At the half way mark

Now that I'm in the full swing of my twentieth week of pregnancy (where did that time go?), I have to say, the past two weeks have been very exciting. Here's a quick recap:
- I managed four days of CrossFit WODs in a row, and felt great.
- I survived Karen and finished it under 14 minutes!  While I added six minutes to my previous Karen time, my wall balls are so much better than they were in February (the last time we did Karen).  It's a trade-off, and hopefully in a few months post-baby12qw, I'll have a killer Karen time.
- I'm starting to show.  It's a small bump, but it's there.  While I think people who didn't know me would have no idea that I'm pregnant, those around me now claim that they can tell that I am!  How does my bump look at 20 weeks?

- I'm definitely feeling the baby move!  The movements aren't frequent, but they are obvious.  It first felt like a "popping" sensation, but now it feels like a push or a mini-kick.  My baby is definitely saying hello!  And randomly, I usually feel it while driving.
- At Charles River CrossFit, we have a PR chalkboard.  For nearly two months, my "195 3RM Back Squat" was a prominent feature on the board, and it made me immensely proud -- a huge PR at ten weeks pregnant!  But earlier this month, I walked in to CrossFit and noticed that the board had been erased to make room for PRs for the months of September and October.  I was heartbroken, because I figured I had no shot at another PR until well after the baby comes, so it hit hard.  But then, I had a breakthrough:

While I've been doing double unders in WODs for months, I've never managed to string more than four together.  (I always do a "double, single" pattern to make it through).  I finally had a breakthrough this week while practicing double unders before a WOD and managed to string 11 in a row!  My DUs definitely still need work, but they're there!  

And perhaps the best part of the past couple weeks was going for my 18 week ultrasound.  We saw a beautiful, healthy baby, and everything looks great.  And to our great excitement, we learned we're having a girl!

Check it out!

Check out my guest blog over at Journal Menu!

Back in January, when I first started working out at Charles River CrossFit, my goal was to be able to walk into another CrossFit by January 2012 and be able to do the WOD Rx. While I certainly gained significant stamina and strength in the time I’ve been a CrossFitter, pregnancy has thrown quite a wrench in that goal. Still, at 19 weeks pregnant, I’ve managed my fair share of Rx WODs, and I’m glad that I’m still able to CrossFit about four times a week. But, I’m surprised at how much harder CrossFit has become. I assumed that I wouldn’t have to modify my WODs until I was very visibly showing, and I figured that would be to merely accommodate for my large belly. Even though I’m five months along, I’m not really showing. So, it’s come as a bit of a shock when I’ve had to drop down weights or had to slow down on a metcon. I’ve dropped my deadlift by about 40 pounds and my back squat nearly 50. There have been metcons where I’ve barely finished in the allotted time, and one metcon of kettlebell swings, double unders, and rowing where I was cut off with one round to go. Those moments have been hard. While I know that I need to listen to my body and I’m aware that I have more physical constraints now, I’ve been mentally and physically trained to push myself to the brink, and it’s hard to feel limitations now. And double unders are just brutal these days!

With that said, I am beginning to fall in love with oly lifts. I always preferred chipper WODs or low skill, high intensity metcons to bar work, but with the barbell, I’ve been able to maintain a lot more of my strength. I can still easily clean 95 pounds, and I have a lot more confidence in my lifts. Pregnancy has been a great time for me to become a more well-rounded CrossFitter.

My philosophy is to try and do a WOD Rx if I can, and if that means five less double unders or cutting a run short by 100 meters, I’d rather do that then switch to single unders or drop my weight. I’ve gone from being one of the fastest in a class to one of the slowest. But hopefully, come February, I’ll be able to bounce back quickly and regain my stamina. And there are days when I feel invincible at the box, and others where I can barely do the warm up. Each day, I just try and do the best I can.

