Week in Review

Week three of the Runner's World Run Streak and I'm still at it.  This was the last week of a pair of shoes so things were sore.  Very sore.  Here we go...

Monday - 5 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
I varied the speed over 5 miles from 10:00/miles down to an 8:00/mile.  Also, 3 reps of 10 of deadlifts (65 pounds), squats (65 pounds), and shoulder presses (45 pounds).

Tuesday - 2 miles with stroller, 0.25 hours strength training
Two miles easy with the stroller in the neighborhood.  21-15-9 reps of one arm cleans (10 pounds) and TRX rows.

Wednesday - 5 miles
Most miles between 8:30-9:30 minute/miles.

Thursday - 2 miles with stroller
Dave and I ran together with the stroller.

Friday - 4 miles
Dave ran a race in the center of town, so I ran from home to meet him there.  Details on this race tomorrow.

Saturday - 5.55 miles trail
The plan was to do a lot longer but I was really beat.  I ran with the group which is the first time I've done that in about a year.  They dropped me like a bad habit and I wasn't even going slow.  My overall pace was a 9:04.

Sunday - 2 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
50-40-30-20-10 reps of jump ropes and BOSU crunches.

Totals:
Run - 25.55 miles
Strength training - 0.75 hours

Radio U 5K

In my quest to do 12 races this year, I have some serious making up to do since I missed basically the first six months of this year being super pregnant.  So I found some short, cheaper, races to do all right together.  This week I did the RadioU 5K held at a local metropark.  The course description said a mixture of paved path, crushed limestone, and grass.  Now, I've been going to this park since I was a kid and I have NEVER seen anything except the loop paved path, so I had no idea where I'd be racing.  We showed up to this race a little later than we should have (welcome to our new life with a baby) which created some rushing for a bathroom stop and picking up my packet.  Of course by the time I picked up my packet they were out of my shirt size so I did not get a shirt.  If they could only refund $10 to make up for that!  After all of that, there was only about 5 minutes left until the start of the race.

Looking around, um, there didn't appear to be that much competition.  This was a fundraiser for the local Christian radio station and most people appeared to be doing the race not for competition but rather to support the cause.  I'm cool with that.  Anyway, when the race director called for participants to line up, I moved my way pretty close to the start.  The race started and I was off pretty quickly.  The race started on a paved path but quickly turned into trail.  And no, it was not crushed limestone.  It was all-out trail with roots, big rocks, and lots of ups and downs and twists to it.  Plus it was not very wide.  I'm not gonna lie, I never ran cross country in high school and my trail running skills are not exactly up to par, so although I can push myself up an uphill, I am scared shitless to fly down them.  I was getting passed by big dudes flying down the hills and it was scaring me to death.  I really had to hold back so I didn't fall.  Around the one mile mark we were into a grassy area that continued until the turn around.  I started counting...I was the seventh female and then quickly got passed by a perky young thing.  Teenagers!  So I was in eighth.  And that's where I would stay until the finish.

The race had no medals and no age group awards so soon after I finished we left to go home.  Results were posted today.  My official time was 25:27 (8:11 pace) which I don't think is bad for the terrain.  I actually was the 9th overall female as someone got me on chip time.  (Seriously, why do you need to chip time a 5K with less than 300 people?)  I have one more 5K planned, this time running with the stroller, and then I'll get into the real meat of my scheduling including a lot of trail races.  I'm looking forward to it!

I love my treadmill!!!

If you remember, I got a new treadmill for Christmas.  I used it a ton during the winter as it was cold, I was pregnant, and I just didn't want to be outside.  Now that the weather is better and the baby is here, I still am using it every week to supplement my weekly workouts.  And I still love it!  (Well, maybe not as much as EMZ loves her treadmill, but I like it a lot.)

Yesterday I had planned on running at the park and doing a long trail run, but time slipped away from me and I didn't get to.  I thought I would do the run this morning, but when I woke up it was pouring outside.  Ugh!  Nevermind.  So, I decided to give it a go on my treadmill using all the incline features.  I chose a challenging workout that was supposed to take me 1 hour, would get me somewhere around 5 miles, and would burn like a zillion calories.  This workout was no joke.  After a short warmup the incline started and progressed basically every couple of minutes.  It just kept inclining and inclining and went all the way up to 12% THREE times!!!  I was barely jogging at that speed, but I was trying.  And I was dripping sweat everywhere!  I had hoped to start the program over at the end of the hour to get in 9 total miles, but I was wiped out at the end of that mile and had only made it 4.28 miles.  Dude, if I plan on doing this whole trail running thing, I might have to use the incline features on the treadmill more.  Which will totally suck, but sure will make me a better runner.

First Run With the Stroller

Today I did my first run with the baby in the jogging stroller.  We have communicated with just about every person imaginable regarding when is an alright time to use the stroller as a running stroller.  (We have a BOB Revolution - a stroller specifically make for running.)  The manufacture says wait until the baby is six months old.  That's what the people at the baby store say too.  However, why would they make it so you can put the car seat in it if it is not intended to be used that way.  We've talked to the pediatrician about it numerous times and he's always had this nervous look on his face.  At our last appointment we brought it up again, this time mentioning that the car seat locked into the stroller.  He said, "Well that changes everything!"  So today I bundled the baby up, locked the car seat in, positioned his head good and tight using some rolled up hand towels, and set off on a small run.

 

I loved it.  He loved it.  The ride was so smooth - much smoother than walking on the sidewalks.  Our front wheel of the stroller does not lock into place which made turning easy.  I ran with only one hand on the stroller at a time so I could swing my other arm freely.  Because I'm short I had no problem running behind the stroller without knocking into it.  And nothing seemed really heavy or labored.  I don't know how fast I was going and I don't care.  So, I signed up for the local Fourth of July race and plan to run with him in the stroller, for fun.  I can't wait to share all my miles with Anderson.

Week in Review

I started the Runner's World summer run challenge (run at least a mile every day from Memorial Day until the Fourth of July) so I have something to report for every day this week!

Monday - 3 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
Easy run on the treadmill followed by 21-15-9 reps of deadlifts at 65 pounds.

Tuesday - 2 mile run, 2000 yard swim
Two miles easy run in the neighborhood.  The 2000 yard swim included a lot of fast and slow.  Funny enough after being pregnant for the last year there wasn't a whole lot of difference between slow and fast in the pool.  :)

Wednesday - 3 mile run

Thursday - 8 miles
I had wanted to go run the trails, but didn't have time, so I just ran 8 miles from home in the oppressive heat.  Luckily, it turned into a descending run but it wasn't designed that way.
Mile 1 - 9:28
Mile 2 - 9:07
Mile 3 - 8:59
Mile 4 - 8:56
Mile 5 - 8:46
Mile 6 - 8:48
Mile 7 - 8:36
Mile 8 - 8:45

Friday - 2 miles treadmill

Saturday - OSU Ross Heart Hospital Aquathlon (1800 yard swim, 3.1 mile run)
You can read about it here.

