Still waiting!

Today is Liam's due date and we are still waiting for him to make his debut. He is apparently very comfortable inside my belly. 

I'm sure this is a normal feeling, but I was so worried the whole time that he'd come early (pre-term). I kept checking the pregnancy calendar website to see what chance he'd have if he came at 30, 33, 35, etc weeks. Every week that passed meant he had a better shot at making it without much, if any, assistance. Now, at week 40, I'm ready to kick him out. I want to hold my baby so badly. 

If he doesn't show up on his own, I'll get some help on Friday. I'd really prefer not to get the help, but I will if I need to. We'll see. 

In the meantime, I'm still working and every day is harder than the day before. It takes me longer to stand up after sitting for a while. I'm more out of breath (that was supposed to change the closer I got to his due date), even when just sitting and talking. And sleep is even harder to come by too. By the time I get to sleeping well, my hip or shoulder falls asleep and I have to roll to the other side. It's a process for sure.  

As hard as this has been and become, I have been VERY lucky. I haven't had any real problems or anything. Minor annoyances really. I wouldn't trade this time for anything. 

I'm so super excited to finally meet this little guy. Hurry up Liam!! There are so many people ready to meet you!

34 weeks!

At 34 weeks, Liam is now about the size of a butternut squash (according to the internets). That's crazy! I have this wriggling, hiccuping, punching and kicking little boy in my belly and he's the size of a squash!? How does he have any room at all to move??

It's really starting to get real now. He'll be here in 6 weeks, give or take. I am so excited to meet him, but I'm also completely freaked. What if I can't do this? What if he cries and cries and cries and I can't figure out what he needs? What if I'm not a good mom and somehow mess him up for life? I know all these fears are normal, but it's still hard not to freak.

There is so much to do. I feel like I have tons of time to wash clothes and sheets and set up the baby stuff, but I really don't. Everyone in baby class talks about how long it takes to set everything up and it's starting to scare me. What if he comes early and we don't have everything done?? I think as long as the car seat is installed and the bed is set up, we're good. He won't really care about toys and decorations and other such stuff. As long as I can get him home safely, we'll be good. The rest can come later. I'll just have to get stuff ready a little bit at a time.

Belly shot!

Getting ready

I'm almost 38 weeks and Liam could potentially come at any time. It's just crazy to know that I'll be holding my baby soon after so long.

Now that I'm in the home stretch, I've been getting things ready for his arrival. Today I did some last minute shopping at Target and Babies R Us. I think I've got everything I NEED, but if not, Patrick can go get whatever I forgot. All the new clothes and stuff are washed and ready to be worn.

Can't believe how small these are! 

We also got the Pack and Play fully set up and the car seat docks installed. Now that those 2 things are done, we really are ready for Liam. If he came tomorrow, we'd be good to go. I'm hoping he waits til after next weekend because I want to watch one last movie...the new Thor comes out on Friday and I really want to see it! But you know, I REALLY want to hold my baby so I'll be stoked if he comes early too!!

Let's play catch-up!

Well, I've made it to week 33 (of 40). Everything is progressing very nicely! I've been so very lucky in this pregnancy - I haven't had very many problems and the doc said my latest blood work was great! WOOT! I'm hoping all the good news and experiences continue for the next 7 or so weeks.

I'm still missing those bikes and runs with the girls, but mostly I've been ok sleeping in on Saturdays and Sundays. I know before too long, there won't be much sleeping at all!

I think things are finally catching up to me though. The swims this week were much harder than they've been in the past. I had a harder time breathing and I was slower than usual. I was still able to do the distance (2300 on Wed and 2600 on Fri), but I was more tired after. I know this isn't training for a race and the speeds don't matter, but it's still hard to see the difference.

I'm also dealing with more pregnancy aches and pains than before. I have this one little pain between my ribs that's really bugging me. I know I've been lucky so far, so I'm not letting it get to me. I mean, it could've been so much worse. Even if this pain lasts til the end, I'll be grateful that it hasn't been as bad as others have had it. 

On the up side, we've gotten to see Liam's face in two 3D sonogram sessions. (I'm not putting pictures in here, but if you'd like to see some let me know and I'll share.) He is such a cutie! I know I'm his mom and that all moms think their kids are cute, but still. CUTE! I can't wait to meet him and hold him. All his moving around is just so cool. And painful sometimes. ;) He will be here before I know it. I'm so excited!

