Marathon Mom

After the comments today, I’m not sure. I was working today and first got asked by a patient if I was going to have the baby today. I was then asked if I was sure I wasn’t having twins. Really, all of a sudden I don’t think I got that big. After work I was at the gym and typically get stares and looks from people while I work out, I guess they aren't used to seeing a pregnant woman at the gym. But today it seemed to be more or maybe I was just overly aware after the earlier comments.

Matt and I ran the Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving morning. There are 5,000+ people in the race and this was the first year I didn’t feel annoyed by the slow people. I guess this means I have slowed down too. Even with our easy pace (Matt is dealing with an Achilles issue) we finished under 30 minutes (barely, but it was under). At the post-race party 2004 Olympian Carrie Tolefson was the emcee and stopped me to ask about running during pregnancy. She asked about running and cravings, all with me answering in the microphone, yikes now everyone knows who much I wanted that pumpkin pie. Too bad I managed to drop the first pie I made on the kitchen floor, this led to a trip to the only open grocery store, Wal-Mart, for more ingredients. The second pie survived and was well worth it. This along with grilled halibut, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and a little Beaujolais nouveau made a great Thanksgiving dinner. Otherwise, baby’s furniture is now in the room, all that is left i...

This past weekend was the baby shower with friends. Sarah decided to go with a tea party theme and broke out the good china. The food was wonderful, all kinds of great appetizers, little sandwiches, caramel apples, and of course the pumpkin scones that I am still eating. Hannah even helped out by making everyone's name tags for the table. We got a lot of the essentials plus more clothes this weekend, I think it helped that many of my friends are so close to this stage of parenthood that they gave gifts that they appreciated for their newborns. Sarah is not only a talented cook, but also great at sewing. She made baby's gifts: a sling carrier that Sara and 4 weeks old Olivia tried out for us, and a sweater, hat and booties. I'm exicted to try out the Miracle Blanket from Sara that she says is wonderful. I felt like a kid as Sarah took pics of the gifts (she had to try out the new camera). The preggos, Me (31 1/2 weeks) & Sarah (24 1/2 weeks), and her girls tryin...

Today is exactly 2 months until the baby’s due date, wow how time has flown. I know the next 2 months will fly by too, with the holidays, a weekend in Vegas, and all the things to get ready before she arrives, the day will be here before we realize. As the day approaches I am feeling a mix of emotions, excited to meet our daughter and start the next chapter of life, but also nervous at the same time, about labor/birth and the new experience of being a parent.

A few months ago we got a great idea to paint a small mural on the wall in baby's room, Matt spent weeks working on the drawing and painting. Throughout the process some changes were made to the design and room, including needing to rearrange the furniture plan since the frog grew bigger than expected. Here is the finished frog, hope she likes it...

I ran again this past week, 10 miles on Saturday with my team, it was slow and easy, but I did it and it actually felt pretty good. I had no pain during my run, but as soon as I sat down it started, I think the worst part of running is the pain that comes once I sit down  and trying to get out of the car after I drive home is pretty tough. I have 2 more weeks of coaching, which means 2 weeks until we go to Vegas, and plan to only run with my team and then reassess my ability to run once their season is done. Other than the run, the past week was filled with baby showers and lots of new items for the baby. As soon as Matt is done painting the frog mural the furniture will be put in the room and I can start organizing, probably within the next week. Over the past week I have also lost my belly button, it’s not quite an outie yet but it isn’t really an innie anymore either, just kind of flat.

This past weekend was the start of the baby showers, Matt's family threw one on Saturday and my family on Sunday. Being a registry stalker didn't really work since many of the things that were bought never came off the list, which caused a few duplicates or more as in the case of spoons. We ended up with 4 packages of baby spoons, I think that is more than the number of adult spoons we have in the house. After two showers, the baby now has a bigger wardrobe than Matt and she isn't even born yet, but I have to agree with everyone that little girl's clothes are so cute and fun to buy. She also has lots of toys, bibs and diapers. Oh and all the bath stuff that we registered for was bought, are people trying to tell us something? After checking everything out, Morgan has found his favorite toy already, the Baby Einstein Octopus, he even learned how to make it sing. Why am I leaning? I look like I'm about to fall over. The 3 great-grandchildren to be, Matt's c...

Anyone else do this? This weekend is the start of the baby showers, one each day this weekend and then another one next Saturday. We started our registry a couple months ago since we had time and made changes as needed. Now that the showers are getting so close I have become a stalker of my own registry. I love looking at the lists and seeing things disappear, then trying to figure out who bought each item. We'll soon see if my guesses were right.

Some how 30 weeks seems likes a big milestone and so much closer to the end than even 29 weeks did, as of today I only have 68 days left (hopefully a few less). With the continued shoulder pain I am really hoping that baby comes a little (1-2 weeks) early to give me some relief. We think it is related to the hiatal hernia I had fixed many years ago, with the pressure of a growing baby things have loosened up again. Fingers crossed it fixes itself after she is born. I have not really run in nearly 2 weeks and the pelvic pain is now gone. I think I have been on the elliptical more these past couple weeks than I have all year. Between elliptical and biking and maybe a swim I think I can make it through. I do plan to run on Saturday with my team, they run Vegas in 3 weeks and I hope to be able to do a little running with them each week until the race. This week I took a breastfeeding class, kind of brought back some suppressed memories of being a 20 year old undergrad and having to te...

Not a very eventful week except the weather has actually gotten better and we have some sun! This was the week of great running and terrible running, I managed a pain free, but easy 9 miles on Sunday and then barely made it 1 mile on Thursday. We'll have to see what happens with this, but it’s looking like the running might be done or at least take another cut back. Cross training will be good, I'm actually starting to enjoy the elliptical and might start swimming regularly again. On top of this I got my second migraine of this pregnancy and it sucks to not be able to take anything besides Tylenol. Although, I really shouldn't complain too much considering I used to get them weekly, so I guess two in 7 months isn't terrible. The highlight of the week has been a very active baby!

Is this it, am I really done this time? Perfect night for a run, sunny and 55F, but it only lasted about 10 minutes. On Tuesday I started having this groin/pelvic pain and after some research figured it was related to the issues I've had with my pubic symphysis. My last run was on Sunday and I decided to try again tonight. I only made it a little over half a mile before I decided that pain was getting bad and I had to be done. I headed home for my big run of 1.25 miles, I was able to follow it with 45 pain free minutes on the eliptical. Now I just wait and see if I am done running at 29 weeks 1 day or if I just need a little break...

These are the words that Matt and I have heard many times in regards to life with a baby. I am not naive to think that things won't be different or change in some ways, but so many people are trying to make us believe that our lives are about to be over. We have heard all of the following (some multiple times) all preceded by the words "You just wait you'll...” -never lose the pregnancy weight -stop caring about how you look -stop running -stop traveling -not sleep -never go out to dinner again -want to get a minivan -only want to be around other people with kids -quit grad school -never have time alone -never do anything without bringing the kid(s) (I'm know there are more, but these are the most common) So I guess from this I should prepare to become a non-athletic, lazy woman who drives a minivan and never wants to leave the house, guess I'll have plenty of extra $ from the lack of traveling, running and dinners out to facilitate a new internet ...