Baby Boy is here!

So I am really behind on posting this obviously... not only did I have a baby this month, but we also moved! Yes, it was crazy. But we made it!

Declan was born on August 17! He was 7 lbs, 6 oz, 20.5" inches long with a head full of hair. He is beautiful and obviously the cutest baby I've ever seen (I'm admittedly biased). He is very healthy, breastfeeding like a champ, and growing by the day! I've never been so happy to be so sleep deprived. We had quite a journey getting him here, which involved a 2.5 day failed induction, 3 nights spent at the hospital before he was born, and far more IV's, drugs, and interventions than I ever wanted. I don't really want to bore you with my birth story - the important part is that he is here, he is healthy, and my blood pressure is now behaving normally as well.

Declan (DEHK-lan): Irish origin, meaning "full of goodness"

1 day old

10 days old, perfecting his "Olan Mills portrait studio close-up" pose

This blog was started to be about running, and obviously I'm doing none of that. In fact, I haven't even thought about exercising. Do I feel like a slug? Yes. But I know I'm not ready yet, and I'm absolutely not going to jump back into it anytime soon. I did get my BOB stroller, and I look forward to taking him out on walks soon, but I want to ease back into things. And honestly, I really want to enjoy this time while he's so small. He will only be a tiny baby for a very short amount of time, and I don't want to spend that time thinking about training or anything of that nature. I'm content to sit around a little longer and spend most of my time looking at his little face!

RWP - 38 Weeks- The Finale

I supposed that 'running while pregnant' is a misnomer this week. I had my last pregnant workout on Tuesday. It was 3 miles, mostly walking, with a few slow running intervals thrown in (maybe .5-1 of running).

38 week, making my husband's singlet look like a tent!

One thing I didn't mention in my 37 week update was that my blood pressure was a little high at my regular midwife visit that week. I definitely get anxiety at the doctor's office, so that paired with late pregnancy pushed my BP into a range that she wasn't comfortable with. She also mentioned that most women see a slight drop in BP in the second trimester, and that I'd never had that drop. She wanted to monitor it closely, but didn't recommend that I stop exercising or anything of that nature. I bought BP wrist cuff monitor and at home, by blood pressure was never out of the normal range. I went back again two days later and it was still elevated. I had a non-stress test and an ultrasound, both of which went well and showed that baby D was happy and healthy in there. I was sent home again with no specific instructions.

I went back this past Thursday, and I was so incredibly anxious about my blood pressure that I was nearly panicked as I sat down at the monitor. SO not helpful, I know - but I couldn't help it. My first blood pressure reading was sky high and caused enough alarm that I was sent to L&D to be admitted for monitoring. I was very distraught and went up again for another non-stress test and ultrasound, which again showed that the baby was great. Over the next few hours, my blood pressure dropped back to the upper limit of the acceptable range. After 6 hours at the hospital, they let me go home, but formally diagnosed me with pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) and both the MFM and midwife recommended induction at 39 weeks. I was told to stop exercising and take it easy. I bought another BP cuff and since then I've never had a home reading out of the normal range. It is incredibly frustrating to say the least. I definitely have a case of 'white coat hypertension.'

I go back today to get monitored again, so there's a good possibility that I'll be induced in the next few days. Unless my blood pressure magically drops today, it looks like I'll be meeting baby D sooner than expected! I am very excited to meet him, but absolutely petrified of the induction. I really wanted the chance to go into labor on my own with as little intervention as possible, but at this point I have to do what's best for baby D and my own health.

It has been a really emotional and nerve-wracking couple of weeks for me. I feel like my body is betraying me. I ran a marathon a month before I got pregnant! I taught 20 hours of fitness classes a week until late in my second trimester! I ran until 38 weeks! It feels so unfair to suddenly be suffering from something that I never even considered a possibility for myself. As I understand it, PIH can strike anyone, and there is really nothing I could have done to prevent it. The only real solution is delivery.

There is a chance I'll have higher blood pressure after delivery as well - but it should go down in the weeks after delivery. I don't know when I'll be back to running, but I am really looking forward to it - after almost a week without any exercise I already feel like a sloth. I get winded walking up the 12 steps in my apartment! But my first priority will be my son (!!!) and getting myself healthy again.

RWP - 37 Weeks

Hello, full term!

Another week has come and gone. It is now August, which means I'm having a baby this month! Which is so exciting and so terrifying. I'm not afraid to admit that I'm scared too! Become a parent is kind of a big deal!

This was another great week in pregnant exercise land! I got new shoes - scored a pair of Asics Gel Neo-33's on clearance. They fit great right out of the box and feel great! I am so not big on paying a lot for running/training shoes - I usually look for last season's model on sale.

My week looked like this:

Monday: 3 miles, ran 1.25 mi
Tuesday: walked 3 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles, ran 1.25
Thursday: 3 miles, ran .5 mi
Friday: rest
Saturday: 3 miles, "ran" 1 mi
Sunday: 3 miles, "ran" 1 mi (and a froyo stop at 2.5, because, why the hell not?)