Sunday - 1 mile treadmill
I did this run at 9:30 PM on the treadmill because I wanted to keep the Runner's World run streak alive.

Totals
Run - 22.1 miles
Swim - 3800 yards
Strength - 0.25 hours

OSU Ross Heart Hospital Aquathlon

I am my own worst critic.  Having lost most of the pregnancy weight and gotten right back into running, I would expect to be able to race where I was.  But I can't.  I'm nowhere near as fast.  It's hard to remember that I've basically taken a year off.  It frustrates me.

A year ago I wanted to get into aquathlon.  I thought this would be a great sport for me: I'm a decent swimmer and obviously can keep up with the fasties in the run.  But then I just had fun and had great results in running so I decided not to do any aquathlon races last year.  Despite being pregnant, I had my focus most of the year on this aquathlon.  I thought, "hey, I can win this thing."  Going into the race this morning I was nervous.  I wanted to win.  Right off the bat, though, I knew I was in for a long race.

The swim was "1 mile".  According to many people there it was much longer - more like 1.3 miles.  This was my first open water swim in two years and only my fourth swim total since I had the baby.  The water was chilly but not overwhelming.  I eased my way in with the starting gun and found my rhythm.  I got hit in the head a couple of times but then I found some space.  I think I was sighting pretty well as I literally hit EVERY DAMN BUOY! 

 Visual proof I hit the buoy.

The girl in front of me couldn't sight, however, as she kept crossing right in front of me and cutting off my stroke.  When we hit the buoys to turn around I became quite aware of how windy it was.  The waves crashed over my head.  Every time I went to sight I got hit with water in my face.  The course was two loops and I kept thinking..."I wonder how mad Dave would be if I just stopped after the first loop?"  Nevertheless, I kept going.  Eventually I finished the stupid swim with a 47:43.  Holy slowness!  Really?  I wasn't last; wasn't first.  Whatever.

This race was weird.  There were actually two "races" going on.  One was just a one mile open water swim and the other was the aquathlon (1 mile swim; 5K run).  No one wore chips in the swim.  It was hand-timed.  Your time stopped when your feet hit the beach.  You told the timer your name and she recorded your time.  If you were doing the aquathlon, your transition time did not count.  So, I walked to transition, took my time getting off my wetsuit, put on my shoes, hat, and shirt, and then started my run only when I hit the line.  The run was chipped time by the bib.  Funny enough, the race director has all the swim times on the website but no run times.  Hmmm....

 I started off looking so fresh...

Anyway, the run was down the boardwalk (cement) until it ended.  Then you went through a grass trail until the roadway for another mile or so.  Then you turned around and came back.  I was wearing my watch but forgot to record any splits.  They were close to 9:00s however, which I just found to be absurd.  There's no way I suck this bad?!  I kept saying to myself, "You're doing this for Anderson."  I wanted to set a good example for my son.  Whatever.  He didn't care.  He was asleep in the stroller.  I passed maybe two people on the run and ended with a time in the 27:00s.  I'm hoping the run course was a little long too or else that is a personal worst for a 5K.

 ...and ended looking like death.

There have been no results posted so I have no idea how I actually did.  Physically and mentally, I felt awful.  Maybe I had my expectations too high but I really thought I would do better than I did.  Let's look at the positives, though.  I just had a baby.  I'm already out there doing my second race.  I was not fearful of the open water swim.  I finished the race despite wanting to quit.  And I already fit into my tiny running/triathlon clothes.  Victories all around.  Onto the next race.

The baby did this himself.  This was not staged.

May Totals

May was back to business: running and swimming.  It didn't take me very long to discover I was tired of walking and it was time to run.  I am so happy to be back.

Running - 80.03 miles

Swimming - 4500 yards

Strength Training - 1.5 hours

I visited the YMCA only three times for a cost per visit of $28.45.  Now that the baby has had all his shots I'll be able to take him to the Y with me and hopefully go more often.  Plus the outdoor pool is now open and I can't wait to introduce him to the water.  He's gonna be a swimmer.

Also in May I read two books:

1. "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
2. "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" by Mindy Kaling

I'm now up to 10 books read in 2013 and I have two already checked out for June.  Unless something crazy happens, I will definitely be hitting my 12 books goal in 2013. 

And sticking with the 13 in '13 theme:

I am back down to my original pre-baby size, although I still have about 10 pounds to go for the weight.  I am hoping that will just melt off as I run more so I won't have to count calories.  I hate to count calories.

I'm just shy of 250 miles run for the year, which is a quarter of the way to my goal of 1000 miles.  I better get cracking if I'm going to make that goal.

I finally ran my first race of the year.  Unfortunately, I've mapped out a schedule and it looks like I may not reach 12 races.  I may need to find one or two more. 

June is going to be great, I hope.  I am now doing the Runner's World summer run streak, which hopefully means lots and lots of running miles.  I also have two races planned.  And as I mentioned, I have two more books checked out of the library.  Plus, the boy is super cute and I am taking tons of pictures.  It's going to be a great summer.

Let's Go Streaking Again!

Last March I run streaked for a month.  Yep, I ran every single day for 31 days straight.  It was hard; it was monotonous, but in the end I think it really jump started my fitness and training.  I did almost all my workouts without a watch or Garmin so I had no idea who fast I was going or if I was improving.  I loved it though!  So when Runner's World tweeted that there would be a running streak starting Memorial Day and ending the Fourth of July I thought, why not?  The only rule is you have to run at least one mile every day between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.  I can do that!  My "real training" doesn't start until the middle of June so I can certainly incorporate running into the daily schedule.  I need to drop the remaining baby weight and kick start my fitness anyway.  Who's with me?

Two Months Already?

Week in Review

Blah, blah, blah.  Good week of running, swimming, weight lifting.  Let's get to it.

Monday - 5 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours of strength training
I started with four miles on the treadmill alternative 11:00/miles and 10:00/miles per quarter mile.  Then I did 3 X 400 at a 9:00/mile followed by 21 kettlebell swings (10 lbs) and 10 pushups on my knees.  I have absolutely no core strength anymore so the pushups were tough.  Lastly I did a quarter mile cool down.

Tuesday - 1500 yards swimming
This was supposed to be a 2000 yard swim but I cut it short because I was running out of time and Dave was watching the baby during work hours.  This was an easy workout consisting of pull and fins and lots of bilateral breathing.

Wednesday - 3 miles neighborhood

Thursday - Off

Friday - 7.3 trail miles at Blendon Woods
You can read about the run here.

Saturday - Off

Sunday - 3.1 miles
Field of Heroes 5K.  You can read about the race here.

