Wells was born one week ago! (That was true when I started this post on Friday, now he’s 9 days old!)

I’m feeling good. Good enough to run? Not yet! If you’ve had a baby, you know that your belly is just a squishy mess for the first few weeks (and you are bleeding, and maybe you are sore from delivery, and maybe you are sore from engorgement, this list could go on for awhile!) I know some women start right back up to running, but I took 4 weeks off after having Currie and came back really healthy, recovered and strong and I want to do the same this time so I will wait until my belly and body are feeling more normal. I definitely feel like I’m recovering quicker after this delivery than last so maybe I will start back up a bit sooner. Time will tell!

Normal daily life feels good. In fact, I have been walking 1-2 miles a day (taking Currie to school or the library, going to get ice cream, heading to the drugstore, etc) and feel great moving around! I hadn’t even thought about running or exercise in general until I saw all the awesome performances from 5k-marathon for many of my twitter buddies and I started getting the itch to get super active again! At the same time, I am determined to be cautious and have a healthy training cycle post baby so running will wait!

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to see how my body progresses and transforms on the way to my first race (and maybe even goal race. We will see how long I can keep this up!) I took pictures of myself from all 4 sides in my racing apparel, at the one week post baby mark. Oddly enough, I’m wearing Oiselle competition briefs. (AKA bunhuggers!) I haven’t worn buns since college. In fact, if you’ve followed me on twitter for awhile, you’ve probably seen me tweet about why anyone would choose to race in buns. I used to think the best part of being done with college running was being done with buns. For some reason, when I was pregnant with Wells, I got an urge to race in them again. (Probably partly inspired by my buddies who race in them, including Oiselle teammates, specifically Hollie, Sarah Mac, Marci, and let’s not forget FastK8!) So, when Wells was a few days old, I placed the order and made it official. I will be racing in buns again! My husband had a little chuckle when I asked him to take these pics because he knows my previous feelings about racing in briefs. I really like the Oiselle ones because they fit well and have more coverage than brands of the past. See Week One pics below!

Week 1!

There’s the first week update! I will look to all of you, my running buddies, for more inspiration as I get back into running! Thanks for all your kind words after Wells’ birth!

Wells Philip was born on September 27th at 12:11pm. He is such a sweet little guy! We love him to pieces and are all doing well! I wanted to record what happened before I forget… because I had to go through this labor alone and it all went so quickly…

The day started off like any other day. I woke up, Jeff and I walked Currie to school and sipped on coffee at a local spot, I tweeted up a storm, and then I went for a run. I stopped to take a picture of the Great Race sign half a mile from my house, took a few more steps and my water broke right under the start banner!

I took this picture with my iPhone literally SECONDS before my water broke!

I stood there, laughed, then realized I needed to start making some calls – Jeff, my in-laws who were on Currie watch duty and had a 3 hour drive, my parents who were to be in delivery room with me and Jeff and had a 5 hour drive, Currie’s school saying we would pick her up early, and my OB office saying we were on our way to the hospital. It was 10:15am.

I also laughed because I realized I had to get trucking home. I wasn’t having contractions until my water broke, but they were coming fast and furious once it did. THANK GOODNESS I was wearing my Roga Shorts, specifically in black. When your water breaks, you don’t really want to be in public. If you are, you want to be wearing performance gear. I think the water breaking was unrecognizable to others around me thanks to the Rogas! The “water” dribbled right down and off the shorts (no big apparent wet spot, whew!)

Super classy pic of me standing on bidet after arriving home, happy that no one could see a big wet area on my shorts! Too bad you can’t tell in this picture anyway.

Back view!

Nobody answered on the first call, but fortunately Jeff, my mom, and Jeff’s mom all called me back in a couple of minutes and said they were on their way.

My contractions started to get really intense and really close together once I was home. I took a shower, and Jeff arrived. We picked Currie up at school, and then got to the hospital at around 11:25am. At this point, we weren’t really rushing, but I had a feeling this labor was going to be much quicker than my previous one. I couldn’t talk through my contractions and they seemed to be coming one on top of the other. Currie was trying to tell me all about her day but I was unable to carry on the conversation without heavy breathing and moaning.

Waiting at registration, breathing through a contraction. Currie is most likely texting someone…

By the time we pulled into the hospital, it was clear that we should valet park the car. The lady at reception was really slow. When I finally got admitted, they found (TMI ALERT!) I was already 9 centimeters dilated!  They realized what I already knew — I was giving birth NOW!  They rushed me to the labor room, and Wells was born with only 3 pushes at 12:11pm.

In real time, it all happened so fast that we weren’t able to find anyone to watch Currie, so I had to go through labor without Jeff, all by myself! Fortunately, a friend of his came to watch Currie so Jeff got in the delivery room just after Wells was born. (Big thanks to Niki Kittur!)