While there are some people in my life who are supportive of my CrossFit ways, others have been quite critical of my desire to keep up intense exercise while pregnant. Perhaps the most jarring comment I received was that if I continued my level of exercise, my baby would be born with birth defects. When moments like that happen, I just remind myself what my midwife told me: “your great-grandmother farmed, washed clothes by hand, and prepared meals from scratch. Women always had to be physically active and had healthy babies. It’s just in modern day that we’ve become far too sedentary, and it’s not something to be proud of. Good for you for exercising.”

A quickie post...

... since I've been so negligent lately.  I realize I haven't really updated much on our garden.  While it didn't yield as much as we had hoped (the garlic and squash were a bust), we just realized that our collard greens are beautiful!  I made a soup with them tonight, which consisted of the greens, garlic, olive oil, salt, potatoes, and water.  I'll post the recipe if there's interest!  It's not paleo, but it's great for fall.

I finally bit the bullet and started my maternity clothes collection.  I'm still on the small side for a belly, but I just can't handle the Belly Band, and I need comfort!  I discovered a consignment store near my house where I got a shirt and two pairs of pants for cheap, and I did some damage at Gap Maternity.  Here's the picture I've been meaning to post:

There's a tiny bump!  Woo hoo!  In the picture, I'm 18 weeks, five days.  It's a little dark, but you get the gist.

The start of month five!

At 18 weeks, this cartoon pretty much sums up my current physical state.  I can still get away with most of my pants, although the pants that used to be huge on me are now just comfortable.  But I'm not yet big enough for maternity clothes.  It's a bit of a quandary, so I did end up buying the Be Band from Target.  I wore it for the first time today with my skinny jeans (which had to be retired about a week and a half ago), but I'm not completely sold on it.  I felt like my jeans were going to slip off all day, and I did feel self conscious about not having my pants buttoned.  I could see, however, the psychological merit in using the Be Band post-partum to get back into regular pants faster.  So, I think my clothing goal is to find longer shirts, leggings, and stretchy pants that aren't maternity to make it through until I need to make the full switch.  Any recommendations on places to shop or clothes to try?

I think a little bump is starting to show -- I'm post a picture later this week.  I may regret saying this, but I'm definitely ready to look pregnant.  I'm also ready to figure out if the gurgles and flutters I've felt are actually the baby, and not just a figment of my imagination!

On Monday, I had an amazing CrossFit WOD.  For a strength, we did a dead stop deadlift (where you have to take your hands of the bar during each rep) for a 3 rep max.  I comfortably did a 185 lb deadlift, which makes me feel better about not being about to deadlift 155 last week!  For our WOD, we did cleans and 100 meter runs.  I can still clean the bar!  While the prescribed weight was 115, I was nervous to try and clean that much, so I did 90 fairly easily.  It was nice to feel strong and accomplished at the box.

Today was a more 'interesting' workout of Tabata This.  For those of you not familiar with the CrossFit world, tabata is a workout where you do a movement for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds.  You complete eight rounds of this sequence.  Your score is the lowest number of reps that you complete in the 20 seconds,  It's really beneficial to pace yourself, since eight rounds is a lot, especially when you have five movements to complete.  Tabata This includes rowing for calories, air squats, pull ups, push ups, and sit ups.  Luckily, I can still do sit ups, although I think that soon will change.  I pulled off a score of 39 for my tabata (I rowed 4 calories in 20 seconds, did 16 air squats, four banded pull ups, five push ups, and 10 sit ups).  I try to avoid WODs like tabata since I like to make sure I have the ability to take rests and breaks as needed, but I was able to pace myself, so it wasn't too awful.  

Things I've recently learned about pregnancy:
- I need to eat constantly, and I need to eat a lot.  I learned this the hard way, when I woke up at 3a.m. the other night, feeling extremely nauseous.  After sitting in the bathroom for about 10 minutes, I finally figured out that I was really hungry, so I had a bland, non-paleo snack, and after a few minutes, I felt great.  Lesson learned: this baby needs and loves food.
- Just because my eating is not as clean as it used to be doesn't mean that I'm a horrible eater, nor does it mean that I won't be able to get back on track post-partum.
- People love to give advice.  Some of it is helpful; some of it is not.  I'm trying to ignore the less helpful tidbits!
Any advice for the second trimester?