Totals:
Running - 18.4 miles
Swimming - 1500 yards
Strength Training - 0.25 hours

Field of Heroes 5K 2013

Finally, I ran a race!

Earlier this week I just went crazy online and found races and signed up.  I think I might even be able to get to my 12 races for the year, that's how crazy I went.  In fact, I have three races in three weeks.  I. CAN'T. WAIT.

I started out with a local 5K today.  The run I did on Friday had been great: 7.3 trail miles at a 9:05 average with 3.5 of those miles under a 9:00 pace.  I was pretty confident I might be able to run in the 8:00s for a 5K and come in right around a 25:00ish.  The weather was chilly for a Memorial Day run but great for a faster race.  The race was small - around 300 people - so I lined up just a little back from the start line.  Of course, I was lined up behind a small girl and in front of someone who looked serious.  Hmm, this ought to be interesting.

Anderson looked ready to race.

 

I sorta look ready to race.

Even with a bad self-seeding I got off pretty good and just got comfortable.  I wasn't expecting much from this race.  I just wanted to use it as a jumping off point for the year.  I hit the first mile marker at 7:52.  Okay, well, that's faster than I thought I would be and I'm not dying.  

Before the second mile marker was a water stop.  I took some water, or so I thought, and had a sip.  Yuck!  Orange Gatorade.  Seriously, who needs Gatorade in a 5K?  (I guess you could make the argument, who needs water in a 5K?)  I hit the second mile marker at 7:50.  Wow!  Consistent.

But then I was in no man's land.  I had passed a bunch of people but there was really no one ahead of me to catch.  The Gatorade had caused a cramp in my stomach and so I stopped and walked for a blink of a second.  Who walks in a 5K?  I got moving again and saw Dave and the munchkin.  I felt like hell and might have looked like it too.

 

Dave pointed out to me that I was the fifth female and that there was a little girl ahead of me.  Yep, I was being beat not only by a dog that had passed me earlier, but by a 10 year old girl.  Awesome.  I tried my hardest to catch that little girl, pulling a 7:38 third mile, but came up a little short.  Although in the official results I did beat her by one second.  Gotta love chip timing.

 

I was the fourth overall female finisher with a time of 24:06.  It's a long way from where I was last year at this time, but pretty good for having a C-section just 8 weeks ago.  It's a good jumping off point for the rest of the season.

 

 

For Anne.

Thursday I found out that one of my former athletes (I coached high school track for six years) had passed away.  Suicide.  I think she was all of 20 years old.  I cried.  I was angry.  I wish I had stayed in touch and wound have known she was in trouble.  I would have at least tried to help.  Friday I did what I could.  I ran.  I ran to remember the girls I loved as my own kids.  I ran to get out the sadness and anger.  I ran for Anne.

Foto Friday

Week in Review

This week I set my alarm to get up at 7:00 every morning and yet, not once did I actually get up at that time.  It's so hard when the bug gets up multiple times during the night.  I'm so tired!  Therefore, I did a little scrambling to get in my workouts but I made it work. 

Monday - 3 miles treadmill, 0.25 hours strength training
Because I didn't get up when the alarm was set for (shoot, I turned it off in the middle of the night), I had to take the baby to the basement with me to run on the treadmill.  He dozed off in his swing while I put in the miles.  I also did a little strength training: 7x clean and jerk at 55 pounds.

Tuesday - 1000 yard swim
Again I tried today to get up at 7:00, but didn't.  I asked Dave if he would give me an hour, put the baby in the swing while he worked, and I headed to the pool to do 1000 yards straight just to get back in the pool.  I was surprised how easily this swim seemed.  Good thing...there's an open water swim race in a few weeks.

Wednesday - 4 miles (35:49 - 8:56 pace)
The hottest day of the year and I did this run at like 10:00am.  I thought I was going to melt.  I went a little faster than my ability level right now, but I have a hard time slowing down once I establish a pace.

Thursday - Off

Friday - Off

Saturday - 4 miles treadmill
Dave's been going to the group runs and since I can't put the baby in the running stroller yet to actually run, I could only do the run on the treadmill.  Unfortunately this time he did not doze off and I probably hopped off the treadmill about 100 times to put his pacifier back in his mouth.

Sunday - 5.25 miles trail run (51:56 - 9:54 pace)
There is a metro park right around the corner from us that has some trail running.  Not many trails, but I was able to double up on the trails to get in a pretty good run.  I kept telling myself to run a conservative and easy pace, but I really only have one pace.  I only had one mile over a 10:00 pace.

Totals:
Running - 16:25 miles
Strength training - 0.25 hours

The '80s Vomited on my Running Clothes

I went shopping today and got vomited on.

You see, one of my trail races, the 50K, is held during deer hunting season in Ohio and there is a disclaimer on the race website: "We have carefully worked with the park staff to ensure the safety of the runners and that the entire race course is not in any area permitted for hunting. Although we do not anticipate any issues, it is recommended that you do not wear anything white during the race and are encouraged to wear bright colors, especially orange."

Hmm, I don't have anything orange or really anything in a bright color.

Luckily, the '80s are back and there are lots of running clothes right now in neon colors.  So, I loaded up my $100 from mother's day, a little birthday money, and a coupon, and headed down to the sporting goods store.  And boy did the '80s vomit on me.  I walked away with an orange tank, orange shorts, pink tank, black shorts, yellow t-shirt, and a yellow jacket.  The race is in December so who knows what the weather will be.  I scored all of this for $170 which I paid in cash.

No one is going to miss seeing me on the trails.

Foto Friday

I've been internally debating how much I want to post about the baby.  It's not his choice to show up on my blog.  And I don't want any weirdos creeping on him, ya know?  So, I've been taking daily pictures of them and posting them on Instagram as I have it marked private.  If you are interested in having access to my Instagram, send me an email and let me know you're a real person and I'll give you my username and most likely accept your friend request.

But today's picture I took is too precious not to share.  Seriously, I make cute babies.

Thursday Thoughts

With the plans coming together to take on trail running and some longer races later this year, it's time to load the iPod up with some good tunes with which to train.  Yes, I wear an iPod when I run.  The problem is I moved, or I tried to move, my music from one computer to another and basically lost everything.  I went from about a gazillion songs to about 147.  And I don't know where those other bajillion songs went to.  So, I need your help.  What are some good songs to run to?  What do I absolutely need to download?  Help me load up the iPod.  There are miles and miles to run!

Fixed!

*This is a long overdue post.  It did not take weeks to get our oven fixed.*

Dave and I are cheap.  Well, thrifty.  When our oven broke we tried to find the part we thought we needed locally, but came up empty.  Instead we ordered on the internet with no rush on the shipping.  Thrifty.  We tracked the package which started out FedEx or UPS and eventually wound up in the hands of our mailman.

