Slowly Progressing Towards a Workout

River all ready to help daddy move firewood

I came home from the hospital Wednesday (almost two weeks ago) and weighed myself Thursday morning- I was already back to my pre-baby weight. I kept my weight gain to about 10 pounds, so it's not surprising that I was able to lose the weight quickly. Most of that weight is accounted for just by Ocean. Add in amniotic fluid and placenta, and that's the 10 pounds right there.

It helped that I was only on the IV for about an hour since it got knocked out and they didn't put it back in, so I didn't have to worry about getting rid of excess fluids.

Of course, I was overweight to begin with, so the challenge is to keep losing weight and making progress. I have continued losing weight and have lost another 5 pounds so far. I struggled to balance my nutritional needs (and food issues) with breastfeeding, running, and weight loss after River was born, so I know it's most likely not going to be easy this time around either. My goal weight is 50 pounds away, but I'd be happy with a 40 pound weight loss.

I also lost the baby weight very quickly after River was born, but the weight came back on because of my food issues. Since I don't want a repeat of that, I'm going to try to avoid a repeat of the recurrence of food issues and the resulting weight gain.

Last Thursday my pelvis and hips finally started feeling close to normal, though walking around Target still left me sore. After months of hip and pelvis pain and discomfort, I'm looking forward to being able to do run and move and be active without that pain.

So I'm making progress towards being able to run, but at just two weeks postpartum, it's still too early. Can you tell I'm getting a bit stir-crazy? :)

Birth Story

he looks slightly mischievous here- should we be worried?

Each of my labor and delivery experiences have been quite different. The short versions of each:

Sunshine
A week and a half late. I tried walking, massaging pressure points, etc, but only got contractions going for a short time, so we ended up going to the hospital and being induced, which is not something I ever want to do again. I got an epidural, but it didn't work properly (I felt a lot of the experience) and I still have problems with pain at the epidural site. Sunshine's big head got stuck and she had to be suctioned out. Her stuck head caused damage that didn't heal completely for about 2 years. I also pulled a groin muscle while pushing and it took months to heal. I got an episiotomy I didn't want. Sunshine weighed 7#6oz. Both moms present. This was not a great experience at all and I had (maybe still have?) a lot of negative feelings about it.

River  (read the long version here)
6 days late. Went into labor on my own the morning after spending some time on the treadmill (coincidence?). I got an epidural that worked properly- no other problems with it. Pushed river out without any problems. Tore a small amount. River weighed 7#8oz. MIL had to leave before he was born, but my mom was here. This was a much better experience and was pretty much how I'd like a labor and delivery to go.

Ocean
4 days late. Went into labor naturally without any efforts on my part. No time for an epidural. Tore more than with River because of how fast everything went. Ocean weighed 7#4oz. My mom couldn't come, but MIL got here the day before Ocean was due. This was mostly a good experience, I guess, but I'm still not completely sure how I feel about it since I wasn't prepared for it.

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My kiddos like a little extra time to cook. I wasn't worried about River or Ocean being late because Sunshine was late and there wasn't any major problems (other than that big head of hers that would have caused problems regardless of when she was born). They're not too big and they don't have any health problems associated with being late. River and Ocean's pregnancies were so much easier than Sunshine's that I haven't minded the extra time hanging out with them before they're born.

They also don't drop before delivery, but stay high until the last minute possible. I don't dilate until the last minute. No walking around at a 4 or 5 for weeks ahead of time for me. Once I do dilate, it progresses fairly quickly, though it has sped up with each subsequent delivery.

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Labor and Delivery-Related TMI Ahead

Proceed at Your Own Risk

The long version of Ocean's labor and delivery:

Saturday I finished the homeschool cupboard and worked a bit more on a multi-part project I haven't yet finished.

Sunday in church I couldn't bend over to pick something up off the floor while sitting on the pew- it hurt in a way that it hadn't before. I wasn't in labor or anything, but things felt different. After church I fell asleep on the couch for awhile- I was too tired to stay awake. After dinner I remembered River had a speech therapy appointment first thing Monday morning at our house, so I tidied up the living room- mostly this meant putting away the cans of paint and stain that I had left spread out on the school table.

Sunday night I was up a bit late because of the nap I took (I always have a hard time sleeping after taking a nap), but I eventually fell asleep around midnight, just to wake up around 1:30 because the contractions I'd been feeling off and on before going to sleep were more intense and regular. I wasn't sure if they were the real thing, but I also had some leakage that I wasn't sure if it was amniotic fluid. I was strep B positive this pregnancy and I was told I needed to get antibiotics into my system before giving birth, preferably before my water broke. So we called the answering service at 2, then had to wait for the doc to call us. Mr M woke his mom and told her we were leaving and at 2:25 we got in the car and started driving since it's about 25-30 min to the hospital at that time of the morning. The doc called just after we left and she confirmed that we should head in. This is where we were really happy Mr M's mom was here and we didn't have to wake up friends at 2 am to come watch the kiddos. We may not have made it to the hospital at all if we'd had to wait for someone to get to our house.

It took a few minutes to get settled once we arrived at the hospital, but when they checked me I was only a 2. We discussed using the tub and calling the doc and getting an epidural, but within half an hour I was at an 8 and the contractions were coming fast and furious. Not only was I going to miss out on the tub again (I missed it with River too), but I was probably going to miss out on the epidural. In between contractions the nurses were taking down info, putting the IV in, and trying to draw blood. By the time the nurse came for the blood draw the contractions were very close together and intense and she had a hard time getting the blood draw successfully- the bruise in my elbow is testament to that.