Relay Adventures

Small Texan relay was just a few days ago, and Kris, Orissa, and I did so well!

Race morning was totally strange. Most race mornings, I'm super nervous and have a hard time eating anything. When I woke up Sunday, I was fine. I had been a little nervous on Friday but nothing like usual. I gathered my little bag of swim gear (another weird thing - no bike or run stuff!) and met Kris at Whataburger to carpool to the lake. We chitchatted our way out there (that's when I found out about Kidd Kraddick). 

We got to the lake and, once again, it was weird to only have one little bag of stuff to carry. After body marking, we went in transition to set up Kris's bike and scope out where the chip exchange would take place. We even took a minute to have our friend Roland snap a pic.

I hurried to the water to do a quick (like 3 min) warm-up swim. I hadn't been in open water since IMAZ in November, so I just wanted to make sure I remembered what to do. Plus, I knew the boat dock would be slippery so I wanted to check for a good entry and exit point. 

After the pre-race meeting (strangely, I could tune out most of it), the men got in the water. Women and relays were set to go off 5 min after the men, so I had a few min. All up to this point, I hadn't been nervous. As soon as the men got in the water, my heart started pounding and the nerves hit me! I told the girls, who both said just have fun. If I wasn't feeling fast or good, just treat it as an easy swim and have fun. I gave the girls a hug, said "Good luck and have fun!" and went down to the water.

When I got in the water, I stood to the left of the group (only about 15 or so ladies and relay swimmers). I thought "Good...it won't be packed so I shouldn't get my belly kicked." And standing off to the left, I thought I'd have clear water (which I prefer over following feet anyway). Turns out, it was great. I didn't have any problems once the swim started! 

My goal for the swim was to push hard. I wanted 28 minutes but really I would've been happy with anything if I felt that I had pushed myself hard. I hadn't realized that Roland was racing until we saw him in transition. We are always so close in the swim, so I came up with a new goal...try to catch Roland. I knew with him having a 5 min head start, it'd be pretty impossible, but I wanted to try. 

When the gun went off, I let the group go and took a few seconds to get myself situated. I set out to the first buoy and settled into a rhythm. I noticed a yellow cap (relays wore yellow, ladies green) and thought "Just keep that cap in sight." I really wanted to look at my watch but resisted. It was just a regular watch without GPS so I would've just been seeing an elapsed time. It really wouldn't have helped and maybe it would've made it mentally harder.

Buoy after buoy, I just kept that yellow swim cap in sight. The cap got a little further away as the race got longer, but it was never TOO far away. I kept pushing hard and I knew that whatever my time, I would be happy. I still hadn't looked at my watch so I had no clue how I was doing.

The boat doc came into sight and I thought "Woo hoo, I'm doing this right!" I found my way to the right of the dock and used the little bit of gravel next to it to make my way out of the water. Up the ugly, green carpet to transition. I made my way to Kris and saw Orissa standing there too. Orissa grabbed the chip off my ankle and passed it to Kris. (I'm so glad she did because I would've been hard pressed to bend over at that point!) As Kris swapped the chip, I stopped my watch. 31:15!! Kris took off, and I yelled at her to smash the bike. I couldn't believe that my part was over already!

At this point, we were 31 min into what would probably be about a 3 hour race. Now I could recover and chill with Linda, Orissa, and Brian. While Kris was out on the road, we all just chatted and talked about random stuff. We were keeping track of the time and when it got close to an hour 30 (Kris's estimated time), we really started getting ready for Kris. She came in at 1:32 and we were so excited! Way to go Kris!! You totally crushed yourself and the bike course!

Kris and Orissa quickly swapped the chip and race number, and Orissa took off on the run. Now it was time to chill with Kris, Linda, and Brian. We did more chatting, and before long, it was time to go up to the dam to watch Orissa come in. Kris, Linda, and Brian ran a little way down the dam to help run Orissa in. I stayed at the finish line and was able to yell at Orissa as she crossed. It was so awesome to be there at the end to see how hard she pushed herself!