Our mail service leaves a lot to be desired.  For starters, the gentleman who usually helps me at the post office is, well, dumb.  I go to the post office a lot.  He knows who I am because he always asks me about my running and races.  I mail almost the exact same thing every time, yet he always asks me if I want upgraded shipping, insurance, tracking, etc.  No!  Do I ever mail anything except first class?  No!  Stop asking me those stupid questions and just mail my package!  I even go up to the window and say, I would like this mailed first class.  Same questions, every!damn!time!  The person who delivers our mail might be the laziest mailman.  Our mail service is a little dude in a truck that puts our mail into our mailbox at the end of our driveway.  He does it all from his truck.  I say he is lazy because I've seen him knock over every trashcan in the neighborhood just to get his mail in the box.  He will not leave his truck!

Where am I going with this?

Like I said, we tracked our oven part and the day it was to be delivered a neighbor car got parked in front of our mailbox.  Late in the day our flag was still up on our mailbox and I was pissed that our mail did not get delivered that day.  Get out of your effing truck and deliver our mail!  I was ready to call the post office and make a complaint.  I went out to check the mailbox just in case.  And luckily, the mail was there.  The lazy bastard just didn't put down the flag.

Dave started to dismantle the electronics in the oven.  It became pretty obvious why our oven was not working....

The good news is, the new part worked once Dave got it all put together.  The bad news is that the clock did not peel off as cleanly as the internet said it would.

I don't really care how ugly the clock looks.  The oven works and that's all that matters.  If we ever move someday we will get a new clock face to make it look better.

My Mother's Day

I had a great first mother's day.

The day started great when the little bug decided to let us sleep in.  This was great as we had worked a photo booth event the evening before and had stayed up WAY too late.  Then Dave surprised me by making me pancakes.  I love pancakes.  They're so easy to make and yet I never make them.  After breakfast Dave took the baby and let me go for a run.  I managed five miles.  It wasn't pretty but I got it done.  Dave, the baby, and Sloopy (my dog) got me great cards along with some flowers.  Plus, they got me $100 cash to spend any way I want and to have the afternoon to myself to spend it.

I was still pretty tired from the previous evening so I decided to take a rain check on the shopping trip and take a nap with the baby instead.  The day ended with a trip to Dairy Queen for some yummy blizzards.

Now I've got big shoes to fill for Dave's upcoming first father's day.

Week in Review

So much for easing back into things.  I went full-throttle this week.  It's been six week; I'm allowed!

Monday - 4.25 miles run/walk; 0.50 hours of weight training
I actually did two workouts today.  I started the day with three miles of 3 minutes walking, 2 minutes running.  The walks were in the 14:00/mile range and the runs were in the 9:00/mile range.  Then in the afternoon Dave joined me for a little weight training.  We did 5 rounds of 400m run (treadmill) followed by 15 overhead squats.  I did my 400s really conservatively, greater than 10:00/miles and did my overhead squats with 35 pounds.  My core - abs and back - were torn apart from pregnancy so it's going to be a long process of getting them back.

Tuesday - off

Wednesday - 3 miles run/walk
Again today I followed the plan of 3 minutes of walking followed by 2 minutes of running.  The walks were in the 14:00s and the runs were sub 9:00s.  The last two minute segment I averaged an 8:27 pace.

Thursday - 3 mile run
And this is when I said enough of this walking shit.  Walking takes too long and I just wanted to get the workout done.  The runs from earlier in the week were started to feel more and more normal so I thought that I would just run.  And I did without any walking, no garmin, and no watch.  This was a great run.

Friday - off

Saturday - 1.5 mile run; 0.5 hours of weight training
This was one combined workout of 3 rounds of 800m run, 50 back extensions, and 25 sit-ups/crunches.  The sit-ups were supposed to be full sit-ups and I was supposed to do 50 of them, but I just couldn't manage them.  I did the first round as sit-ups, second round as crunches, and the last round back to sit-ups. 

Sunday - 5 mile run
Five miles might have been a little advantageous.  Nevertheless, I did the run with minimal breaks and a good pace - 9:00/mile.

Totals:
Run/Walk - 16.75 miles
Other - 1 hour of strength training

Next week I hope to get my buns to the pool.  After all, there is an aquathlon on the schedule in three weeks and if I don't practice swimming it's probably going to suck.

The Approach

I haven't the foggiest idea how to attack training for a trail marathon and/or an ultra.  First and foremost, I want to train for the half marathon and to try to a PR with somewhere in the 1:30-1:35 range (doable).  I am once again going to follow the Run Less Run Faster plan because (a) I have limited time with two jobs and a baby, (b) I am prone to injury, do not recover very quickly, and cannot do high mileage, and (c) it works.  If, and it's still a big IF, I decide to tack on the trail marathon and/or ultra I think I will only add one more day of running onto the plan which would be a long, slow trail run.  I see it working like this:

Monday - track work
Tuesday - swim
Wednesday - mid-week speed long run
Thursday - swim
Friday - tempo run
Saturday - off (I'll let Dave run with the group - he doesn't get married to training plans like I do)
Sunday - long, slow trail run

Right now with Anderson being a whopping six weeks old this seems doable and completely insane.  I am having trouble getting anything done because I am always holding him.  You put him down for two minutes and he cries.  When he sleeps I sleep.  And he doesn't sleep very long (2-3 hour segments).  But Dave has also promised me that I can continue my training and of course, I'm allowing him to also.  He's already signed up for a half marathon in September.  This will save our marriage and our sanity.

Have you trained for an ultra?  How much mileage did you do?  How many days per week did you run? 

The Long and Short of It

Andrea texted me yesterday saying she wanted to go back to running marathons because they were "easier" than racing halfs.  I returned the text, laughing, because I said I didn't plan on running a marathon until after the age of forty because I wanted to spend the next few years working on my speed.  We both laughed knowing we would change our minds.

That took all of less than 24 hours.

I haven't done a race, racing or participating, since November.  I've got the itch really bad.  I don't care if it's fast or slow, long or short, I just want to get out there and race again.  But, I do have one race plan for this year.  I was hoping to train for and RACE a half marathon this fall.  Leading up to this I was hoping to do 5Ks, 10Ks, 10 milers, etc. to work on being fast, fast, fast. 

But I've also had this pull to do some trail running even though it's not easy to find a trail around here and well, I've not really done any trail running.  And I can't get it out of my head that I'd like to try a 50K.  Yeah, I don't know, but it just interests me.  There was one locally last November that would have been perfect for me because it was mostly on roads (I would consider myself a road runner).  I'm not sure, though, if they're going to have this one in 2013.  Then I got searching the internet and I started to find some races.  First I found a marathon on November 3rd.  Then I found a 50K on December 7th.  Hmmm, interesting.  I could train to race the half marathon and yet still be able to do these races.  Then I thought, but I've never done a true trail race (I've done two races on towpaths - not exactly the same), so I though maybe I should find something shorter to start with and I found a 10 miler in Dave's hometown on August 17th.  Dave and I could both do this race if Dave's parents were in town and willing to watch the baby for a while. 

