Running in the First Trimester

Now that I'm well out of the first trimester, I feel like I can speak with the tiniest of authority on running in the first trimester - and thus far. I'm not a doctor, I don't even play one on TV, so of course listen to the advice of your doctor about what's best for you and your pregnancy.

One of the first things I did when I found out I was pregnant was call the doctor to a)schedule an appointment b) ask if running was still ok. They recommended more of a walk/jog until the first visit to ensure everything was going well. Thus, the wog was born. It was a big slow down from what I was used to, but honestly, it was a welcome break and good reason to take it easy - especially factoring in the June Alabama heat. I was doing .25 walk/.25 run.

 I wogged my way to my first appointment, where they found a bleed (nothing to do with running, happened when the baby implanted), so I was put on rest until they could check again at 8 weeks.

I was cleared at 8 weeks to start back running. My doctor is conservative and is very hesitant to tell me to sign up for a half, but told me to listen to my body, and since I was running before, it should be totally fine. I had to work my way back up to running, with a lot of walk breaks. I've slowly worked back up to where I run more than walk, but the speed is much slower, yet the effort feels the same. After a lot of research, and asking around, I really think keeping up my running, when done smart, has great benefits for me and Sunburst.

First run with Baby S.

A few things I've learned along the wog:

1. Listen to your body
Ugh. That phrase is so cliche I almost hate to put it on there, but it's true. If you are used to pushing the pace, racing up hills and battling the heat, it's a huge change of mindset that ALL those things are not ok. I've never followed the heart rate rule of thumb, as I understand it's outdated, but I do follow the talk test. You may feel like a crazy person talking to yourself out on your run, but it was a good indicator that if I struggled to speak, I was pushing too hard, (ignore that 11 minute pace on the Garmin, baby steals a lot of blood and energy) and it's time for a walk break. Hills usually always make me fail the test, and there are some steep ones in my hood, so I walk all of them and still feel I'm getting a great workout. The goal is to be active - not to set any records.You're lapping everyone on the couch, and hopefully preparing yourself for an easier delivery. Cheers to that.

2. Water is Your Friend....
I've never taken water on a run except when training for the full, but in the heat of summer, the danger of overheating and/or dehydrating scared me enough to make me bring along a bottle. Also be sure to drink another bottle when you get home. Baby is taking a lot out of you, if I haven't mentioned that.

3. Sort of
Make sure you have some bathroom breaks along the way. Even if it's just 3 miles. Even if you went before you left the house. The pounding makes the slightest fullness in the bladder will make it scream. Also scream worthy: when you just have to go, swear a car isn't coming, and one zooms by mid-stream. I pretended I was tying my shoe. With my tail out. I'm sure it was all very graceful. Don't let this happen to you. 

4. Enjoy
After years of training for races and changing distance up and down, it's been nice to run just for the sheer health benefits (for me and baby). Growing a life places a large demand on your body, so there is no shame in a slower pace, walk breaks, and just doing the best you can that day. I sound like Andy Griffith.

Happy running!

21 Weeks

How far along? 21 weeks. Hoping we are over halfway there and baby doesn't decide to come late. He is the size of a spaghetti squash! A spaghetti squash that is sitting on my sciatic nerve. More on that later.

Total weight gain: About 10 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Oh yes. Between what I've borrowed and what I've bought I feel like I have a whole new wardrobe. I may be singing a different tune in a few months. Announcement: the Gap Supersoft t-shirts and leggings are not false advertising. Super. Soft.

Stretch Marks: I haven't made a lot of effort to put on lots of lotions and potions, and that horrifies some people. Maybe I will start. But, I truly think stretch marks are genetic.

Sleep: Let me tell you about my best friend....the Snoogle. I thought I had a crush on it at first. Now I full on love it. It's cumbersome turning over in the night, but it's such a relief on the sciatic pain, it's worth it.

Best Moment this Week: Another sweet baby gift for baby boy! Also, getting closer to a name. I think.

Miss anything? Not really. Minus the pain in my tail, literally, I don't feel tons different. We are so enjoying getting ready for little boy.

Movement: I feel it more, but still not consistent. Disappointing for 21 weeks, but it is what it is.

Food Cravings: Nothing in particular. I've had a lot of cake this week. Mainly because it's there, and I pink puffy heart cake, but not so much a craving.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Overeating. The cost of family health insurance. I kid. Sort of.

Exercise: Baby and I ran 5 Saturday in the beautiful fall weather. To celebrate, I ordered a new pair of blue shoes.

Gender: All boy!

Labor signs: Nope.

Symptoms: The pain in the rear - literally. I broke down and brought my heating pad to work today. Remember that baby boy's head is a week ahead in size? And he's facing towards my back? That's a lot of pressure on the nerve. More reason for a pre-natal massage, right?

