1+1=.. Not so fast..

It was starting to seem that the answer to my most recent issue..my 'high blood pressure days' was an obvious one and signaled yet another of my regulat habits biting the dust for the next few weeks.. But after a chat with the doc today, now there's a couple possible answers. You see, after too many times of swimming early, coming home, and then having the rest of the day ruined by feeling ridiculously tired, wiped out, woozy, dizzy, nauseated, etc.. I figured I should put the pieces together and resolve to discontinue my early am swims for now.. And by 'early am swim', I mean I wake up around 4:30-ish to be at the pool by 5am.. That comes pretty quick when you refuse to get to sleep earlier than about 10 or 11pm. And I hear that sleep is an important thing to get while growing a human in your belly. I don't think it's just the swimming that is the problem because when I swim a little later..like 7 or 8, things seem to go much better. So that was my plan, no more 5am workouts for the duration of pregnancy and hopefully that would be the end of this wasted 'hbp feeling days'. But. Enter doc appt today.. I explained what I was feeling and what my plan was for fixing it.. He agreed that it would certainly help to sleep more, but he also asked if I showered after my swim and if I started to feel sick after a shower? I was a bit confused by this question, but yes, I do shower after I swim.. He mentioned vaso-dilation being something that could cause those woozy feelings and maybe I'm getting too hot? Ding, ding!! I think we have a winner. I still think it would be best for me to take better care to get my sleep in, but after I thought about it, the hot water shower does seem to fit as the most likely culprit. That water does get pretty darn hot AND it's usually in stark contrast to the chilly walks I had to make from the outdoor pool in the still 50-some degree weather and then straight into that steamy shower. Man is my face red over here.. Can't believe I didn't think of that. So that's that! Guess that's why we pay him the big bucks. I really like my doc. He's a no frills, kinda big, burly guy (less burly now since shaving his mt man beard).. Doesn't chat a whole bunch, but listens well and seems to genuinely care..and best of all, you just have the sense that he knows his stuff, which is what I look for in a doc. And he gives gems of wisdom like "don't hop in a super hot shower after a swim..ya dummy".. I added the dummy part, but I wouldn't have blamed him if he had said it. Speaking of my doc appt today..you know what makes for a sucky day when you're pregnant? Fasting. Add to that the slow draining of your blood supply, and I'm feeling pretty rough today. I don't mind the actual drink they give you (we're talking glucose test, in case I lost you), but it's all the other stuff.. No eating? I'm never good with that. My appt was 8:20, but I didn't get out of there until almost 11 and then we had to go straight to Mason's new preschool to get oriented! So I didn't get to eat until noon-ish. So I'm starving, but yet, the food I choose makes me pukey? Not cool. Very cruel catch 22, this pregnancy has been.. Feel hungry, but queasy, finally decide to eat, no matter what you choose, you spend the next few hrs trying not to puke it up and in varying levels of stomach cramping.. And repeat! I'm not complaining.. I'm really not. Everything else has gone really well with my pregnancy and if my guy is healthy, I'm all for it.. But MAN! I'm getting tired of this pukey stuff. It's been really bad when teaching gymnastics classes these past few weeks. Seems like every class time I'm fighting to not lose whatever food I ate all over the floor, I get super out of breath and then, to cap it off, the stomach cramps start. I'm sure the parents are all worried I'm going to keel over while spotting their young-un on the beam or something.. Just lovely. But in other news.. Mason starts his school on Monday! We stopped in to sign some papers and get everyone ready today. Mason got to hang in the classroom for a bit and he was more than ready to dive in. I can't believe it's already time for him to start preschool, but I'm so excited for him to have new experiences and friends. And while we're talking about how awesome and big Mason is.. He had a great time at his big birthday surprise! He was thrilled to get to go to a hotel..and have his dad stay home with him..and the water slides, too, though I'm pretty sure any hotel with a pool would have sufficed. But I was really surprised at how brave he got on his second day of the water park! The first day, he just wanted to spray all the water hoses, buckets, etc, which are everywhere around that place..splash around a bit, and finally did a couple of the smallest, slowest slides offered in the park. But I guess he slept on it and decided to go for it, because pretty much right from the start the next morning, he went for bigger and bigger slides..and loved it! I was shocked. I waited at the bottom (no slides for the pregnant gals), ready to 'mama bear' it up when my scared little guy came out the shoot..but no, sir. That's not what I got! He was grinning and eagerly asking his daddy to go down more and more slides..it was really fun to see, but a bummer I couldn't enjoy it with him.. But I knew it would be that way, so I'm just excited that he had such a great time there. And now he's four! Our baby is 4. Wow. That's about all I've got for now. After taking today totally off of working out and a pretty easy week, I hope to get some good workouts in this weekend.. Planning on a run/swim/crossfit tomorrow.. Probably just a run on Sunday, as much as I'd like to get a ride in.. But anyway..one thing is for sure. No more hot showers!! So silly..

