Our Trip Before Baby + Suggestions for Planning Yours

If you haven’t figured out from my latest posts, we are expecting a baby! It’s a little boy, and we are very excited. We spent a lot of time in prayer about having a child, so when we found out that we were expecting, it was a big celebration of God’s goodness in our household. One of my favorite verses is,

“For this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him..” 1 Samuel 1:27-28

We had a bit of a struggle having a baby, and both prayer and the amazing talents of a naturopathic doctor who specializes in Mercier Therapy really turned this struggle into a blessing. If you or someone you know struggles with fertility issues, please feel free to reach out and ask any questions you might have about what we tried and what worked for us. I can’t say enough wonderful things about Mercier Therapy and the doctor I went to. (I will be happy to pass along his name and tell you all about how amazing he is!) I’m a big believer in holistic medicine and what it can do to heal your body!

Around 4.5 months, we decided to take an early babymoon to celebrate! We went to Monterey County and Carmel-By-the-Sea, California, where I have always wanted to go! I have been asking Jeff to take me there since we got married, and we finally made the trip. It’s an absolutely beautiful, magical place that looks like it’s right out of a storybook. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it for a relaxing, beauty-filled trip. We scheduled massages, dinners at different local restaurants, and made plans to do some hiking near the ocean and the Point Lobos Nature Preserve down the street from our hotel. If golf is your thing, Pebble Beach is a short drive away, and there are some awesome places to play tennis, too. We stayed at the historic and lovely Hyatt Carmel Highlands hotel overlooking the Big Sur Coast, which in on the side of a mountain overlooking the ocean. The bungalows have fireplaces for when it gets chilly at night, and soft, plush robes to lay around in. We contemplated buying the ingredients to make s’mores in our room by the fireplace, but our bellies were usually too full after dinner to even consider it!

The Carmel-By-the-Sea “downtown” is a village by the sea filled with cute boutiques, restaurants, and art galleries. Anything you could possibly want to shop for, they have it! We spent a lot of time here searching for little souvenirs and just soaking in the pretty flowers and trees. Since Carmel is an old city, there are beautiful churches and older homes that will really capture your heart if you love architecture. It’s such an idyllic, romantic place.

While we were there, we took some baby announcement photos with Rachel Zee Photography, a Carmel-based photographer. She took us to Ribero Beach, which was gorgeous. We hadn’t told virtually any of our friends and family that we were expecting a baby yet, so these served as our way of breaking the news two weeks later!

If you’re planning a babymoon or just considering whether or not it’s worth the time/money, here are my suggestions:

Plan around how you’re feeling. During the second trimester is a great time to plan for this, though we went a little early because we knew we were going to shoot announcement photos on our trip and didn’t want to wait any longer. Second trimester usually means you have more energy, sex drive, and won’t need a nap every five seconds!
Plan a trip that fits with your upcoming baby budget. You don’t have to go far to go on a babymoon! In fact, we have talked about doing another little weekend babymoon staycation at our favorite resort in Grapevine, Texas before our little one arrives. Don’t overspend on a trip when you have baby essentials and nursery expenses coming up, but DO make a little getaway for the two of you a priority. You never know when you’ll have the chance to do this again for a while.
Don’t overplan activities. Leave tons of time to just relax, get massages or facials, or lay on the beach. Definitely explore the area and do some fun activities, but build in plenty of time to lay around and rest. Make it feel like a REAL vacation, not a to-do list.
Take lots of pics and video! Heck, make a video or photo scrapbook for your new baby while you are there. We are so glad we budgeted to have professional photos taken at our babymoon location because we have such beautiful reminders of an amazing time in a gorgeous place.
Get a souvenir. We like to purchase Christmas ornaments from places we take a trip to remind us of that special place when we decorate our tree. You can also find something small and inexpensive that would be cute in the nursery, like a plush toy or children’s book about the city.
Dudes, please plan something special for your preggo on the trip, like a special dinner reservation, a card, a massage, or romantic hike. She will feel extra loved and cared for, and it will make the trip even more memorable.

Those are my suggestions. If you have some from your experience, let me know! I’m off to eat pickles and ice cream….

Photography: Rachel Zee