By that point reality had set in and we all knew I wasn't getting an epidural. They'd given me a dose of Fentanyl, but it did absolutely nothing other than make me a bit dizzy. They'd called the anesthesiologist, but there just wasn't time to get an epidural administered and working. What was more, the ob/gyn hadn't arrived either. So we ended up with 5 or 6 nurses in the room, all there to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

Mr M had my right hand and the nurse who had my left hand tried to talk me through the contractions, coaching my breathing (something I'd never really had to worry about in previous births with epidurals), at least two were between my legs and another was hanging out to help with the baby when he was born.

We hadn't quite gotten to active pushing (but I was definitely feeling the urge to push) when the doc arrived. Not long after that and we were pushing. It took a lot more pushing and a lot more effort than I expected just to get him down to where he was actually coming out- he was up too high (though I think all of mine have been like that- they don't really drop). Once he was finally in position it only took a couple more pushes for Ocean to fully emerge. They had an oxygen mask on me in between pushes. I was having too hard a time controlling my breathing and the oxygen mask helped make sure I didn't get too light headed and pass out. I received oxygen with River also.

Once Ocean was out, they put him on my chest, Mr M cut the cord, and the doc got started stitching me up. Mr M then helped me take my shirt off so Ocean could be skin to skin with me. I'd put the gown on when I got there, but since we thought we had time I hadn't gotten around to taking my shirt off under it. At that point I glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that we'd been at the hospital less than two hours. Yikes! Way faster than we thought things would go.

a hard-won snuggle

Since it was barely 5 am, we had plenty of time to email and text Mr M's work, River's speech therapist, and our families, sharing the news and changing appointments. I realized it was a good thing I'd put away the cans of paint and stain, since they would have been too appealing to River. Mr M's mom would have spent all her time keeping him away from them.

During that time Ocean hung out on my chest- our hospital lets the baby hang out with mommy for an hour before taking the baby to be weighed and measured and such. This is much nicer than the 5 or 10 minutes we had with Sunshine before they took her away to get cleaned up and weighed.

Sunshine and River meeting Ocean for the first time later that afternoon

Some dis-jointed thoughts about the experience:

I was not prepared mentally for giving birth without an epidural and it definitely affected the experience.

I have too good of an imagination and I kept picturing what was going on down in my nether regions while pushing, which was counter-productive. I've had some painful experiences with exams and procedures down there (a hysterosalpingogram was particularly traumatic) and I really am not comfortable with people messing around down there, especially if I can feel it, which is why I appreciate the epidurals so much.  I was also worried about what damage I could be doing to myself (hemorrhoids, prolapse, etc. I told you I have an over-active imagination), and at the same time I could feel Ocean's head progressing downward, which hurt more than I thought it would. Pain on the inside combined with who-knows-what going on outside didn't do a lot towards keeping me calm and focused.

Mr M was a trooper and his hands are a bit sore from me squeezing them during the contractions, though I tried to massage them more than just squeeze, which helped me focus a bit better. When one hand got too sore he'd switch hands for awhile. Grabbing and massaging with my right hand was the only thing I could really do to work through each contraction. My left hand wasn't very useful because of the location of the IV, which ended up getting knocked out twice while I was pushing. The nurse waiting for the baby was proud of herself for getting the IV back in in between (maybe during?) contractions. After Ocean was born I looked down at my arm and saw blood dripping down it because the IV had gotten knocked out again. At that point they just cleaned up my arm and put a bandage on my hand.

Our clinic has multiple ob/gyns, two of which are female. When River was born, one of the male docs was on-call and handled the delivery. This time around one of the female docs was on-call, so with the 4 or 5 nurses everyone in the room except for Mr M was female. It made for a nice dynamic that I appreciated that much more since I was doing it without the benefit of drugs, which made me feel much more vulnerable somehow. Probably because there was no backing out of the experience, and I would be feeling all the pain, whether I wanted to or not.

After the delivery they gave me some oxycodone and ibuprofen which took the edge off the pain in my nether regions. It didn't feel great down there and I ended up taking pain killers all day. Not what I'd liked to have done, but it was necessary. Interestingly enough, the following day most of the pain was gone and I didn't take any pain killers. The sore muscles everywhere made their presence known in a big way (seriously, I have sore muscles in places I didn't know could get sore) but I've resisted taking painkillers for them. My stitches have started bothering me a bit as they have with past deliveries, but that's to be expected. I also have some painful hemorrhoids that did indeed make their appearance during labor (I told you there was TMI in here).

our little cutie

Despite the amount of pain I went through during delivery and how bad everything felt in the first 24 hours afterward, I feel like I've been healing much faster than in the past with the epidurals. This makes sense, since our bodies are made to push out babies and epidurals are a recent addition to the equation, but to actually experience the difference has been quite enlightening. Not that I'm saying everything is hunky dory or anything. A week postpartum and I'm still sore and can't sit for long periods of time without pretty significant amounts of pain and discomfort. Regardless of how a baby is born, it takes a while for the body to heal from the process.

When I was pregnant with Sunshine I briefly considered having an "all-natural" birthing experience, but I decided I didn't want to do it without an epidural- I didn't want to feel everything. Since then I've never even considered giving birth without an epidural. Which made Ocean's birth that much more difficult. I hadn't prepared myself mentally to experience the intense physical sensations of childbirth. And I wasn't prepared physically either- I hadn't practiced breathing techniques or any other methods of dealing with contractions. Since I was planning on getting an epidural I didn't think I needed to review them. So let that be a warning: just because you plan on having an epidural, it doesn't mean you'll actually get it, so you should be prepared for other contingencies.