Honestly, I have no idea what my running plans should be for the rest of the year.  Remember when you used to be able to decide, "hey I want to run a race this weekend" and then go and sign up the day of?  Yeah, that just doesn't happen anymore.  Plus, I have to do a little more planning with photo booth events and now that we have a baby.

What do you think?  Do you think you can gain speed by going long?  Have you ever done a true trail race?  Have you ever gone longer than a marathon?

Week in Review

As mentioned earlier this week, I am back to running - this time with permission from the doctor.  I started the week walking and ended the week with a walk, but in the middle I did some running. 

Monday - 3 mile walk
Dave and I loaded up the kiddo and hit the golf course for a loop.  I walked, Dave ran, and then he came back to finish the walk with me.  The plan was to go to the bike shop afterwards to pick up some new tires for Dave's bike but the shop had closed at 6:00.  What store closes at six?  Are we in an old people's neighborhood?  We picked up some dinner on the square and that was that.

Tuesday - 2 mile walk
A short family two mile walk before my parents had us over for dinner.

Wednesday - 3 mile run/walk
Finally approved to run!  I celebrated not only with the margarita socks but by doing a little three miles to the end of the park and back.  I did 4 minutes of walking, 1 minute of running for an average of about 13:00/mile

Thursday - 3 mile run/walk
Same as yesterday!

Friday - 1.63 mile run/walk
I was planning on doing 4 miles but when I got out there (a) I just wasn't feeling it and (b) I had some guilt regarding leaving Dave with the kiddo for that long when he hadn't done a workout.  So, I just did a short loop in the neighborhood.

Saturday - off

Sunday - 3 mile walk
Just took the stroller out for a long walk with The Bug.

Total - 16.63 miles

Foto Friday

Halfway through my pregnancy my mom started telling me that I needed to be keeping this and that for Anderson's baby book.  Say what now?  I've got to make a baby book?  Crap!  So, right now there's a pile of stuff sitting in the hallway to be put into a baby book.  One other thing I guess I am supposed to do is create a birth announcement.  I mean, didn't I do that on the blog and on Facebook?  Now I've got to send one through the mail?!  For the last couple of weeks I've been putting this off and finally got around to doing it this week on Shutterfly.  Um, if you think you're getting one of these, don't be running out to the mailbox any time soon.  You'll be lucky if I get everything done by his first birthday.

I'm Back!!!

I had this whole post written with picture included.  I went to save it and then publish it, but because I never shut down my computer or close any windows and the fact that my computer is like 6 or 7 years old and starting to get tired, I lost everything I had written.  So here I go again...

Tuesday I had my postpartum follow up at my doctor.  First, I'm going to do a little bragging.  :)  At my final weigh in before having the baby I was up exactly 30 pounds from my starting weight.  I knew it took me nine months to gain all that weight and it was going to take me a while to take it off.  But, just two weeks after the baby was born I was already fitting into my pre-pregnancy skinny jeans.  My body isn't quite there - I have some swelling around the incision and some rolls I don't quite like - but overall I'm amazed how quickly my body has bounced back.  I was really surprised when I weighed in at the doctor's office and had already dropped 23 pounds.  I attribute that to (a) not gaining a whole lot of weight and (b) working out before, after, and during my pregnancy.  I'm not sure I'm going to try really hard to lose those last seven pounds as I was pretty small when I got pregnant as I was training for a marathon.  I am hoping to just tighten everything back up and get back to at least a good fighting weight.

Secondly, let's talk about the good stuff.  I asked the doctor about running and swimming.  I mentioned to her that I had been walking a lot, including 18+ total miles the previous week.  She said I could go ahead and start adding in some light jogging to my walking (um, sure, I might have already done that last week) and that by six weeks postpartum I'd be good to go.  She said it was perfectly okay to return to swimming as the cesarean incision was healed.

Leaving the doctor's appointment I was absolutely giddy.  I made a "return-to-running" plan.  This week I would do 4 minutes of walking, 1 minute of running; next week would be 3 minutes of walking, 2 minutes of running; the following week as 2 minutes of walking, 3 minutes of running etc. until I was back to fully running.  Today I headed out for a three mile run/walk and celebrated my return with my margarita socks:

I'm back, y'all.

I'm a Reading Fool

I've been a reading fool.  I finished three books in April alone.  When you're up half the night feeding the baby and trying to get him back to sleep, it's easy to get some reading done.  I have found it really great to be able to read books on my iPad and thankfully our library has a great selection of e-books (although I wish they had more).

Books I read in April:

"Sway" by Amber McRee Turner
I actually got this book free on iBooks from a promotional card at Starbucks.  This is a story about a girl who idolizes her mother, but finds out that it's her dad that is the hero.

"Forever" by Judy Blume
This book was like reading a teen romance novel.  Quick read, but a little trashy and inappropriate for a Judy Blume book.

"That's Why I'm Here" by Chris Spielman
Every Columbus-ite knows Chris and Stefanie Spielman.  They're legendary here.  Chris played football for OSU and eventually in the pros.  Stefanie, his high school sweetheart and wife, got breast cancer at the age of 30 and succumb to it 10 years later.  This is their story as written by Chris.  I used to teach their youngest daughter gymnastics and frankly, was quite intimated by the Spielmans.  This book is sad, but powerful and peaceful.

What are you reading?  What can you recommend (that I can get read in 21 days from the library)?

April Totals

The baby has come and it was time to get back to work.  For the first four weeks post-pregnancy all I did was walk with increasing length and speed as the weeks went by.  By the fifth week, however, I was feeling anxious and ready to do a little running.  When I was by myself I did a little running.  You know, from here to the corner, almost like a fartlek run.  Today is my follow up doctor's appointment.  I am hoping she gives me the green light to return to running and swimming.

Run / Walk Total - 52.25 miles
Annual Miles - 167.45

Week in Review

I finally got the opportunity to head out by myself this week to do a longer walk.  I added in some jogging into that walk.  I put a snarky comment on Twitter about adding in some running and I got some feedback that I did just have major abdominal surgery.  Yes I did.  And no I haven't been cleared by the doctor to return to running but I stopped bleeding weeks ago and the incision is healed and I only would run in small blocks in between walks.  I know, patience, patience.

Monday - 3 mile walk

Tuesday - 3 mile walk

Wednesday - off, we had friends over for dinner (without a working oven)

Thursday - 3 mile walk

Friday - 4.25 mile walk/jog

Saturday - 2 mile walk

Sunday - 3 mile walk/jog

Total - 18.25 miles

Ramen Noodles, Anyone?