Big changes are a-comin!

Not so much training to report on.. I'm still constantly adjusting my expectations for what I can physically do at this point. I think I've learned that my 'claim to fame', which has always been my ability to recover from one workout quickly and be ready to take on another with little to no consequences.. Well, that's almost non-existent right now.. Good bye, old friend! I hope it's not good-bye forever.. But as of this moment, it seems like crossfit 3 days a week..aka every other day, seems to be my limit. Pretty much anything after swimming isn't going to happen. Seems like those trips back and forth in the pool really zap my energy, so I won't plan any back to back things with swimming, unless the swim can come last. My running is actually going quite well, I must say. I feel pretty good out there and don't need my belly/back brace right now. I'm sticking with the 30 minute limit despite feeling better because I don't want to wind up back where I was before with the back issue. Biking..that's sadly taking a back seat right now. Not so much because I can't ride anymore, but more because I'm not able to ride like I normally would.. I can't keep up with my usual crew and can't talk anyone else into rides within my recent limits..and as much as I think everything would be fine if I rode alone..it makes me nervous. I don't love riding solo much when I'm not riding for two, and with all the random issues I've had through this pregnancy, it makes me nervous to get too far out there all alone with no one around if any of those issues should come up.. So anyway, I've tinkered with the idea of just riding around and around in my neighborhood, but haven't been that excited about making that happen. I rode my trainer a bit and rode a stationary bike a bit today, but that still hurts more than just riding my tri bike outside, odd as that may seem. So anyway, that's where I am with biking and everything else. Seems strange to think that running and crossfit are the things that feel the best this time. Even the elliptical seems to make me feel more 'off' than those two activities. Go figure.. So that's that. In other news, though.. Mason had his birthday party and that was fun. He had a great time, especially having his grandma and grandpa Bucher in town for the visit. He also did his first go of vacation bible school last week.. I'll call it a success, even if he did almost balk at returning half way through the week.. We talked it through and he came around and enjoyed the rest of his time there. It was too funny watching him learn all of those songs and dances, he really had fun with it and even asked me today "why did it have to be over", so I'll take that to mean that he had fun. Now this week, Wednesday, is his birthday and we have quite the fun day planned, which includes most of his favorite things..daddy staying home from work, baseball, a hotel, and water slides/pool.. Only way we could have made it better would have been to fly there, but Cincy isnt that far away, so he'll just have to settle for the car ride. Also something I'm excited about? Our nursery has been transformed and is pretty much ready for our second bundle of joy to take over! We got the crib, a new glider/chair, decided to use an old dresser, painted and put up some pics.. Looking pretty ready to go! So that's a good feeling. So what are those 'big changes'? Well, the end of Mason going to his daycare, the start of his preschool days..and the eventual arrival of a baby brother. I guess it's all feeling like those changes are coming quick, so I'm bracing myself! I guess that's all I have to say about that for now..

what.. this ol' thing??

