Watch Me Grow

Weekly Bump Photos

 

starting at the beginning of the second trimester:

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“41 Weeks” (5 days post partum)

“45 weeks” (one month + 2 days post partum)

Shiny New Penny

I don’t really have a point to this post besides to share some recent pictures of Penelope. Let’s do a few of those first (you’ve already seen most of these if we are friends on Facebook).

She is growing so fast. These are roughly chronological and cover the last couple of weeks (from 2 weeks old to almost 4 weeks old):

   

  

Running

The last 2 pictures are from today when I returned home from my run. I ran two miles at 8:05 pace. :O God, I missed running fast! I am still on my runner’s high hours later. I’ve run a few times- just a mile or two at a time starting at 2 weeks after giving birth. I’m waiting until my 6- week postpartum doctor visit to increase the miles. I’m not sure I should be doing any running without my doctor’s approval, but fuck it. I feel great and can’t resist. I’ve been walking every day for a few miles too, so it’s been impossible not to sneak in a few miles of running.

I am not going to sign up for any races for a while though. I don’t want to rush things physically, and I have no clue what kind of time I’ll be able to devote to training over the next few months. I do plan to run a half marathon this winter and then a spring marathon (probably Eugene).

Motherhood

I’m enjoying my time with the baby very, very much. It’s super exhausting and challenging but I really love it. I have my moments when she is crying, or I’m extra sleep-deprived, or it’s super hot in the house (we had a heat wave this week), etc. But Zach keeps me sane. He takes care of Penny when he gets home from work and helps a ton on the weekends, which gives me the break I need. He even gave her a bottle today while I ran. Motherhood is different than I thought it would be. Certainly harder, but also more rewarding. I have found that motherhood requires a great deal of patience and confidence, which are not things that come easily to me. I’m working on it.

Body after Baby

I’m feeling fantastic. Still a little sore now and then but about 95% healed. It was a painful process of recovery and I’m glad I’m nearly through it. Poor lady bits.

Since I didn’t gain that much weight during pregnancy, I was lucky that it came off quickly. I am constantly hungry and eat nonstop all day long, even in the middle of the night because of breastfeeding. I’ve been surprised to see how my body has responded to all this. I’m actually the leanest I have been in a long time. I feel pretty mushy in the stomach-area, and I have no upper body strength to speak of, but that will come back with time. Also, needless to say, my boobs are huge.

In general, I have a new appreciation for my body. Both from the pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding side of it, and also from the running side. I am amazed that I was able to run throughout my entire pregnancy and then already again after giving birth. I think I have been too hard on myself in the past. I am really proud of what I’ve done.

Penelope

Did you see how frigging cute she is? I can’t stop looking at her! She’s so funny and adorable, we just love her to bits. She is growing so fast- already outgrown some newborn clothes and is into her regular cloth diapers already. She spends more time each day awake and alert- you can practically watch her brain developing. It’s a trip. I can’t wait to see what is next. I love her more every day.

 

 

Running for Two Part VI

(Part V here, along with links to all previous parts)

Spoiler alert! As mentioned in my last post, the baby has been born. And I did indeed run up until my due date. Hooray! I can’t believe my good fortune. I know it is very hard to run through the end of pregnancy and I’m grateful my body was able to do it.

I just want to do a quick backtrack here of the final weeks so that we can move on to a zillion baby pictures, post-partum recovery talk, and whatever else this blog is going to turn into..

 

Weeks 37-40

This is already somewhat hard to remember, so this will be brief. I can say with certainty that for some reason the last 4 weeks of my  pregnancy were some of the best and easiest running-wise. I was growing big and uncomfortable, but when I ran I felt like my old self. I had finally really gotten used to my 12:00 ish pace, the feel of my heavy belly, and the extra work in my legs and lungs. Running felt natural and easy and fun. I took plenty of walk breaks but did not have any specific aches or pains like before.

I ran 4 days a week again, after cutting back to 3 days a week for the previous couple months. I did allow myself to do 2-milers which was a nice option for days I didn’t feel up to 3+. I ended up with higher weekly mileage this last stretch as well by a couple miles.

A big part of the reason I ran more was that it could get my labor going. Starting at my 36 week appointment when an early check found I was 1 cm dilated and a bit effaced, I felt like labor was imminent and I wanted to help the baby along. In the end, I stayed 1 cm dilated until my later broke at 40 weeks + 1 day. But all the running certainly wasn’t a waste. It was great.

I ran in Forest Park a lot with Zach. I would stick on the Leif Erickson trail and he would run up the first steep stretch of every offshoot trail and then catch up to me. I ran with Alisa a few times. We ran a 5k together! I ran with Emily and her daughter in the stroller, and I also did a few runs alone close to home.

I sometimes ran in my just sports bra. I have never felt more confident about my body.

I very much enjoyed the last few weeks of running for two.

Here is the breakdown of my “long run” and total weekly mileage for the last 4 weeks:

37 weeks pregnant: 5.0 miles at 11:20 pace, 11 miles total
38 weeks pregnant: 3.25 miles at 12:37 pace, 11.35 miles total
39 weeks pregnant: 3.5 miles at 12:14 pace, 13.25 miles total
40 weeks pregnant: 4.0 miles at 12:05 pace, 12 miles total

Running Pictures: 

Due Date 4 mile run on the Banks Vernonia Trail:

Body Changes:

Big and Bigger. Leaned out in my limbs as my belly and my baby got huge. Baby movements became downright painful. Officially could not tie my shoes, get out of bed, or reach pretty much anything without someone’s help. Most of the discomfort in these last few weeks was contractions and pre-labor type pains that I had off and on from about 36 weeks.

Cross Training:

I did go to yoga every weekend except the last one. My main cross training was walking with Zach every night around our neighborhood. In fact I had my first real contractions on the 1-mile walk back from Alisa’s house Sunday night (my water broke an hour later).

Pictures:

Just these-

40 weeks pregnant:

 

41 weeks (5 days post-partum):

And just because I can: