Friday, April 5, 2013

First Trimester Tales

We knew a family was in the cards and Doug let me decide when I was ready to take the big step and have a hiatus from racing. After my season ended with a broken collarbone and not a run at a podium spot at Xterra Worlds like I planned, I almost threw out the idea of trying for a family for another year so I could return to racing this year. Truth is though, I'm not getting younger and at some point I knew I would need to step back from racing to brew a baby Schuler. Going into this journey after dealing with a broken collarbone was perfect prep:

1. I put on a few pounds while hurt, which may have helped me get pregnant. I realize how lucky we are that things happened so quickly for us and not a day goes by when I'm not thankful for this. 
2. I had several months of practicing slowing down and not being able to do all the training and 10,000 projects I wanted to.  

I've heard horror stories of the first trimester and have friends who were beyond miserable. I have to say I was pretty lucky. I never got sick but just felt really, really hungover for about 2 months. I had plenty of meetings with clients where I had an escape route to the nearest trash can planned but luckily never had to use it. The biggest change was sleep. After working 8-10 hours it was all I could do to throw some semblance of dinner together before I moved to the couch and fell asleep. I'm talking being out cold at 7:30. Needless to say, my list of things to do at home, work and in life is really long now since I didn't get much done for a few months.

Now that I'm well into the second trimester things feel a little more normal. I can stay awake until 10pm, I'm back to being able to workout more and now that my belly is getting round it's really starting to sink in that I'm going to be a mom! I'm a bit worried about how big my belly will get. My friend put it in perspective, "some women have a 3 story condo to grow a baby in, you are stuck with a studio apartment". Yep, my 5'3" frame doesn't leave much space. Doug is thrilled with what the "boob fairy" has delivered to me but I just find it a burden that I'm suddenly in the market for all new undergarments. It's been hard to watch my athletic physique slowly fade away but it's all for such an amazing outcome that it is worth it 10 times over. We are so excited for the journey and adventure ahead of us!

Some questions we keep getting:

1) Due date?: September 10th (my mother-in-laws Birthday)
2) Are you going to find out the gender?: No. We have our big ultrasound next week and we plan to make it very clear to the staff to please not let us catch any glimpse of suspected genitalia. Not knowing until the end feels exciting and I believe the total surprise can help motivate me during labor.
3) Are you going to keep racing?: I plan to. I'm setting my eyes on racing Cyclocross Nationals in January as my first race back since they are being held in my own backyard. No expectations, just a goal to help me get out there and we'll see where it goes from there.

If you happen to be one of the runners going uphill who passed me last night while I was riding my mountain bike uphill, you did not discourage me, I made it to the top of the climb and refrained from yelling, "I'm slow because I'm pregnant". It is true, I've slowed down a lot but I still love getting out there and know that exercise is one of the best things I can do for baby Schuler and myself. Happy mom, happy baby!

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