Brie Fit

I guess this isn’t really his birth story anymore, since he’s been born and all already, but I wanted to write down what happened in the hospital after his birth, mostly to remember it for myself later on.

Once Charlie was born, and I was appropriately medically stable, the doctor left and the nurses cleaned up a bit.  The nurse on duty at the time, Connie, told me that I could take as long as I needed in the labor and delivery room before I’d be moved to the mother and baby side of the floor (with a comfortable bed!).  They took Charlie from me after a few minutes of skin-to-skin to check his Apgars and such and then gave him back to me for awhile.

Since it was around 9 o’clock at night and I was starving from not eating for almost 24 hours, we decided that we would send Charlie to the nursery for awhile to get fully checked out while Tim went to get food for us.  (Steak and Shake.  And yes, I got the shake, and it was amazing.)

So we ate, and called all the relevant parties.  Then the nurse came in with a bag full of super amazing supplies and took me to the bathroom.  I remember that she wanted to pee, but I couldn’t because everything was so swollen.  Oddly enough, she thought that the remedy for this was peppermint essential oils dripped in the toilet, but, it didn’t work.  I really loved the hospital’s policies on being fairly crunchy and the like, but this one was a head-scratcher.  I just wanted to get moved over to the other side of the floor so I could see Charlie again and get some sleep…not sniff peppermint oil out of a bloody toilet.  But I digress.

Eventually we agreed that peeing wouldn’t happen right then, so we made up a giant happiness pad sandwich (mesh underwear, puppy pee pad, regular pad, ice pack pad, Tucks pads, EpiFoam) and were on our way to the other side of the birthing center to get settled in our new room.

Tim and I don’t totally remember what went on in what order at that point, but they brought Charlie back to me all clean and dressed and we started breastfeeding at that point.  Obviously, he wasn’t getting much, but he latched well and right away.  We spent some time taking pictures of him, but at that point it was after midnight and we were all exhausted.  We decided to send Charlie to the nursery for the night so we could both recover, which was a great choice.  That night, I THINK they brought him to me twice to breastfeed.

Since Charlie was born on Tuesday night, if all went well (and it did) we would be discharged Thursday.  Wednesday is all a bit of a blur to me, honestly.  It was so lovely just having that day just the three of us together.  We met Charlie’s pediatrician, who confirmed he’s perfect, and my OB came to check up on everything.  I also had nurses checking our vitals off and on all day.  That night, some sweet friends brought us dinner in the hospital and we got to visit with them.

On Thursday, we both got one final check and were able to go home. (Yes, the car seat strap LOOKS loose in that picture but I assure you it was just a bad angle.  They wouldn’t have let us go if it was.)

As far as MY physical recovery, it hasn’t been bad at all.  I’m sore, but it gets better every day.  The first night in the hospital, I took Tylenol + Codeine and Motrin for swelling.  The second night, I took Norco and Motrin.  After that, I’ve just been on a steady diet of Motrin for swelling and now, to relieve the pain of engorgement.  Every night I soak my stitches in a warm bath, too.  Bleeding has slowed but is still kind of nasty. 

Honestly, the worst part of recovery has been my emotions—I have been a complete and utter basketcase.  I go wildly from being completely fine to sobbing.  I feel elated and happy one minute, and completely overwhelmed and anxious another.  I worry about weird things about whether visiting family members are enjoying themselves, or whether my body will ever look and feel normal again,  According to the follow-up visit nurse, this is totally normal, but if it continues past two weeks I’ll be talking to my doctor about post-partum depression and/or anxiety.  It’s not exactly a pretty topic, but I am definitely aware it’s out there and if it does become an issue for me I want to get help sooner rather than later.

The pets are adjusting well and don’t seem to even really notice the changes.  Buckley kind of has his hackles up, but that’s normal whenever there’s a lot of activity and strangers around. 

Thus far, Charlie has been great.  He sleeps a lot, seems to love breastfeeding, and really only gets fussy in the evenings.  I don’t really have much of a parenting strategy at this point other than to cuddle him and let him nurse for comfort as much as possible.  It’s not bad.

I don’t know how much I’ll be around in the coming weeks, since Charlie is #1 and we have a lot of visitors trickling through.  Just FYI if I go missing!

All in all, the last week has easily been the most significant of my entire life.  I get overwhelmed thinking about just how…big…this whole parenthood deal is.  I am so madly in love with Charlie, and seeing Tim become a father just makes me want to explode with happiness.  I can’t wait to see what the next weeks and months bring!

And I took a sick day from work.  I think it’s my first sick day in almost two years at my job!

My alarm went off today and I was like, “haha.  Funny.”  I rolled back over and went to sleep and called in later.  My throat was sore and scratchy, I had a headache, and I still felt exhausted…good enough reason for me.

I got up around 9 and obsessively followed the Boston Marathon on Twitter for awhile.

I had a small bowl of cereal for breakfast.

I spent the rest of the morning on the couch watching TLC and drinking Gatorade.

A little while later, I made breakfast for lunch—eggs, cheese, toast, and yogurt.