I have no idea if this is our last pregnancy or not. That's something we need to pray about, but we're a little too close to this delivery to start thinking about such things. If we do have another kiddo, I will be requesting an epidural as soon as I get to the hospital (one of the nurses said I should do so in an effort to make sure I actually get it), but I will also review breathing techniques and other ways of getting through labor and delivery without drugs. I just don't know that I need another delivery sans epidural. Having such a short labor and delivery did make the experience easier, but it was still difficult and not something I want to repeat.

Post Birth Exercising

 he's doing a lot of this these days

Ocean was born last Monday morning and we went home around lunchtime on Wednesday. That afternoon I felt a slight urge to get moving. Even with all the sore muscles my body feels so much less ungainly and awkward now that Ocean's no longer in my uterus. The feeling of wanting to exercise passed quickly since I know it's way too early and it wouldn't actually feel good.

This was reinforced on Friday when I stopped by the grocery store and Target after Ocean's checkup. It took longer than I expected because it turns out that I can't actually walk that fast- there's too much residual soreness. When I got home I could tell I was just not ready for that much walking. It's a good reminder to take things slow and listen to my body and not push too hard.

While I know I need to be careful, I'm also already looking forward to my August race. Ever since getting pregnant I knew it would have to be at the end of the month to allow maximum healing time. A race on the 29th of August will be two days short of 6 weeks after Ocean's birth. Since we're really not supposed to start being active again until 6 weeks postpartum this race will be done with minimal training. I'm going to try to get some walking in but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do; it depends on how long my healing process is and how busy our schedule ends up being. We're taking breaks from most of our activities this semester, but there's still schoolwork for Sunshine while wrangling a toddler and a newborn. It'll be interesting to see how that goes.

In any case, I'm not planning on doing much running in the race- only on the downhills, and only if it feels good, otherwise I'll walk the whole thing. I walked a 5k three weeks after having River, and while I was sore, it felt pretty good. Hopefully this will be a similar experience.

I haven't signed up for the race yet because I'm still debating between a 4 mile prep run for the 4 mile race I've done in the past (I'm not running it this year) or a 3 mile fundraiser. I've never done either, but I suspect the 4 mile race will be more low-key and walker friendly, so I'm leaning that direction. After my experience of being one of just a couple walkers in the Fourth of July race I want to make sure that the race is walker friendly and I won't be the only one walking the whole thing.

Welcome to our Newest Little Guy

At 4:55 am Monday morning our newest family member officially made his appearance. The experience was not what I'd planned for and I'm rather conflicted about it, and will be posting my thoughts on the experience in a few days. In the meantime, rest assured that he arrived safely and we are now at home, getting settled in.

minutes after he was born

The little guy is quite mellow and chill, which we're waiting to see if it's a long term thing. I think his blog nickname will be Ocean- calm at times but capable of powerful storms. I have the feeling this will prove the case in real life as well.

Sunshine would hold Ocean all day if she could. She held him for a good hour when they came to the hospital, and she just sat and smiled at him the whole time. River is content with giving him quick hugs and then ignoring him, which is about what we expected from him. He's not even two yet, so he doesn't understand a lot of what's going on.

our cute kiddos

Is Pregnancy a Disability?

we tried to get some pics of the kiddos hugging my belly, but River just isn't tall enough when standing

Why would I even think that pregnancy is or isn't a disability?

I've mentioned it before, but Sunshine's pregnancy was not great. It was very uncomfortable and painful because I hadn't been active for quite some time before getting pregnant. School and work meant a lot of sitting and some shortened tendons that caused all sorts of problems in my hips. I couldn't sweep the floors of our small house without massive amounts of hip pain that stuck around for several days, making any movement very painful. I was relegated to sitting on the couch for most of that pregnancy.

For me, Sunshine's pregnancy felt like a disability.

I started running again and became much more active about a year after Sunshine was born and have stayed active since then. While I was pregnant with River, I was able to stay active by running and building things. I ran 4 races while pregnant with him, and built several projects, including a dining table and benches, homeschool cupboard, coffee table LEGO habitat, and a sofa table. The pregnancy was much more comfortable and less problematic than Sunshine's was. I was able to clean the house without massive amounts of pain and I didn't spend much time on the couch. I still had problems (like the pinched nerve in my back), but they were nowhere near as bad as the problems I'd had while pregnant with Sunshine.

River's pregnancy didn't feel like a disability.

This was a bit of a revelation to me. There's almost 7.5 years between Sunshine and River, which gave me ample time to dwell on just how bad things were the first time around. The vastly improved experience with River went a long way to changing my thought processes on what I could and could not do, especially while pregnant.

Because celiac disease screwed up my body so much I struggled for years with how much I could do even without pregnancy in the equation. Having Sunshine in my pre-gluten free years didn't make her pregnancy better. Being gluten free for three years before getting pregnant with River allowed my body to heal and helped me realize I could do more than I thought I was able. Having a much better pregnancy further cemented that thought process.

This pregnancy I've continued being active. I've kept up with Sunshine and River and I've run/walked 10 races. I've built a patio, a treehouse, deck furniture, a fire pit, and several smaller projects. All while mostly in the third trimester of this pregnancy and dealing with the gross heat and humidity that is summer here. I talked about spending the third trimester indoors, enjoying the air conditioning, but that just hasn't happened.

And I'm ok with that. I can do hard things. It may not feel comfortable the whole time and I may have to deal with the resulting fatigue and soreness, but I can do hard things. I don't need to sit on the couch for nine months, afraid to move or do anything.

