Recovery and Discomfort

Running has generally still been going well-- its after running that is uncomfortable.  The recovery seems to take longer and be more sore and stiff than I would ever get on short runs of 3-5 miles.

I am sore between my waist and knees... pretty much everywhere that is in between the two.

So, I did some searching online today and at least found an article I thought was comforting about other pregnant runners having discomfort.  I plan to keep running through it for now (after all, the constant pee urge has actually improved!) but I wanted to know that this was all normal! 

I really have in my stubborn mind that I want to run up until labor, so I need some other sources of encouragement to keep it up when walking around after the run reminds me of how my 90 year old grandmother used to shuffle around!

So, hopefully this is encouragement to anyone else running for two or planning to run for two!

Send any other links you find or like this way too!

Maternity Clothes

Coming up on 28 weeks preggo and the third trimester--  I have totally, completely embraced maternity clothes!  For about 2.5-3 weeks now, I have retired my normal clothes and gladly step into maternity pants every morning.  Ahhh!  That stretchy band around the waist is amazing! 

I admit to having been one of those pregnant chicks who worries about the changing body and weight gain.  I have tried to keep exercising and eating healthy/as I did before, but its odd looking down and seeing such major changes in a short amount of time! 

As of my appointment last Friday I had gained 16 pounds to date.  This is the most I have weighed in my life, which is a serious change to look at the scale, but as hubby reminds me-- its not you that is weighing that-- you're body is growing a baby!  And boy oh boy is this baby's growth about to really take off in the final trimester.

Here is how (generall) weight gain breaks out, this one is from WebMD:

Baby  -  8 pounds


Placenta - 2-3 pounds


Amniotic fluid - 2-3 pounds


Breast tissue -  2-3 pounds


Blood supply - 4 pounds


Fat stores for delivery and breastfeeding - 5-9 pounds


Uterus increase- 2-5 pounds


Total:  25 to 35 pounds

 
I thought I would share that tidbit.

I won!

I never win anything... this is the girl who can hold on to a lucky ticket in a room of only 2 ticket holders, and I will not win a thing.  But today, my friends, I have won some lozenges!  Now, I can't say I don;t have a lucky streak.  : )

Check out the post and blog about my win!  The Blog is here and the specific Post is here.

(You will also find the Happy Runner as one of the running and pregnancy blogs I enjoy... and is another person I do not actually know in the real world.) 

Given I had a VERY unpleasant first trimester filled with full days of nausea while carrying this little Squirt in my belly, I (only have joking) said that maybe one kiddo might be enough for me.  BUT, my friends... I hope to give pregnancy another go-round so I can try these-- oh, and to have a playmate for Squirt. ; )

Thanks again for the win!

Kentucky Spring

It's going to be 90 here today.  Ouch. 

So, I used the incoming heat as motivation to get in a run early!  I met my stepdad at 7:30 this morning.  I did 3.5 miles.  (He was going to do 15!)  It was a great run!  Not only was the morning cool and downright gorgeous, I also felt great!  My pace for the 3.5 miles was a slow 11:15 but we did all hills and I felt good, so it was a sucessful run!

How lucky are we to live so close to a beautiful park with views like this for a Sunday morning run?!  I took these photos on my drive back home.

Oh yeah, did I also mention that Hubby and I worked 5+ hours yesterday evening to paint and install shutters on the front of the house, paint the garage door, paint the front door, paint a chair, install a new mailbox and house numbers... My body wanted to kill me when I was finished, but had recovered enough for the run today!  Plus, our little house has soo much more curb appeal now!  We were motivated to do these things after looking at before and after pictures of our house's interior.  Our thought-- no one can ever say we do not see potential in a house!  Wow.  You forget, and looking back at photos brings it all back of how much work we put into this place.  Renovations are my other love, but I don't expect to start a blog to that anytime soon!

Confession

I was spacing out! 

As an update to the belly support bands from a previous post:

Why did I not think to tuck my belly support band under my running shorts or put it on first?  I have made that wardrobe change and no longer look like skin is hanging out when I run with my belly band-- it's all neatly hidden away. 

Just thought I would make that confession.

This side of Experience

Sitting on this side of an experience is an exciting and scary thing. 

I remember having similar feelings before getting married -- about embarking into the unknown and starting a new chapter.  I knew 110% I wanted to marry Mark!  Still, so many people throw at you, 'it's hard work' and many more lines that make you wonder how you will actual feel and handle things in that new season. 

After saying 'I do', embarking on a honeymoon and finally sharing the same roof after almost a year since our first meeting.  I look back fondly to those thoughts and see that it was pretty unfounded.   'Hard work' is relative.  Marriage has been great.  I have the world's best husband and can now dish out some of my own marital wisdom with the best of them.

All that being said-- I now stand on one side of the great abyss (not yet having a child) and can't quite make out what the other side looks like (having a child).  Oh, sure, I have read lots of books, read the travel brochures and even met some nice people who have been there and lived to tell about it.  But, it's still the unknown.  And I will still be crossing over to the other side in about three months, ready or not!  I am ready.  No I'm not.  Either way, it's almost here.

So we met with our doula, Susan on Monday.  You won't find me shouting this from the rooftops or even updating my Facebook with this status-- but we are going to try for a natural birth.  At least stacking our deck to go natural with a doula, birth plan, birth classes and long talks with the OB.  Assuming no major drama-- I hope to report back in about three months that all went well, we have a healthy baby and had a natural birth.

In talking to our doula, Susan, she says she loves working with athletes.  That they understand the 'no pain, no gain' mentality and that a little sweat gets you to the finish.  (Major paraphrasing by yours truly.)

