38 weeks and running!

If you noticed my Strava widget over there -- > it may or may not show that I have actually RUN a mile or two recently. Hooray! My SIJ pain was completely gone for about a week when I decided to sneak over to the treadmill to see if I could irritate it actually move my legs as if running after three weeks off. They still work. I am not going to push it and do any more than that at once, partly because my arms were actually sore from gripping the bar so tightly after just one mile, since I was scared of that moving belt that I could barely see under my belly. I had to branch out because really, my hips and tailbone are tired of the bike seat. I have kind of just tolerated this seat for the past several years as it is, and now that I'm sitting straight up on it most of the time, it becomes even less bearable. Trainer rides are the quickest, most logistically easy workouts I do these days, so it has become my default, I-have-little-time, go-to. Plus I'm right in the middle of the last season of 24, and it has gotten really good.

Swimming is happening, and I was even complemented when a woman told me I swam so well she was surprised I was pregnant when I got out. She surely didn't see my open turns on the wall while wearing paddles and a buoy, which I do similarly to those old men who stay underwater and do some strange maneuver that works, but makes you wonder if they're drowning first. I could do a flip turn at this point, but as Hunter says, "that's not an option," since this baby is right where I want her to be; I'm not risking it.  I have still spent more time in our neighborhood pool with Hunter recently than the actual lap pool, but now is the time to do it, before I have tiny baby considerations.

Now since I don't have to do all things with a baby on the outside, Hunter and I have been taking time to do one of his newer favorite things -- cook. He has gotten to where he can make his own PB&J sandwich after I get out the necessary tools and supplies, and he does a much more precise job than I would. He's my sous chef when it comes to fixing supper, and he has his own set of utensils. Finally, no thanks to my lack of a brain, he has his own kitchen to work in too. While in Houston, I attempted to buy one from Ikea, but put the wrong box in my massively overloaded cart. We talked about it all day on the way home, and I left H and Daddy to put it together. When I went back to see how it was going I got some blank stares and two "where is the kitchen?"s.  Awesome. So $22 in shipping later, we have the right one, and it's worth it.

Need a toddler+kitten picture to brighten your day? Of course you do! They adore each other. :)

We are not cooking our garden vegetables yet, since we have had exactly one ripe tomato, and we have just 2 small green beans. But yay for things growing! 

And speaking of growing, as Hunter would also say, the baby girl keeps growing and growing and expanding my belly! I was only 38+4 when H was born (and I think he was a little younger than that), and I will be there on Monday. Crazy that she could be here so soon. My swimsuit will be relieved.

Jeremy's sweet nurse and some coworkers had a diaper shower for us this week, and who can really resist buying girl clothes too? We got the cutest things to put in the room that now has a faint aroma of (clean) baby diapers. And Ann Marie's craftiness and talent are really something to be envied! She made the diaper cake!

Due date is in 12 days (what?!) and I'm hoping to get a few more miles run, lots more yoga ball bouncing, and many hours with my sweet 3-year-old before then.

37 weeks with some new additions

Yes, additions, plural! We picked up our kittens from Nancy last weekend, and they turn 8 weeks old today. They have been just perfect little guys; they love Hunter, and are always out looking for him when he's not around, even though he may pick them up more frequently than they would choose. All are being extremely patient with one another. 

In other unsurprising news, I have hit the 37 weeks pregnant mark, and we realized that this time last pregnancy I had a baby in about 10 days! Since I wasn't in labor then, I really have no idea when he would've come otherwise. We better get busy! The clothes are ready, the cosleeper is not, the carseat is ready, I am not... I mean I am, but I could always do more. There is so much to do with Hunter in his final few days of being an only child! He has helped with some decorations for their room. I let him use real acrylics and canvas, and surprisingly, even the garage floor made it through unscathed.

No finishing touches yet, a work in progress. There's one for the baby too.

 

The artist and the first layer of Daddy's early Father's Day painting.

 

No running has happened in the last 3 weeks, but my SI joint is finally getting much better. I don't limp around anymore, except when my sciatic nerve shoots me a jolt. What is happening to me?! I feel like a sedentary blob some days, and this conversation happened recently as I was changing clothes:

Me: I look like a balloon. 
Jeremy: You don't look like a balloon. 
Hunter, in his toddler blunt honesty: You DO look like a balloon! But bigger. And round. And oval. And person-shaped. 

My balloon has become a good resting spot for my hands while I'm on the trainer and not doing a lot of resting them on the handlebars. It could be more buoyant while swimming though. Otherwise I don't feel huge, until someone tells me I am, like the guy at Ironman TX while I was only 33 weeks. It was about 6:00 in the morning and this guy walked up and told me how tired I looked and that I was just like his wife, HUGE, when pregnant. Also there some family members (hi Mom!) who don't remember how big pregnant people are. And then there's always the big sister to tell you that your butt has gotten bigger too.

I don't mind this temporary discomfort and strange body too much, even without being able to run. I know there's the end in sight and I don't want the baby to come before she's ready. It seems so many women are done with being pregnant before even 40 weeks, which leads to inductions and all sorts of interventions that I am doing everything I can to avoid. VBACs bring on a whole new set of issues and potential complications (most of them just built up in the minds of some people, I believe) that those without prior cesareans just don't have to worry about. Oh I do wish I could be ignorantly blissful about it all, and just go into this birth with no reason to believe it won't happen exactly like I hope. But after a c-section that you did nothing to encourage, you just know things can happen. She needs to come before 42 weeks, or I believe most medical professionals would intervene somehow. And now without running to encourage it, I'm not sure what I will do if it gets too close to that point. 

Not that it helps labor come sooner, but I'm eating dates now. Six a day, which, as good as the first two are, do not go down so smoothly by the fifth and sixth. I found a good recipe for some no-bake bars with chocolate, and that helps. I might even use these sometime in the future for training purposes. Except all the fiber. There's that.  


Lucky for me, my powertap battery went out recently, and therefore I don't see exactly how pitiful my wattage has been on the trainer. And I am not even considering how much my watts/kilo ratio has changed with the extra 15 pounds I've gained so far. That battery is not getting changed any time soon, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised when I get back to actual training post baby. Hopefully I'll also be pleasantly surprised by how much my balloon has deflated. The slower I get, the more room I have for improvement!

Beach!

We had to squeeze in a quick trip to the gulf before baby girl comes. This year we went to Gulf Shores, where we haven't been in years. Really all we need to be happy is sand for Hunter and a warm ocean for me.

Warning: many pictures to follow.

 I love when I catch them looking just alike.

 

Some lounging, watching the sunset.

 

We had a huge collection of trucks join us for all the digging

These two are so cute!

 

"Is that a....tower crane?!?"

Feeding the baby bird

You dig a hole, it provides hours of fun. Plus he couldn't get out by himself ;)

 

I call this one Beached Whale

 

JUMP!

Underwater camera view

 

At least two of us can still run

Just one picture of the 4 of us

Guns (actually he was describing where his hydraulic boom's cables run)

 

And daddy says, here are some guns for you :)

Still more digging

Little baby is stretching in there! (35+ weeks)

And the best selfie :)