Halfway Done...

Just to get it out of the way, I do realize that it is time for the required 20 week belly shot but the truth is I haven't taken it yet. So, at some point it will get up here but it will obviously be a bit inaccurate - oh well. The good news is that I am halfway to baby!

Time seems to fly these days. I know that the holidays are making things seem even crazier than usual. It seems like we have something going on every weekend from now until Christmas. Which is good, I think. The faster time goes the closer we get to April and meeting the baby and me not being pregnant anymore. I have visions of a warm summer evening where I am wearing regular clothes (you know, the kind without huge elastic bands at the waist) and I am enjoying a refreshing margarita on the porch with my neighbors, holding the new baby and watching Noah run around like a crazy person. All of that after enjoying a nice morning run of course.

Exercise has been put on the back burner - at least this past week anyway. Noah had to stay home from school all week (well, they were only in school Monday and Tuesday before the Thanksgiving holiday) because we had major intestinal issues. Long story short, my son had not pooped in 11 days and the doctor had to put him on laxatives and enemas for a number of days to clear out his poor little system. So my (finally) potty trained 3 year old was back in pull-ups and diapers while we were house bound for 3 days of what I am calling his "colon cleanse". Which meant no gym time for me. To be fair, Wes did tell me to go when he got home from work but by 6 o'clock the thought of driving 20 minutes each way just to spin around on an elliptical machine did not appeal to me at all. So, aside from a 3 mile walk on Thanksgiving morning, no exercising of any kind has been done this week. (On the plus side the "colon cleanse" was successful and we are getting back to normal -well, normal for Noah!)

This week it is back on the wagon with exercise and hopefully all the yummy Turkey Day leftovers will be gone and I can have a refrigerator full of semi-healthy food again!

"Uncle!"

Last week I went to the doctor - at 18 weeks - and all was well. Peed in the cup, got weighed (5.5 pounds gained so far), and heard the heartbeat. Also scheduled ultrasound for next month to find out the sex! Very excited to do that!

While I was there I talked my doctor about the discomfort I have been feeling while running. Clearly she does not have many patients who are runners because she kept looking at me in a confused/pitying way and finally said, "Well, that's why most people just stick to walking during pregnancy." I tried to explain my reasons for wanting to continue running. She tried to understand but ultimately said, "Obviously you aren't hurting yourself by doing it, but if it's uncomfortable for you, why keep going?" I think we finally agreed to disagree about the sanity of a person who would want to run at almost 5 months pregnant and the appointment ended uneventfully.

I went home and decided I would just keep going even if it was a little uncomfortable because I am a runner, right? What's a little discomfort? So, trying to keep to my plan of running twice a week, I went for 3 miles on Sunday. It was fine while I was running (except for the constant need to pee) but after I stopped...well that was a different story. I had actual pain in my pelvic region and could hardly perform any movement without grimacing. By the end of the night I cried uncle. I just might not be one of those people who can run the whole way through pregnancy. I imagine this pain will only get worse if I keep pushing it so I may be following my doctor's advice after all...if it is that uncomfortable why torture myself? Of course, logically I know this is the right decision, but the thought of not being able to run until May at the earliest kind of makes me want to throw up. I can't even talk about it. However, I have been thinking maybe I should change the name of my blog to Frazzled Mother Walking or Frazzled Mother Spinning Aimlessly on the Elliptical or Frazzled Mother Slowly Going Crazy......

So this morning I am off to power walk through my neighborhood and try not to mutter cuss words under my breath at the runners that pass me.

What I Did During Week 17

This was the first week that I have had my gym membership, so on Wednesday I set out to take advantage of it. (Monday was cleaning while Noah was at school - although I did walk 2 miles - and Tuesday was my design class - anyway...). I was not too excited about the idea of spending all my workout time stuck on an elliptical trainer so I know that I walked in with a scowl on my face, but an elliptical workout is certainly better than no workout so off I went. I was very surprised my how much I enjoyed it. I went about 40 minutes and worked up a wonderful sweat and had absolutely no pain in the pelvic area whatsoever! I followed that up with a mini strength session. I say "mini" because I was kind of just checking out the facility and only did some half-hearted sets on each of the machines. The cool thing is that there is a separate little weight room - you know, away from the main weight room where all the big guys pump iron - that has all the machines you need lined up in a nice little circuit. Chest, arms, back, legs, - boom, you've got yourself a 30 minute strength session right there. I am awful about strength training so I figure that if I can't run, maybe I could spend the extra time finally working out my puny arms. I went back yesterday and did another 40 minutes (this time intervals) on the elliptical and my legs were burning when I got off (yes!) and it felt great. I am going to try a run sometime this weekend to see if maybe I can cross train most of the time and at least try to run once a week or so. We'll see how it goes.

Also, I just finished reading the book Born to Run for the second time. I love that book! Whenever someone asks my why I want to run, I want to hand the book over and just say, read this. Read about how are ancestors were literally born to run. How they ran not just as a way of live but a way to literally stay alive. How man is uniquely created, over all other animals, to run long distances. How it is just in recent decades that we have ruined are innate running selves with poor diet and laziness. After reading it again I just want to completely strip my diet down to totally natural, unprocessed foods that completely fuel my body and go out and run! (I guess I will be waiting a bit on the running part but the reworking of my diet is something I am working on now. What better time to rid my daily life of processed crap than while I am pregnant?) Of course I decided that this Thursday and then went out to dinner last night for Wes' birthday and stuffed myself silly with fried green tomatoes, shrimp and grits, and some pecan pie. Oops. It was a celebration. Today will be better!

My New Plan

I wish I could say that last week was a successful running week, but I can't. In fact it felt like the total opposite.

I ran on Tuesday and went 3 miles and felt okay. Until afterwards when I went to stretch and realized that my bladder felt as though someone had played kickball with it. So I waited. Went for a few walks...and waited some more. Then on Saturday I tried to run 5 miles. I willed myself through 2 before I let myself stop. I hate stopping, but I was really feeling sore and I had to pee. So I walked half a mile to my house, made a quick pit stop, and literally came out of the house at a jog (or I might have talked myself out of continuing). I ran 2 more miles and then walked the last half mile for a total of 4 miles of running and 1 of walking. At the end? I felt beat up.

I finally admitted to myself that I don't think my half marathon is going to happen. I hate it, but it just doesn't seem like my body is up for the running (even though my mind and spirit are pushing so hard for it!) Whenever I run I am getting a lot of pain in the pubic bone and am also afraid that my bladder may never be the same. Tomorrow marks 17 weeks and I am infuriated that I haven't been able to hold out longer. But that is irrational right? Shouldn't I be proud that I tried to keep running at all? That I have made exercise and nutrition a priority this time? That for 4 months of this pregnancy I gave it my all? I should be proud of that...and maybe soon I will be, but right now I am just pissed.

So, my new game plan is this. I have joined a gym. (Kuddos to my mother-in-law for finding one that lets you do a month to month membership so that I can quit once I have the baby and am running again.) My new goal is to keep up a general level of fitness so that this spring I am not starting from square one. My new friends will be the elliptical machine, the bike, and the treadmill (for some serious incline walking). I still plan on trying to fit a run in periodically but I am giving myself permission to stop if I am uncomfortable. For now I will go be the crazy pregnant lady who sweats all over the gym cardio equipment all the while dreaming of next spring and summer when I will go back to running whenever I want, as fast as I want, and picking a new race to train for.