I snacked on some fruit with a smear of peanut butter…

(Unpictured: Cadbury Crème Egg.  Whoops.)

I took some naps.

And for dinner, I had salsa chicken going in the crockpot all day long.

Also, today, I added a Racing page!  Check out the recaps here. 

I’m actually feeling much better already.  I’m glad I took today off to recover properly.

I’m either going to get in the pool tomorrow or Wednesday.  Tim thinks I need another rest day, but I’m eager to get moving.  I might just go and do a few laps to get used to it and dust off the cobwebs, so to speak.

What’s your favorite sick day activity?  I loved watching all kinds of girly crappy TV shows today!

And my body feels absolutely trashed.  More on that later.

Yesterday after the race, my stomach was kind of meh.  I had a grilled cheese and a Greek yogurt for lunch, and then went down for a two hour nap.  It was epic.

Then I followed Tim to get a haircut because he said he’d take me out to dinner wherever I wanted.  Before his haircut, I went to Marshall’s and picked up a Nike swimsuit—originally $72, on sale for $19.99.  It’s pretty plain—just black with red accents—but will get the job done.  I’m determined to get in the pool by the end of this week, guys.  Hold me to that.

Anyway, I had a hankering for beer, so I picked Granite City for dinner. 

I started with their American Wheat.

Tasted about like you’d expect an American Wheat to—filling and refreshing. 

Tim’s haircut was delayed for awhile, so I was starving with runger by the time the waitress came.  I insisted we order an appetizer, which we never do—soft pretzel sticks with cheese.

I ate two and they were amazing.  I love all things pretzel.

I ordered chicken parmesan for dinner, but I wasn’t crazy about the pasta.  It was overwhelmingly onion-y.  I ate the chicken and went back for a third breadstick instead.

I commented to Tim—immediately after eating this huge meal I felt stuffed.  But for some reason, within a few minutes I felt normal again, like my body was metabolizing it really quickly.  Who knows if there’s anything to that, but…it was odd.

We went home and watched 127 Hours.  I hated it.

I went to bed pretty early.  We decided to sleep in a bit and go to 11 o’clock church instead of an earlier service, which was a good choice.  I had an egg sammich and coffee for breakfast.

And for lunch, I treated myself to some mac and cheese.

For dinner, we went to a barbecue at Tim’s aunt’s house, where I ate entirely too much again.  I’ve been starving and thirsty all day today.

Anyway.  Back to the “my body feels trashed” thing.

After my last two half marathons, I’ve felt relatively normal the day after—yeah, a bit stiff and sore, but nothing too overwhelming.

Today?  I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck.  I slept for 9 hours overnight, then took another long nap this afternoon, and I’m still exhausted.  I think I tweaked a tendon or something in my left foot, too, because it’s been hurting to put weight on it.   My hip flexors and calves are on fire.  I can’t drink or eat enough.  And I still feel like I’m on the verge of getting the flu—generally achy, tired, stuffy and just icky.

I don’t know if it’s because I ran extra hard yesterday, or because the weather was  so cold and windy, or because I felt crappy on Friday anyway.   But still…freight train, meet Brie’s face.  Ugh.

I’m sorely tempted to call in sick tomorrow.  I feel like I need another day in bed with a 40 of Gatorade and chicken soup, even though I suppose this is kind of self inflicted?

Do you call in sick to work a lot?  What’s your policy on sick days?  Should I ?

It’s sore muscle weight gain. 

So I read Theodora’s most recent post and just said yes, yes, yes.

Saturday after the race and Sunday I felt fine.  I was chipper, not too sore, and we went to church and the casino and I walked around the mall and it was no big deal.  I even brought my gym bag to work thinking I’d do some light cross-training after work today.  I wasn’t even super hungry—last night I just had a sandwich for dinner and that was that.

Then, today?  Around noon?  Total crash.  Like, dozed off on my desk over the lunch hour crash.

I don’t know what happened, but I am suddenly overwhelmed by runger and exhaustion and crampy muscles.  I ate a normal lunch and it didn’t even put a dent in my hunger.  I just wanted to keel over at my desk and go to sleep.  I have had stomach cramps and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m hungry or I have a little bug or what.  And my hip flexors are on fire.  Around 3:30, I seriously considered going home sick, even though I don’t think I’m REALLY sick.

Ugh, is the bottom line.

I was so tired I left my camera in my office.  So you get to see dinner a la iPhone today.

This awesomely delicious pulled pork on a whole wheat bun, sweet potato fries, and pickles.

I miss Chicago food like crazy, but this Kansas City delicacy softens the blow a bit.

I’m not a big condiment person, but this stuff is fabulous.

Anyway.

I have also returned my Groupon for the local CrossFit affiliate and will not be going to classes.  I could go on and on, but the short of it is that I find their website to be extremely offensive.  (Think fat shaming, ridiculing runners, overweight people, and yogis, and implying that if you don’t do CrossFit, you’re probably 500 pounds and out of shape.)  Too bad for them—I was looking forward to trying something new!
What’s wrong with me today?  Why am I so tired and hungry?  Anyone know any good hip stretches?