It felt much longer… my goal all along was to try for a natural birth with no drugs, but when I got to the hospital I definitely wanted drugs! (I had “planned” a natural birth for Currie, but had an epidural after not progressing without it. Labor with her was 35 hours! This time I had an open mind… I think all moms are super rockstars no mater how they deliver and I knew I wanted to try no drugs, but was open to anything.) The pain with Wells was the most intense that I could imagine, and then it got worse. I was so close to delivery when I arrived that they weren’t able to give me anything — not even time enough to put in an IV, which they always want to do in case I would need it for another reason. I was going all natural no matter what at this point. Fortunately, it was over very quickly and I was really lucky.

Not even two hours after my water broke on my run, I was holding Wells up against my chest. The experience was crazy, but ended perfectly

Happy to have Jeff and Currie in the delivery room within 10 minutes after Wells was born!

I’m 38 weeks pregnant! Ah! I did this fun comparison of when I was exactly 38 weeks with Currie posing in our old playroom, and then a picture in our new house playroom with my current bump. I think I look pretty similar, but I think this baby is slightly bigger. What do you think? 

38 weeks with Currie on the left, 38 weeks with Baby Boy Bigham on the right. Both taken in toy rooms of different houses.

So, what’s new? I’m still chugging along with the running, but chuuuuuuuhhhhh…ggggingggggg slower by the day. I’m just running with a regular old Timex watch, and I glance down occasionally to see where I am, just because I’m curious. I always look down at the first street past my house, and it’s usually right around 1:00 exactly. Yesterday, it was 1:14. It doesn’t take a math wizard to know that’s a significant slow down in a week’s time. While I’m DYING TO RUN FAST AGAIN, I really don’t mind that my pace is slowing now. Afterall, I am giving birth in less than 2 weeks! The 14 second slow down is just a fun fact to chew on.

Another thing telling me I’m slowing down is: 3-year-old Currie is faster than me! Well, she’s not exactly faster than me, but she did legitimately beat me at the playground this week. We were taking turns running and timing laps around the blacktop area. I was conveniently dressed in running apparel as usual, and Currie wanted me to run a lap while she timed me with the iPhone. Then she did the same. I wasn’t really racing on my timed lap, but I thought I was keeping a respectable pace. As a side note, the only other parent on the playground, a dad who had 2 little ones, was all-but-begging me to stop running. He was sure he would be the one delivering my baby when I went into inevitable-running-induced-labor. I was shocked to look at the iPhone clock and see that Currie’s time, 42 seconds, beat my time of 43 seconds. Whoa! The kid can run, and I’m only getting slower…

Currie racing a real track meet a few months ago.

I know, she should have been racing in her Oiselle Weebird tank, but they weren’t out yet!

More evidence of slowing down… today I felt GREAT on my run. The weather was perfect! I was wonderfully caffeinated (not too much, not too little) from my first pumpkin spice latte of the season! (I know, I know, I talk about how I’m a straight up black coffee girl, but I make the exception for a few soy pumpkin spice lattes each fall.)

I don’t always drink pumpkin spice lattes, but when I do, I drink them without pants.

My body was just moving well and feeling in sync. I ran my WHOLE normal route, and took zero walk breaks. On a normal day when I run/walk and stop to walk at least 5-6 minutes this route takes 29 minutes. It took 27 today with no walk breaks… hmmm… math not adding up…

Have I beat this horse into the ground yet? Do you know to expect significant slow downs week 38 of pregnancy (if you are anything like me anyway)?!

I feel like I’ve complained a lot lately about all the rude comments I’ve received while running. Do you know lots of people are really supportive of my pregnant running? First of all, everyone I know IRL and interact with online is super supportive. Maybe a bunch of people will attack my blog/twitter/instagram with rude messages someday, but so far I’ve received nothing but supportive messages (THANK YOU ALL, I APPRECIATE IT! *Surround yourself with good people!) Everyone in my doctor’s office is really supportive of my running as well, and they comment about how healthy the baby is and I am because I run. Then today, a girl stopped me to say “You are so awesome! Just amazing! Look at you! Just look at you!” as she pointed back and forth from my belly to my legs running. Made me smile ear to ear.

Other than that, we are settling into our new home and I’m slowly getting unpacked. Baby Boy Bigham is welcome to stay in my belly as long as he wants… more time to get things organized around here! Will I make it to a 39 week and 40 week post? Time will tell…

36 weeks, pre-run from the new house!