After getting some food and water and waiting about an hour, it was finally time for the awards. Brian had gone over to see if he could see where we had come in (if we didn't place, we didn't have to wait anymore), but only swim times were posted. We thought we had gotten 3rd, so we stuck around just in case. Turns out, we did get 3rd! We were less than 2 min away from 2nd place. The 1st place team was made up of 3 male Marines, so they were 20+ min ahead of us.

I am so happy and grateful that my fabulous friends Orissa and Kris were willing to join me in our very first relay adventure! I had a great time and would totally do it again. Thanks ladies!!

Amazing weekend!

This weekend was a big one and I loved it!

Day 1 - Saturday
We started the drive to Buda early. Our big gender-reveal party was set to start at 3, so we needed to get up ASAP to get ready. After visiting with my mom, we got down to business. Karl had been manning the BBQ since 3 am, so we just had the side dishes and last minute cleaning to do. Everyone started arriving and we got our first surprise of the day. My cousin Samantha was in town from Tennessee. I haven't seen her since she moved away almost 2 years ago. It was such a wonderful surprise that she was in town on just the right weekend!!

Everyone was super antsy and ready to cut the cake, but cake is dessert. We had to eat dinner first. I made them all suffer a little longer. All day, Patrick had been threatening that he was going to stick his finger in the cake to find out the icing color. I knew he'd be good and wouldn't peek.

After enjoying some snacks (fruit, cheese dip, ranch dip, and cookies), the BBQ came off the pit. Karl's hard work paid off and we had some very tasty brisket and sausage.

When everyone arrived earlier in the day, I had asked them to choose either a pink or blue ribbon to show their guess. There was a heavy pink majority (10.5 to 4 - even my 18-month old nephew picked girl).

As you can tell by the above pictures, the majority was wrong. We are having a little boy! Lots of excitement in the house. We just needed Mom to make the day perfect.

Day 2 - Sunday

Yesterday was Patrick and my 1-year anniversary. After such a great year, I was ready to celebrate with our parents and test out our wedding cake - would it be as good as it was on our wedding day??

After visiting with my mom, we headed back to the house for a while before she came home and Patrick's parents came over. After Dad brought Mom home, we ate some fabulous leftover BBQ (mom had cheese dip only, but that was the most she'd eaten in a while so that's cool) and then Gretchen and Arlen came over.

After some more visiting, Patrick and I cut the cake.

After pouring some champagne (sparkling apple cider for me), we toasted to a wonderful first year and tested out the cake...and it was fabulous! It tasted  just as good as on our wedding day and we were stoked! 

As a bonus, we even got a little rain. Last year, we got rain (luckily not during the ceremony but before and after). Maybe we'll get rain every year on our anniversary...

Day 3 - Monday

When I planned this post, I was planning to only have 2 days. But my completely awesome husband made me add a third day. 

Patrick took a vacation day today, saying he wanted to relax and he had some errands to run. I figured he wanted to get his oil changed and his car washed, stuff like that. Turns out, I was wrong.

I opened the door to the apartment and immediately realized Patrick had made dinner. I could smell one of our favorite dishes that we haven't had in forever (it takes a really long time to make). Patrick took the day off to surprise me! 

My other surprises were this beautiful orchid and Blue Bell Gingerbread House ice cream (weirdly, he found this Christmas flavor in July??). 

My husband is so wonderful to me! I'm so very lucky and I know it. I love you Patrick!! 

Swimming and Kicking

I had a great swim yesterday afternoon! I wasn't as fast as I have been in pre-pregnancy days, but I was able to go much faster than I have since I've had a baby on board. I did an 800 in a pretty good time and 8 fast 100s. And the fast 100s were pretty stinking good! I am so proud of myself for pushing hard. I'm doing the swim portion of an olympic-distance tri in just about a month, so I wanted to see what I could do yesterday. I know now that I shouldn't embarrass the rest of my team. Unless I get totally huge and slow in the next month....but I can't control that. Just going to keep going until I can't. :)

Last night about 3:30 am, I felt Peanut kick for the first time! It was sooooooo cool!! I've been waiting and waiting, and it finally happened. In the middle of the night! Peanut woke me up to say "HI!" I couldn't feel the kicks from the outside yet, so I didn't wake Patrick. But I now can't wait for him to be able to feel Peanut too. Going to be awesome the first time he can feel the kicking. I just hope that Peanut doesn't get in the habit of waking me at 3:30 every morning until he or she gets here. I need as much sleep as I can get before I don't get any.

