interferance

Uhmm... so no exercise has happened this week. It seems there are some aspects of a twin pregnancy that I was not prepared to deal with. These include body-numbing fatigue and overwhelming nausea.

Now, granted I did remember the fatigue of my singleton pregnancies and I knew it would be tough to deal with again, but I SO was not prepared for this... in the last week I have gone to sleeping the sleep of the dead for 10-11 hours every night and STILL feeling like I need a 2-3 hour nap every afternoon.

But the nausea... the nausea is a new one on me. Walking around in a constant state of fugue... wondering if I will be able to swallow the next thing I try to eat, or if some random smell will put me over the edge and make the spewage come forth from within.

I thought I could tough it out.

I was

so

very

wrong.

I called the doctor today... I hate resorting to pharms when there are other beings to consider... but I can't eat... and I'm losing weight... and they need nutrients... so zofran it is. Hopefully I'll be feeling a bit more normal soon.

Two

Two sacks.

Two babies.

Two heartbeats.

I guess it makes sense that I've been exhausted and hungry all the time.

;)

man!

I am getting REALLY bad about followup on this thing, aren't I?

Sorry about that, folks... I will try to be more present over the next few months. I think I got overwhelmed (ya think?) with school starting, baby/ies news, suddenly needing a new doctor (I so shoulda planned that one better), putting Nate in pre-school for the first time (he LOVES it), etc. and everything just fell to the wayside.

I promised y'all a PREGNANCY FITNESS PLAN, and here you have it:

I will not be changing my nutrition guidelines much, mostly because I already eat very well, and continuing that trend in pregnancy is really the best idea overall. I will, however, be allowing myself a few more treats here and there if I REALLY want 'em, and will be focusing on protein intake of 100g/day MINIMUM... if it turns out to be twins, that will jump up to closer to 125g/day MINIMUM. The emphasis on minimum is because protein is the absolute most valuable nutrient necessary during the building of a baby... check out this website if you have questions, or want more details: The Brewer Diet for Pregnancy

As for exercise:

I will not run much. Now I didn't say at all... because I reserve the right to jog as I see fit... but I know my knees, and I know that when I am pregnant they get loose, and the last thing I need is a knee injury... so for cardio I will be "race-walking" on the streets and Treadmill(as the rains set in) and using the Precor Cross-Trainer. My weight lifting will continue as is, using relatively low weights and relatively high reps to continue to build the "marathon" stamina I will need for labor and birth.

Details are Thusly:

Sunday - Arms/Shoulders (possible walk)
Monday - Rest (cause I'm not fooling ANYONE here)
Tuesday - Legs and Precor
Wednesday - Long Cardio (walking or precor)
Thursday - Chest/Back (precor)
Friday - Rest (again, gonna need it)
Saturday - walk or bike with the kids

As my workouts progress (and I have the inevitable weight gain) I will post updates... and I may even take... the requisite belly pictures!!! (didn't promise to post 'em tho!)

This is an exciting time for me, and I hope that if you have questions or are curious at all, you will feel free to ask me ANYTHING!!! I'll do my best to respond in a timely manner!

;)

Arms & Shoulders

I got up early to do my arms and shoulders work this morning... it is getting harder and harder to get up in the morning as it gets darker and darker, but I hauled my expanding ass outta bed and got to work:

Standing Shoulder Press - 10#dbsx15,12,10
Shoulder Death (tm) - 3#dbsx15,12,10
Standing Bicep Curl - 10#dbsx15,12,10
alternated with
Overhead Tricep Press - 10#dbx15,12,10
Concentration Curl - 10#dbx10,10,10
alternated with
Tricep Kickback - 10#dbx10,10,10

The whole thing takes all of 30 minutes, paired with a long walk at lunch it should keep me for a day or so.

I was chatting with Renee yesterday and she was asking about how long I'll be able to work out while pregnant and what my plan is and I decided I should just lay it all out so I have a record of it, and so y'all can call me insane or whatever, but I've already gotten my plan approved by a real live Doctor, so I should be good to go.

Expect that full update later today!

Its time once again to share the love

Necca is done with the book I sent to her a couple of months ago and is ready to pass it on to the next reader who is willing to do the same (ie. read it and then pass it on to another reader). Go drop her an email if you want the book: "Passing for Thin" by Francis Kuffel. It is a wonderful book and is definitely worth the read, but please only email her if you are willing to continue the forward path of the book.

Kisses!!!

I'm learning what I can and can't do...

I realized after purchasing my "Crying Tiger Beef" for lunch that my body has decided that beef is the devil and that I am not allowed to swallow it despite having chewed it and enjoyed the flavor. Luckily I discovered that if I added some rice to the bite the beef would go down.

Welcome food-aversions! So glad you could stop by. I have already had what I would call "cravings" with this pregnancy... Last Tuesday I wanted Indian food (Lamb Saag and Chicken Vindaloo) so badly that I couldn't stop thinking about it until the next evening when I went out for Indian and had exactly that for dinner (it was devine!).

Its not surprising that I will have some food aversions. Beef did it to me with both of my own pregnancies, so I expect this one to be no different. The only problem will come if I get turned off of all meat. I need protein. In fact (aside from folic acid) the most important nutrient in a pregnant woman's diet is protein. Protein is ncessary for the synthesis of every tissue in the babies body, and since it isn't chewin' on it's own steak, it's up to the mom's blood-stream to provide adequate protein during the pregnancy.

