Still Alive

Last time I posted something was before our daughter was born, a day before to be precise. It’s been over a year and a half.

I still run. It’s vital for me. I run with a jogging stroller which is a whole new workout on its own and we’re about to upgrade to a double stroller because we’re expecting our second kiddo for October 🙂

Being a Mom and working full-time has left me with little time to blog. I’m also not training for any races other than a few random 5k and therefore don’t feel like I have as much to say. I miss long runs so much. My longest run in the last year and a half, two years(?) was 6 or 7 miles. I look forward to run a half marathon and a marathon again someday.

Nowadays I’m happy to run 2-3 miles twice or thrice a week.

I may or may not blog again here. It’s hard to tell but our family is well, and that’s what matters.

Pregnancy Update: 39 weeks

39 weeks  vs.  39 weeks 6 days, in labor!

Symptoms: The beginning of the week was as usual. Hip soreness as I woke up, needed to pee often, etc. However on Monday I started really feeling the end of pregnancy. I had a much harder time sleeping and was more tired as a result. I look forward to being able to sleep on my back again. I’m ready for the Pumpkin to show up.

39w. 5 days: Beginning of contractions, not painful, stopped overnight but not Braxton-Hicks either. Nauseous around lunch.
39w 6d: Lost cervical plug, started labor…

The Belly: ?

Weight gain: ?

Medical: Never had my appointment due to going into labor the day I was supposed to.

Mood: Tired of being pregnant finally. I think it’s a good sign.

Workout: Easy walks, hoping to get labor started. On Thursday I went on a walk while in labor, in the park, where I went to run so many times during pregnancy. It was the slowest walk I’ve ever done…
Monday: 2.21 Walk
Tuesday: 1.62 walk
Thursday: 1 mile, walk.

Total: 4.283i

Pregnancy Update Week 38

Symptoms: Same as last week really. Just more  and stronger Braxton Hicks. Baby is continuing to drop a little bit at at a time. I still sleep through the night, just wake up once or twice to use the bathroom. Sometimes the baby feels lower than others and I have to slow down and adjust my walking accordingly.

The Belly: 34 cm. No change.

Weight gain: none. Well actually without boots I would have been at-2 lbs. But I couldn’t remember if I kept my shoes on or not last time. It worries me at times but I was reading this pamphlet from our hospital and it’s not uncommon to loose weight at the end of pregnancy, the amniotic fluid level is lower, the body starts sweating out excess fluids, etc. So I guess I’m ok.

Medical:  Heartbeat was in the 130’s. My BP 120/75. The baby is very much to the right and my midwife gave me some laying down instructions to try to bring it more to the middle and avoid a posterior baby. At least I think that’s what she said. I got my first cervical check but didn’t want to know if I was dilated. So all I was told is high and soft.

Mood: Half of me is ready for this baby to come. I can’t wait to meet him or her and become parents. The other half just can’t seem to visualize what life will be like and is anxious about everything from birthing to taking the baby home. As a result I feel often like I’m almost in denial that this is happening. I know I’m pregnant, but it seems to me that I’m still going to be pregnant forever and I just keep on with my usual business. Being at work helps to keep me busy, but I wonder sometimes if it makes it harder to prepare myself mentally for what will happen?

Workout: An easy week overall. I did some yoga at home but can’t remember which day. No attempt to run this week, I was happy with some easy walking just to get some fresh air.

Wednesday: 1.44mi walk
Thursday: 1.4mi walk
Friday: 1.4 mi walk

Total: 4.24mi

Pregnancy Update 37 Weeks

 Symptoms: Braxton-Hicks contractions seem to continue to increase in both amount and intensity. Less heartburn this week but more sensations in my pelvis. I definitely feel big, but I don’t feel uncomfortable and ready to not be pregnant yet which makes me think this Lil’One still needs to cook.

The Belly: 34 cm.

Weight gain: -0.5lbs.

Medical:  Heartbeat was in the 140’s. My BP 110/75. The midwife estimated the baby to be around 5 1/2 pounds at this point. So it still needs to put on some weight if you ask me. Grow baby grow!