Yesterday was a pretty awesome day. :) Loving life!!

16 weeks

Now that I'm firmly in the 2nd trimester, I am hopeful that I'll have more energy to do more things. I've started swimming again and I'll be going to my second yoga class tonight. I'm really hoping that I can keep this up. I've really missed it! It's been hard to adjust to just doing what my body says I can do on any given day.

Our team at work signed up for a team building 5k at the end of June. When I signed up, I thought for sure I'd still be running and, while I knew I'd be slower than usual, I still thought I'd run the whole thing. Now, I'm not planning on running any of it. I'm just going to go out there and walk. It's going to be my slowest 5k ever, but I don't care a bit. I'll be almost 20 weeks then. It will be fun to hang out with a bunch of friends and co-workers.

Kris, Orissa, and I are going to be doing a relay triathlon this summer too! I'll swim, Kris will bike, and Orissa will run. There is a sprint and an oly there, and we've yet to decide which one we're going to do. It's actually up to me to decide if I think I'll be able to swim the oly distance. I'm pretty sure I will be able to, but that's a long time without walls. I'll need to get out to the lake soon to see what I can do. We need to sign up soon. So excited to participate with my belly hanging out! Yes, I'll be rocking a 2 piece swim suit. :) Kris even joked about writing my race number on my belly. Thinking that sounds like fun! Maybe a smilie face?

13 weeks!

Being 13 weeks pregnant is totally crazy! All my triathlon friends are still hard at work training (and many are racing on Saturday), but I'm at home not joining in the fun. I've been walking and doing a few swims, but I still miss the feeling of working out. 

12 weeks 6 days, Mother's Day at Canyon Lake

Luckily I got to talk with my friend Damie last night for a while. She's also pregnant and a triathlete. She's quite a bit further along than I am, but she went through a lot of the same things I've been going through. Talking with Damie helped me see that it's OK to just be walking and swimming, and it's OK to miss the pre-pregnancy training and time with friends. We can take that break that everyone always says they want, but when it's time for it no one actually takes it.

So, following Damie's lead, I'm going to be OK with being a pregnant mommy and not a pregnant triathlete. On those days that I feel great, I'll do something. On days that I don't feel great, I'll just do whatever I feel like I can do (if anything). I'll be sitting at home "cooking a baby" and enjoying my time on the sidelines. When I come back, I'll have a bunch of motivation and drive. I'll support my friends at their races and know that I'll be back out there soon enough. Now is the time to focus on the baby and enjoy the time away. Triathlon and running training will be back before I know it.

Thank you Damie!

Camp

I wish I were in Tuscon with the Iron Whiners! They look like they are having a great time and learning lots. I remember (and miss!) that feeling of being utterly smashed but still looking forward to that next workout.

I have other priorities this year, which meant no camp. I was ok with that until I saw all the giant smiles and blogs and Facebook posts. I still am ok with it, but I am also a bit bummed. Kris is totally killing it this year and I'm so curious about how I would've stacked up this year too. And, Linda and Aixa are also doing totally great! How much fun would it have been to go tackle Tuscon with that wonderful group of people?! The stories they'll tell....can't wait!

I know there will be other great opportunities out there for me, so I'm not too worried. So for now, I'll sit back at home and just live through social media. :)

Motivation

I have found that I actually need a race on tap for me to be truly motivated to want to work out. Right now, I've got Buffalo Springs 70.3 in June "on the plan" but that's only if I'm not pregnant. I don't have an actual plan from Coachie yet, so I'm pretty much just doing what Kris is doing during the week. I've been skipping the Saturday long bike (knee issues, family stuff, etc) but still doing the Sunday long run.

I am generally excited about doing whatever the workout is, but I HATE getting up early to do it. I know that once I get started, I'll be fine. But it is really hard to roll out of my nice, comfy bed. I think if Kris weren't going to be meeting me, I probably wouldn't get up at all.

Maybe I need to sign up for the CapTexTri on Memorial Day...a little motivation a month before Buffalo Springs. :) I'll wait on that for now, but it's an option. And as an option, that means I need to keep my butt moving.

Ahhh, motivation how I miss you!