Protein is also necessary to support the function of the liver and kidneys as they work ever harder to eliminate not only her but also her babies waste products. Luckily I still have cottage-cheese, chicken and fish to fall back on... YUM!!!

Excercise is going moderately well. Did some non-specific cardio on Saturday and then the Race for the Cure on Sunday, which I participated in for the 6th year in a row... I'm pretty proud of that. It was a record turn out of over 45 Thousand runners and walkers. When we finished the walk (we were near the start) there were still people waiting to cross the start-line.

No morning sickness or anything of that nature... just the continuing fatigue... 1 week till ultrasound!!!

fatigue

So the fatigue of early pregnancy has kicked in. All I want to do is NAP! I've gotten two solid workouts in this week (shoulders and legs) and I'll be walking the race for the cure tomorrow, so its not a total loss... it just seems so much easier to fall onto the couch in the afternoon and hit the snooze button in the morning than it ever was before.

Must find my rhythm... must find my routine... losing focus now would be a very bad thing.

Life is going well other than the fatigue. I just finished a kick-off and requirements discovery meeting for a $3.5million project at work. Its a pretty big deal and I'm the sole project manager so I need to kick it's ass.

The meeting (all week long) was successful tho, so I have confidence and high hopes.

weight is steady in the 169 range... wonder how much I'll gain in the next 8-9 months... especially if its twins. ;)

Leg day

Didn't get to the workin out this morning due to extreme fatigue... so I picked it up this evening. I lurve Leg day:

Full squats - 20#x10, 15#x15, 10#x20
Pliee Squats - 30#x12, 10, 15
SLDLs - 30#x15, 15, 20
Leg Curls - 10#x15, 20, 25 - did these light cause I was figuring out the mechanics of holding a db between my feet laying on my coffee table... but it worked (pillow under the knees helped.
calf raise on stair - 20, 20, 25 (straight, toe in, toe out)
Last set - full squats just 15#x15

Legs are good and shakey and if I stretch well I shouldn't be too stiff tomorrow... oh but the DOMS will be glorious!

Walking will work things out... chest/back tomorrow.

shoulder day.

So... one of the things I've found weight lifting to be good for is working out negative energy and feelings... to that end I distroyed my shoulders this morning.

I was 4 shades of pissed last night and when I got up I knew little Miss Debbie just wasn't gonna cut it... so out came the 8lb dbs and I went to work.

Standing presses till I couldn't (that's called failure friends... and it BURNS)
Lateral raises till I couldn't (ditto)
Front raises till I couldn't
Bent-over rear-raises (think a fly - but opposite) till I couldn't.

It worked out a lot of negative energy... but man am I going to regret it tomorrow... maybe I'll be in a better mood for legs.

;)

So an update!

I can exercise again (YAY) and my weight has been holding steady thru this cycle, so I guess I should update.

Yes, indeedie, the rabbit has died; I'm up the duff... but just a quick reminder: my oven + someone elses bun(s). IVF is a challenging thing to go thru. I can not IMAGINE doing it over and over and over only to be faced with repeated failures.

I am lucky - the parents of this baby (or these babies) are lucky. It worked this time and I am right well and fully pregnant.

Welcome to a change of fitness focus!!

I could potentially be eating and exercising for up to 2 extra creatures at this point. I have done extensive resarch into pregnancy fitness and have concluded (with the advice of my physician team) that I should stick with what is working for me now (minus birkam) and adjust as my girth and ballance dictate.

One nice thing about being relatively fit before you get pregnant is the fact that you will most likely have less problem remaining fit as the pregnancy progresses. You're already in good eating habits, you're already moving... just keep it up.

I'll keep ya posted as things progress, but for now... I'm gonna go for a bike ride!

In case anyone was wondering:

The Rabbit is Dead. I repeat... the Rabit is Dead.

please feel free to return to your regularly scheduled smashinitude.

its everywhere.

Like Renee, I wasn't going to write about this... but driving into work this morning I heard the commentary of a man who got his family out of NO before the storm hit... his parents wouldn't leave... and the only negative thing he said was that if he could go back right now he'd hurt the looters and hurt them bad, and all I could think was... what if those are your parents? What if they're desperate for food and water and have no choice? I mean... I know that there is a lot of completely fucked up looting of shit that no one really needs for survival and that pisses me right the fuck off.

But come on... there are people down there who haven't had fresh water in DAYS! Food? Don't think so.

So yeah... hurt the selfish assholes who beat up the ambulance crew and looted the god-damned ambulance. hurt the morons who think that big screen TV is going to do them any good without POWER... hurt the complete fuck-wads SHOOTING AT THE EVACUATION HELECOPTERS!!! But don't just arbitrarily say "hurt the looters." because fuck... I'm not there... you're not there... the money I donate is probably fattening the paycheck of some "charitable organization's" CEO's sallary more than it's actually helping the people down there who are completely helpless.

But it's all I've got.

THIS is what our National Guard was built for. THIS is what they are trained to do... not fight a war halfway around the world... they're here to GUARD OUR NATION and it's people. I could stand here in righteous indignation about the fact that bushy siphoned money from fortifying the levees in NO to pay for his war. I could bitch about the lack of domestic troop support because we're spread all over the world policing every-body else... but the truth of the matter is that won't save a single person trapped in their attic or on their roof as the water rises and the heat-index climbs.

Yeah... be pissed. I am pissed. But also be real... do what you can, because this is our Tsunami.