Mood: Wait what? I’m full term? Nah!!! While I know the chances of having this baby at 37 weeks are slim, I am still entering the official full term window. This Lil’One could come at any point within the next 4ish weeks. I’m not sure I really feel ready for this. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of what having a child means.

Workout: This turned out to be a good active week. The weather was pleasant allowing for several nice walks at the beginning of the week. I definitely have to slow down at times based on how the baby is positioned though. Then on Friday my husband wanted to go on a run and offered for me to hike in the meantime. Well… I didn’t want to, I wanted to try to run. So I did. Well it was more of a jog walk, but still! All the uphill had to be walked but I still felt pretty good and surprised my husband by going faster than he had expected. I guess I’m still in shape after all 🙂

Sunday:  prenatal yoga
Monday: 1.8mi walk
Tuesday: 1.17mi walk
Wednesday 1.26mi walk
Thursday: 1.3mi walk, trail
Friday: 1.92mi @13:37 pace, trail
Saturday: 2.36mi hike, trail
Total: 9.81 mi

 

Pregnancy 36 Weeks Update

Week 36

 Symptoms: Braxton-Hicks are coming more often. Nothing regular yet. Some days I barely feel them, some days I do several times in an hour. My chiropractor has helped with the heartburn, it hasn’t been as bad.
Baby has definitely started to drop, I can’t feel it all the time but sometimes when I get up or walk, or after walking for a while I just have to slow down based on some discomfort and odd feelings in the pelvis.
I’ve been getting more hungry too. I feel like a Hobbit having a first breakfast as I wake up, followed by a second breakfast with my husband, then a snack, then lunch, then a snack, then dinner and sometimes cereals and almond milk before I go to bed. How do I not gain weight with all that???

The Belly: 31cm which was less than last week and a sign that the baby dropped.

Weight gain: No change since last week.

Medical:  Baby dropped. Heartbeat was in the 130’s. My BP 108/60. The midwife wasn’t concerned about the belly’s size since as she said it’s a sign that the baby had dropped.

Mood: Happy. We received some good news for my husband and it lifts a huge financial weight from our shoulders. I had refused to stress about the situation, but still it’s good to know that things will be ok in the next weeks. Almost full term which seems hard to believe.

Random: My husband is nesting for the two of us. The house is pristine.

Workout: With the baby being further down I’ve given up on the chance to get back to running pre-baby. I did run for a couple of yards here and there during hikes, but I haven’t tried a real run. In a way I miss it but at the same time I’m ok slowing down and taking it easy until we meet our Lil’One. I guess I’ll just have to start from scratch post baby.  I just need to take more time for yoga for now.
Sunday:  prenatal yoga
Monday: 1.9mi walk
Thursday: 1.3mi walk, trail
Friday: Yoga at home
Saturday: 1.4mi hike, trail
Total: 4.6 mi

I can still look like I’m not pregnant, explain this to me?

Pregnancy 35 Week Update

Week 35

Me, the Lil’Pumpkin and my awesome Christmas boots

 

Symptoms: A good series of Braxton-Hicks this Saturday while dealing with a difficult guest. It made me worry for a while that it was happening a little too often so I even started timing it. Thankfully they came every 20-30min apart and then stopped after two hours.

Heartburn, heartburn and more heartburn. It’s not too bad of a heartburn but I’ve been having to take something for it more often than I used to. I had bleeding gums again. I did a few weeks ago but brushed it off. Mmh, maybe I should remember to floss a little more… Oh and I also got awakened with a really bad leg cramp. I’m surprised I didn’t scream and wake up my husband in the middle of the night. I could still feel the tightness in the muscle all day long after it.

Since Wednesday I’ve also started experiencing some pelvic discomfort. My guess is that the Lil’One is starting to come down a bit. Yeah, that’s always a good sign. Although I’m quite fine with some more “cooking”.

The Belly: It feels so much heavier and bigger to me. It was at 33cm this week, so a little behind but within the norm at least. Movements: tons, especially around 9pm when it’s Samba time for the Pumpkin.

Weight gain: +3 pounds which puts me at 19 pounds so far 🙂

Medical:  GBS test this week which came out negative! Yeah. The midwife answered a lot of questions for me which was good. While I’m not very big she wasn’t very concerned this time. I eat, I’m hungry and I eat. I do gain weight. I think she also realized that I am small and as she said it’s unlikely I’ll have a big baby. Lil’one’s heart beat was good (no number). My BP first came out at 122/70 which is high for me, but the midwife thought it could be due to the sweater creating a double tourniquet, so I removed it, she took it again and it was 110/60 which is what I usually get. So all good.

Mood: We had our baby shower, which was great. Wonderful people came, there were silly games and good food. We did get a few of the things we asked for, however, not that I’m ungrateful but come on people we made a registry for a reason. I don’t need one gazillion newborn onesies. What we need is a car seat (thank you people giving us gift cards, it will be put to good use), a nail clipper for babies, a humidifier, you know the useful stuff! Oh yes and if you are buying us stuff we didn’t ask for, how about you give us a receipt and don’t rip off the tags too? Thank you very much.

Random: Some people at work are just now realizing I’m pregnant believe it or not. Two in three days, that is not a coincidence. I know I’m small but really? Really people? “When are you expecting, I just found out”… “err, next month!”. I mean, I know my work clothes are a size up from what I would normally wear (they couldn’t find me an XS pregnancy outfit), but still. This ain’t doughnuts people. I do find this more amusing than anything else though.

Workout: My crazy schedule and some wintry weather made it harder to go outside this week. I still managed to go on several walks and even a little hike with my husband, which is nice. At this point I don’t know that I’ll be able to run until post-baby. I think the pelvic discomfort is going to make it difficult. But at least prenatal yoga has been good to my body.

Sunday: 1.8 mi walk, prenatal yoga
Monday: 1.36mi walk
Wednesday: 1.36mi walk
Thursday: 2.75mi walk
Friday: yoga at home
Total: 7.27 mi

Pregnancy Update: Week 33 & 34

Week 33

Symptoms: Still craving citrus and mostly grapefruit. Heartburn is coming back. It doesn’t’ seem to matter what I eat I started getting it more toward the end of the week. I’ve been more hungry lately and feeling Braxton Hicks more. It suddenly gets a little harder to breathe, like my lungs are tighter and then I feel my belly and find it to be really hard.

The Belly: Grew! 🙂 It was 32cm, well almost.

Weight Gain: +3 pounds, which makes it 16 pounds so far. Still not much compared to the average but hey, I’ll take anything at this point.

Medical: Due to the low weight gain measured last week I had to go back in sooner than normal. BP: 110/50 which is very good, baby’s heartbeat was 140. The midwife was happy to see that I gained weight and told me to continue whatever I did. I even asked if running was ok and she said yes. Not sure if that will happen or not but it’s nice to know I have the option. She did say that walking is probably easier on my body at this point but to go with my comfort level.

Mood: Most of the week was spent in a bit of a stress mode due to my low weight gain. I felt like I was failing this baby a little by maybe not eating what I needed or having too fast of a metabolism. Hubby tried to cheer my up, he didn’t really believe in what the midwives said, felt I could still run and everything but I didn’t want to take any risks. The Braxton Hicks are making me realize how close we are to meeting this little one. I hope it continues to “cook” for a while.

Random: Very short staffed at work and having to pull some very long days here and there.

Workout: Absolutely no running this week. Walking only. I haven’t been able to go to prenatal yoga lately due to our crazy schedule so I’ve been practicing a bit at home but didn’t write down which days. Walking has been really nice, I do miss running a little but as long as I can go outside.

Sunday: 1.26mi walk
Monday: 1.36mi walk
Tuesday: 1.54mi walk
Wednesday: 1.25mi
Thursday: swimming, 10 laps at the Grove Park Inn Spa
Friday: yoga
Saturday: 1.93mi walk
Total: 7.34 mi

Week 34

Symptoms: Hello relaxin! My left hip, which coincidentally is the one I sleep on the most, has started bugging me. I feel it when I walk. If I put my hand against my hip I can sometimes feel a little pop as I move. It feels like the joint is loosening up and things are stretching in a not so comfortable way.