The pains of resting

After I finally got cleared to train again after my groin issue, I found that all I wanted to do was run. That's partially because I couldn't for so long and partially because I go through this every year. I don't want to swim and I don't even want to look at my bike. I love running so it's not generally a hardship. I have always continued to swim and bike, but I complained about it a lot (sorry Kris!).

Since I started back riding with the Iron Whiners, it's been ok, knee issue aside. I still haven't actually wanted to get on the trainer or get up early and ride for hours, but I know once I get going I'll have a good time. When I started consistently having the knee issue, I talked with Dawn.

And now, all of the sudden, it's different. Coachie told me to rest (no bike) until my knee gets better. It's amazing the difference being told to rest can make. Where last week, I didn't want to ride, now I really want to. I've only missed one ride, and I already sent her an email asking when I could get back on the bike. When I saw her tonight, she said one week at least. That means that next Tuesday I can get back on the bike and try out my knee. I'm really hoping that there is no pain and I only had to miss out on one week!

I wonder what I'll feel like when I can't ride for baby reasons (no, it isn't something I have to change yet but hopefully it will be soon). How cranky will I be once it's not safe and I have to wait what will likely feel like forever?! I'm going to apologize WAY in advance because just knowing I'm missing this one week is hard enough. I'll give you all fair warning when it's time to start avoiding me. :)

Highs and lows

This weekend was certainly one of highs and lows in training...

Saturday the group had a 60 mile bike ride and I felt like that would be a pretty good distance. It would be my longest ride since IMAZ but still totally doable. Things started out pretty well. My heart rate was pretty consistent (mostly in zone 1 or 2). Last weekend on this same part of the route, it was zone 2 or 3. When we got to the part where we could really lay the hammer down, and Brian and Kris took off. Alphonso followed behind quickly thereafter. I was feeling good still, so I followed too. We were really trucking it and it felt SO good to go fast! And my heart rate was still good! We made it to our turn around point and headed back for a doughnut (yum - apple fritter!). That's it for the highs on Saturday....

On the way back, my knee started to hurt. I had felt it on the hilly route last week, but I just thought it was the hills. It never really hurt. Totally not the case this weekend. After going a pretty consistent 20 mph, I quickly fell behind the others...my speed dropped from 20 to 17 to 14. I had to take my left foot out of the clip and do single-leg drills. Just having my foot on top of the pedal and go around in a circle hurt like all get out - I was going down the road crying. Even the pain I felt in Arizona wasn't like this. This HURT bad! I knew I wouldn't be going the whole 60 miles. I just wanted to make it to the gas station so I wouldn't be sitting on the side of the road waiting for a ride. Brian called Orissa, who was gracious enough to agree to come get me when she finished. After Brian, Kris, and Alphonso slowed WAY down to keep me with them, we finally made it to the gas station. I was so worried about what would happen when I got off my bike. It was totally fine! No pain at all. It hurt to bend it (no squatting down allowed) but just walking was fine. Running was even fine. Weird!

After babying my knee the rest of the day on Saturday, I woke up to run on Sunday. I was hoping my knee would still be fine, and my groin issue would still be fine, and my back would be ok (stupid apartment moving!). I met the group with the hope that everything would be ok and I'd be able to run 9 miles. If I ran 9 this week and 11 next week, I'd be good to run the 13.1 HERO-thon on Jan 27. We planned to run an out and back along 1604, so I knew I could turn around and walk back if anything hurt.When we started running, it was so cold and windy! I figured it'd warm up soon so I wasn't too worried. We got to the greenbelt and I was at 4.25 miles. I realized I was feeling great! Instead of 9, I decided to run 10. After stripping off our long sleeve shirts (now we were in sleeveless shirts), we took off down the greenbelt to get to our turn around points. Linda and Kris were going out to 6, Herb was going out to 10, and I decided for sure to do 10 so I turned around at 5. On the way back, Brian and I chatted the whole time. Each mile that ticked past made me happier and happier. While it certainly wasn't easy, it was much better than before. Each run gets progressively better. I know this happened to everyone after IMAZ, but it's been hard to be the only one who seems to be struggling.

When we got to 10, I was so excited! I did that whole thing and it was virtually pain-free! My knee and groin were both perfectly fine. My back was a little uncomfortable but nothing like before. My heart rate was in 2 like it should've been. While it wasn't my fastest ever, it also wasn't my slowest. I'll take it! At least I finished my weekend training on a high note! :)