Not that I've been able to do all these things on my own. Since I feel strongly that I need to stay active, there's been a lot of prayers as I've prayed for the ability to do all these things. There was a talk in General Conference several years ago about doing hard things, and being able to do so with the help of the Lord. I don't remember most talks long term (a side effect of 10 years of untreated celiac disease is the inability to remember a lot of things, both short and long term), but that is one of the few that has stuck with me over the years.

Working on my ambitious projects the last few months has helped me better recognize my physical limits. I frequently over-estimate what I can do, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but could be problematic while pregnant. My projects took longer to complete than they would have if I wasn't pregnant, but I was able to finish them without hurting myself or the baby, which is really the most important thing.

Why all the introspection?

Today's my official due date, but I'm not holding my breath on the little guy making his appearance today. Sunshine was a week and a half late and had to be induced and River was a week late, though I went into labor naturally with him. I'll admit I've been hoping for an extra week with this little guy as well- I feel pretty good and I have a couple projects I'm trying to finish up. We're definitely in the wait-and-see stage, so we'll be taking things a day at a time.

Did any/all of your pregnancies make you feel like you were disabled?

This Week

Cute River :)

This week I've been finishing up my smaller woodworking projects and cleaning the house.  At this point I've finished all my building and have put all the power tools away. Not to say I won't do any more building, just that I won't be doing any for awhile :)

I need to paint or stain the projects still, but getting them built is the harder part. I have to do it during River's nap time or try to build while he's playing in the yard, getting in my way, or leaving my line of sight. Painting and staining can be problematic as well (the mess is a toddler magnet), but smaller projects can at least be finished inside the house after bedtime if needed.  Add in a newborn with a completely different schedule and I won't be getting any building done for awhile, hence the push to finish projects before the little guy makes his appearance.

Three of my projects need to be finished outside: one I stained today (pics tomorrow), but the other two still need to be painted (they're on tomorrow's to do list). Having the flexibility to finish projects in the house is nice since it means I don't have to squeeze everything into the afternoon hours that River is asleep.

Because of all the projects I've been working on this spring and summer I never got around to doing any sort of spring cleaning. Not that I usually do (cleaning is not my favorite thing to do), but I at least manage to keep the house cleaner than it has been lately. Cleaning has definitely not been high on my list of things to do, especially after spending hours outside in the heat and humidity, building things. I've just been too tired for both building and cleaning.

With my building winding down I've been noticing how much I needed to get the house cleaned up. That pre-birth nesting instinct has definitely taken hold. The bathrooms needed some deep cleaning and the dust bunnies have taken over the house. Wool rugs on wood floors breed dust bunnies faster than real bunnies procreate. The bathrooms all got a deep clean and scrub and they look so much better for it. A good vacuuming and sweeping from the basement to the bedrooms has the floors looking a lot better, but I need to recruit Sunshine to dust the baseboards- that's way too much bending over for me right now.

Sunshine has been using the powder room sink to wash out her paint brushes, but then hasn't cleaned out the sink very well. Some diligent scrubbing on my part finally got it looking almost as good as new again, which is so much easier to look at than the grubby, yucky mess it was before.

We have a well and our water leaves deposits of some sort around our sink drains and in the toilets and they don't come off easily. Simple scrubbing isn't enough. Some time ago I read about using a pumice stone to scrub deposits off the inside of toilets, and even went so far as to buy one from the dollar store. That was as far as I went until yesterday.  I scrubbed the drain areas of a couple sinks and the insides of four toilets and they all look like new. It's really quite impressive what the pumice stone and a little elbow grease were able to accomplish. The stone didn't scratch anything, but I was careful to keep the stone and the surface I was scrubbing wet, which I vaguely remember reading was the proper way to do this.

Today is one week from my due date, which of course doesn't really mean anything. The little guy could come tonight, next week, or two weeks from now. I'm hoping I've got two weeks still, which will give me time to finish staining and painting my wood projects and get some sewing projects taken care of. It's a good thing he didn't come before this, since I only packed my hospital bag last night after finally digging out the newborn things from the storage bins I'd stashed them in.

With the building projects done, the house clean, and my bag packed, we're almost ready for the little guy. We just need him to hang in a few more days until Mr M's mom arrives to help out with Sunshine and River. That and I'd really like to finish up more of my half-finished projects :)

Fourth of July 5k Recap

overcast, but still hot and humid

Saturday I finished my seventh race of the year and tenth while pregnant with this little guy. It also marked the start of my 40 by 40 goal.

I ran this race last year in 34:15. It starts early (7:30 am), but it still manages to be hot and humid. That's July out here for you. This year it was overcast, so at least we didn't have the sun beating down on us too.

I knew that I'd walk this race, since I'd be two weeks from my due date and didn't want to induce labor quite this early. Now, I know I'd said I'd walk the last 2 or 3 races I've done, but I never managed to actually walk the whole way. This time around I managed to stick to my goal, and I did walk the whole race. Though I still walked fast, no sauntering for me. Part of this was that I was one of just a couple people who walked the whole race. I thought I remembered more people walking the race last year, but that sure wasn't the case this year. While I managed not to come in last, I was very close.

When it came right down to it, I wasn't tempted to run any of the race. I was afraid I would be, but even walking fast was a bit more than I should have done. Things did not feel very comfortable, and would have been much worse if I'd done any running. Definitely a lesson for me to slow down and take things a bit easier.