Most looking forward to: MS and I are taking a mental health day Friday to enjoy the fall weather and register when the store isn't too crowded. We'll see how much mental health comes of it, but I'm excited to spend the day with MS and plan for little boy, while sipping a salted caramel mocha.

Five on Friday

Another week come and gone - and it was a busy one. The weekend doesn't seem to slow down either, so let me take a quick minute for the Friday Five....

1. Dog Guilt
I worked late last night. Matt worked late last night. And I had to go to the grocery. I was speeding home like I had left my non-fur child. Dog Guilt is real, and Namath knows it. He ignored me most of the night. I still feel bad. I don't know what I will do when Sunburst enters the picture. If MS is reading this - I think Namath deserves a happy hour on the porch.

Turn that frown upside down, buddy.

2. Self-Medication - Opa!
Luckily, it's the perfect weekend to assuage my guilt with food. Yes, the Greek Food Festival is this weekend and it's magical. I'm plotting my schedule to see how many servings of pasticho I can get this weekend. It's heaven on a plate. I'm pretty sure they hand you a jar of bechamel at the pearly gates.

3. Do We Sense a Theme?
I did have a good reason for my grocery store run/dog abandonment last night. Tonight is game night, and it's a tailgate theme. My responsibility is dessert, and you know I had to go for the cream cheese two pack for the win. I'm sure everyone's heard of the cream cheese chocolate chip dip - or cookie dough dip on some circles - but it's worth mentioning just in case. 

4. Never Gonna Give You Up...
This was a new one to me at 6 am this morning - has anyone heard of getting Rick Rolled? MS was telling me about it as he was blasting this famous song while we got ready. I know I've said it before, but we are so blessed his fun spirit lives under our roof.

5. Couch Potato
Fall TV is baaaack. Almost with a vengeance - as Grey's Anatomy has been become almost painful to watch. But I can't stop. Looking forward to catching up with Homeland, Parenthood and Modern Family. We're a little behind, but at least there will be cream cheese dip to watch with.Winning.

Happy REAL first weekend of Fall!

20 Weeks

Whoaaa...we're halfway there...
I couldn't resist. 

I had to let Namath participate to mark the halfway point.

How far along? 20 weeks. Baby is the size of a mango/banana. This week marks changing from crown to rump length to crown to foot length, now that baby is spreading his legs and kicking more. Go Sunburst!

Total weight gain: 7 lbs. How long do I have to keep recording this?

Maternity Clothes: Definitely moved to the maternity pants. Can still wear regular tops, especially with my looong tanks that go underneath to seal any gaps. I took advantage of a Gap fall sale to grab some long sleeve tee's and the supersoft leggings everyone raves about.

Stretch Marks: Nope.

Sleep: I'm not sure if never being tired first trimester has caught up with me, but I've been in bed by 8:30 most of this week.

Best Moment this Week: Shopping for little boy's nursery. I think it's coming together in my mind - which these days doesn't mean a whole lot. Excited for fabric swatches to come in and see if I can move full speed ahead.

Miss anything? My hands not smelling like maple syrup. Seriously. Did anyone else have this?! MS even asked me one morning if I got up in the night to eat waffles. Good idea...but no. Just call me Aunt Jemima.

Movement: I've felt enough little pops and wiggles that I don't think I'm imagining it. But it's just not consistent yet. If I feed the baby, will he grow faster and in turn, move more? That's my theory.

Food Cravings: Sweets don't make me quite as sick as they did before. I don't know if this is a good or bad thing. Maybe I drowned the sickness in all the icing last week. Like shock therapy.

Anything making you queasy or sick: The living will questions I had to answer upon pre-registering at the hospital. Yikes. Moving on...

Exercise: It was a good week. Baby and I got a few runs in, and lifted some weights.I'll be lifting that car seat in no time.

Gender: Boy!! I'm officially very outnumbered. Now playing the name game. Forget Trivia Pursuit. This game is HARD.

Labor signs:Nope.

Symptoms: The sciatic nerve has been screaming this week. I've screamed back a couple times. Thank God for the Snoogle. Really giving some thought to the chiropractor.

And We're Back...

It's Monday again. Some of us are more ready than others. But, hey! It feels like Fall out! And that's something to be excited about.

This is his excited face. 

I started off the weekend just like every weekend should start - with a pedicure at my favorite nail place. Color is OPI Over the Taupe - in case you were wondering.

Saturday we headed to Jasper to look for a glider. This place had awesome lamps. I'm a sucker for a lamp.

