.Whoa

I'm a teeny bit sidelined at the moment. 

Throughout my pregnancy I had back pain. I won't lie, it was pretty annoying. I figured it was because of the extra 50lbs I gained and I think part of it was, but it came back after I had Kendrick and has been really bugging me in the last week or so. On Monday my back was so sore that I could barely lift him up, so I knew I had to go see someone. It's very discouraging to get injured when you feel like you haven't been doing a lot, so I was a little bit frustrated when I booked my physio appointment for today.

Thankfully, after my appointment it doesn't seem to be too bad. They told me likely some things were moved out of place when I was pregnant and when I gave birth so I need to strengthen my core muscles and that should help. I still have to be careful training my abs and core because of the c-section, but the exercises he gave me to do seem like they'll be ok. He said yoga is good, stretching is good, walking is good, and running is...well...maybe I should wait a bit. Ug. He said to keep an eye on it and run when my back starts to feel better, as he said it is a good sign that it's feeling much better than at the beginning of the week but I have to be careful as it could become chronic. Considering my half marathon training program for the Edmonton Half starts on Monday, I'm going to take it easy this weekend and hope for the best!

I forgot to mention in my last post that a few weeks ago a crazy idea creeped into my head. I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I should consider training for a full marathon. Part of me felt really inspired and motivated and the other part said "ARE YOU NUTS?!"

In the last few years as I've been training for half marathons, I had previously decided that I wouldn't train for a full marathon until I could get my personal best under two hours and 30 minutes. I got about 1/3 of the way through the training program for the Edmonton Half last year before I realized that I was pregnant, and I was on pace to smash (yes, smash is the right word) my personal best by about 10-20 minutes, which would have gotten me close to or under the 2:30 mark. I also told myself that I wouldn't train for one until I could run a half and not feel like I wanted to die. The last half marathon I did I finished confident and hit my personal best of 2:43, but my body felt like it was going to fall apart. Although my lungs were good, my body was extremely sore and fatigued and it really gave me something to think about. 

So I started to think about running a full this winter and before baby #2 becomes a thought. Running in the winter is not an option for a whimp like me because it's way too cold in Edmonton to run (for me anyways) so I started to look online to see if there are any races that weren't too far away but in a better climate. It looks like we are going to head to Australia this November so we haven't planned any other vacations. I ended up finding the Rock n Roll Arizona which is in January of next year. I'll still be on maternity leave and usually you can find cheap flights to Phoenix; not to mention that the temperature there at that time of year won't be too hot for running! Of course money doesn't grow on trees either...I'm going to use the Edmonton Half in August and the Vancouver Rock n Roll Half in October as trial runs and potentially start a marathon training program after the race in October and make the decision later on this year. I got some support on Facebook from a couple of my mom friends who ran marathons within a year of having their first kids, so it gives me some hope that it is do-able!

Unfortunately I've fallen off the smoothie train a little bit and haven't had that many smoothies this past week. I will get better next week when I start running again! I found it harder than I thought to get up and run after Kendrick gets up around 5ish so I didn't get to that either, but I'm going to have to come up with some sort of plan before Monday as I have to get in 4-5 runs a week! I'm remaining positive that I can do this. 

xo

-Dianne

PS: My aunt told me about these sites called Ebates and Ebates Canada where you earn a small percentage of your purchase back when you shop at a bunch of retailers online. I checked it out and signed up and made my first purchase at Vista Print as I needed some new business cards. I got 90 cents back on my $35 purchase. If you do a lot of shopping you'll want to sign up. It takes seconds and some sites have some really good deals. Check them out by clicking on the Ebates links above!

.Candid

It's been a bit of whirlwind week! Last Sunday at this time I was feeling a little funny, in pain, and wondering if something was happening. Fast forward to 5:26AM on Monday, March 9 and our beautiful baby boy was born! Welcome to the world, Kendrick Peter Gene!

Many people have asked where we came up with the name Kendrick, and honestly after looking through hundreds of baby names it kind of just came to me. I asked Brian what he thought and he's says "I don't mind that". That was the very first name that we both didn't veto right away as we were having trouble agreeing on names, and then it started to grow on us as the months went by. We did have a couple others and didn't make the final decision until about an hour after he was born when we both had the chance to take a good look at him. The middle names are after his grandpas which unfortunately passed away before he was born.

I'll be candid for a moment and tell you that actual labour was terrifying. Pregnancy itself was very scary for me (mostly due to me being paranoid), and I was thankful that after the first trimester things evened out a bit and I felt a lot better.  

