kicks and giggles

For sure, my kicks to giggles ratio is terribly skewed in the direction of kicks! And my ribs on my right side sure do hurt.

I had my last "monthly" doctor's appoinment just yesterday. Blood pressure is at 110/60 and the baby's heart rate was at 150. The doc says the baby is growing at a good pace and the glucose tolerance test came back with good results.

Though I feel pretty hefty, it looks like I'm still under the 140 pound mark....

74 days to go and still running

Well, Tom and I successfully ran the SJ Merc 10K this past weekend. At a pace of 12:29, we barely broke a sweat and the baby remained relatively still! Of course, I still felt the bladder pressure at about mile 4, so we had to take a 5-ish minute break to wait for the porta potty. I never thought the sight of a porta potty would bring me such joy!

In any event, I've kinda decided that it's probably in the baby's best interest if I made this last 10K my last run until delivery day. I'll probably still train on the treadmill and maintain 2 or 3 mile runs there, but I'm unlikely to participate in any other events until after the baby is born and I've recovered.

Of course, I keep getting these flyers and emails about various past runs I've done and loved (the Nisene Marks half marathon, the Santa Cruz half marathon, in particular)...but I'm forsaking them this year for certain...!

As for pregnancy these days, the belly is definitely big and rotund and, at this point, even my maternity shirts don't close up over my tum tum...on cold days like today, the draft goes right up under the lip of my shirts!

Not too long ago, I started experiencing this sensation of having "bruised ribs" (how I described it to Tom...) and just 2 nights ago, he read in the Pregnancy Journal about how women can actually get bruised from the strength of the baby's kicks!

Well, who knows what really goes on in there...all I know is that my right side is a little sore there.

The baby's kicking is also more and more visible -- my belly wiggles and jiggles at some of the stronger kicks. Freaky.

Anyway, tomorrow is my last monthly doctor's appointment. From then on out, I see the doc every 2 weeks...

Sutter Maternity

Last night, Heather and David accompanied Tom and me to an orientation and tour of the Sutter facilities. Providing I'm at least 36 weeks when zyggy starts trying to get out and that I continue to be a "low-risk" pregnancy, we can pop the li'l pup in one of their 12 labor and delivery rooms.

There is a lot to like about this place. They're "family-centered", meaning friends and family can visit pretty much any time they'd/we'd like, and the family gets to stay all together in the same room, from labor and delivery on.

They also are heavy advocates of breast-feeding and, big bonus, they take little or no kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies pushing baby formulas (they are a not-for-profit facility).

I'm hoping to get one of four rooms that have a jacuzzi tub!

snowshoeing

We just got back from a weekend trip to Tahoe with Heather and Taliana where we managed to squeeze in a couple of short snowshoeing treks.

Heather initially started out with Taliana on her back -- a good 30 lbs. of weight, I imagine -- and so I was able to get a sense of just how slow I was traveling! Even with Taliana on her back, I was getting winded trying to keep up with Tom and Heather! It was crazy. Because we didn't pack Taliana's formula, we had to head back after about an hour of (mostly gradual) uphill climbing through very deep powder. This turned out to be a good thing as, by then, my bladder was pinched down a near-bursting bubble!

Our second snowshoe adventure was a mild hike along the lakeshore at Sugar Pine Point State Park which was, at least relatively flat and easy to manage....I'm beginning to resign myself to the fact that I may not be able to run through this entire pregnancy and I may well have to wean myself to a walk (as my doc has suggested!). As long as I can get in some nice workouts like the Tahoe excursions, I think I'll be fine. I'll probably start focusing more on walking, walking, walking while Tom does his normal gym routines. Then, I'll look ahead to training for events again, once the pup is out and about...

the big bloat

Last week, I got to the point where it began to get a little uncomfortable running. I'm actually wondering if I'll even be able to run the SJ Mercury 10K on the 26th. Right now, my current strategy is to run for 10 minutes (or a mile) and then walk for 5. Even then, I may feel a little more belly bounce than I'd like!

What's the belly bounce feel like? It feels like pressure and a stretched out tension in the lowest part of the belly -- like the skin is definitely streeeetching and the weight of my insides and the baby are what's pulling it all down!

Unfortunately, the shorts I ordered from FitMaternity just didn't fit the way I had hoped, so I now have to do a complicated exchange and just hope, hope, hope that the goods will come in on time!

In any case, the belly is definitely more unwieldy at this point -- when I shift my weight rolling over or even sometimes leaning from one side to the other, I can now feel uncomfy pressure in odd spots inside. It's definitely more challenging for me to tie my shoes -- I grunt and heave and gasp at the effort -- and when I do force myself to bend over, the acid starts roiling back up the esophagus.

Oh, did I mention the heartburn is hideous?

still running

Despite the bigger belly, I'm still running...and still hoping to run the SJ Mercury 10K in a few weeks. Last Monday, I ran the full 10K distance on the treadmill, keeping my heart rate below 160.

I started re-reading bits of Running and Pregnancy just to make sure that it's still ok to run at this stage of the game.

Sure enough, it doesn't say I can't, it just says to slow down and hydrate.

My doctor also mentioned a concern about the placenta detaching as I get bigger...so I decided I would buy some maternity shorts to protect against belly bounce and placental separation.

If the placenta should separate -- which so does not sound pleasant -- it's likely to result in a C-section and, depending on the severity, may even require an emergency C-section to deliver the baby early.

Well, needless to say, who wants that?!

So, the current plan is to monitor how I feel as we approach the 3.26 date. I'm hoping the fitness shorts will help!

If I can still manage the 3/26 run, I'm also hoping to run the 10K in the Santa Cruz Half Marathon/10K at the end of April (Tom may run the half).

And these will probably be the only 2 events I'll try to train for before we pop the pup! Afterwards, the plan is to try to get back on track with half-marathon training, but it's unlikely I'll be able to run any half-marathons until next spring. In the meantime, we have plans to participate in the inaugural Disneyland Half (Tom) and Family 5K run/walk (which I and the baby are going to walk).

97 days to go...

...so says the Pregnancy Journal!

It is exceedingly early in the morning, but Tom is awake getting ready for a conference he has to attend in Sacto, and I'm awake because I desperately needed to micturate at 4:58am and the baby has been swimming laps and doing neat tricks with its umbilical cord for about 40 minutes now, effectively keeping me awake!

So, rather than fight the "awake state," I may as well just go with it and write a little.

Today marks the first day of our first trimester. I had an appointment with Dr. Christy yesterday and got the latest numbers for me and the baby -- I'm now at a whopping 134 lbs. and my blood pressure reading was about 100/58 (and, about a week ago, we measured my circumference again and came up with 36 inches). The baby's heart rate, which the doc had a little bit of a time finding (due to a whole lotta internal baby activity) was 160. She says that's normal, though she also made some comment indicating that the baby seemed very active.

Since I know nothing of these things, I gotta take her info on faith!

Yesterday, I called Sutter Maternity and Surgery center to schedule our "tour" of the facilities and also called work HR to start my paperwork for maternity leave.

...I'm scheduled to start leave on May 22 and return to work on August 24 (providing I don't have any add'l vacation days to use up).

I'm getting more and more anxious about labor (already!)...!