So I guess it has happened.. At 7mo pregnant, I officially look pregnant enough for strangers to assume there is a baby in my belly and ask me about it.. Usually in the form of "when are you due?" and "do you know what you're having?", so nothing too personal or pressing, but I don't know.. I'm happy to 'look' pregnant.. you know.. It's nice to finally look like you legitimately have a human growing and not just a beer belly, but I still think I believe in the 'NEVER ask a stranger if she's pregnant' plan.. you just don't know.. Maybe I drink a lot of beer. Or maybe I've just let myself go..and happen to enjoy accentuating my buddha belly with form fitting maternity shirts? Just kidding.. I do think it's pretty safe to ask me at this point, but I'm not always super easy on 'em.. Sometimes I make you squirm.. especially strangers! Like.. our paster? gave him a 'pass', especially since I was literally standing there with my hand on my belly.. pretty much a give away.. But the chatty check out lady at Macy's?? I'm gonna make you squirm a bit for ass-uming.. Gave her the blank stared "excuse me?" as she stumbled over trying to get the question out and she immediately regretted asking.. I didn't leave her hanging long.. don't worry.. after looking confused for a bit about what, exactly, she was getting at.. I eventually smiled and said 'september'.. boy was she relieved! Not that I'm anti-social, but I just feel like it's never really safe to assume.. and sometimes I like to remind folks of that! So anyway, I guess that's what's new with me! All the moms of the gymnastics kids that I teach have started asking and, of coarse, then comment on how 'tough' I am for teaching gymnastics this long.. and it is starting to get 'tough'.. touching those toes and all. I had to tell one group that was imitating my pathetic attempt at reaching for my toes while trying not to vomit as my stomach pushed up into my throat and I said "I have a baby in my way.. you guys can reach further!". So we'll see how much longer I last for teaching with this growing little fella on board. I definitely will finish out the 5 weeks left in this session, but not sure how much, if any, I can do of the next sessions after that.. we'll see. After a rough ride last wednesday that had me wondering if my bike ridin' days were over, I had a successful ride on saturday that felt really good! So that was nice. I stopped, as planned, at the 15mi mark of a 30-ish mi loop (Matt and Mason picked me up and we 'SAGged' for the rest of the group.. I didn't just bail and hitch hike or anything). I think I could have gone on, but didn't want to push and end up regretting it.. and by 'regretting it', I mean curled up in the fetal position for the rest of the day/weekend.. so I think it was a winner! I was coaching for the TNT Steelhead group and had a nice plan of that 30mi ride and then a 6mi run with some rolling hill mile repeats.. sounds like great fun, yes? Well, I knew better than to try to run that late in the day (probably around 10 or so.. I think they finished after 10:30), so I just led them around in my AC car (nice of me.. I gave them water and words of encouragement!), as I chose to do my 30 min run before the ride.. So not a bad day of activity AND I felt just fine during and after. Like I've said before.. I try to learn as we go, here, and learn from my mistakes and such. Then I actually took one of those 'rest days' that I mentioned realizing I hadn't had in a while.. It was father's day, afterall, so thought it might be nice for me to stick around and just praise Matt and treat him to meals and gifts and such.. so it was good! I actually realized that I needed a rest day after those 'high blood pressure-feeling days' that happened a couple times last week. Be still my little multi-sport loving heart, but I think I have to choose just 1 activity to do at a time.. trying to stack things back to back without much/any recovery time just seems to leave me.. well, woozy, dizzy, sick feeling.. probably not a good thing, and even I can acknowledge that heading out for a run or off to crossfit when you feel like that would be foolish.. So, at least for now, it seems like.. short run, little break with some food and water, and then crossfit.. fine.. Short swim, try to run and then crossfit?..not so fine. I'm not sure what it is about that darn pool.. I enjoy it so.. but it wears me out something fierce! I did manage to have a swim this week where I felt like, though it was slow, I was moving well and without too much of a strain.. but I did have to stop at every 50m lap..just for a moment, but still.. that little break must have helped. So duly noted, little fella.. breathers every darned 50m in the pool and we can have a happier swim? got it.. will try that out again tomorrow. This weekend is Mason's birthday party weekend and my parents are coming to town, which I'm very much looking forward to. I haven't seen them since.. I guess our ski trip back in Feb?? Which means Mason hasn't seen them in that long, either, and he's super ready to hang out with them! Should be a good weekend!