I think that is true.  While I have never had a single labor pain, I have all along looked at pregnancy and then the act of labor being similar to running a race.  There are times of discomfort, but you know the finish line and the reward is just ahead.  You've prepared.  You have run and trained and 99% of putting one foot in front of the other is mental at that point.  If you can keep your head quiet, your legs usually follow.  You can't allow the fear or doubt creep in and start talking.  If or when it does you shhhhhsh it away!  Tell it, you can do this.  And when you look back to whatever race it may be (an actual race or a life experience race) you realize that it went by much too quickly and was not nearly as tough as your doubts were whispering that it might be.

Don't forget to breath.

Look around, take it in.

Enjoy every step along the way.

Crumbs and Garbage

Do you ever wonder what the cleaning people think about you just based off of how you leave your space and have it "decorated" at work?  I do.

I have always been a fairly big snacker... as in, I eat about 2-3 times while I am at work throughout the day.  Even before being pregnant, while just running, I had a pretty big appetite that required a morning snack, lunch and sometimes an after lunch snack.  Of course, that has continued now that I am pregnant, hungry and running... (especially when I was insanely sick in the first trimester and eating helped the nausea!) 

I try to be a neat eater, I do.  But sometimes a spare raisin or Fiber One cereal 'noodle' will get away from me and doesn't make it into my mouth or the trash. 

((Can you believe that carpet is actually in the office of a company practicing architecture?!!))

Then there is the trash can-- filled with random scraps of food or packaging.  Looking in the garbage right now I see a banana peel, a baked lays bag, a container from vegetable soup, a container from half a sandwich, a popsicle stick and napkins.  I would like to say that was from a few days, but that was all trashed after today's meals/snacks.  (I do eat healthy most days!)

Back to my point-- I wonder what perception the cleaning people have of the person who works in the corner space?  Do they wonder which photo up on my wall is of me?  Do they notice other clues I leave behind or have displayed that I don't?  Makes you wonder.  I think about who they are at times, but maybe I am just a little weird like that. 

We occupy the same spaces and yet we don't meet. 

Hum... kind of like my baby and me right now?!  I really wasn't doing this post to reach that conclusion.  But, makes me think... Until next time. 

I am off for a run tonight.  Its almost 90 and muggy here today, ugh!

Seriously?!

If you have ever watched Saturday Night Live, you may have also seen the "Really?" segments... this was the version that went through my head today:

Holy cow, I just pushed publish on my last blog entry and saw my baby countdown.  100 days?!

Seriously?!

100 days left to attend my birthing classes, finish reading about 10 different baby/birth books, take parenting classes, finish a nursery...

Seriously?!

We have so many little projects to do at home, and for all the committees I am on.  Is 100 days really enough.

Seriously?!

100 days... that is an eternity!  I can't wait 100 days to meet our son or daughter!

Seriously?

Son or daughter... I'm going to be a mom?!  A kid's life is in our hands.

I think I just about had a mini-panic moment.  Seriously.

Belly Support Review

Today I would like to talk about maternity support bands.  Fun topic, huh?  Before I dive in, let me first show my current "baby bump" as a reference for this review.  This is my belly last week taken at 25 weeks (and I'm in pjs, so don't look too closely).

I have written about my major urge to pee while running and some hip (I guess better medical term would be, pelvis) weirdness in the last few weeks as well.

My doc had suggested a belt, which I decided I would try even though I didn't feel like I really had enough "belly" to have a band support.

At first it made the urge to pee even worse, as the belts tend to push in and lift up.  BUT... after having run with it for a few weeks now, I can say, I think it has definitely helped.  If you can get use to the urge to pee while running, you can get used to the urge when putting this belt on... but once you get going, I really think it helps to relieve some of the pressure.  I bought my belt for about $20 directly from my doctor's office.  (( Side note-- I had to balance my frugal urge to comparison shop online first, with my other frugal side who knew that I would get reimbursed if I bought it through the doc... : )  Sigh.  ))

Anyway, who can argue with $20 either way, and especially when you notice a difference.

I am wearing a small, which you wrap around in a way that is above your butt and hips in the back, and down below your belly.  It is a little too big but I pull the Velcro as far as it will go and it stays well enough.

To the side is an image of the belt I am using...  It is the Medela Maternity Support band.

The only thing I really don't like about the support band is that it peaks out below my running shirt and considering I am caucasian  and my skin basically matches the color of the band, I can only imagine that from a distance, it looks like I may be bearing a little more skin than just a support band.

(See picture below from the half-marathon a couple weeks ago to see what I am talking about!)

One more tidbit to share in this lovely post on bellys-- my belly is really HARD!  I wonder if that's the baby, or something else?  Forgive me, I am an architect... hence the reason I do not make the big bucks and do not remember my anatomy.  Just an unusual feeling when you rub your stomach... which I never understood why pregnant people rub their belly's... that's a rant for another time. 

Anyone smarter than me on this is free to comment.  : )

Increasingly Harder

I hate to admit it, but running is becoming increasingly harder to do-- the half marathon could not have come at a better time!  Not only is it hot here (its supposed to be 87 today-- did mother nature forget it's still May!!) but I also have been getting crazy big!  I feel ok while I run (just a little slow) but by the time I go to bed, the running catches up to me, and I am sore and its hard to flip my belly over when I toss and turn. 

Anyone know how another 15 weeks +/- of this will look and work out for me.

If I weren't so stubborn and sold on all the positive benefits I may make more excuses-- for now, its just-- keep running!

Take care,
Running for Two