Baby Steps

                 It has been almost 4 weeks since the birth of my baby girl and I am finally feeling ready to start back with running. However, usually when I am mentally feeling ready it is still a week before my body is physically ready so I am going to ease into my exercise routine conservatively. I was cleared to do “cardio” after 2 weeks and in my mind cardio means running. So two weeks to the day from the birth of Lilyana, I decided to go for a jog on my treadmill to feel things out. I started at roughly an 8-8:30 minute mile and ran for 200 meters. I quickly had to slow down the pace and started walking. I decided to try a walk jog but things didn’t feel quite right so I upped the incline and slowed the pace and went for a brisk walk.

                Running didn’t hurt, but it just didn’t feel quite right. Things felt loose in my core and I didn’t like it so I decided to err on the side of caution and not run. Over the next two weeks I did cardio on the elliptical machine and spin bike machine. I also incorporated some very light lifting that didn’t involve my “core” (i.e. squats, etc.) but used more of my upper body. The first day of cardio on the elliptical I went for twenty minutes and was tasting blood. By that I mean I am out of shape, I had that metallic taste in my mouth and which I have never gotten from an elliptical workout before so I definitely have some work to do.

(Doing my "cardio")

                Each cardio session did get better but I am still only doing a max of 25 minutes a few days a week and walking on the other days. After 3 weeks I emailed my midwives to see if they meant that I could do impact activities like running when they cleared me for cardio. Apparently they meant for me to just do some easy walking…around the block. I have walked five miles at a time, definitely farther than a few blocks. I guess there’s a big difference when you tell a distance runner they are cleared for “cardio.” In the past I never considered easy walking a form of cardio but this is a whole new experience for me so now walking is cardio. The midwives want me to err on the side of caution until they can check how well my abdominal muscles are healing at six weeks. They want to make sure I do not have a condition called diastasis recti or diastasis recti abdominis which basically means the abdominals have separated. During pregnancy this usually occurs during the second or third trimesters and it is seen as a bulge in the middle of the abdominal muscles. I never saw this and upon feeling my stomach they do not feel more than 1-2 finger widths apart which seems o.k. Three or more finger widths could indicate that I have the condition.

                A fellow runner friend and mother of two came to visit Lilyana and me and she cautioned me about the importance of coming back slowly to running. She told me if I come back too soon I am also at an increased risk of having a prolapsed bladder. I am letting my body be my guide. Every woman’s labor and pregnancy is different so I need to be careful not to compare myself to other runners or women who may have been able to start back with more vigorous activity earlier on. The first two weeks I honestly don’t know how anyone could be starting an exercise routine. I was so tired and my body so beat there was no way I was going to even attempt to run, let alone go to the gym for any cardio. I think that was my body’s natural way of letting me know I needed to heal.

(Resting)

                I did do a very slow one mile jog outside today and it felt way better than the first day I tried. It definitely felt awkward but that loose feeling in my core was gone. I will build slowly from this and continue to do other forms of non impact cardio and some weight training. It has taken a few weeks but I am starting to feel like I am getting into a better routine and getting more accustomed to my new role as a mother. As Lilyana starts to get into a better schedule and begins sleeping longer at night that will make things a little easier as well. When this starts happening it may coincide nicely with the increase in my exercise routine, how convenient.

                Lilyana is learning new things every day. The changes are small but over time they are helping to mold her into a self sufficient person. Something as small as learning to smile for the first time or scooting herself across the floor, she is building upon each little milestone. So for now I will follow in her baby steps and in no time I will look back and be amazed at how far we both have come.

(Baby Steps)

Lilyana Joy Keller

         

(Holding Mom's hand)

          Here is a quick update. On August 21^st, 2013 at 2:31a.m., we welcomed our precious baby girl into this world. A healthy Lilyana Joy Keller came into this world with a loud cry and big appetite. She weighed 7 pounds 13.8 ounces and was roughly 20 inches long. Being a mother has been a surreal experience. I find myself just staring at her in awe that she is mine. I am slowly adjusting to the new schedule and trying to sleep when the baby sleeps. This can be difficult at times since my body is not used to this yet.

(Newborn Lilyana)

(Peaceful baby)

  















         

          After we were discharged from the hospital my midwife told me no cardio. She said I am allowed to walk but blocks not miles. I guess they know me too well! But in all honesty there is no way I would feel up for a run at this point. I think the body is pretty smart when it comes to having a baby and knowing when you need to rest. After two weeks I am allowed to start light cardio. They do not want me doing any weight lifting or abdominal work until they see me at my 6 week appointment so they can assess how well my abdominal muscles are healing.
          Lilyana had her first Doctor’s appointment on Monday at 5 days old. Newborns will lose up to 10% of their body weight after birth and should gain it back by 10-14 days. Lilyana had already passed her birth weight at her appointment and the Doctor had to verify with the nurse that was her correct weight at birth. He was surprised but it is a good thing. I guess the nurses at the hospital were right when they said she was a breast feeding professional!

