Being pregnant for the third time has been exhausting! I have been so sick and so tired this pregnancy its not even funny! They day I found out that my IUD failed (which has turned out to be such a blessing, love the thought of having a third!) was literally the same day that I finished taking eight weeks off from running to mend a stress reaction. Granted that I was working out 90mins to 2 hours a day pool running, spinning, a variety of elliptical, the elliptigo, core, and lots of strength stuff, it still was no impact activities so I knew that I had a rough road ahead. With the combination of pregnancy hormones and being completely out of running shape, the first trimester of this pregnancy was a runner’s nightmare!
The awful side effects of the first trimester:
HEART RATE:
Similar to my first two pregnancies, my heart rate immediately shot up. I had even noticed it before I found out I was pregnant. My heart rate was so high while cross training and I would find myself winded while walking up staircases or chasing after my kids. If you check out my last pregnancy blog (clarapreggers.blogspot.com) you can read all about how I figured out I was pregnancy with my daughter because at Beach to Beacon (a road race in Maine) I found myself running 5:51 pace when I should have been running 5:15 pace! While I was in no condition to even run 5:51 pace in the beginning of this pregnancy, I still felt the same heart rate jump which was not going to help me get back into run shape.
NAUSEA:
When I was pregnant with my son I had less of this and then my daughter it was in and out from weeks 7 to 11, but this pregnancy the nausea hit my like a freight train! I would wake up in the morning and if I didn’t get food within the first five minutes, I would be swelling back the saliva build up preparing for the hurl! I no longer felt hunger anymore, instead my hunger signal was sickness which was just very confusing because when you are sick one would think that eating wouldn’t be the right thing to do. In my case if I felt sick that meant I needed food fast. The worst part about it was choosing the food to eat. If I picked the wrong thing it would make me feel 10 times worse to the point of vomiting, but if I got it right, then I would have a few hours of feeling like a normal person. Almost always the foods that made me feel better included LOTS of fats both healthy and not.
This whole sick signal was much different than my first two pregnancies. I do recall getting the very specific “pregnancy nausea” feeling with my daughter but it was never so extreme that I wanted to just lay in bed all day and hide from my two adorable kids and their needs. Not being able to be a good mom is such a bad feeling! Obviously I somehow got through those first three months taking advantage of every minute that I felt good to give them as much love and attention as possible, but for the most part my husband really had to step to the plate!
FATIGUE:
Unlike my pregnancy with my daughter (the second time around) I was sooooo tired the first trimester of this pregnancy! This was the same with my son. I remember one day going to bed when I was pregnant with him at 8:30 and then sleeping in past noon one day! For someone who is normally a pretty early riser this was so crazy for me. Similar to my son’s pregnancy, I was exhausted this time around again. If I woke up before 7 I would spend the rest of the day 10 times more nauseous than if I had allowed myself to sleep in. While sleeping in or taking naps while I was pregnant with my son wasn’t an issue because I didn’t already have two kids, this time I did! My daughter always wakes up first, so when she wakes up that means I wake up. She has been able to sleep as late as 8, but for the most part she wakes up at 7am on the dot (unlike my son who can sleep past 9 on a regular basis). For me, this was not enough sleep. My body wanted at least 12 hours a night that first trimester and I do believe that a lot of the extra nausea was in part do to not sleeping enough (who thought 9 hours wouldn’t be enough!? I guess not when you are trying to make a baby).
BOOBS AND BUTT
Right about 10 weeks, it finally happened. My boobs went from being pancake flat to a small C cup. For a runner this can be very shocking. Having to use muscle to pull sports bras on is a very unfamiliar feeling (sort of familiar for me though due to two other pregnancies and breast feeding) but nonetheless not too much fun. In addition to that, I think a lot of that extra fat that I crave that first trimester goes straight to the rear. When training for marathons my butt is just sort of connected to my leg with no noticeable place of separation. Literally overnight however with all three pregnancies, the butt just pops out like a bubble the same time the boobs come out to say hello. I swear this time it popped out a little extra too. At least its temporary (lets hope!).
RUNNING HAS NEVER BEEN SO HARD!
Like I mentioned before, I found out I was pregnant the day that I was ready to start running again after taking 8 weeks off. When I was pregnant with Riley (second child) I found due to a poor race performance so I obviously was in pretty good shape. Training this time around was a different story. I began with short 15 minute and 20 minute runs just to wake the foot up paired with cross training. Everything just felt weird because it had been so long since I had experienced impact. Slowly I built my way up to 45 minutes, but it was all very slow! I was so winded and my legs felt so heavy! Never sure if it was just me or me being pregnant, I was in a serious battle with my body!
Finally after the twelfth week rolled around I started getting into a grove. I was finally up to running an hour comfortably (sometimes a little more) and my mile pace went from about 8:15 to my usual 6:45 to 7:15 pace (depending on the day/ hills). I also began running again with my training partners, which was a tremendous help! (Chelsea Riley, Magda Boulet and Brian Pilcher, all studs, Google them if you don’t know who they are, which you should ☺). I also began doing a few work outs (very slow and easy, example: 4x800 @ 2:45 pace, hahahaha!) and even had the guts to sign up for a 5k (which I of course didn’t even win and ran 18:05, still not bad though considering how running felt just a short few weeks before). Once I started running again I really began feeling like my old self. It is painful to look back at those first three months of running, they were by far the hardest of my life. I literally fought my body everyday just to move forward. Granted that I know it is very important to listen to your body when you are pregnant, it was too soon to not start building towards the base I knew I would eventually get to. “Just make it through 12 weeks” I told myself on a regular basis and I did! It was at this 12 weeks mark that my body (and my husband ha-ha, I was super cranky as you can imagine) and I could all become friends once again!