We were very fortunate that the first couple weeks with Anderson we were provided with many meals from our friends, family, neighbors, and church folks.  We enjoyed good meals like homemade chicken and noodle soup, meatloaf, johnny marzetti, lasagna, chicken divan, etc.  We feasted for weeks.  But now that it has been a month since Anderson's arrival, the meals have stopped and now we must fend for ourselves.  Luckily, we were smart and made some meals and froze them before the baby's birth.  Earlier this week we had one of those meals in the oven.  We were sitting on the couch, playing with the baby, when we hear this POP! from the kitchen.  We went in to discover that the oven was no longer on and none of the buttons on the control board would work.  Oh crap!  Dave went to the basement to see that the circuit was turned off.  He turned it back on and the oven started making more popping noises at me.  We tested the stove and all the burners still worked but we could not get the oven to turn back on.  Doing a little googling, it looks like our control panel on our oven got blown.  I don't know if it's the age of our stove or what, but the part was not available locally and we had to order it on the internet.  We can't fix our oven until next week!  Thank goodness we have the local pizza shop on speed dial.

Week in Review

The weather somewhat resembled spring this week (minus Saturday) so Baby A and I got many opportunities to get out and enjoy some walking in the sunshine and warmer temperatures.  I'm starting to feel good and normal and the walks are getting easier.  I can't wait to get back to running!

Monday - 1.5 miles
We intended to do more miles, but the boy wouldn't cooperate.  He was crying and screaming so we cut the walk short.

Tuesday - 3 miles

Wednesday - 3 miles

Thursday - 3 miles

Friday - Off

Saturday - Off
It snowed a little today.  I certainly wasn't taking the baby out in that crap and after having spent all winter on the treadmill I didn't want to do another walk inside.

Sunday - 3 miles
I had hoped to go out by myself and do about four miles today, but I had Dave watch the baby while I took a nap so I didn't think it was fair to have him watch him for another hour while I went out and walked.  Instead Dave hit the bike trainer and I took the baby with me for a walk.  Hopefully next week I can get out by myself and get in a good solid long walk.

Total - 13.5 miles

Shopping on Saturday

After three plus weeks of being inside and doing nothing but babybabybaby, I thought I was going insane yesterday.  So, Dave promised me an afternoon to myself and getting out of the house.  I planned a short shopping trip of buying a pair of shoes and a quick trip to the baby store.  I wanted a pair of Chucks for work (yeah, that's what I get to wear to work).  I knew what color and what size.  This trip would be short.  But when I got to DSW, they didn't have my size in either navy or grey.  Argh!  So, I started just looking around at other shoes.  I had a $20 off coupon and it was getting ready to expire.  You have to use it right?  And then I stumbled onto a pair of Saucony Kinvara for $69.  These shoes would normally cost me $100 and they were on sale for $69 and I had a coupon for $20 off making the shoes $49.  I couldn't pass that up.  Sure, they're ugly, but $49?!  You can't pass that up.  I even tweeted my excitement to Saucony and DSW and DSW responded telling me I did get a good deal.  Yay!

I did wind up finding the Chucks at Kohls for cheaper than I could have gotten them at DSW.

Foto Friday

The most recent photo dump of my kiddo.  Yeah, this is what it's going to be like now.  :)

Miscellany for Thursday

• Let's start with the obvious.  On Monday I wished my friends good luck at Boston on my Facebook status and stated that I was super-jealous.  I had planned on qualifying and being in Boston (pre-pregnancy).  I wanted to run it so badly.  But in light of the recent events, I'm obviously glad I wasn't there.
• The news in Boston makes me so mad.  Those marathoners weren't there to make a political statement.  They were there as a celebration of all the hard work they had put in to finally get there.  The spectators were there to cheer them on in their celebration.  The Boston Marathon is a joyous event that has now been tainted for, probably, dumb, dumb reasons.
• However, I am not scared to go back and run Boston.  In fact, I can't wait to run it again.  Although, I have no plans for running a marathon any time in the near or distant future.  I will, though, rethink bringing my son to the race.
• Moving on....the weather this week has been beautiful and I have been a walking fool with the little bug.  We have put many miles already on the BOB.  Now if only he'd sleep through the whole walk instead of waking up and crying and screaming his head off.  People are staring at us!
• I'm thinking of cutting my bangs again.  I know.  I know.
• I'm starting to get incredibly anxious about racing again.  I can't wait to get the all clear from my doctor to get back to working out.  Although the walking is good for me and at least I can do something, I'm really looking forward to running and swimming.
• My 35th birthday was two days ago and I had a great day.  I got some great presents including a case for my iPad, some Yurbuds, $$$$, and Dave gave me a beautiful charm for my necklace that's a scripted letter 'A'.  That's what I really wanted to keep little baby A close to me at all times.
• Our friends and people we don't even know have been so good to us since the baby has arrived.  In the last week we have only cooked one meal (on my birthday) and only ordered two pizzas.  All our other meals have been provided to us.  We still have a backlog in our refrigerator as well as some meals we froze before we had the baby.
• I have to admit, I kinda miss work.  Not so much the work, just being able to get out of the house, socialize, and wear real clothes.  Although I don't want the little bug to grow up any faster than he already is, I am looking forward to him being old enough that I can take him outside in public.  I don't go back to work until mid-June, but I am looking forward to it.
• That's all for now.  Lots of pictures tomorrow.

Week in Review

I am very lucky.  Or maybe all that running, walking, and swimming I did during my pregnancy paid off.  Around two weeks post-pregnancy and I am already back in my pre-pregnancy jeans.  Zipped and buttoned!  I also wasted no time getting back at it in hopes of racing competitively this summer.  All I've been cleared to do at this point is walk, which is fine because the cesarean incision still really hurts.  This week I did a total of 9 miles and I hope to ramp that up in the coming weeks and hope to be running again by mid-May. 

Monday - 1 mile
Took the family out for a walk.  Dave walked the dog and I strolled the baby down to the park in our neighborhood so Sloopy could run in the open space.

Tuesday -2 miles
I went out on my own in the neighborhood for a brisk two mile walk.  Things still feel really weird - my hips feel out of place, my back hurts, I feel like I have no ab muscles.  I hope everything starts feeling normal again soon.

Wednesday - Nothing

Thursday - Nothing

Friday - 2 miles, treadmill
I busted out a fast two miles on the treadmill this evening.  It was probably a little too fast than what I should be doing.  I also included a little bit of jogging which I know I'm not supposed to be doing.  The jogging felt weird as my insides were jiggling.

Saturday - Nothing
We had lots of people come over to the house today to check out the baby as well as a visit from Dave's family.  There was not time or energy to work out today.