(Mom and baby)

          Levi is a natural father and it melts my heart seeing him care for his little girl. He is a big help around the house and tells me my job is to rest and feed the baby and he will take care of everything else. We have been very blessed by the support of friends and family as well who have been coming by with dinners for us to eat. I feel spoiled!

(Loving Father)

          It has been 8 days since she was born and I amazed at how fast she is growing already. She is still a tiny infant but looking at her I can see the changes. I have always heard that kids grow up fast and it looks like she will be no different in my eyes. I am excited to see what the future has in store for our new little family!

External Cephalic Version

(9 months)

Today is my due date but I read somewhere that only about 5% of women actually give birth on their due date. So to help pass the time, while I have it, here is my update. I left off with my baby being in a breech position. I tried some “home remedies” like inversions, swimming, handstands, etc. I have heard acupuncture can help flip a breech baby but for the cost I decided I would wait and if she didn’t flip on her own, I would have an external cephalic version.

                Time passed by and she didn’t flip. At 37 weeks I went in for my ECV appointment. The first thing the nurses did was put two monitors on my belly, one to monitor the baby’s heart rate and another to monitor contractions. They also checked my heart rate. The monitors had to be on my for at least 15 minutes so they could see that the baby was doing fine. The nurse asked me if I had any contractions and I told her no, just little Braxton Hick’s here and there. Then she told me I was currently contracting. Weird! I didn’t feel anything but there it was on the monitor. She told me this was (most likely) due to the fact that I hadn’t been allowed to eat or drink since midnight and being dehydrated can cause contractions. Guess it goes to show just how important staying hydrated during pregnancy is!

                The nurse then put a needle thing in my arm in case I would need an IV in the event of an emergency c-section. The first try didn’t work so the nurse called in an anesthesiologist and she got the IV in no problem. My arm was sore and bruised for over a week from the first attempt. It still slightly hurts to the touch! Then I got a shot of tocolytic (I think) that helps relax smooth muscles, i.e. the uterus. My “contractions” stopped. The Doctor did an ultrasound to confirm the baby was still breech and that I had plenty of amniotic fluid. Everything looked great on the monitors and the Doctor, with the help of a midwife, was ready to start the procedure.

                He told me to try to relax my stomach area as much as possible. So I closed my eyes, focused on my breathing and relaxed. Levi stayed at the bottom of the bed to rub my feet. Every two minutes the nurse would check the baby’s heart rate to make sure it didn’t drop. It never did. To start the Doctor picked up on the baby’s feet and moved her out of my pelvis. The midwife then held the baby in place. He then slowly began to turn the baby. I could feel his muscles tensed but it was not painful for me. Levi told me the Doctor was working hard but he wasn’t pushing hard on me. He just had to be very steady while moving the baby. I guess he closed his eyes too to get a better feel. He stopped two or three times for the heart rate monitoring and then he did an ultrasound and said it worked.

                That was awesome. The whole “flipping” procedure took about 5 minutes. This Doctor was highly recommended and I can see why. We called him the “baby whisperer.” He was very skilled at his work and made sure the baby’s health was the number one priority. He told me beforehand that he wasn’t there to “win.” If the baby didn’t want to move one way he would try another and if she still didn’t want to move then that would be it. It was very reassuring. He and the nurses all complimented me on how relaxed I looked and stayed. The procedure was a bit uncomfortable but nothing unbearable, so I am going to say that all of my races over the years have helped teach me how to be relaxed in uncomfortable situations. Let’s hope labor can be that way too! 

                I received a shot of Rhogam since my blood is RH negative as a precaution in case any of my blood and the baby’s mixed. You don’t want your body to create antibodies against a different type of blood, for instance if our baby’s blood is RH positive then my body would create antibodies against this and conceiving in the future would be difficult.

                I was then placed on the monitors for an hour. I ordered in some food and watched TV to pass the time. The baby’s heart rate was steady the whole time and never dropped. She did great. When it was time to go I definitely noticed a change when I stood up. There was a lot more pressure in my pelvis from her head! The nurse gave me this girdle looking thing to wear 24/7 to supposedly help the baby stay in her new position. I did a great job of wearing it for 3-4 days then I caved. It was itchy, hot, and uncomfortable. I asked my midwife and they said I didn’t need to wear it anymore. It was more important to wear the first couple of days. Whew!

                The whole procedure was pretty neat. It is amazing to me that the Doctor was able to move a baby from the outside! She is still cooperating in her head down position as well but who knows when she will decide to make her grand entrance into this world!

Weddings, Ninja Competitions, and a Stubborn Baby

The summer is flying by. I can't believe we are almost into August which for me means the addition of a new member to my family. Before all of that craziness begins here is my latest update on what I have been up to over the past few months. 