Frustrations

I hate to be one to complain, but I'm just frustrated.
At about week 8 of pregnancy, I developed an odd twinge in my left hand.  Occasionally, it was spasm, hurt for a minute, and then it would go away.  I just decided it was a bizarre pregnancy quirk, and figured it would be harmless.  Then, last week, it came back with a vengeance, to the point where I couldn't even do wall balls because it hurt too much to cradle the ball in my palm.  I've spent the past week significantly modifying my WODs and lowering weights.  For a push press yesterday, I stopped at 55 pounds instead of my usual 95 or 100 weight.  In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have bothered push pressing at all.  Thrusters became front squats (with no hands!).  Cleans, snatches, push ups and handstand push ups are out of the question.  Plus, the weight I could lift pre-pregnancy and even in the early stages of pregnancy has decreased significantly.  I dropped my deadlift weight by 30 pounds today; my front squat weight by 35 (even before my wrist problems!)  I'm just bummed out.  It's hard enough slowing down my body from the changes that pregnancy bring, and I'm struggling with the fact that I have to modify, well, before I'll have to modify again to accommodate for my growing belly.  I'm desperate to deadlift and back squat over 200 pounds, to practice kipping pull ups, and to work on my snatches and overhead squats.  Feeling this limited is such a struggle for me.  I miss the days when I could give each WOD my all and collapse on the floor sweaty, exhausted, and out of breath.  I know I'm growing an amazing little person, and why I'm thrilled, it doesn't make these physical changes easier.  I'll give my doctor a call tomorrow and see if we can figure out what's up with this wrist.  And I scheduled a massage for Thursday to see if that might help at all.  If nothing else, it will make this momma-to-be happy and relaxed.  And I'll take it one step at a time.

Any thoughts on ways to overcome frustration?

Pregnancy Musings

- Everything you've every heard about pregnancy hormones is true.  I'm a pretty emotional girl, but there are days when my emotions have swept me away in a sea of fitful tears (crying at Teen Mom, for example. There's clearly something wrong with that).  Honestly, though, most of my meltdowns happen at Charles River CrossFit, especially after a WOD that I've found to be more challenging.
- I don't think "pregnancy brain" is a myth.  I'm definitely more forgetful than before.  Thankfully, my friends and family send reminders so I can stay on track with what I need to do in any given day.
-Thankfully, while I never had morning sickness of any kind, I've been extremely fatigued and was an insomniac during my first trimester.  Being tired + not being able to sleep = ironic combination.
- In terms of food, however, I find that I am a happier person if I graze throughout the day.  Smaller meals work for me.  I always have a Larabar in my purse for when I have an emergency food need.
- Still on food: when I get hungry, I need to eat.  Immediately.  There is no option for me to wait. Unfortunately, this means that I sometimes make bad food choices (because sometimes, the Larabar doesn't cut it).
- When I cut out grains and processed foods, I feel great. When I don't, I get all those icky pregnancy symptoms people talk about.  For me, I think it has to do more with my diet and less with pregnancy!  Making sure good food is available is key for me.
- But, I do get cravings for processed carbs and sugary foods.  It's frustrating, but I do my best to keep it in check.  It's gotten a little easier to curb in my second trimester.
- There are times when I don't know if it's more important for me to eat, sleep, or go to the bathroom.  In that sense, I feel like a baby myself.
- While I've only gained three pounds in 16 weeks, my body has changed so much!  My stomach is stretched and bigger.  I haven't needed maternity clothes yet, and I'm not really showing.  But, my skinny jeans are starting to give me serious muffin top.  Yikes.
- On that note, I'm trying to decide if I should invest in a Bellaband.  Thoughts, anyone?
- I kind of want to try on maternity clothes.  Is it too early?
- Exercising has definitely helped calm me down and keep me feeling in check.  But, it's also become my biggest challenge.  Some days, I have a great work out, and can still do each WOD Rx, but other days, I struggle through the warm up.  It's infuriating how inconsistent my performance can be, especially since I'm determined to keep on CrossFitting until the end of my pregnancy.  I don't like having to slow down.
- When I tell them I'm pregnant, people often have two reactions.  One is to rub my belly, which does not look pregnant.  The other is to tell me that I don't look pregnant at all.  I'm not sure how I feel about either reaction.
- People have become very protective of me.  Fellow CRCF put away my weights.  They encourage me to scale back my WODs.  I receive constant advice, when asked for it and not.  It's very sweet and charming.  I feel loved.
- I started looking into daycares, but it scared me.  So, I'm looking to put that off for awhile.
- I'm excited to get back to work and see my students.  Working at an all girls school, I know they are going to be so excited about a baby!
- I've developed some weird joint pain in my left thumb bone at the wrist.  Pregnancy related, or CF injury?  I'm not really sure, and I'd prefer it to go away.
- I love the e-mails from babycenter.com and thebump.com that I receive each week which compare the size of the baby to a fruit or vegetable.  Right now, this kid is the size of an avocado.  I can't believe he or she started out as a poppyseed!  They grow so quickly.
- I am absolutely in love with For Two Fitness and already own three of the ruched racerback tanks.  My dear friend and sisters bought me a few.  Even though I don't need them yet, I love, love, love wearing them to CRCF!  Seriously, how cute are they?