I finished 3.09 miles in 47:44, which is a 15:27 minutes/mile pace. Not my slowest 5k ever, so I'm happy.
mile 1: 15:28
mile 2: 15:06
mile 3: 15:45

2015 races
July 5k             47:44       38 weeks pregnant
June 5k           41:19       34 weeks pregnant
May 5k           40:05       29 weeks pregnant, pushed River in the jogger
April 5k          42:36       28 weeks pregnant, pushed River in the jogger
March 5k        35:32       22 weeks pregnant
February 5k   33:55       20 weeks pregnant
January 5k     33:25       12 weeks pregnant

add in the 2014 races I completed while pregnant:
December 5k      33:25          PR for the year!  pregnant
Turkey Trot 5k  34:22          pregnant
Halloween 5k     35:26          ran in costume, barely pregnant

As I said at the beginning, that's 10 races while pregnant with this little guy. I only did 4 while pregnant with River, but that was also before I started my monthly race goal.

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This race is also the official kick-off of my 40 by 40 goal. I won't be getting quite the variety of races I'd hoped to since the next 9-12 months will be occupied with giving birth, recovering, and nursing a baby (all things that really affected my energy levels and food issues when River was a baby). The second year of my two year goal should have more variety, but this first year will be mostly 5k's since I know I can handle those with minimal training.

However, I think completing a 5k while 38 weeks pregnant is a good start to my goal.

38 Weeks

July is here and my due date is speeding ever closer. This pregnancy has sped by- no dragging here. Yesterday I hit 38 weeks, so I've got two weeks till my due date. However, Sunshine was induced a week and a half late and River was born 6 days late, no induction needed. I'm hoping this little guy follows suit and takes his time. While I definitely reached the "get this baby out of me" stage with Sunshine (it was a much more problematic pregnancy though), I never did with River, and I don't anticipate it happening with this little one either.

And the comparison photos from River's pregnancy:

While I don't feel like I need to get this baby out now, I'm definitely slowing down. I'm having a lot more pain and discomfort in my hips, which I suspect is related to how much I insist on doing. I have a hard time slowing down and taking it easy and my hips are letting me know they don't appreciate my compulsions.

Luckily the big projects are all finished and now I'm just working on a couple small projects that I'll share once I finish them. Which will hopefully be soon. I'll be able to finish the building portions today or tomorrow, but there's painting and staining that will take a bit longer. My goal is to put away the power tools by tomorrow evening, clean up my messes, and switch modes. Once I paint and stain my wood projects I'll be moving on to some sewing projects. Those are much more flexible and easy to squeeze in while 41 weeks pregnant or adjusting to a newborn.

I've also started "nesting". The other night I got the urge to spend way longer than I should have (and stayed up way later than I should have) cleaning and organizing the basement. Mr M's mom is coming out just before my due date and I wanted to make sure the guest bedroom and bath were ready for her. So naturally I also had to clean the rest of the basement while I was at it.

And I've actually had the urge to clean the bathrooms, which is an urge that I don't usually get. I tend to leave them a bit longer than I should. But next week I think I'll actually give them a deep scrub. After I finish sorting the baby clothes :) There's a definite advantage to having two little boys close together: we have almost all the clothes and gear we need already. I may need to buy a few outfits because of the difference in seasons (middle of the summer versus early fall), but I think we may not need to. Obviously we'll need diapers, but the only things we've bought so far for this baby are a car seat and new swaddle blankets. I love the Aden +Anais blankets we used with River, but since he's claimed them as his blankies (I rotate them so I can wash them without traumatizing him), I don't see him taking kindly to having to share them with his baby brother. Better to just buy a new set.

Physically, I'm still feeling pretty good. I'm just tired from lack of sleep (curse those middle of the night bathroom runs!) and my hips hurt when I do too much walking or standing. I will say that this little guy seems to be able to whack me in the cervix more than River ever did, despite being in the same position as him. Sunshine was in a different position and she was constantly kicking my ribs, something the boys haven't really done. I don't remember River being as energetic in his movements as this little guy, and it can be quite painful when he moves. But honestly, those movements just remind me he's still in there and looking forward to joining us. We have several friends who've had stillbirths, so while I try not to dwell on it, I know we're not out of the woods yet. With my history of miscarriages and infertility I definitely don't need to be thinking about that, but it's still in the back of my mind.

At this point I'm hoping the little guy hangs in there for a bit longer so I can finish up my projects, clean up the house a little more, and organize the baby clothes. I'm still deciding where to store them: he'll sleep in our room for the first few months, then transition into Sunshine's room. Hopefully it'll be more successful than River's transition. I've been looking for a bigger dresser for Sunshine's room, but haven't found one I like that's in our budget, so the baby clothes may just sit in baskets on our dresser until I find a dresser that I like. I don't feel the need to do the whole nursery thing before the little guy is born (we didn't for River either) since they spend the first few months in our room.

Six Years of Gluten Free Life

This is something I've been thinking about off and on for awhile now.

Back when we first found out I had celiac, I remember reading that some people can heal in 6 months, but others can take 1, 2, or even more years to fully heal. At the time, I felt so much better in such a short time that I was sure it wouldn't take long at all- I would be one of those who was healed in 6 months. I'm glad I didn't know back then just how long the healing process would be for me.

Last month I hit my 6 year anniversary of being gluten free, and as I look back I can see how much my health has improved, but at the same time, I can still see room for improvement.

The last 6 years have been like driving on hilly roads- up, down, up, down, up, down. I go through periods where I'm feeling good and making progress, but I also go through periods where it seems that everything I eat gives me problems and I don't feel good. And then I swing back to feeling better again.

A lot of this has to do with how I eat. Just gluten free isn't enough. GAPS made a huge difference, but it's not something I can do long term (nor is it meant to be), though I know I would benefit from doing it again. That'll have to wait till I'm no longer pregnant. Pregnancy and GAPS food do not agree with me.

