on my hands. While Danny was trying to record the heartbeat, the baby moved so much that the doc had to start again and find the heartbeat again. "A very active baby is a good sign", our doctor told us, so keep on dancing lil baby!

Just for kicks we asked Dr. Silas to see if he could tell the gender. He assured us that its too soon but that he can definitely try to take a look if the baby would cooperate. We got several 4D shots and one was with the baby's legs up, showing an obvious little nub between the legs. I knew it! Really? Come on...no surprises?? Of course we won't know for sure until 20 weeks and that nub could be anything but for me, it only confirms a little more what I already suspect =)

Some stats:

Nose bridge detection- check! (must take after daddy, I barely have a bridge at age 31)

Nuchal Translucency normal- check! (1.5)

Heartbeat strong - check! (17o)

Length normal - check! (6.5. CM)

Personal weight gain -2 lbs (beginning of the end...here I come, large and in charge!)

*Everything is A-OK thus far, hooray!

My poor hubby and future daddy.

This is what he's been hearing at home:

Water me!
Juice me!
Ice-cream me!
Feed me!

Thank you for all that you do baby daddy! <3

A few notes:
*Today I told some people I work with our good news. I'm so bad at the personal thing so I sent a few emails out to those I wanted to share the good news with. It just never seems appropriate during the work day to bring up ... "umm btw I'm pregnant!", especially during a work meeting.

*Danny has his first photography class tonight to learn how to use our SLR camera for when the baby comes. Up until now we've been using the auto function but want to really put the camera to good use for our baby. I was originally signed up too but cancelled mine since I wasn't sure if I could withstand a 3 hour class when I've been so exhausted.

*Going to dinner tonight at Coastal Flats with a few old work buddies. Coastals without wine? There's always a first! =)

8 Week Sonogram, Thursday 2.19.09

Finally! We made it to this date! The official appointment confirming the reality and validity of our pregnancy that provided us with better peace of mind. Our % of miscarriage was reduced to 5 since we had made it to this point so we decided to tell close friends and family following this appointment.

We told Dannys parents at dinner on Thursday night over jajangmyun. Needless to say they were so very happy. We proceeded to tell my parents, our siblings, and call good friends with the news.

This is basically how most of the conversations went-

Me: Guess What?

Friend: OMG you're pregnant too!!!

<3

(Above is our little baby that almost doubled in size from 2 weeks ago. The round circle to the top right is the yolk, look how he/she's grown from the 6 week sonogram! No wonder I'm so tired =) )

6 Week Sonogram, Friday 2.6.09

We had our official 8 week appointment scheduled with our new OB, Dr. Silas (courtesy of JNO) on 2.19.09. However, on Friday, 2.6.09, I had some light spotting/bleeding so they called me in early for a quick sonogram at 6 weeks.

The sonogram showed a cyst in my uterus that could be the cause of the bleeding but ... also showed us our baby for the 1st time! Preview! (Whoa I'm really pregnant???)

The baby was just a tiny dot on the screen and the heartbeat was just a little flicker. However it was a strong heartbeat according to the doctor and no apparent signs of issues with the baby, despite the bleeding.

RELIEF!

(The round circle is actually the yolk! The little dot is the baby.)

A few key early details

**THANK YOU GK for all of your help with this blog and the lovely banner!!!**

This blog is to help us record our baby's milestones-- from embryo to newborn! We want to make sure we have all of these special moments documented so we can provide them as wonderful memories for our baby.

A few key early details:

Friday, January 23rd 2009 - when we 1st found out via positive pregnancy test.

I had gone home to grab a quick lunch to meet Danny (subway) when I decided to take a test, not really expecting a positive response. Complete shock, excitement, and hopefulness immediately followed after that 1st tiny, little, faint, pink line.

Since MK was my go-to expert regarding pregnancy tests due to her recent happy experience =), I immediately called her asking "What the heck does a FAINT pink line mean???" She quickly confirmed that most likely I was pregnant but Danny and I were still a little in disbelief.

That Saturday, Danny and I went up to NY to watch Broadway's Little Mermaid (courtesy of my sister).

The following Monday I took another test and got a stronger, darker, pink line-- immediately confirming the likelihood of our pregnancy. After a total of 3 positive tests (2 regular, 1 digital) we started to really believe the good news!

To add to the madness, KL happened to tell me on this Monday that she was expecting too! We conference called MK and so there it is...the beginning of the Pregnancy Trio.