Thursday, March 29, 2012

Pregnancy & running

I bought new running shoes today since my old ones (from sophomore year of college, I believe) were starting to look and feel a bit tired. 

I'm normally comfortable running my shoes into the ground (literally!), but since I'm continuing to run while pregnant, I decided against taking chances with my knees and hips.  Since I had both the day off and the car, I decided to make a trip to Hanson's Running Shop in search of shoe recommendations from people who probably know more than I do about them. 

While I ran occasionally before, I'm up to 2-3 miles, five days a week at present.  And it feels great.  I'm taking the best care of my body that I ever have as an adult, and pregnancy produces hormones which effectively prevent muscle and joint soreness.  My growing belly is an awkward running buddy, but it hasn't affected my form yet. 

I found shoes, first of all.  While they're not my usual Adidas Boston Classic, they're quite possibly a better fit for my feet.  I've known for awhile that Brooks makes shoes with a wider - than - usual toe box, which is a wonderful thing with feet as wide as mine.  I also found that the woman who happily brought out 10+ pairs of shoes for me to try on had run almost daily til the day before she gave birth to her son - at 38 years old, no less.  She had plenty of advice (qualified with a "but be sure to check with your doctor"), book recommendations, and encouragement. 

From what I've gathered (from asking customers with kids), it doesn't sound like most women do anything more than walking from the moment they find out they're pregnant on.  I'm hoping to keep running for as long as possible, so it's delightful to meet a real, running mother with a healthy elementary - age child.  Not only she (Michelle, I believe her name was), but also all of her female coworkers ran the entire way through their pregnancies. 

So to anyone who is reading this - I'm going for it!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Thirteen Weeks!

...or two days shy of it anyway. 

I figured it was time to make mention of pregnancy on Facebook, since I'm nearing my second trimester and have, as far as we can tell, a healthy baby with a strong heartbeat.  I didn't say much, merely that my family is getting bigger.  We'll see if anyone notices or comments...it might be too vague of a status for those who don't already know we're expecting. 

It's a cool, drizzly spring day here, a bit more of what one might expect for March in Michigan.  Actually...it's still quite a bit warmer than average, but it feels and smells more like spring this morning than it has thus far.  This is skirts and cardigans weather, though I (sadly) can't wear either to work.  Pregnancy dressing would be far more fun if it weren't for the omnipresent jeans-and-Trader Joe's T-shirt-and-hoodie "uniform."  None of my jeans make me feel anything but...large these days, and I fear I'm just going to look big as a house when visibly pregnant in a TJ's hoodie.  I suppose that's a bridge to be crossed when I come to it - that and the alteration of a few work shirts to accommodate a pregnant belly! 

I'm thinking of buying a camera to document this pregnancy and the increasingly lovely spring.  It's been years since I've owned one (and I know nothing about them) but thankfully, I know plenty of people who know plenty of things about photography! 

Friday, March 23, 2012

I'm a lazy blogger, but a busy human!

Last week, my parents were here from Saturday to Thursday.  It was lovely to see them and to get to catch up on life since I was last home at Christmas, and we ate lots of delicious food.  Kansas City and my relatives all over the country now have a picture of my ever - larger baby bump.  And then I worked Thursday through Sunday.  Monday was spent running from appointment to appointment, Tuesday and Wednesday I worked, and yesterday I caught up on all the family phone calls I'd been putting off til I had a free day. 

And...I got to hear the baby's heartbeat on Monday at my checkup.  There really is a baby in there, and he or she is really doing everything (s)he should be at this point (as of today, 12w5d).  It would have been an incredibly positive appointment had it not been for the weight issue.  See - after five days of eating out for lunch and dinner and not having any time to even go for a walk (when my parents were in town) and a few weeks of eating more than I should have been, my weight was up SEVEN POUNDS from the checkup four weeks earlier.  And then my doctor told me that she wants me to gain at least thirty - five pounds over the course of the pregnancy.  I bawled my eyes out.  Granted, the pregnancy hormones likely had something to do with the tears - preggos don't have a reputation for emotional breakdowns for no reason!  Poor Chris...

In more positive news, I've been running two miles most days, biking the three miles to work, and generally spending as much time outside as possible.  It's been a week of making old jeans into cut-offs, of discovering that rubber bands work much better than hair ties for extending one's waistband, and of buying and eating large quantities of fruit.  I've discovered that greatly limiting dairy in my diet greatly improves "digestive health," leading to the realization that quite a few of those supposed gained pounds were something along the lines of bloating and digestive slowness.  That was reassuring. 

Happy thoughts for today:

  1. Iced peppermint tea is wonderful, especially with soy milk.
  2. Blooming magnolia trees - roughly half the houses on our street have 'em, and all are blooming right now.  I can see the one in our yard while curled up in bed. 
  3. Kiwi fruit - potassium-tastic, and delicious.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Shuffling papers

I finally got the last of the required paperwork in for health coverage (for prenatal care, at least) - while it was a bit time-consuming, it wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it was going to be.  It certainly didn't deserve the sort of procrastination it received. 

I am, admittedly, a die-hard procrastinator.  It's something I don't particularly like about myself, and a habit I'd like to avoid passing on to my child. 

This got me thinking about the things about the traits I do want this baby to inherit.  And about the changes I'd really like to make before becoming a parent. 

More on this later...

Monday, March 5, 2012

Ten Weeks!

A month and seven days ago, on a Thursday morning, we found out that we were pregnant. 

A lot has happened since then.  We told my family that we're pregnant and engaged in the same phone call, found out that I don't have coverage for prenatal care, scrambled to fix the situation and somehow ended up with no insurance, and managed to get back on the policy still sans prenatal care.  I'm in the process of getting on Medicaid to cover prenatal visits til I can get on Trader Joe's insurance in July.  And we've begun acquiring baby stuff, since it's cheaper to buy it when we find it on sale than to pay full price when we desperately need it. 

Chris is likely starting a new job in the next few weeks, one with better pay and with benefits.  We don't have too many details about it yet, but it's certainly exciting news.  It should make life easier once there are three of us anyway. 

Today is the last day of cold weather for a week or so, which is exciting.  I know it's not and won't actually be spring for awhile, but anything is better than nothing.  I'm looking forward to skirts and tank tops and bikinis (yes, I have every intention of wearing a bikini this summer!).  Hopefully, my skin will be like my mom's and not end up zebra-tastic!