The paleo diet mostly works for me, though I have to keep the nuts and coconuts to a minimum (a lot of paleo recipes call for nuts, nut flours, coconut milk, coconut flour, etc), and I'm tolerating dairy pretty well right now, so I do eat some dairy. I've also been eating small amounts of rice and potatoes for the carbs, but corn is problematic right now.

Even with the food issues I still deal with and the subsequent unresolved health issues, I really have come so far. I've been able to get pregnant (and stay pregnant) twice, and was able to breastfeed River with much more success than I did Sunshine in my pre-gluten free days. I have the energy to do hard things, like run half marathons and build patios and treehouses. I have the energy to keep up our kiddos during the day and work on projects after they're in bed. Maybe not so much right now, but I'm also 37 weeks pregnant, so my energy levels are suffering anyway :)

I still have to rest and take breaks, but I'm functioning on a much higher level than I used to. Pre-gluten free I was lucky to make it through the day and get dinner made. By the time dinner was done (or earlier), I was done.

Mentally I'm doing a lot better as well. The fuzzy brain is mostly gone and I remember things a lot better. I still forget a lot of things, but I cope with it a lot better (I write a lot of lists). My anxiety levels are only an issue when I'm eating things that don't agree with me (which is one of the sure signs that my food is off).

Sometimes it's easier to see how far I still need to go, but that just gets discouraging, so instead I try to focus on the progress I've made. I really have come a long way...

Shed Projects, Part 1

our shed when we first bought it, with our sad attempt at a garden in front

We finished the treehouse, so last week we moved on to our next project.

We bought our garden shed about two and a half years ago, but hadn't done much more with it besides fill it with stuff. In our effort to finish projects and make things have more curb appeal, we turned our attentions to the shed. Mr M worked on the ramp for the double doors while I worked on organizing the inside of the shed.

The Shed Ramp
There's a bit of a drop off from the shed double doors to ground level, so Mr M would put boards down in order to get the lawnmower in and out of the shed. It worked, but it wasn't a great long-term solution. When I was working on the patio I bought some 8' boards and cut them in half to build a ramp, but it turned out to be a flawed idea. We've had a lot of rain recently, and we noticed that mud was accumulating at the end of the ramp, close to the shed doors. There was still a lip between the ramp and the shed floor, so the mud wasn't going into the shed, but we knew that could change with a really hard rain.

So we tried a couple other designs to eliminate the mud problem. The first design consisted of the 4' boards sloping away from the shed and pavers sloping down to the shed. Because of the slope leading to the shed we had problems getting the angles right, and the combination of pavers and boards didn't look very professional. As I've mentioned before, looks matter in our projects since we have to keep an eye out for re-sale value.

4' boards and pavers, not very aesthetically pleasing

Because of all the digging Mr M had done to get the pavers in place, we realized we had another option for the ramp. If we extended the length of the boards, we could bring the ramp out further up the hill and we could direct mud under the ramp.

This unfortunately meant we had to go buy more boards, but at least we could re-use most of the original shorter boards under the ramp, as part of the support structure.

8' boards in place, pavers kind of in place, checking to see if we like the result

8' boards nailed to each other and the support boards that rest on pavers

This was as far as the project got last Saturday, but we've made more progress this week, so there'll be more pictures next week.

Inside the Shed
When we bought the shed, it was a blank slate: (those are extra shingles in the far right corner)

While Mr M played in the dirt, I worked in the shed. I thought I had a picture showing the chaos, but I don't. Rest assured that it was bad and it was hard to move or find anything in the shed. At one point I had moved a counter and two base cabinets from the basement to the shed for a work surface. The space between the base cabinets ended up being a collecting space for all the wood scraps that are leftover after my projects.

I actually sorted these bins of scraps last fall, which left piles of wood on the floor under and in front of the counter and on top of the counter.

A glimpse of the chaos from last fall, which isn't as bad as what it was more recently

Trying to organize leftover pieces of wood last fall for use in future projects

I cleared out the bins of wood scraps (the patio and treehouse generated a lot more scraps), put up shelves for the scraps I wanted to keep, organized the wood scraps on the shelves, and chucked some stuff that's just been taking up space and not being used for anything. I put away tools and labeled the drawers in our metal storage cabinet. Basically I worked to find a spot for everything, and make sure that we could easily find what we needed without moving things around more than necessary.

Now we can actually use all the doors (the front door has been blocked for some time), and we can even walk easily through the shed. Junk was piling up on the sides, and with the lawnmower in the shed, space was getting tight. Add in a pregnant belly, and it was not easy for me to work my way to the counter end of the shed.

Shed Stairs

That big rock was the only step we've had to the front door of the shed since we bought it. Since we were working on making the shed more user-friendly and "finished", I decided to finally build some stairs. I forgot to take a picture before I started, though, so here you can see where I had started digging for the paver bases of the stair stringers.

After digging in pavers to rest the stair stringers on, I attached the tops of the stair stringers to the shed frame. The final step was adding on stair treads. I used Trex decking leftover from the kitchen stairs and deck because it wasn't being used for anything else and I didn't want to purchase materials that weren't really necessary.

that bin of wood scraps (and the two others next to it) will be taken to the dump soon

since a lot of the scraps are treated wood we can't burn them

you can actually walk through the door now!

The hardest part of this project was dealing with the heat and humidity. The temps got into the low 90's, and the heat index was in the high 90's once you added in the humidity. Ick! The ramp area was in full sun for most of the afternoon and inside the shed was like a sauna, even with all the doors open. Double ick!

We guzzled water and gatorade and soldiered on. We're definitely at the end of our window for finishing our outdoor projects. We'll finish up what we're working on, but the rest of the projects will have to wait till it cools down in the fall.

