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Friday, June 18, 2010

We are now in the third trimester and doing great! We had our 28 week OB appointment this week and a sugar test. Everything continues to be on track and Brecken and I are doing well! I’m up to 127lbs and my waist has expanded to 37.5 inches! Just in the last week I grew one full inch around! I can tell a huge difference in how big baby Brecken is getting. It’s absolutely amazing to feel her head and bottom press up against my belly. She is about 11 to 12 inches long and she seems to have fun in my belly. Her movements seem to vary every couple of days and the kicks progressively have grown stronger over the past 4 weeks. She is much more active during the day now too. Some nights and days she moves and kicks a ton and other nights and days she gives the impression of moving more softly and with fewer kicks. She also seems to "ball" up more and she appears to like to hang out in the lower part of my belly which puts a lot of pressure on my bladder, so I’m still frequently making bathroom breaks. I look to be carrying "low" but I surely am getting rounder.

In the 25th week, I felt a lot of little "tickles" as she would move and I could feel a little knee and foot or elbow and arm. In the 26th week the tickles were a little stronger and the kicks a little more powerful. I started calling the kicks wallops and Rob couldn’t believe how much he could feel when he placed his hand on my belly. In the 27th week, one night I swear Brecken was doing running Intervals in my belly. About 4 inches right of my belly button I could feel hands and elbows or feet and knees and then about 4 inches to the left of my belly button, I could feel the other set of limbs. It would be quick, quick, quick, rapid little thumps and then it would slow to softer and more leisurely little beats. This lasted several minutes and made me laugh.

What I’m feeling now seems to be a lot different than the last couple of weeks. She seems so much bigger and heavier this week. I can feel her whole body moving and much less kicking. Now and then I’ll get a little tickle or flutter and sometimes it even feels bubbly or like she is moving in a lot of "water" but mostly I feel her head and bottom ball up or even a leg or an arm kind of protrude on one of my sides. She really shifts around when I ride the bike and sometimes she moves a lot during the night while other days and nights she doesn’t seem to be as active. It’s really neat to see the movements and feel all the differences. I’ve made up two lullabies and Rob and I sing them to Brecken often. It’s really cool because when we sign and rub my belly, she really seems to like it and moves or squirms inside. I’m glad she can’t tell I have no musical ability yet, but thankfully daddy is a good singer.

I’m feeling really good. My back pain is nearly nonexistent and I’m back up to running 30 minutes. I’m only running every other day or even every third day and I’m talking power walk breaks in-between run segments. The breaks and the belt really help. I’m running about 9 minute mile pace and feeling really good. I’m spending most of my workout time riding the bike on the bike path after our OB said that it would be okay. We are super cautious and I’m obviously much slower, but it’s so nice to be outside! We have an amazing bike path that surrounds our house and we can ride 19 miles on the north branch or 21 miles on the south branch or 40 miles if we ride north to south and back. The best part is when we do the south branch we get ice cream at the Little Generals Ice Cream shop. I admit, I must look really funny riding my super fast and aerodynamic CEEPO with a big belly and sitting straight up toddling along. But that’s okay, I’m so happy to be healthy and able to ride outside. I think we need to invest in the mountain bike next though because if I keep growing at this rate, which I expect I will, I won’t even be able to sit up on my tri bike next month as my legs will hit my belly. I’m still doing a lot of reading on the Elliptical and we are doing Pull-ups and core work on the ball about twice a week. I think my metabolism is kicking up again as Brecken is growing rapidly because I am eating all the time! We literally have ice cream every single day, either on the bike path, at Mr. Freeze when we are out and about or a walk over to our new neighborhood Ice Cream Shop – Freeze Daddy - that our neighbor just opened.

Overall, we couldn’t be happier. We are very thankful for Brecken’s health and my health and are looking forward to all that is ahead. Although my pregnancy seems to be going very well, we did have a little scare on May 27th while working in Chicago. We had an incredibly busy 2 weeks with the EFC Spring Training Clinics May 22nd and 23rd and several athletes staying with us and then off to Chicago to work with our video and podcast producer. Sleep was limited and I was on my feet a lot in the sound booth recording running podcasts and a voice over for our new swim video coming out. Well, on Thursday morning during an early drive from our hotel to Glenn’s office in Oakbrook, IL I felt a little wetness and saw a small puddle. We called to OB while in the car and they wanted to see me right away. When I explained I was in Chicago they sent me immediately to the ER in fear that I could be leaking ammonic fluid. Thankfully Glenn’s wife is a nurse and we were not far from her hospital so into the ER we went. They immediately put me in a wheelchair and rushed me off to a room while I frantically flipped through my baby book trying to understand what could be wrong. After testing and examination, thankfully all was okay, just discharge and no leak. Wow, what a scare though.

I know we have to work and sometimes things get busier every couple of weeks, but I know I really need to pull back and make sure I take care of me and Brecken. So, unfortunately that means ending emails at 10pm so I can get to bed or not scheduling early morning appointments so I can sleep in or trying not to work on weekends when we are not putting on camps or clinics or have athletes racing. It also means less time for family and that’s been the biggest struggle. We surely feel bad that we can not make every cookout or skip out of the office on sunny days and take the girls to the park or sneak away for quick trips to Colorado. But as triathlon coaches, this is our busy time with all our athletes training picking up and racing frequently. I hope in the long run, my family will understand.

Well, less than 3 months to go and Baby Brecken will be here! We can’t wait!

-Kel