Week 15

15 weeks

How far along? 15 Weeks  
Maternity clothes?  I wore my first pair of maternity jeans on Sunday.  They were a little big but they were so much more comfortable that my regular jeans with the belly band.  Hello for jeans feeling like yoga pants!  Now if only I could find pants for work that don't look like they are from 1970.  I've been to 2 used stores and struck out at both locations.  I think I'll have to suck it up and purchase new work pants at a real maternity store.  Blah.  I really don't want to spend the money but at the same time, if I can find work pants that look like nice work pants but FEEL like yoga pants, I might pay any amount.  And at this rate, I might give away my prized possessions if I could find a bra that fits but that's another story also.
Have you started to show yet:  It depends on what I'm wearing.  I think I look smaller in this week's picture than I did last week.  It also depends on the day.  Sometimes it looks a lot more obvious.  Also, as the day progresses, I swear I get bigger.  Morning time, not so big.   End of the day?  I feel very round.
 Symptoms: Heartburn, sore hips, crazy low back pain and a couple random nose bleeds.  That's fun.
 Activity:  I'm still struggling with this.  I got in that one lame workout and that's in.  :(  Part of the problem?  I don't have any races on the calendar.  When I'm not training for a race, I tend to fall off the wagon.  I might have to make up a race and schedule my workouts so I'm "forced" to get back at it.  A co-worker said she's train and do a "fake" race with me.  I may just have to take her up on that.
 Best moment this week: Realizing I have something the size of a naval orange....on the other side of my naval.  I'm easily amused.  According to the internet, baby is about 4 inches long and about the size of a naval orange.  We also went to a cloth diapering class that was great.  I think we are going to give it a try!  Spending $1500 vs. $4500 from birth to potty training sounds pretty smart to me.  
Miss Anything?  Sleep....I've had some CRAZY dreams this week that have woken me up.  I also miss being able to go more than an hour between trips to pee.  This is proving extra challenging this week as I am traveling for work and forced to sit through crazy long meetings...meetings in which I'm supposed to be taking the notes.  It's hard to take notes from the bathroom.
 Movement: Not that I've noticed.  
Food cravings: Luckily some healthier things have come back to my radar.  We were in Whole Foods on Saturday intending to pick up one thing...until I got sight of the produce and then I NEEDED every fresh fruit in the place.  $60 later we had a obscene amount of fruit for 2 people.  It was a carb heavy dinner that night.  I also ate my weight in strawberries on Monday night.  That's better than eating my weight in salt and vinegar potato chips I supposed.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing specific but I will get some random wave of nausea.  Luckily it usually passes quickly.  
Gender:  Don't know yet...should find out in April though.    
Looking forward to:  Feeling the baby move, finding pants that fit and I can wear to work!  Finding a sports bra that fits so I don't have a "containment failure" as The Pilot would say.
What I am NOT looking forward to: Growing more and more uncomfortable.  I'm already not sleeping through the night because of random aches and trips to the bathroom.    
Milestones: We picked a day care....probably one of the hardest decisions we've had to make since we found out I was pregnant.  Of course you don't want to spend an arm and a leg but you also don't want to leave your kid with someone not so great just because it's cheaper.  Except for one day a week...we opted for some free child care.  My mom.  Luckily she works for hugs and baby kisses.  And my brother and I are productive members of society so I trust her.  ;)

Sweating, Rocking Out and a Photo Dump

I finally dragged my lame, pregnant self to the basement!  I laced up my shoes last night after dinner and hit the treadmill.  I told myself that as long as I wasn't experiencing any "baby discomfort" I was going to stay on that machine for at least 30 minutes.  It's hard to believe that just over a month ago I did a 1/2 marathon and now I'm forcing myself to stay on the treadmill for a measly 30 minutes.  Sigh.  I think I'm mourning the loss of what my body was capable of at the end of 2012 but that's a whole different post.

To motivate myself to stay on the evil treadmill, I put in the DVD, Pearl Jam 20.  I blogged about seeing the documentary on the big screen a million years ago but finally "splurged" and bought a copy of the DVD for future viewing pleasure.  I'm so glad I did.  I popped it in, cranked the volume so I could hear it over the ancient treadmill and got my sweat on.  The Pilot wasn't home so I could sing along as loud as I wanted also.  Score.

So I rocked out to my PJ while trying to maintain a somewhat decent walk pace (15:30).  I didn't do too bad but the ache in my hips/lower back was constant.  I did a half mile warm up before testing the waters.  I haven't run a step since the 1/2 marathon last month.  I slowly increased the pace on the treadmill until I was shuffling along at 13:00.  And I proceeded to hang out for exactly....a quarter mile.  Sigh.  I could sense my heart rate was well on it's way to "baby discomfort" so I backed off and went back to a walk.  And was frustrated that it took nearly another quarter mile to feel comfortable again.  Sigh.  I did another quarter mile run with the same results.  I'm taking extra care to listen to every sign my body gives me right now.  Obviously as  a marathoner, I've conditioned my body to keep going through discomfort.  And that's just not an option anymore now that I'm growing a human.  While obviously I am ok with that, there is still a "mourning" process that I think I'm in the middle of right now.