Pregnancy Update

The picture is from last week, at 34 weeks pregnant. Tomorrow I hit 35 weeks. I haven't been taking pictures this time around like I did with River, but I realized I should be taking at least some. With Mr M home again it's a bit easier to make sure I get in some of the pictures. For comparison, here's the 32 and 36 week pics from River's pregnancy.

At this point, I'm done with my major building projects (the patio and the treehouse) and now just have a couple smaller projects left. I'll see how many of them I finish before the little guy makes his appearance, and finish them up when I have the time and energy after he's born.

My building projects have been keeping me physically active. Sunshine's pregnancy and delivery were such a bad experience and River's was so much better because of my increased and consistent activity levels, that it's important to me to stay active. I think this time around I've been over-compensating a bit. If being active is good, then being more active, is better, right? Not necessarily.

Not running the half was a good decision, as has backing off on my running. It's not been easy, but avoiding the treadmill has left me with the time and energy to build the patio and treehouse. Though running is my preferred exercise, there are other ways for me to get my exercise in, and construction is a good substitute.

My building projects haven't been part of my over-compensation- those have been because Mr M was out of town so I was the one who had to get them done, and they needed to get done before the baby was born so we could actually use them before we possibly sell the house next spring, though that's now up in the air as we move up our job hunt.

At 34 weeks, I'd only gained 8 pounds, which is awesome. Of course, my starting weight was heavier than with Sunshine or River, so I didn't need to gain a lot anyway. I gained about 25 when pregnant with Sunshine, but only 15 with River (I started heavier with him than with her). I'm curious to see what happens with my weight in the next 6 weeks.

My food issues have been fairly stable, though I still have to be careful about what I eat. I can eat small amounts of corn, rice, and potatoes, but too much of any of them causes problems. Dairy and eggs in small amounts are also ok. I experienced similar lessening of symptoms when I was pregnant with River, but the issues all came back once he was born, so I'm preparing myself for a similar situation when this little guy is born.

I feel like this pregnancy has sped by. I'm not sure if it's because I've been so busy (the other kiddos, projects, scouts, etc) or what, but it's hard to believe that I'm only 5 weeks from my due date. Maybe it's the sense of "so much to do, so little time" that has cropped up surrounding the job hunt/potential house sale and all that's entailed with those events.

Finished Treehouse

last week, I left the treehouse looking like this

I had gotten a lot of work done, but it still wasn't quite finished.

Monday and Tuesday I had other things to take care of, but I had set most of Wednesday aside to work on the treehouse. So naturally, it rained during the time I was available, and didn't rain during the times I was doing other things. And the same thing happened on Thursday.

It rained early Friday morning, but not the rest of the day, so while everything was a bit damp still, it wasn't soaking wet and it wasn't raining on our power tools. Sunshine and I did schoolwork in the morning, then I spent the afternoon working on the treehouse. I was concerned about over-doing it since I had the 5k the next morning and needed to be mobile, but I also really wanted to get the treehouse finished.

after several days of rainclouds, some real sunshine!

Friday I installed most of the balusters on the upper deck- I ran out, so I wasn't able to completely finish that part. The balusters required some bending and twisting on my part to screw them in place from the outside. I had thought I could do it while standing on a ladder, but I realized that just wouldn't work. The ground is not level and the ladder I planned on using wasn't tall enough for me to reach the upper portions of the railings. I could have used our other, taller ladder, but it weighs a lot more and since I was going to have to move it every couple of feet around the perimeter of the treehouse, I didn't want to mess with it. So I settled for bending and twisting from the upper deck rather than going up and down the ladder and moving it over and over. Either way it would have been time consuming, but I think it was a bit quicker doing it the way I did.

balusters almost all the way around the top, climbing ramp frame in place 

When I installed the railings I extended the height of the original 4x4 post a couple feet by securely screwing a 2x4 on the inside in multiple places to both the old and new 4x4's.

Friday I attached mending plates to the three sides not touching the 2x4 for added stability and security. It's very solid.

Once I ran out of balusters, I moved on to starting the upper climbing ramp that connects the upper and lower decks. I constructed it similar to the lower climbing ramp- 2x4 frame with decking attached to the face. I only got as far as building the frame before I was done for the day. The upper climbing ramp ended up being almost vertical, so it's really more of a climbing wall than a climbing ramp.

Saturday after the race we stopped by Lowe's to pick up the extra balusters I needed and the rope for the climbing ramp and wall.

When we got home, I changed and got working. I knew if I sat on the couch and rested, I wouldn't be getting up again. Which is totally what happened when we went inside after finishing up for the day- I could barely move, I was so tired and sore.

I secured the climbing wall in place, then screwed the deck planks in place. I also attached some decking pieces to the sides of the ramp, closing it off. I didn't want little boys trying to fit in that small space. The climbing holds I'd ordered were delivered while I was attaching the decking, which I thought was great timing. I thought I was going to have to wait a few more days to finish that part, but was able to finish it on Saturday.

because of the post on the right, the side piece extends up further on the left than the right, hence the uneven plank lengths on either side at different heights.

While I was working on the balusters and climbing ramp, Mr M attached the climbing ropes to the tops of the climbing ramp and climbing wall.

ropes in place

He then built a 2x4 frame for the slide and attached it to the treehouse frame. The frame adds stability to the slide, and makes it a bit safer. The top of the slide is attached to the treehouse with carriage bolts.

slide frame in progress

slide in place, needs to be cleaned still

While I was working on the balusters and the climbing ramp I also added lag bolts (in the corners) and carriage bolts (on the sides where I could attach nuts on the backside) to all the railing posts. When I originally installed them, I had screwed the posts in place so there was some play, which allowed me to make sure they were as straight as possible when installing the 2x4 railings. Once the railings were in, I would better secure the posts in place. Drilling holes through 4x4's is tough on our rechargeable drill batteries, so I spaced it out with my other tasks so I could recharge the batteries as needed. 