18 miles total! One of my highest totals in a while! Ran 5 miles of that total. I'm cool with that. :)

I emphasize the word "run" because my physical motion is one of running, but my speed was so slow at times that my husband just walked briskly alongside me. But I think that it still counts, and I hate the word 'jogging', so I'm rolling with it.

I've also been doing some cat/cow and pigeon stretches at home to help with my back/hip pain. My hip is still sore, but not nearly as bad as it was a week ago. Oddly enough, it hurts more to walk that run - I think that the walking is a longer stride/step for me, so it brings on more pain. My typical pattern is to walk for at least 1 mile to start, and then I run a little, and stop every 1/2-1 mile for walk breaks. I'm totally not into pushing it. I chat with my husband the whole time so I know I'm not even close to being out of breath.

My belly is starting to 'drop' so the support belt actually felt pretty good this week. I won't lie, I am getting more aches and pains all over, but all of them are normal at this stage in pregnancy. It still feels good to me to keep moving, which is the goal! We had an ultrasound this week and little guy looks great - he has a big head (not surprised, both of us have large heads) and we even got to see him kick himself in the face on screen! The MFM had a pretty good laugh at that one! I'm just jealous of his flexibility. Putting on anything with leg holes these days is a serious challenge for me.

Yes, yes they are

This is going to be a very eventful week for us - our movers are coming to pack up most of our household goods, and then we are just waiting on baby to join us! I see my midwife weekly now, so we'll see what this week brings.

37 Weeks! Wore my own shirt for a change. #nosleevesforlife

RWP - 36 Weeks

We are getting into the home stretch here - less than a month until D day!

This was such a good week for me! The weather was much more bearable and I was able to get out and moving every day this week. I won't lie, there are some days where I am just generally uncomfortable, but overall, I felt great this week. I decided to stop myself from speaking in absolutes - "my running days are over" - etc. I'm just taking things day by day.

My week of workouts:

Monday: walked 1.5 miles
Tuesday:  2.75 miles, ran .5 mi
Wednesday: 3.3 miles, ran 1.5 mi
Thursday: 3.5 miles, ran 2 mi
Friday: lots of walking in the city - Aquarium and the North End!
Saturday: 2.85 miles, ran 1 mi
Sunday: 2.7 miles, ran .5 mi

Total: 17 miles, ran 5.5 miles! At 36 weeks pregnant, I consider this a win. :) My only issues this week has been shin/calf pain and some reoccurance of piriformis/sciatic pain. I tried to add squats back into my routine but I think it's triggering my piriformis pain, so I think I am going to just stop doing them. I'm counting on my legs being strong enough from everything I've done to this point - the pain just isn't worth it. The shin pain is a little frustrating - I am going to get some new shoes and see if that helps. My current shoes are only about 4-5 months old, but after looking at the soles I was really shocked at the wear - they look like shoes of mine that are 1+ year old! I guess the extra weight wears them out faster? I also taught my classes quite a bit in them in my last month at the gym, so that also probably caused faster wear.

Otherwise we are just trying to make sure that we are prepared as we can be for baby's arrival! I'll technically be full term this week - crazy! We are also moving soon - so we are trying to coordinate a move as well, which is going to be tricky with a baby coming. Our movers come very soon to pack most of our household goods, and then we'll just be staying in our apartment with the essentials, waiting on baby D to arrive! It's a little crazy, but it has to happen, so I'm trying not to stress about it. We just have to make sure we're organized for it!

36 weeks - still wearing the husband's singlets!

RWP - 35 Weeks

I think the title of this may be slightly deceiving, but I'll go with it anyway!

I got in almost 14 miles this week... but only 1 mile of that was actual running. The rest was walking. The heat was killer this week and there was just no way I could safely run in it. Most days it way still close to 90 degrees at dusk! I also started to have some pain and discomfort this week so I erred on the side of caution and just walked.

Monday: Walked 2.5 miles
Tuesday: 2.75 miles, ran 1 mile of it
Wednesday: Walked 2.75 miles
Thursday: Off
Friday: My birthday! Off! It was also like the hottest day EVER in Boston. It felt like Vegas!
Saturday: Walked 3 miles
Sunday: Walked 2.6 miles

There were also some squats in there - I try to do 60 or so on most days (3 sets of 20).

I really thought my running days might be over, but I'm not so sure. We've had a break in the heat and I've felt pretty good, so we'll see what this week holds. Oddly enough, after 2 days of inactivity last week, I started to have some swelling and pain issues in my ankles, and ice/elevation was of little to no help. I got out and walked briskly on Saturday night, and the pain and swelling dissipated almost immediately. I think I function much better when I'm active!

I turned 31 on Friday - we kept it pretty low key. We went to IKEA, picked out a new sofa, ate some meatballs, and bought a dresser for the little guy. We shopped around a little more for him, and then ate dinner at my favorite restaurant in our neighborhood. I was in bed by 10. It was a good day, even it was 100 degrees!

Do you think I qualify?

Virgin Bloody Mary at brunch. So not the same without the vodka.

baby laundry! 