I also find myself waking up more at night to turn around in bed (which is starting to be a process) to find a comfortable position. It’s also harder to sit comfortably on the sofa at night.

Heartburn is back too, no matter what I eat or how slowly. I’m having to take some calcium to help. The cereals and almond milk alone don’t seem to do the trick anymore.

The Belly: Looks like I swallowed a giant basketball.

Mood: Relieved that I’m growing again. My husband and a friend had to remind me that pregnancy is not a one size fits all and I may just be growing differently. I’m having a bit of a harder time dealing with all the “Oh you still look so tiny”, “you’re not showing much for 8 months” kind of comments which make me feel very aware of my low weight gain.

Random: I fell asleep in front of the TV. My husband got highly amused because it seems the Lil’One was dancing the samba in there and it did not even fathom me. I was out in lalaland.

I’m getting a lot of  “You finally look pregnant” comments at work. I think my work uniform hides my pregnancy a lot, even though I have maternity clothes they didn’t have them in XS. So yes, it took me 8 months to look pregnant.

Workout: Not much walking due to a lot of rain at the beginning of the week. However on Wednesday the sun showed up for about 30  min. Since I had just had a chiropractor adjustment I figured I would give it a shot and we went on a jog/walk with Hubby who was super patient with my very slow pace. I ran for almost ten minutes and then alternated jogging and walking for the rest of our outing. Not much exercise this week I guess.

Monday:  yoga.
Wednesday: 2.06mi @12:59 of jog/walk
Friday:  yoga and 1.32mi walk
Saturday: 3.32 @10:09
Total: 5.38 mi

Running, Walking and Relaxin

So running may or may not be over for now. I didn’t run for a week because I was asked not to by my midwife. I wasn’t gaining enough weight and she thought running may not be a good idea because of it.I wasn’t sure that was really the case because I had only run about 4-6 miles/week in the last two weeks prior my appointment which isn’t much for me.

I thought part of the issue was not having enough protein (based on the requirements). So I didn’t run but walked with her approval and increased the protein to meet 70 grams/day. I put on 3 very much needed pounds in a week. As a result I am now allowed to run again. Which is great.

However the relaxin is starting to affect me and I can tell my joints are loosening up. Especially my left hip. So we’ll see. I may attempt a run and see how it goes, or I may just stick to walking until post pregnancy.

Pregnancy Update: Week 31 and 32

Week 31

Symptoms: A lot of baby’s movements. Less kicks, but I’m having a lot of fun just looking at the waves and little body parts that seem to stick out. I had another dream with a little body part sticking out, this time it was a foot, but it was sticking out under the skin of my upper thigh which is not where it should be at all!

The Belly: Is getting heavier and more and more in the way.

Mood: Freak out mode. This baby’s arrival is getting way closer and I still feel that I haven’t finished a lot of things. Vaccines? Diapers? Why didn’t I get started with that six months ago?

Random: We had a surprise visit from my in-laws. Thankfully some people dear to my heart gave us a heads up, so it actually went well. I can’t imagine if they had just showed up with us having no clue. The stress of it would not have been fun (I haven’t spoken to my MIL since July and there has been a lot of tension between us).

Workout:I didn’t run much this week due to Christmas. I wanted to enjoy some quality family time instead. I had one of the best run I had in a long time. Even though the baby wasn’t in the best position my 4.66mi run was so enjoyable because the rest of my body felt really good.

Thursday: 3.35 @10:95 pace, road
Saturday: 4.66 @10:21, road
Total: 8.01 mi run

Week 32:

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks! Aka practice contractions. I didn’t realize I had any until my chiropractor one day, followed by the midwife the next pointed it out “You’re having a contraction”. Me: “Really?”. I’m now trying to pay attention to them more and figure out when I feel them. I’ve been told the belly gets tighter and harder but I’m not sure that I feel them or if it’s my imagination. It seems that I had a few after the midwife appointment. Maybe because she manipulated my belly a lot?