- I hope I look that fabulous with a bump!

A midwife story

When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to ditch my regular OB-GYN, who I found lackluster, impersonal, and unimpressive.  While I really can't make a huge judgment call on her specific medical skills, I desperately felt the need to have a connection to the person who I would meet with constantly for appointments and who would (potentially) deliver my child.
Very quickly, I reached the conclusion that I wanted a midwife, but I'd like to share a little bit more about how I came to that conclusion.  In college, I was fascinated with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, an historian who basically determined that midwives had a higher success rate of births than doctors in the early 1800s.  (Yes, I am a huge history dork, and yes, I realize that was two hundred years ago, but sometimes we're shocked by what still holds true today).
  So, I began my research, and came to the conclusion that a midwife was definitely worth checking out. Reading articles like this one, which discusses how midwives have a higher success rate of vaginal births, made me think that midwives still might have a leg up on a traditional OB.  And after all the horror stories I had heard about deliveries gone bad, I wasn't convinced that a traditional birth was necessarily the best route.  Plus, with the rates of C-sections soaring, the fact that the US has a higher rate of infant mortality than other developed countries, and knowing that I didn't want medical intervention unless it was absolutely necessary, I decided to go to a "meet and greet"at the Women's Health Associates to learn more about the midwives and see if it was really for me.  We met with Adrienne, and I immediately gravitated to her energetic and kind demeanor.  I appreciated the philosophy that childbirth is a natural process, not a medical condition, and was glad that she spent over an hour and a half answering our questions (four other couples were there with us).  I also appreciate the fact that the midwives have taken the time to get to know me and my husband; in fact, most of my first appointment with Valaree was just to learn about my background, my own birthing philosophy, and to answer any of my questions.  At first, it was a struggle to get used to the fact that a medical professional wanted to take the time to know more about me, but I quickly realized this was a great perk of a midwife -- a true interest in her patient as a human being.
I don't believe that OBs are bad people, but I do think that some of the medical practices that surround birth aren't necessarily the best.  Plus, I love that my midwife will be with me throughout my entire labor.  And, I wanted someone who would be understanding of my lifestyle, and the midwives are completely supportive of CrossFit and my dietary choices.  So far, it's been a highly positive experience, and I'm looking forward to my next appointment with them in September!