'twas a HBP kinda day

As in, 'high blood pressure', or at least, that's what it felt like.. Or to be even less scientific about it.. That's what I imagine it would feel like. Whatever. I didn't go to the doc for diagnoses or anything, but after my early, easy swim yesterday, I came home and just felt..off.. I was light headed and dizzy and extra out of breath.. I just figured I was hungry, though I shouldn't really have been because I think I had eaten adequately for the morning, but as I've learned with pregnancy, sometimes despite your best efforts, you just can't keep up with what the little nugget needs to consume.. So I ate..still off.. So I figured, probably a sign that I should ditch my original plans of a short run and heading to crossfit and, instead, took the day pretty easy. Which kind of reminded me that I hadn't really taken a rest day in a while, so perhaps this is my body's subtle way of telling me I need to make the rest day a part of my routine again.. Not sure what happened to those days of rest. Just seems like there's always something out there that I want to do, but I'm sure I can figure out how to chill a bit more.. Especially since all signs have been pointing to my biking days being very close to done..for a while.. My last ride was on Sunday and it was not pretty. We were just doing a 15mi loop.. Shorter cut off from our usual route, but I had stomach cramps from the start and had a rough time getting started.. I will say that I did seem to shake it out and find a decent ride..eventually.. We'll see how things go today, as I'm planning to head out for our usual Wednesday ride later today.. I'm hoping it goes well because I'm also set to coach this weekend's training for the TNT Steelhead crew. If I have to, I can just drive and SAG for them, but I'd really like to be able to hang with them for at least part of the action.. So we'll see. Luckily, my 'off' feeling was short lived and I'm feeling better so far today. I got an early jog in, my favorite Wednesday, longer crossfit workout, and then an easy swim for some cool down. Man. I do not get why swimming is so tough for me these days. Everyone talks about how swimming is so great during pregnancy.. I don't remember having any major issues with it last time..though I do recall that my HR would be super high in the pool, so I took it really easy.. But I just feel like I'm swimming upstream all the time. All I really want to achieve in the water right now is to enjoy the pool (despite my crappy swimming, I still sure do love being out there.. Guess I'm weird like that) and maintain good form in my swim stroke, but it really takes a lot out of me. Not much else going on with workouts.. Pretty much business as usual. In other news, I can't believe how soon Mason's birthday is.. Turning 4 is exciting and all, but along with that date comes a lot of other changes, too.. Changes that seemed SO far off not that long ago.. Next week Mason is going to try out vacation bible school! Which I thought would be good for him to start the whole 'going to school' schedule thing.. He also really likes going to Sunday school (whenever we make it to church), so I thought he might have fun.. We'll see.. He insists that he wants to go, though in speaking with him this morning about it, I'm pretty sure he thinks it's a trip that he's going on..Understandable, given that 'vacation' is in the title.. So we'll see how that goes. He had his last day of Gymboree last Friday. After going there fairly regularly since he was 9mo old, that seems like a big step! He'll have his last day of Miss Debbie's daycare right before his birthday. I don't think I've mentioned his daycare much, but he's been going to Debbie's, which is an in-home daycare, since around his 1yr birthday. He's really enjoyed it, which is why we didn't pull him out of that routine, even when I got downgraded to PRN (as needed, or, as in my case, 'hardly ever in over a yr') at the eating disorder clinic.. Just seemed mean to take him away from his friends and the routine he knows when we could afford it, so he's continued that.. But it, too, is coming to an end..because he's going to start preschool the week after his birthday! Ah..things are changing around here, for sure. He's started moving in to his 'big boy' room, which he is so adorably psyched about.. It's just all coming so quick! So, it works out just fine that my decreased tolerance for my workouts and increased need for rest is coinciding with all of these schedule changes and exciting family things going on. I plan to take things day by day, adjust as I need to, and do my best to keep up with everything that needs to be done around here! Speaking of..I'm sure there's something else I should be doing right now..