Sunday - 4 miles
I did two walks today.  One was with Anderson in the stroller down to the big tennis/soccer park and back.  That one was three miles.  Then we did a family walk where I put the baby in the front carrier.  I was so worried that he was suffocating that I stopped every block to make sure he was breathing.  The front carrier was a bit too much for me at this time as it sat right on my incision.  I guess I'll stick to the stroller for a while.

Total - 9 miles

It's all about the boobs (The Aftermath)

Because of the cesarean our stay in the hospital was four days.  We had lots of visitors who brought gifts and snacks and loved meeting Anderson.  This stay, however, was far from a four star experience.  Sure, we had fantastic nurses (I cannot say enough about the nurses), but no one really let you rest.  The first day I was still hooked up to a lot of equipment so it was constantly checking this, that, and the other, taking medicines, and making sure Baby A was eating EVERY THREE HOURS!

So let's talk about this...

My plan all along was to breast feed.  We knew it was the best, healthiest option for the baby and well, it's free.  But, I had a feeling all throughout my pregnancy that breast feeding was not going to come easy.  First of all, my boobs didn't really grow throughout my pregnancy.  In fact, I never bought a new bra or really outgrew my bras.  And then I kept thinking I would "leak" something at some point and I never did.  But, when it came time to feed the baby things seemed to happen naturally.  He was able to latch on no problem and it appeared that he was being nourished.  By the end of our stay in the hospital, however, Anderson had dropped 11% of his weight and the nurses were concerned.  The baby was not sleeping, was quite fussy, and the nurses were now pressuring us to feed the baby every two hours.  With the hormones, the not sleeping, and the fact I missed two days of my Prozac, I was a flipping mess.  I was just crying and crying over the fact that my baby was not eating and I could not provide for him.  Finally, we made the decision to just supplement with a little bit of formula so I knew he was getting something, anything.  Wow!  What a difference.  He was content and sleeping like a rock.  Something was definitely not working with the breast feeding.

About two days before we were discharged, I started feeling a little off.  The nurses noticed my temperature was elevated but not enough to alarm anyone.  I would wake up in the middle of the night, though, drenched in sweat yet shivering as if I had been out in the snow.  I figured this was just hormones or whatnot so I didn't say anything to anyone.  When I got home, though, I started to feel worse.  The sweats and chills continued and I was a bit delirious, feverish, and just overall not feeling well.  The breast feeding was still not going well; Dave was pressuring me to continue with it; and my mom and my sister were at my house trying to be helpful while continuously telling me how hungry the baby was.  All I could do was cry and cry and cry.  My sister finally convinced me to call the doctor about how I was feeling.  The doctor thought it was not normal and that I probably had an infection.  She called in a prescription and within 24 hours I was feeling better.

Back to the breast feeding.  Dave's aunt is a lactation consultant and we called her to ask her some questions.  She gave us a few suggestions which we tried, but we continued to feed Anderson formula to make sure he was eating.  When we took Anderson to the doctor just shy of one week since his birth he was back up to 8 pounds.  Eleven days post baby I still hadn't gotten my milk and stopped trying all the things I was doing like pumping or having the baby latch on.  My milk was not coming in (and still hasn't).  Even though we would have preferred Anderson be breast fed, he is being formula fed and that's okay by us.

The first week was rough, I'm not going to lie.  I knew it would be but I didn't expect a cesarean followed by an infection followed by not being able to breast feed my child.  Every day it gets a little easier.

Baby A's Birth Story Part 2

When we last left off, my doctor had sent me to the hospital for the fourth time.  Hopefully this time in active labor.

I got to the hospital around 11:00am, still contracting every few minutes.  I had now been having contractions for 7 hours with no pain relief whatsoever.  The nurses did the exam and I was 3cm dilated.  Yes, I was progressing!  They still didn't know if it was enough so they talked about sending me on a walk (good gosh!) but wanted to talk to the doctor first.  So Dave and I waited, and waited, and waited to hear back from the doctor while the contractions got stronger and stronger and almost unbearable.  I was in bed, out of bed, moaning, swaying.  At one point I yelled at Dave to SHUT UP!!!  Finally after an hour and a half the nurse came back and said she had talked to the doctor and they were going to admit me.  Our baby boy was finally coming!!!

I knew I wanted that epidural right away.  Sure I had taken all the classes and learned the techniques, but honey, contractions hurt like no other.  I had labored for a long time without and still had a long way to go and there was no way I could keep it up.  Unfortunately, though, they have to do a full workup on you along with getting a bag of fluid into you before an epidural can be administered.  Finally around 2:00pm, I got that epidural.  For those of you keeping count at home, that's 10 hours of laboring without any pain medicine and only 3cm of dilation.  It was going to be a long day!

Let me tell you something, the epidural is the miracle drug.  More power to those who want to do it without.  Frankly, I think you're crazy!  As soon as the epidural and the medicine was inserted, I no longer felt the contractions.  Ahhh, relief.  The doctor came in and broke my water.  (Note, this was the only doctor I saw until MY doctor delivered the baby.  The nurses do ALL the work.)  I rested for a while, eating popsicles and ice, and enjoyed the company of my nurses and family.  The next check they did, I was somewhere around 5cm.  Yes!  Halfway there.  They figured that I would probably have the baby in the early morning hours the next day.

So, laboring (for me) with an epidural was a lot like a game of assisted Twister.  Because the baby's head was not exactly in the correct position, the nurses had to turn me and maneuver me into positions to get the baby to corkscrew the correct way.  Every hour my nurse would come in and turn me like I was on a spit.  For one hour I would be sitting straight up with my legs in a frog position.  The next hour the nurse would turn me on my side with my outside leg up in a stirrup.  The next hour that position would switch to the opposite side.  Needless to say, it was not easy to get comfortable or get any sleep.  I would fall asleep and then every 15 minutes my blood pressure cuff would contract and wake me up.  I was starting to get delirious with sleepiness.

Around 11 hours into the epidural (around 1:00am), it started to wear off.  I began having pains in my left ribs and my left side of my lower abs around my hips.  The doctor who administered my epidural had warned me that I would feel increasing pressure as the baby moved down and I dilated more.  I was feeling plenty of pressure (seriously, am I shitting all over myself?!?!) but this was more.  This was sharp pain.  I was feeling every contraction and having to breathe through them all over again.  Luckily they came in and pushed more epidural goodness and I felt better again.

Now 24 hours into labor (4:00am Wednesday), I had dilated to 7cm.  This was taking forever, but everyone reassured me this is usually how labor goes for first time pregnancies.  I had expected 12-14 hours, not double that.  I was tired and getting a little restless.  5:00 came and went, 6:00 came and went.  Things were starting to get a little more intense.  The nurse noticed some problems with my catheter.   I wasn't producing any urine and there was blood coming out of the catheter.  She readjusted it.  She did a straight catheter.  She put in a new catheter.  She pumped me full of fluids.  And still nothing.  A doctor came in sometime in the 6:00 hour and checked me again - 7cm.  I was going nowhere fast.  They talked to my doctor and decided to give it one more hour.  They were concerned, and these are the words they used, that my bladder was going to "explode."  Awesome.