On a complete tangent though, while rocking out to my PJ, I was reminded of one of my favorite PJ memories.  I was probably 14 or 15 and had heard a PJ concert on the radio.  They sang a song that I knew was a cover, I just didn't know who the original artist was.  It bugged me.  It bugged my BFF, Lauren (and fellow PJ junkie) also.  So one night we called the local rock radio station and sang the song to the DJ to ask if he knew who sang the song originally.  The song?  The Who's Baba O'Riley.  Before anyone gets up in arms that I didn't know that is was a Who song....it was somewhere around 1995 or 1996, and I didn't grow up with exposure to The Who.  I knew of them, but I wouldn't have recognized any of their songs (at the time).  Thinking back, I'm still a little surprised we actually tried to sing to a radio DJ over the phone.  :)

And on another tangent (because that's how the pregnant brain works)...here are some cell pictures for your viewing pleasure.

We've been wondering why the nursery is so cold.  And then we discovered why.  There is a rather large cat laying ON the register.  He's annoyed that we moved his cat bed to another room and now there are random crib parts laying around.

Meanwhile, I've been practicing "baby-wearing" with the other cat.  She loves to cuddle so I figured she would like the baby sling I got.  She loved it.  Hopefully cat lady = good baby mama. And hopefully old school cell phone doesn't = uncool baby mama.

I don't recall if I mentioned it by I had the sinus infection from hell last month.  While I could take antibiotics, I had to suffer through the symptoms for 2 weeks because I can't take any of the "good stuff" right now.  Anyways, on one of my 2 trips to the doctor, I found my pregnant self having to pee while I waited for the doctor.  This was in the restroom...

Looks like the lab tech has a sense of humor.

The cats were loving my first trimester fatigue AND the sinus infection.  That meant lots of cuddle time on the couch.  I think they were the only ones that were comfortable.

Speaking of comfortable...

When the cat is comfortable, you don't dare move her do you?  Not if you are The Pilot.   Figment was in his office chair when he wanted to do some internet-ing....but he didn't want to disturb her.  He's nicer than me.  I would have booted her off. 

Week 14

I couldn't decide if I wanted to blog weekly about my pregnancy or not.  While my blog isn't exclusively training related, I just couldn't decide.  I have used my blog as a journal of sorts though and writing in a separate pregnancy journal seemed overwhelming for some reason.  So I think I'll post somewhat regularly with baby news....especially for our far away friends and family who want to be involved.  And if you don't care, just skip any post that starts with "week" in your blog readers.  :)

So here it goes:

14 weeks

How far along? 14 Weeks
Maternity clothes?  I'm still squeezing into some pants but most are now unbuttoned and I have to wear a belly belt to keep from showing too much.  I have purchased a couple pairs of materinity pants on clearance and at the consignment store but they are too big right now.  I'm just in that awkward phase...
Have you started to show yet:  I don't think the casual acquaintance/stranger would notice but The Pilot has pointed out that things are looking different.  (He tries to put that delicately, thank goodness.)  Meanwhile, I feel like I look fat, not pregnant just yet.
Symptoms: Heartburn, sore hips, crazy low back pain and a few others than the internet doesn't need to know about. 
Activity:  I'm still plagued by random bouts of fatigue so I'm still not back into a workout routine.  I'm hoping this weekend will jump start some real activity (I didn't count the miles and miles I walked at Ikea last weekend). 
Best moment this week: I think I may have felt some flutters...or it was one of those unmentioned symptoms.  Hard to tell at this point.  
Miss Anything?  Sleeping well, having energy, my Monday morning Pepsi (I stopped drinking caffeine when I found out I was pregnant).  
Movement: Maybe?  That or it was GI movement.  Nice.
Food cravings: Salt and vinegar potato chips, cookies.  Both things that I would hardly ever eat pre-pregnancy.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not as much anymore but the smell of any onion product makes my stomach turn.
Gender:  Don't know yet...should find out in April though.    
Looking forward to:  Feeling the baby move, feeling pregnant instead of fat.  
What I am NOT looking forward to: Growing more and more uncomfortable.  I'm already not sleeping through the night because of random aches and trips to the bathroom.  
Milestones: Surviving the first trimester!

That place is evil...and wonderful.

I have a new belief that Ikea is the Swedish version of Target.  You go in looking for one thing and then this happens:

The Pilot and I made the 2 hour trek to Ikea yesterday looking for a dresser for the nursery.  We ended up filling the back end of my Honda Fit.  The car didn't get the memo that it's not a pick up truck.  The car will hold all kinds of stuff...you have to worry about popping the lawn mower tires on it before worrying about filling up the back end.

