It's Monday

Is it really May? I'm happy to report a mileage total of 70 miles for the month of April. The first 45 or so were purely running miles, and the rest being a combo of walking and running. A mile is a mile, right?

Melissa and I met up at the waterfront for a walk on Sunday. It was such a beautiful day!

I'm guessing we walked close to five miles. I didn't wear my Garmin, even though I thought about it. I'm trying to remember that I don't need to know my distance covered for every single step I take.

It was an amazing, relaxing walk and so nice to catch up. I'm secretly jealous that Melissa is training for her first marathon this month (!!!) and picked her brain about all things training. I can't wait to cheer her on and see her cross the finish line.

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It was a little rough going back to work today after a week off, but I made it :). Happy Monday!

It Was A Good Day

It's been two years since my little bff had surgery to repair his right kidney (more on that here).

Waiting in Pre-Op

He regularly has follow-up ultrasounds and visits with his surgeon which will continue until he's five years old, and up until now results have mixed. Last October's scan showed little to no improvement in the swelling of his kidney and a lack of growth in both kidneys. Today was another ultrasound day and I'm happy to report that everything looks good. The doctor told us swelling is down and even though Jack's kidneys will never be 100%, he said if they stay the way they are right now, he'd be pleased. "See you in a year" were the best words to hear.

I need to remember this day. When my stress and anxiety is getting a little out of control, I just need to take a deep breath and be thankful my baby is healthy.

Boost

Just when I thought I'd hung up my Mizunos until August, I had a great run. I went to they gym yesterday and ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill. I think the key to this successful run was a long warmup (half mile walk) and plentiful water. It was such a nice little confidence booster to find out my legs still have a little running power in them!

29 Weeks

Today is the 29 week mark of pregnancy! I thought I would do weekly recaps and pictures but clearly that never happened. I've felt really good during this pregnancy, but the one thing I can't help but remark is how different it is than when I was pregnant with Jack.

This photo was taken a month before I had Jack. At this point, I had gained a lot of weight and was feeling pretty miserable. I remember at the end being so incredibly anxious that I just couldn't focus on anything. Now, being pregnant with a two-year-old, I feel bad that I'm not focusing on my pregnancy as much. My focus is on the many other things I need to do everyday.

There were a few complications during pregnancy with Jack that caused me to have many visits to the doctor and midwives. I'm thankful (knock on wood) that there have been no such issues so far. My pregnancy brain is freaking me out though, causing me to believe that something will go wrong because nothing has gone wrong yet. My current thread of worry involves my next door neighbor (who doesn't particularly like me) who just happens to be a labor and delivery nurse. I've been up at night worrying that she will get assigned to me and then proceed with sabotage.

I'm finding my worries (whether rational or irrational) are often dissipated with exercise. Endorphins make you happy (maybe that's why my neighbor is so unhappy).

I'm also getting really excited to find out if it's a boy or girl. I can't believe I was able to resist the urge to find out and that it will be a surprise. At first I felt like I just KNEW it was a girl, and now I'm thinking it's a boy. It's one or the other, right?

Since I have no real theme for this post, here's a recap of pregnancy up until now:

Feeling: Physically great, emotionally up and down
Weight gain: 20 pounds
Cravings: No real cravings, and no real aversions- but really, really ready for a Switchback
Wearing: All maternity clothes and non maternity workout clothes- they're VERY tight
Running: Slowing down big time

In  other news, after a seven month hiatus, I rejoined facebook today. I'm not really sure why, but within five minutes, I remembered why I left to begin with. I'll see how long I last.

Getting Harder

At almost 29 weeks, running is getting hard. Easter morning (was it really two weeks ago?!?) was my last real run, seven miles with Jack in the jogger. Over the last couple of weeks, running has gotten harder, and my runs have turned to run / walks, and some to walks completely. I'm still going to be making an effort to get out there, even if I only can run half a mile and have to walk the other three.

Luckily, I have a buddy who doesn't mind if I'm running or walking. He likes to do a lot of the walking on his own now, too.

As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm feeling good. I really can't believe I'm already in the third trimester. I've gained just about twenty pounds, which I think is pretty normal for this point. My only complaint is that hormones are causing my emotions to be running high and feeling stressed the past couple of weeks hasn't helped. After a particularly tough day at work the other day I came home and had a few words with my neighbor. We put up with a lot with these neighbors- i.e. yelling and slamming doors (we live in a townhouse so we share a wall with them). Normally I would be upset about a rainy week ahead, but if it means I don't have to see them sprawled out in the parking lot with their obscene amount of toys and their one year old not knocking at our back door (with no parent in sight, nonetheless), I'm fine with the rain.

It's spring break over here and we have nothing on the agenda. I'm so ready.

Full Bloom

Hi there, yes I'm still here. Life is in full bloom and this three day weekend was much needed. Nesting mode is still going strong, and with about 13 weeks left until the baby arrives, I'm feeling like there's so much I need to do (the rational side of my brain tells me that most of the items on my "to do" list are not necessities).

I can't believe March has come and gone, and I'm proud to say I closed March with 63 running miles. At just about 27 weeks, running has become slower and harder. I have been using the jogger much more again since the weather has been cooperating, and getting used to running with that after a break is always tough. The good thing about having Jack as a running partner is that he doesn't care how slow I go. I'm trying to keep runs during the week around 3-5 miles and one longer one on the weekend, either six or seven. My midwives are still on board with me running as long as I keep my breathing under control. As much as I'm enjoying this pregnancy and running while pregnant, I'm itching to race. I have a feeling it will be hard attending the Vermont City Marathon as a spectator this year.

Teaching yoga has been fun, definitely making modifications for myself but I've tried not to let it affect my classes. I keep reminded myself that I don't need to be able to do everything I teach. My favorite part about teaching while pregnant is the when I have a new student come to class and they assume that because I'm pregnant, class will be easy. I like to prove them wrong!