OMG Submarine outfit. SO CUTE

So, onward into week 36 - less than a month until my due date! I'm also hoping to actually get back to pictures of me in workout gear, it's pretty hilarious!

RWP - 34 Weeks

Another week down!

This week started off fantastic and ended with exhaustion. Pregnancy is so weird. One day you feel like superwoman and the next it's a monumental effort to even get off the sofa!

I only exercised 3 days this week.

Tuesday - Ran 3.1 miles. Best run I've had in weeks! The temps and humidity were unseasonably low and I am sure that helped. My third mile was at a 9:40 pace! I haven't seen the 9:00s in at least a month. I felt totally exhilarated and thought running was looking up for me!

Thursday - Ran 3 miles. Hotter and humid again, but overall it was fine. Probably walked 1 mile of the 3.

Saturday - 2.9 miles. were in CT for the weekend so we took advantage of having a high school track very close by. I went pretty slow and walked about 1 mile of it.

Friday I woke up feeling a lot of bladder pressure and I went to see my midwife. Turns out everything was fine. I guess I've been lucky to not experience that until almost 35 weeks! My best guess is that he's running out of room and might have shifted a bit to make me feel the pressure. I am measuring right on track and gaining weight like a champ (ugh). I have officially gained 25 pounds. I am right on track with it, but I was hoping not to get to 30 lbs - but it looks like it will be inevitable.

Insomnia got me pretty hard over the weekend too. It's really my own fault - I went out of town and forgot to bring my Unisom. I don't sleep well anyway, but being away from home makes it even worse. I slept maybe 4-5 hours a night (of very broken sleep). Combined with being insanely hot all weekend, I ended up feeling like I'd been hit by a truck on Sunday. I felt like a cranky toddler - on the verge of tears for no reason all day! haha. Turns out I just needed a nap and a good night's sleep.

I am feeling large and in charge these days. My belly is starting to 'round out' at the top, and his feet are reaching levels of my ribcage that I never knew were possible! Deep breaths are definitely not happening.

On a good note, I got my very own car this week! We sold my car when we left California, since having two cars in Boston wasn't necessary. Since we're moving to a rural area soon, we'll need to have two cars again. After weeks of searching, I went with the VW Jetta Hybrid. I love it!

The Bump & The Car

I also had a lovely baby shower this weekend! My dear friends in CT threw a BBQ-baby shower this weekend. It was fantastic! It was great to see them and celebrate with them! This baby is so lucky and blessed already. :)

baby practice!

How cute is this? 

The whole crew!

I mustache you a question!

Guys, I have to admit, I am feeling myself slow down. And I fought it at first, but I'm considering caving into it. I walk so much slower, it takes me a few tries to get out of the car, and I hang on to every handrail on stairs and ramps. I mean, loading the dishwasher is painful and exhausting, ha. My head wants to keep exercising, but my heart doesn't. So we'll just see what this next week holds.

RWP - 33 Weeks

Another week of pregnancy in the books here!

This was a good week! I had more good days than bad days, which is always good. We had the mother of all heatwaves here in Boston, so that kind of sucked, but I worked around it. I am just not willing to chance overheating these days, and seeing as how it was in the 90s for 5 days straight, my workouts had to move mostly indoors.

My week of workouts:

Monday: Ran 3.5 miles
Tuesday: Ran 3 miles
Wednesday: Bike trainer, 11 miles, 35 minutes
Thursday: Off, 4th of July! I ate burgers and watched fireworks instead. :)
Friday: Gym - Elliptical 30 mins, 25 min strength training, 15 min recumbent bike
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Ran/Walked 3 miles

So almost 10 miles on foot and 5 days of workouts! I will call that a major success at this stage in my pregnancy game. I took a good bit of walk breaks, but overall it was still mostly running (very slowly) so dammit, it still counts as running!

33 weeks. Now wearing my husband's singlets (glad he doesn't like sleeves either)

I also enjoyed doing the elliptical and bike at the gym (and the glorious A/C) but woke up Saturday generally feeling terrible, along with excruciating left piriformis pain. I've battled this pain since February - I think it began with overuse from teaching fitness classes (when I was probably doing 200+ squats and lunges a day) and never really resolved itself. I've tried stretching and foam rolling, but none have really offered me anymore than very temporary relief. I caved and made an appointment with a massage therapist this week - hopefully she can help me work it out out a bit. I really want to stay active as long as I can! I could deal with the pain up until now because it really only bothered me in specific positions - particularly bending over or standing up (putting on shoes and socks has been painful for a while). But this week it hurts just to sit or to even sleep on the affected hip, so it was time to get professional help.

I also got my very own car this week! This is very exciting in my world because we've been a one-car family for 2 years now - we sold my car before moving to Boston. Now that we're having a baby and moving to a much more rural area soon, I will need a way to get around with the baby. After several weeks of online research and going to a few dealerships, I decided on the Jetta Hybrid. It is beautiful and I love it! I only had a few requirements - I wanted excellent fuel economy, leather interior, and navigation. This fulfills all those very well!

Obligatory new car photo

Onward to week 34! Time is really flying by!