We'll start off from a week ago. I woke up in the morning feeling not so great. I was feeling pain and it was getting really hard to walk from all the pressure on my pelvis. I was fairly confident that the baby had "dropped" completely, which means that labour could start any time. Being only three days away from my due date I hadn't had any other signs of labour so I was starting to wonder if I was going to be overdue. Despite this, the last few weeks I had a feeling that the baby would be coming around the due date so I wasn't really sure what to think. We made a quick trip to Costco that morning and then a stop at Buy Buy Baby to pick up some last minute things for the baby. After that we had a visit with friends, and Brian installed the car seat in his car. I started to notice that my pain was getting worse and seemed to be coming and going. For some reason I thought contractions would be a lot higher in the belly than they were, so I didn't actually start timing them until about 5:30. I used an app called "CTX Timer" (honestly, what would we do without technology these days) to try and track them and find out a pattern. They started out being 7-8 minutes apart and then got farther apart but more intense. This is when we decided to slowly start preparing in case we needed to go to the hospital. We both took showers, made sure the hospital bags were ready to go, and did some last minute de-cluttering. By the time we started to get ready for bed the contractions were around 5-6 minutes apart and I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep. Brian called the Labour and Delivery at the hospital and explained what was going on, and they said we were welcome to come in for an assessment so we decided to go and check it out. Just as we were leaving the house the contractions started to get 2-3 minutes apart - and at that point I was very grateful we only lived three minutes away from the hospital!  Upon arrival they did some initial checks and let us know that I was 3CM dilated and they were going to keep me. If reality hadn't set in initially it sure set in then! We then got wheeled to a private room where I pretty much had to be monitored constantly and wait for labour to progress. 

We had prepared to be in labour for awhile since the average for first time moms is usually pretty long (I believe they told us in prenatal classes it was around 20 hours), however mine was progressing really fast. An hour and a half later I was at 6CM and the contraction pain was pretty tough. I finally gave in and asked for an epidural. I really wanted to try to have a natural birth, however I am well aware of my pain tolerance and actually a little impressed with how far I made it. After reading me all the things that can go wrong (similar to the end of drug commercials on American channels), they proceeded and it was a huge relief. When I couldn't feel the contractions anymore I was able to nap on and off. All of a sudden I was at 9.5CM and that's when things stalled. They topped up my epidural and I feel like gave me too much because after that point I couldn't feel anything from the stomach down, nor could I move. Every time I had a contraction the baby's heart rate was going down, so the doctors were getting concerned. Although he was head down, he was facing upward instead of downward so they constantly tried to move him around. It took awhile and they finally got him turned, but at that point he wasn't moving when I tried to push. It came to the point where the doctor finally said that for the safety of both of us, they'd need to perform an emergency c-section. Although I knew this always could have been an option, I wasn't really prepared and I was scared. Again, the doctor went through the pros and cons and then got me to sign a waiver saying it was ok. As I got wheeled into the operating room they made Brian wait outside until they were ready to start, and that was the worst because he'd been holding my hand the whole time. I could tell he was just as terrified as I was but he was trying to stay strong for me. They finally let him in after he put on scrubs and again had to top up my epidural so I wouldn't feel anything. Thankfully they put up a curtain so I couldn't actually see what was going on (which I'm very thankful for as I think I would have passed out if they didn't). I swear less than two minutes passed and the baby was being rushed over to a table near by with three doctors hovering around him. We both didn't understand why he wasn't crying. That's what happens in the movies right? The baby is born and immediately starts crying? His eyes were wide open and his chest was moving but he wasn't making a sound and we were both terrified. They had a tube down his throat and we found out later that when babies are born by c-section they are usually in shock, so they have to pump out some mucus that was in his lungs. He finally started to make noise and the nurses turned to us and said that everything was ok and he's happy and healthy and that he was one of the most adorable babies they had ever seen. *Insert sigh of relief here*

Although my experience was scary, it certainly isn't the same for everyone; if anything I've learned that every pregnancy and labour experience is different. Me personally, I hope that I never have to go through a C-Section again! I was very lucky that there was only six hours between arriving at the hospital and giving birth, and I am also extremely lucky that I have one incredible husband who slept on a bench for four days, stayed by my side in the hospital and has been so hands on and supportive through this experience! And when they say that you'll forget all the pain once you get to hold your baby for the very first time, that is 100% true. We couldn't be more thankful for our bundle of joy. :)

Besides my butt being ridiculously sore from having to stay in a hospital bed in almost the same position for four days straight, the staples were removed off my incision yesterday and I'm feeling pretty mobile. The nurse says it's healing really well, so hopefully it stays that way! My belly is slowly shrinking and I've lost 13 lbs. Woo hoo! I'm still on painkillers for the time being, but the pain is starting to get less and less so hopefully by the end of the week I'll be lowering the dosage or off them completely. I'm very thankful that Brian was able to get a few extra days off so we can go through this learning curve together and spend time with the little man! I'm looking forward to leaving the house at some point this week - I've been pretty stir-crazy and I know I'm missing all the beautiful weather!

Life is busy but looking forward to blogging a little more often this year. Stay tuned! :)

xo
-Dianne

PS. Talked to the nurse and she said I could talk to the doctor at the six week mark and discuss when I could get back to running and being active again. YAY. I have April 20th circled on the calendar and hope I heal up nicely so I can slowly get back into things. For now, she said I can walk if I feel up to it, so if the weather stays nice Kendrick & I may go exploring in the neighbourhood.