Belly: Hasn’t grown according to the midwives although I could swear to you that it has. Still 30cm which is a little low considering I was almost 33 weeks

Weight Gain: 0 in a month 😦 I’m still only up by 13 pounds. You would think I eat enough to gain weight, but nope. I have no idea where everything I eat goes.

Medical: My belly measured about the same as it did two weeks ago. It puts me at 30cm for 33 weeks which is a little borderline. My midwife expressed concern about it. She asked what I eat, if I’ve ever had anorexia (this woman does not see me eat!),  and then when I mentioned running raised an eyebrow and asked me to stop doing so because it could be a cause of my low weight gain

On my hand, I’ve been reading more about nutrition during pregnancy and came to the conclusion that I wasn’t having enough proteins. I asked: “Well what can I eat to help?”, her answer? “proteins, but not proteins supplements and powders which just make you bulk up”. Ah! I knew it. Ok, now on to increasing proteins in my diet. It’s also been the two busiest weeks of the year at work and I’m sure I wasn’t eating as well, dealing with stress, complaining guests and a lot more. I’ve been on my feet more and probably drinking less water.  I doubt it helped.

Mood: A little  freaked out at the idea that Lil’Pumpkin is not growing enough and I feel responsible because I haven’t been eating enough proteins it seems.

Overwhelmed with the question of vaccines. There are so many more here than what I had as I grew up in France and I don’t agree with all of them. It means that we have so much research to do so we can come to a compromise with our yet to be found pediatrician. The thought of going against the mainstream is exhausting.

Workout: My first run of the year was pretty good. I managed to beat the rain and felt well. The next one not so much. I was feeling achy and went for a run hopping to clear things up, instead I started getting what felt like shin splits and I had to cut it short. Of course right after that I was told not to run for at least a week. I hope this is not my last pregnant run!

Tuesday: 2.37 @9:50 pace, road
Thursday: 2.62@10:54, road
Total: 4.99 mi run

Pregnancy Update: Week 29 & 30

Week 29:

 

Symptoms: Still some rib pain as I wake up but the chiropractic care seems to help. A little heartburn here and there. Feeling big. I’m being more sensitive to smells again. Can’t stand peanut butter near me.

Craving: Grapefruits, also cereals with almond milk at night as it seems to ease heartburn when I get it.

Medical:

The Belly: Lil’One is most often than not on my right side. Still a little transverse. Most of my non pregnancy sweater don’t fit anymore, they’re too short.

Mood: I’ve felt a lore more moody and needy this week.

Random: Went on a trip to Ikea. We got a shelf system and the Poang Chair which I plan to use for nursing. This resulted in a little bit of nesting at home and turned our guest bedroom into this (with still a lot to do):

Workout: I received a pregnancy support belt via Preggie Pals and tried it during some of the runs. It felt to me that there was more pressure on the bladder, although it did provide a little bit of belly support. I want to try it more because I am not sold on it yet. My hamstring bothered me a little on one of the runs.

Sunday: Prenatal yoga
Tuesday: 3.66 @10:09 pace
Thursday: 2.79mi @9:08 pace, road
Saturday:  3mi @9:46 pace, road
Total:  9.45mi run

<

Week 30:

Symptoms: Got really tired tone day. To the point that I thought I was getting sick, even a nap didn’t help. I finally felt good enough in the evening to go out on a day with Hubby.

The Belly: I know most people tell me I’m tiny but I look at it and I wonder how much bigger it’s going to get.

Mood: So much to do. Vaccines, registry, pediatrician. This is really overwhelming and stressing me out a little. Work is crazy busy too.

Random: We did most of our registry, I just need to work on a few more things.

Workout: My pace and the amount of breaks needed really vary with the position of the baby. Sometimes I can run without taking a break, other times I have to walk several times. My husband tries to come with me, but it makes it hard for me to try to keep up, even if he is slowing down for me.

Sunday:  Prenatal yoga
Monday: 4.66 @10:08 pace, road
Wednesday: 3.35 @10:22 pace, road
Friday: 3.66 @10:35
Total: 11.67 mi run