Around 7:00am the resident doctor came in again and checked me - absolutely no change.  They consulted my doctor and a decision had to be made.  A cesarean it would be.  Now, I didn't go into labor with a plan and knew with as big as baby as I was carrying that a c-section was high probability so I was not disappointed when this would be the final outcome.  Shoot!  We would have our baby boy soon and I would get two extra weeks of paid leave for work.  Score!  It was now shift change and the new nurses came in to prep me for surgery.  I've never had surgery before so I was quite scared about what was going on.  I began to shake violently and worried everyone.  I cried a little, but kept being reassured that everything was going to be alright.  After 8:00am I was wheeled into the operating room.

Everything got prepped, Dave came into the room, and the surgery got started.  I couldn't feel anything but I could hear the doctors talking.  My doctor schooled the residents on my awesome abs (seriously) and made sure they weren't doing any damage to them.  And then came big pressure where it felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.  Dave was watching the whole surgery and I kept looking at his face.  He began to cry and then the baby cried and I felt nothing but relief.  Not only did I physically feel better, emotionally I felt great.  They brought the baby to the warmer on the side where Dave was and I could see him too.  We named him and he stopped crying.  He was totally cool and collected throughout the process.  I watched Dave cut the cord and then they swaddled him up and I got to nuzzle him.  Welcome to the world, baby boy Anderson!

(My pictures got a little bit out of order when they were imported.  You get the idea.)

As it turns out, the baby was facing the wrong direction.  He was face up instead of down.  And his head was in such a position that it was pressing against my bladder every time I had a contraction and thus why I couldn't produce any urine.

They stitched me up good (ouch, I could feel this), gave me some really good drugs for the dizziness I was feeling, and moved us into recovery.  I was so out of it I could barely keep my eyes open.  My family and Dave's family came in to meet Anderson.  I kept him close and loved him from the start.  I'm so glad he's finally here.

Baby A's Birth Story Part 1

Caution, this post might be a little graphic, although I'll try to spare some of the details.  I have many friends who are pregnant right now who may not want to read this until after their little bugs are born.  Baby A's birth was not very easy.  I've decided to break this post up into two parts as it is a LONG story.  This is part 1.

Anderson's birth seemed to be a several day event that actually started on Friday March 22nd.  I had gone to bed around 11:00 on Thursday and had fallen quickly asleep.  Dave had stayed up playing a game on his iPad.  Around midnight I woke up with a big gush and announced to Dave, "my water broke."  We kinda stared at each other in a freak out style and quickly packed up our stuff.  I called my doctor and she told me to head to the hospital. 

At the hospital, the nurse and doctor did a few tests to see if my water had indeed broken.  First was a litmus test with a little PH strip.  That test said yes, my water had broken.  Then the doctor did a "fern test" which was not comfortable to say the least.  That test came back negative.  What?  So the doctor sat me up in bed and let gravity do it's magic for an hour.  After an hour I had the fern test done again (ouch!) and again it was negative.  They sent me home.

Throughout the remainder of the night and morning I continued to leak.  A lot.  So I called the doctor's office and they sent me back to the hospital.  Again I passed the litmus test.  This time my personal doctor was on-call at the hospital and she was the one who did the fern test.  Again it came back negative.  We concluded the leaking was something else.  Once again, I was sent home.

The weekend was pretty lazy.  We were being induced on Wednesday the 27th, so we just began to prepare ourselves and our house for the new arrival.  Also over the weekend I started to have real contractions although they didn't really go anywhere.

Sunday/Monday in the middle of the night the contractions got serious.  They hurt.  A lot!  I began to time them.  Around 3:00am Monday the contractions were 5 minutes apart, lasting over a minute, and had been like that for over an hour.  I woke Dave up and we drove into the hospital yet again.  Trip #3.  Thank goodness the hospital is only 15 minutes away.  I got all hooked up to the machines and began getting evaluated.  The contractions were BIG, off the charts big, but I was only 1cm dilated.  The doctor sent me on a walk for an hour to see if anything would change.  They were not quite ready to quantify me as being in active labor.   I walked around the empty hospital for an hour in terrible pain.  With every contraction I had to stop and hug the wall and with each contraction I felt like I had to pee.  A million stops in the bathroom later, we were back up in the evaluation room.  Unfortunately, nothing had changed - only 1cm.  They decided to send me home.  What?!  I was in terrible pain from the contractions and they wanted me to go home?  They told me to take some Tylenol and some Benadryl and try to relax.  They thought for sure I would be back later in the day.

The Tylenol and Benadryl knocked me and the contractions out.  By the afternoon I felt like a zombie, but was doing better.  This was definitely annoying.  I spent the rest of the day basically resting in bed. 

Around midnight I was woken up with contractions yet again.  They weren't terrible but uncomfortable enough that it would wake me up every time.  By 4:00am, they were strong and close together - like every four minutes.  All I could do was sway and moan and breathe to get through them.  I did not want to go to the hospital as I was afraid they'd send me home yet again.  I had my last doctor's appointment at 9:30am and I was going to try to make it until then and let my own doctor evaluate me.  Around 6:00 the contractions went back to 8 minutes and I was able to take a shower.  Well, I took a lot of showers during this time, actually.  It helped with the pain.  I tried to eat some breakfast, but only could manage a half bowl of Cheerios.  Finally at 9:00 we headed to the doctor.

The contractions continued and I felt totally self-conscious to be in the wait room trying to get through my contractions.  I would sit in my seat and sway as little as I could and just breathe.  Dave would rub my back.  The nurse happened to see me and asked me how I was doing.  I let her know I was having contractions and she thought I was probably in labor.  I asked her if she could get me back in a room right away and she said she couldn't because the doctor wasn't there yet.  You have got to be kidding me!  I'm making everyone uncomfortable, including myself.  Finally I was called back and the doctor walked in, took one look at me, and said, "I know that look.  That look is labor."  She did my exam and I was 2cm.  She said it was time to go to the hospital (again, #4) and she would go ahead and call letting them know I was coming and that I would like the epidural.  I figured if she was sending me to the hospital they were not going to send me home again.  Luckily, we had already put our bags in the car and we were on our way.

Would our fourth trip to the hospital finally get me admitted?  Was I finally in real, active labor?  Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

He's Here!!!

I have so much to say about the last week, but we'll start with this...





Anderson Reid Gordon was born Wednesday March 27th at 8:36am.  He weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Much more to come in the next couple of days.