Incredible?..or..Crazy..

This was the question I overheard the early am news lady and her camera guy discussing while they filmed some water safety segment at the Y at 5am the other day.. They were discussing how amazed they were that people would wake up early to go swim. Wanna know what I think is crazy? Filming a water safety segment at 5am in the dark next to what you apparently thought would be an empty pool? AND wearing your winter gear while you film said segment next to folks in their bathing suits. But that's just me.. I'm no stranger to hearing that question..is an ironman incredible? Or crazy.. Riding your bike across Indiana? Crossfit at 6+ mo pregnant? Obviously (or maybe not), I think all of those things are neither incredible nor crazy..but just..normal. But, I guess 1 person's normal is another person's crazy, right? Anyway.. Not sure where I was going with that.. Things are going pretty well these days with how I'm feeling and the workouts I'm doing..despite this silly belly (probably those round ligaments everyone talks about..definitely not any Braxton hicks or anything like that.. Say 'cramp' when you're pregnant and boy do folks get in a tizzy!) cramp thing.. Seems to happen more regularly, but nothing too bad.. Nothing a little breather and/or slowing down can't fix. But I'm definitely feeling good about my new limits to keep my back and body feeling good and strong.. Hopefully we can keep this up for a bit. My 40 minute swims out in the fabulous 50m pool have been lovely..the brisk waters and mornings feel just fine to me! (seriously, news lady..winter coat and hat? It was 55 degrees) I could probably do that every day and be just fine.. I had a nice, little Wednesday today, which seems to still be my day of back to back workouts.. 30 min/3mi run in the chilly sunrise..lovely.. Quick change and breakfast, then off to crossfit..it was a good one and I could do almost all of the movements, though slightly altered for pregnancy (ie: 'toes to bar' are more like..'knees to however high you can get them'..but it still does the trick), so that felt good.. Then another quick change and off to the pool for a cool down swim. Pretty much, these days, my swims consist of various versions of ways to alternate swim, pull and kick..mostly in 100s..some with 'toys' (paddles and fins), some without..until time is up and/or baby says stop.. So pretty easy going out there and mostly just want to keep good form and enjoy the pool. Then, to cap off the day, after a good rest and some more food (though it is harder and harder for me to find any foods that I can eat before workouts.. Cereal..no..pizza..no..bagel? Usually ok..not so much today.. Ugh. Or maybe it was the cottage cheese and strawberries.. Bars are usually a safe bet, but one can only eat so many bars, ya know?!), my riding buddies came over for our usual 20mi ride.. Nice little Wednesday, indeed! Speaking of things I can't eat these days.. That list keeps getting longer and longer! No carbonated drinks.. Cereal is a toughie. My beloved Greek yogurt with fruit and cereal always seems to leave me curled up in a ball wishing I hadn't eaten anything..even though it was so good as it passed the lips.. Seems we might be dealing with a little bit of a dairy aversion, here, but I'm not giving up yet. Cheese and cottage cheese seem to be ok.. I think.. All fruits are a-ok and veggies have been a big baby favorite this time, too.. I've never ever thought about taking a picture of my food before, but the salad I made yesterday (and again today) was quite amazing, if I may say so myself. Can we talk about food for a second? There's a recipe that I've been crazy for these days, so it's only fair that I share.. I actually got it from another gals blog.. I won't mention who.. I'm sure she's a lovely gal, but she has some disordered eating stuff going on that I wouldn't really want to advocate that others check out.. I'll talk about more thoughts on that type of thing another time.. Been meaning to for a while, but keep getting side tracked.. Spoiler alert.. Dr oz is on my list! But anyway.. I've tried out this pancake recipe a few times and it's so good! It's just 1/3c oats, 1 egg, about 2T cottage cheese, dash baking soda, salt, vanilla, about a T cinnamon/sugar mix (I added that one in there..I already had this mixed up, I guess from a cinnamon toast kick a while back?, but you could just use sugar. I added the vanilla, too.. I like vanilla in my baked things and add it where I can), mix it up and it makes 2 lovely pancakes..add some syrup and pb and you've got yourself one delicious start to the day! So on that note, I bid you adieu.