It’s just about 3 weeks until my due date, and I’ve found myself having a really bad week physically. On Monday, the movers arrived with all of our stuff we haven’t seen since June! I was ready for a big day of directing them and starting to arrange things. My body had other plans. I felt nauseous all night on Sunday night and didn’t get much sleep. My “run” was more walking than anything and I just didn’t feel right. By the time the movers arrived, I was experiencing intense, painful, frequent contractions. Thankfully Jeff arrived home a few hours later and I was able to rest, the contractions stopped, and life went back to normal.

Tuesday and Wednesday workouts were the normal 3 mile run and a few miles walking.

Then came Thursday. I didn’t run because I missed the opportunity in the morning, it was too rainy for a stroller run later, and our treadmill wasn’t put together from the move. I was fine taking a day off. I had another rough night Thursday night where I felt nauseous, woke up on Friday feeling “off”, tried to run but was very uncomfortable so I did mostly walking and when I got home, the contractions started up in full force again! Any move I made triggered an almost-double-me-over-in-pain contraction (even brushing my teeth)! I told Jeff maybe my running days were over, even though the running didn’t seem to affect things. Friday night was sleepless and filled with stomach pains, but not really contractions (more like, ate too much dairy pains).

I was surprised to wake up feeling awesome on Saturday. I debated skipping my run, but it was 50 degrees and sunny and I just couldn’t resist trying. I briefly thought I could save my run until the end of the day, and if that’s what caused the contractions, at least I would be heading to bed shortly and my issues wouldn’t affect Currie’s day or my ability to get some unpacking done. Then I decided to just try a morning run and see what happened. I ended up going about 3.5 miles and feeling good the whole time! During pregnancy you just NEVER KNOW! Just like I said over 10 weeks ago in the good days, bad days post, things usually turn around. (At the same time, there’s no shame in saying “see-ya later running!” until pregnancy is over.) For me, running feels right most days so I continue to do it!

So, I’m just about 37 weeks now, and you can see me from 3 angles below!

37 weeks, 3 angles!

I see the doctor weekly now, and think about giving birth more often.

Things that Happen to Active Pregnant Ladies, especially in the final weeks:

I get odd looks when I’m running. Just yesterday a lady did a triple-take as I ran by. First time she looked at me, second time she stared straight at my belly, third time she stared straight at my belly again!

I get rude comments when I’m running. Last week a woman in my neighborhood shouted: “WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?! YOU’RE PREGNANT!”

I get funny comments when I walk Currie to school (1/2 mile walk): “You walk here every day? Don’t you get tired? Doesn’t your belly get heavy?”

Just a few more weeks to go and we will return to non-pregnant-Jen posts, and a few months later, racing like a maniac posts!

I’m coming up on 36 weeks pregnant!

Hotel pic before moving into our house a few days ago!

I was shopping at Trader Joes last night, stocking our new house with some essentials, and the cashier mentioned something about “baby’s cravings”. I smiled and said something like “yeah” just to get out of there quicker, but I’ve been lucky both pregnancies – I’ve had no food cravings. Sure, I’m hungry constantly, think the worst runger during marathon training, and feel like I’m always reaching for something, but it’s never the case where I JUST HAVE TO HAVE THIS CERTAIN FOOD RIGHT NOW!

Mochi, one of the things I like to buy at Trader Joes anytime, not a craving. :)

However, there is something I’m REALLY CRAVING, like I need it so badly and think about it ALL THE TIME – a good lung burn. The kind of lung burn I need is the kind that really only comes from a good speed session on the track. Even if I wanted to do real workouts during pregnancy, my body breaks down long before my lungs. After my pregnancy speed experiment, my body was sore for days. If I am running at a faster pace, say going downhill or I’m just feeling good that day, I start getting round ligament pain almost immediately and have to slow down. My lungs are missing that feeling they have known for so long. I get my heart rate up in my new neighborhood because it’s very hilly. I’m always running up or down! I just can’t get that amazing burn that comes from really fast running and I miss it so much!

Getting that lung burn during a 5k!

Pain face in my pain place!

Luckily, I have just about 4 weeks until Baby Boy Bigham arrives! I’m so excited to meet the little guy, snuggle him like crazy, and to get running fast again when my body starts to recover from giving birth! I had the hospital tour on Wednesday. I wouldn’t have gone again, but this is a new hospital in a new city and thought it would be good to know where to go on the big day!

We hung toward the back of the tour pack so we could take some photos without feeling silly. I just received my newest Oiselle Feather Hoodie and loved it so much I forced it to fit over the belly!

I’m a sweaty mess, but had to include this close up because the hoodie is that beautiful!

I’m still running shorter distances (2-3 miles for the most part) daily, walking quite a bit and trying to get our new house ready before the baby comes. I had a few tired days last week, but my energy is mostly back so hopefully I can keep up with running/walking/house prepping right up until my baby arrives! We shall see. I’m taking it day-by-day.