I wish I could say those were all parts to a dresser but they are not.  There IS a dresser in that mess but there is also a sofa table, a shoe cabinet, a plant stand, some storage bins, new cushions for an older Ikea chair I already owned, a new foot stool for that chair (there is some drama with that to share later!), a random baby item (pictures to come later), a plastic shopping bag holder (which we now refer to as the Italian Poop Bag Basket...anyone who has pets will get this) and probably something else I'm forgetting.  Oh, and we got a free lunch because we spent so much money.

No buyers remorse today (except for maybe the drama filled foot stool) which is good.  We were wanting all of these items (ok, except for maybe the shoe cabinet and plant stand)...maybe not all of them RIGHT NOW but Ikea makes you feel like you HAVE to have this stuff.  It's like the Disney World of home furnishings and we were certainly drinking the Kool-aid.

To make our Sunday even more romantic, once we got home and I started some laundry, we broke out the allen wrenches and started putting together our Swedish furniture...while watching a documentary on labor and delivery/prenatal care in the US.  We know how to party.

The Pilot: Becoming A Dad

To date, if there was a single moment I could freeze in time, it would be the reaction The Pilot had when I told him he was going to become a dad.  I don't think I'll ever forget the look on his face. 

I had come home from work and The Pilot was cooking dinner.  I needed a few minutes to regroup (also known as taking a few minutes to myself to fully check my work at the door and switch to home mode) so I went upstairs.  It was a little early to be taking a pregnancy test but I was feeling a little "off" so I went ahead and took a test.  To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting anything because after trying for several months, I was preparing myself to be let down.

When a very faint positive came up I.....panicked.  Though this was very much wanted and planned, I was shocked.  And I panicked.  I texted my BFF and asked if I should tell The Pilot.  Since it was so faint, I wasn't sure if I had done the test wrong (really, it's not that hard) and didn't want to get him worked up if it wasn't really positive.  She didn't respond right away so I went downstairs but didn't say anything to The Pilot.  Suddenly she called.  I grabbed the phone and ran back upstairs....to the master bedroom closet.  There I was, hiding in the closet, talking to my BFF about my positive pregnancy test...before I told my husband.  (Don't worry, he knows this story and is amused by it...or at least I think he is.)

I think she got a good laugh and told me that a positive is a positive and I should tell him.  Knowing my sweet husband, I knew if I told him while he was still making dinner, we would end up with no edible dinner.  So I waited.  I'm not sure how I did it.  We ate dinner.  The second he finished his food though, I told him that I had something for him and then ran upstairs again.

A few weeks earlier I had come across a baby onesie online that was too perfect to pass up.  It said "I'm the new chief pilot around here."  A chief pilot is the boss of the other pilots at an airline.  I had it hiding in a closet so I threw it in a gift bag and ran back down the stairs.  With a stupid grin on my face, I gave it to him, telling him it was an early Christmas gift (it was a couple weeks before Christmas).

He pulled it out of the bag, looked at the onesie.  Then looked at me (I was still grinning like an idiot).  Then he looked back at the onesie.  And then his eyes went HUGE.  And they may or may not have filled with tears.  He looked back at me, all wide-eyed and I nodded and said that we would be needing that in the near future.

The rest of the evening was a blur.  We hugged a lot.  Stared at each other in disbelief.  I don't think either of us slept very well that night.  At least I can speak for myself when I say I spent much of the night staring at the ceiling feeling both elated and panicked at the same time.  :)

2nd Annual Run for Sherry

Last year I did an uneventful 30 minute treadmill workout in a hotel gym.  But it was so much bigger than just a workout.  It was the first annual virtual Run for Sherry.  Sherry Arnold was a runner from Montana who went for a run but never came home.

Sherry was the cousin of Beth over at Shut Up and Run and Beth has been instrumental in creating this virtual run, keeping it alive another year and not letting the memory of her cousin fade.  While I didn't know Sherry and I don't know Beth, the least I can do is get in a workout in Sherry's memory.

Athletes of all kinds should always look out for each other (and really, everyone should be looking out for those around them).  I am so thankful that I almost never have to do a workout alone.  And today was no different.

We all ran and walked for Sherry.  20 degree weather couldn't stop us!

                                                       Even The Pilot tagged along!

On a side note, today was my first workout since the 1/2 marathon.  As I finish up my first trimester, my energy is slowly but surely returning.  And I'm so thankful because I was starting to go a little stir crazy from all the couch surfing.

I Was Hangry

I was so hungry I could have eaten a pizza out of the back of a truck...

Something I've noticed since finding myself "with alien," is that when I'm hungry, I am HUNGRY.  Like if I don't eat RIGHT NOW, someone might lose a finger.

During my commute home from work recently, I was hungry.  Borderline hangry.  I already had a random craving for pizza when I got stopped at a train about 2 miles from home.  A looooong train.  And I was right behind a catering truck.  With a picture of a pizza on the back of it.  If that train would have been one car longer, I would have been knocking on the driver's window demanding some pizza from the back of his truck.

Don't worry.  My rational side kept me safely buckled into my car and I made it home and took my h-anger out on my poor husband.  Lucky him.