Now..just. Don't. Blow it..

That's really hard for me to do.. I always would scold patients when they wanted to come off their DM/BP/chol/whatever meds because 'things were going better' and I would say, 'they are better because of the meds and lifestyle changes.. If we stop them now, well probably set you back'. Makes so much sense when applied to others.. But myself? Ah. So impatient, I am. After 3 weeks now since my back told me a big, fat 'NO', I'm feeling much better! I've been able to run a bit, though I'm keeping the running to about 30 minutes at a time right now..but it's feeling good! My first run was..not great. I started with intentions of a walk/run, but was able to keep running most of the time..but I have to admit, it was pretty sore. BUT, I kept it short and easy and think I quit while I was ahead.. That was right at the two week mark, so I stuck to the plan.. Pretty much.. The next day I got back on my bike and that felt pretty good, too, but still took it easy. Then memorial day came.. I love holidays! It's a great chance to get some quality exercise in, and that's what I did..in my new, pregnancy kind of way. I originally had these big plans for riding my bike all around..to swim..to crossfit..then back home.. But even I could see that was a bit much, so I scaled it back to a 20mi ride with a friend, then drove..in a car..to crossfit for a long-ish workout, which included a mile run at the start and finish of the workout. Again, I took it easy, but figured a flat mile broken up by 20+ min of body weight exercises (ring rows..since my shoulder still won't allow me to do my beloved pull-ups.. One thing at a time, though.., push-ups and air squats) would be a good way to ease in to running.. And it went really well! I left that workout feeling really excited about how my back was doing and the fact that I was going to be able to continue all my favorite activities, even if it was at a vastly slower, more watered down pace.. I can handle that.. I think.. And thus enter the mantra.. Just don't blow it.. So with some continued chiropractor cracking, icing, stretching.. My rotator cuff PT stuff..and a generally slowed down training load.. I think I'm on the right track. Now, just don't blow it.. Easier said than done. I already find myself thinking "I'm feeling better, so now I can do" xyz..enter whatever activity you can name.. But I have to think like I did with those patients.. Maybe you're feeling better because you're not doing 'xyz' and you should.. I don't know.. Keep it that way? We went to Baltimore over the weekend. Had a good time. Went to another Zac Brown Band concert, which was great. Mason got to hang with his grandparents and Aunt Lis, which is always a good thing. We got to catch up with some friends and all the new, little members of the group.. So many babies and toddlers these days! It was fun to see them all interact..boys running around, the little girls doing girls things..which I found particularly fascinating, since I'm not used to that. I got a couple runs in and a swim.. Nothing too exciting about any of that except, I guess, that the back is still holding on and seems to be handling the 30 minute runs just fine. When we got home, we hit some fine, local nesting establishments.. Bed Bath and Beyond.. Lowes.. Room place.. Even Babies R Us! It was quite the lovely Sunday and our nesting has begun! Mason is really excited about his 'big boy room', for which he chose 'bright green' for his walls, a road/race track type comforter to start off the theme of cars, trucks..'garbage trucks' for his room..and green sheets.. Despite our trying to guide him toward some variety of colors, he's really going for the whole green thing! And as much as I'm sure his 'favorite color' will change by the time we get the room all together, it's not worth arguing over..especially when he's so excited about it and we want to keep things positive while he prepares to move out of his room and make changes to allow for the arrival of his little brother.. So green it is! I'm also excited about changing up the nursery to get set for the new little guy.. I wanted to do animals and was so excited to see all the options out there! Animals driving cars.. Animals playing sports..playing instruments.. So cute! So anyway, that's about all I have to say about that. Here's to the start of another new week! Feeling better. Feeling confident about how my back and body is doing. Feeling like I need to continue to be cautious and not overdo things just because I'm feeling better. It's just not worth it.. So I'll do what I gotta do! It's amazing how much the baby is moving and growing right now. And it's cool that the new general response to my saying I'm due in early Sept is now "that's coming soon!" Indeed..