We quickly got down to business and picked this bad boy out. It's a recliner too, but I don't think you can tell. Multiple people told  me it's nice to be able to recline in case, hypothetically of course, the only way your baby will sleep is on you, then you can just recline back and catch some sleep before the alarm clock goes off. We picked a gray fabric. I'm always a little nervous to see what the tiny swatch of fabric is going to look like on an entire chair/couch/love seat. First world problems.

MS came home with a little prize for the man cave. We moved past the leather and got fabric as well. He told me it would be great for him to take Sunburst up stairs and give me some alone time. I'm writing it down here, so the masses will hear this promise.

I think he likes it.

 Sunday night we made breakfast for dinner in honor of the series finale of Dexter. I don't know how to make over easy eggs, and I hate ham, so this was as close as I got to the Dexter breakfast. I'm still deciding how I feel about the finale. Series finale's always leave me underwhelmed - maybe it's all the build up.

 

So we are back - with painted toenails, Dexter behind us, and new chairs in 4-6 weeks. I think that's a successful weekend. Happy Monday to you and yours.

Five on Friday

My favorite post of the week!

1. End of a Kill Spree

I believe I've mentioned this show 19 times this season, but this horse deserves to be beaten (sliced up?) again, since Sunday is the SERIES FINALE. We are going to make an evening of it, with a themed dinner and all (not sliced up people, get your mind out of the plastic wrap). Most of my lame jokes have probably gone unappreciated if you don't watch Dexter, or even if you do. Needless to say, I'm excited. In a bittersweet sort of way.

2. Fall Back

It's getting darker earlier on my morning runs, which led me to remember the days are getting shorter. (Thinking about getting my IQ tested soon). Am I the only one who finds this concept confusing? I can never remember how it shakes out every year. Obviously fall back means its dark when I leave work and super depressing, but is it dark in the mornings too? Why do I have no recollection of this from year to year?

3. Rock Me Mama

We are going glider shopping this weekend. Which in a nutshell, shakes out to sitting in a bunch of comfortable chairs to see which is the most comfortable. I can think of worse ways to spend a Saturday.
I'm hoping for something in a gray....

4. On the Hunt

Bargain Hunt recently opened close to our house. It's been taunting us for months - I had chalked it up to a dollar store type store. Oh, no. It's much more fabulous than that. It's like Home Goods/TJ Maxx and Big Lots all combined and this was the product. Everything from clothes to car seats to furniture to sunscreen. My understanding is most items are liquidations or returns from large online stores (overstock.com, amazon.com). So items are still new in box. They are dated when they hit the shelves, and you get a little card when you go in with dates and corresponding percentages off. The longer an item sits on the shelf, the more you save. I should mention the prices are already great to start with. If you have one around you, or live in Birmingham, you should definitely go.

5.Let Me Updgrade Ya...
In case you live under a rock, the iOS 7 was released. I said I was going to let the kinks work out before updating, but I have the patience of a gnat, so I made the move first thing Thursday morning. (spoiler alert: it takes almost 2 hours).

People are complaining it's too bright, but I like the fresh look. I'm all about some change. I feel like I got a whole new phone and all I did was stare at the 'preparing to update' screen for 2 hours. Not a bad trade.

Side Note: Can we all act like grown adults and learn to google? Facebook is not the place to ask software questions. "HEY! Does anyone know how to close open apps in the new iPhone software?? I'm SO confused!" Lest you be tempted to be that person, a quick little tutorial here. 

Rainy weekend ahead. Hopefully this means cooler tips next week - which will lead to full paneled jeans and all things pumpkin. The two things are not entirely unrelated.

Stewardship

For the month of September, we are doing a church wide study of stewardship. I think like everyone else, I get a slight knot in my stomach when we start talking about money,  because it's one of those subjects that isn't openly broached outside the four walls of our house.

We've been doing our best to go through the nightly journal, and it's given us some great time to openly talk about how we spend, save and give. It took me about .002 seconds into day one to figure out to me, money = security. If we just saved a little bit more, spent a little bit less, I would feel better. I wouldn't have anxiety when my car starts making a weird sound or Namath needs immediate knee surgery (ha). A secure life is always justwithin grasp...

So needless to say, this quote in Sunday's worship guide hit me hard.

"We want treasures because they give us security. But because of decay (moisture, rust, thieves...), treasures lead us to security's opposite - anxiety. Because our riches bring us into constant war with decay, they do not bring us rest. It is a great service of Jesus, therefore, to liberate us here from anxiety about gain. Jesus teaches the truest "liberation theology." 

                                                        - Adolf Schlatter 

Inherently, there is nothing wrong with seeking financial security. Just as there's nothing wrong with a lot of the things we place importance on. It's the gray area when it goes from being a good thing to being one of the most important things. 

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth...."

If everything comes from God, how am I using what He gives me?

Would someone else use it better?