After I finished the climbing wall we started on the hand rails for the stairs.  The lower posts are just 2x4's lag bolted to the stair stringers and screwed to the decking treads for extra stability. The hand rails themselves are treated 2x2's cut to fit and screwed to the 2x4 lower posts and the 4x4 upper posts.

River wanted to help with the lag bolts, but he didn't want daddy helping him- he's pushing daddy's arm away

such a big helper!

That's phase 1 of our two level treehouse completed. It's not super fancy, but it's definitely useable. Mr M and I are super pleased with how it turned out and the kids are excited to play on it. And we still have six weeks till my due date, so I still have time to finish up some more projects. Though they're much smaller and less ambitious than the patio and the treehouse :)

Phase 2 involves several more details that will make the treehouse more fun and a bit fancier. 

• Build a small playhouse on the upper deck
• Build a plank floor below the upper deck, level with the ground (to cover the unevenness of the ground and  the tree roots)
• Landscape around the treehouse- delineate a "treehouse area", remove brush, level the ground as much as possible, and fill in with shredded bark or mulch to cut down on the mud mess
• Install a bucket on a pulley
• Install a swing for the little boys (we have one, just need to figure out where we'll put it)
• Install gates for the slide, lower ramp, and stairway
• Install a ziplane from the back deck to the treehouse if we can find safe attachment and loading areas.

Right now we have to wait till we have more money available for these projects (all that wood costs money), but hopefully we can get them done this fall when the weather cools. In the meantime, the kiddos can still get lots of use out of the treehouse.

When we buckled down and worked on it, we made massive progress in less than a month. Too bad it only took us 3 years to finally get going. 

Previous treehouse posts: Starting the Treehouse, Treehouse Progress part 1, Treehouse Progress part 2, Treehouse Progress part 3

June 5k Recap

before the race

I haven't run/spent time on the treadmill since my May 5k- I've just been too busy working on the patio and the treehouse. Backing off my treadmill time has helped my hip and glute pain tremendously. Working on the patio and treehouse brings its own set of aches and pains (all that bending and twisting while cutting wood, putting it place, and screwing it down), but has kept me active and moving.

with my friend B

I've run this race the last three years, so I know what to expect- you're either going uphill or downhill, and it's hot and muggy. My plan was to run the downhills and walk the uphills and hope I didn't overheat in the process, and that's pretty much how I ended up doing it.

I ran (slowly) the first .7 miles down the hill, walked .7 miles back up the hill, ran .4 miles into some woods until I hit some hills and started walking again. From that point on, I walked most of the rest of the race, with little bits of running here and there, when I encountered a downhill. As I've said before this is a tough course with lots of hills. I had no intention of running the uphills and saved my energy for the downhills. Despite that, I still walked fast on the uphills (I can't help myself). All the walking I did in the last half left me with enough energy for a good sprint into the finish, passing 5 or 6 people along the way. Best finish line sprint I've ever had :)

walking back up that .7 mile hill

This year I finished in 41:19, which is a 13:24 minute/mile pace. My mile splits show just how much I slowed down as the race progressed- this was the result of walking rather than running.

mile 1: 12:25 minutes
mile 2: 13:38 minutes
mile 3: 14:38 minutes

This was my slowest finish yet for this race, but that doesn't bother me. I haven't run in a month and I'm 34 weeks pregnant. The fact that I'm running at all is huge. When I ran this race while pregnant with River, I wasn't as far along, and was able to finish faster, but not by much. Running while pushing a jogger slows me down but is still physically easier than running while pregnant.

2014 38:11, pushing River in the jogger
2013 40:02, pregnant with River (23 weeks)
2012 39:23, pushing Sunshine in the jogger

I had less ligament pain in my stomach this time than when I ran this race when pregnant with River (or some of the previous races this year), which I expected based on my experience doing the 4 mile race while 36 weeks pregnant with him- I had less pain then too. I think by this time the baby's big enough that there's not as much bouncing around to cause the ligament pain. I did have some discomfort that I originally thought was the baby bouncing on my bladder, but as I ran I had the thought that it might actually be him bouncing on my cervix. Good thing I don't have an incompetent cervix.....

Despite being a tough course, I keep coming back to this race for several reasons. It's super jogger-friendly (which is why I ran it the first time- Mr M was out of town and I wanted to run a race that would allow me push Sunshine in the jogger), and every year there's more people running the race while pushing joggers and strollers. In fact, one of the top-finishing guys was pushing a double jogger (super impressive!). This race also has such a great vibe- it's a fundraiser for the Wounded Warrior Project and the support of local companies is impressive, as is the number of people who come out to run and walk the race.

I have just one more race before my due date- I'll be walking the 4th of July 5k that I ran last year. I'm going to have to restrain myself not to run the downhills and force myself to walk the whole thing. While I'll be 38 weeks pregnant, and technically full-term, I don't need to be inducing early labor. The 4th of July 5k will also be the first race towards my 40 by 40 goal. I think a 5k while 38 weeks pregnant is a great first race for a goal that involves a variety of races.

2015 races
June 5k           41:19      34 weeks pregnant
May 5k          40:05      29 weeks pregnant, pushed River in the jogger
April 5k         42:36      28 weeks pregnant, pushed River in the jogger
March 5k       35:32      22 weeks pregnant
February 5k  33:55       20 weeks pregnant
January 5k    33:25       12 weeks pregnant