 

(With my beautiful sister Joy at her wedding)

My sister got married the middle of June and I had the honor of being her matron of honor. The hardest thing for me with the wedding was getting my bridesmaid dress to fit. The dresses were purchased before I was pregnant so it was quite the ordeal trying to find fabric, which I ended up having to order directly from the company upon which they sent me the wrong color and finally sent me the correct color 2 days before I left for the wedding, then trying to find someone who could alter the dress affordably for me. Luckily one of my friends' mom had a lot of experience with alterations and fixed the dress for me. It looked amazing and I was so thankful for her help with such a short time frame to get it done. To date I have been in three weddings this year, which any other year would be a piece of cake but being pregnant it is a lot more work just in the attire let alone the tiredness. But each wedding I have been in the brides were more than understanding and accommodating. I spent time with my family over Joy's wedding weekend then flew back to Seattle on a Sunday evening.

(Levi flying up a warped wall)

(Staying cool in the pool)

(Spending time in Vegas with Levi)

By Wednesday I was back on a plane this time heading to Las Vegas to watch Levi in a competition. All I can say about Vegas is that it was hot! It wasn't even the hottest month for them but at that time I was about 7 months pregnant and I am always hot, even when it is 70. But Vegas was in the triple digits so I spent most of my time at the pool or in our air conditioned room. It was nice having those days to spend and relax with Levi without any real obligations. I savored the trip because we won't have many of those moments after the Baby comes. 

(Look matching bellies!)

I volunteered at The Meet of Miles that my brother and another club teammate spearheaded to help support Olympic hopefuls in our club. The meet was a success and I was very impressed with how well it turned out. John did an amazing job announcing and organizing everything. We had tons of prizes to give away and it seemed like everyone who was there had a great time. I definitely see this event growing year after year. 

July 19th I was in another friend's wedding and had a great time. It was amazing how much changed for me physically in a month. I didn't even realize things had changed until I started dancing. At my sister's wedding I was jumping around and dancing just fine. I stayed up pretty late and didn't feel totally exhausted. Well a month later I stepped out on the dance floor at the July wedding and went to "bounce" around and whoa, was I in for a surprise. I felt like my feet were cemented to the ground. Was gravity playing a mean trick on me or was I really just that much larger and more cumbersome? Well I am sure you know the answer to that one. By 10 p.m. I was wiped out and had to head home. As I was getting ready for work today I pulled out one of my work shirts from the closet that I had just washed. I put it on and thought, "Oh no! I shrunk my shirt! Oh wait..." I had probably worn that shirt 3 days before, a week earlier max, and in that amount of time I grew enough to think it had shrunk. Yikes. 

(At my friend's wedding)

The rest of my time has been spent going to my midwife appointments, then scheduling more appointments, work, "craigslisting" to find deals on baby items, and trying to work out. I say trying because it is getting harder these days. I think a big part of it is mental. I am pretty certain my pregnancy running days are behind me. I ran once last week and this week will be surprised if I run at all. I know physically I can do it so long as I keep my paces slow and stay cool but it's really not comfortable anymore. Things just feel awkward and mentally I don't have the drive to go for a run. I have been walking with friends up to 5 miles at a time as well as spinning and elliptical for other cardio oh and swimming if you want to count me paddling around the lakes to keep cool. I still am "lifting" anywhere from 1-3 times per week. I probably do "cardio" three days a week now. I could do more but to be honest I am "lazy" right now. Plus I get so hot these days it's quite uncomfortable. I am nearing the home stretch and the guilt of not exercising every day (like I used to have) is long gone! My mind is pretty much all baby focused and I feel relatively good. 

I have been having more appointments than usual as well due to the fact that I apparently have a rebel inside me. About a month ago she was in her head down position, ready to greet the world. The midwives commented about how ready she was! Well three weeks ago we discovered she didn't like it down there and instead is now sitting breech inside me. The appointment where I found out my midwife was checking my belly to feel her position. I could see she was having trouble finding the head down low and even mentioned that maybe she was too low for her to want to feel. To try to get a visual of the bumps I have been feeling in my belly I then asked my midwife what part of my baby was this hard round spot up near my right ribs. The midwife felt it then said, "How would you like to see your baby today?" I knew right away something was up because they had never done an ultrasound at these appointments and I was told after 20 weeks the next time I would see my baby would most likely be in person. My midwife rolled in this portable ultrasound machine and placed it on my belly. She then said, "That's her head." To which I exclaimed, "No!" Getting to see my baby this far along was pretty cool though because she looks much more like a baby than the last time I saw her. She is getting her fat which makes her look more plump and human rather than the skinny alien baby I saw in the second trimester. 

My midwife gave me some exercises to try to help turn the baby. She was not very concerned as her baby was breech at 34 weeks and eventually flipped. I have been going in for appointments weekly now and at each appointment the baby has stayed in her breech position. I have another appointment tomorrow then next Tuesday (when I am 37 weeks and considered full term) I am scheduled for an aversion to manually flip the baby. I have my “ideal” birth plan but I also know it is not set in stone. My main goal is to have a healthy baby however she decides to enter this world.