See?  Going down.  Even if it doesn’t keep heading down because of this, well, I’m okay with gaining 1.2 pounds for a fabulous weekend at Disney!

Today I did something I don’t think I’ve done in the entire 1.5 years at my job.  I forgot my lunch!

Tim called me when I was already on the highway, so I had to run to Subway.  Oh well.

I also had half a grapefruit sweetened with Truvia.  I don’t really know much about the whole artificial sweetener debate, I just go with what tastes good.

I’ve concluded grapefruits aren’t really my thing.  They leave a weird taste in my mouth.

I also snacked on a protein bar I took from the finish line on Sunday.  I remember not liking Luna Protein bars all that much the last time I tried them, but this one was better. 

After work, I felt like moving!   But…not too much.  I did just run a half-marathon on Sunday!  My legs and hips are still a bit sore and tight.  I wanted to get the blood flowing, but not tax myself too much.

I threw on my new shoes after work and ran a half mile to the gym, just to get a feel for them.  It takes me awhile to form a judgment about running shoes, so we’ll see.  Then I did a rather leisurely 25 minutes on the elliptical, then jogged back to my car.  Nothing earth-shattering.

I arrived home to find a delicious dinner waiting for me!

Our Door to Door Organics produce box came today, and I promptly turned the gorgeous lettuce into a salad dressed with apple cider vinegar, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.  My mom does this best, but I’m trying!  I also threw in a few half assed baby carrots for fun.

The main event was meatballs that had been simmering in the crockpot all day with Trader Joe’s Arrabiata Sauce (SO GOOD).  I also bought some polenta at Trader Joe’s last week and cooked it in a little bit of olive oil to serve with the meatballs and sauce.

Funny story: the first time I tried polenta was at my high school boyfriend’s grandparents’ house, the first time I’d ever met them..   I will always remember it because I had an allergic reaction to my deodorant and spent the entire dinner trying very not to scratch the hives in my armpits so as not to look like a chimp. 

Anyway, now that boyfriend is probably gay, (no, really, my mom loved all my high school “boyfriends” because I have the worst gaydar on the planet), but I still really like polenta.  You win some, you lose some!

Please share a story about your awful high school boyfriends with the class.

Day three, post-marathon.

The minor aches are gone—my shoulders, biceps, and hamstrings feel fine.  My hips feel kind of like they need a good stretch still, but nothing unmanageable.  My right knee still feels angry. 

Oddly enough, today, I had a complete energy crash.  I feel like since, well, the middle of last week, I’ve been high on adrenalin (adrenaline?  Is there a difference).  Last week, I was super energetic, excited about the race and nervous and terrified all in one.  On Saturday, I slept pretty normally (though lightly, I think).  Sunday after the race I slept from about 10 pm to 8 am, but it was on a pull-out couch that wasn’t very comfortable so I think I again didn’t sleep very well.  Monday night?  Once we got back from traveling, yeah, I slept from about 1:30 am to 6 am, then worked all day.  I was wired.  Last night I slept well, but it just wasn’t enough.

I woke up today feeling absolutely, positively exhausted.  I NEVER have energy issues; usually I’m reasonably peppy all day at work and feel generally okay in the mornings once I’ve gotten past smacking my alarm clock snooze button a few times.  All day long, I just wanted to put my head down on my desk and go to sleep.  I actually considered going home sick, but didn’t when I realized that telling my boss “I’m tired” would make me sound like a total pussy.  (She doesn’t understand marathons.  At all.)

I also checked out my official race photos.  Here are the ones where I don’t look murderous.

Attractive. 

Today, also, I obsessively planned my next steps.  Literally.

I need to take a bit of a break from super-long-distance running.  I’m running (waddling?) the Kansas City Marathon 5K this Saturday, and I want to “pay it forward,” so to speak, so I’m planning on heading down to mile 20 after my race with a bowl of Starbursts and a hilarious sign to cheer on the marathoners.

I’m going to do some light exercise next week.  Biking, some weights, the elliptical, maybe a short run or two.

Then I’m going to devise some kind of LOOSE plan to get my ass faster at shorter distances.  I’m thinking something like two speedy short runs per week, plus one long-ish (6-10 miles) run to maintain a respectable distance base.  I’m hoping this will carry me through the end of November/mid-December.

But now that the Chicago Marathon has left me lonely and floating and staring at my medal, reminiscing of training gone by…I need a rebound.  Something to focus on and train for.

So, today, I (98% sure) decided on my next target on my “Goals” list.

I am (most likely) going to be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon in February 2011.

I am really excited about this.  One of the goals I set out when I started blogging was to run a race at Disney World…and I’m gonna!  Thanks to my job (and visiting my family in Chicago), I have a lot of frequent flyer miles and will be using those to get to Orlando.  I’m going to officially register within the next few weeks!

I also think I want to run another half in April.

This will either be the Oz Half Marathon (basically, the half marathon I ran last April, but rebranded)….

Or the Rock The Parkway Half Marathon.

(drumroll, please…)

I also think I will try to run another marathon, preferably next May.  I think May would be great—I’d get to do the bulk of my training in spring, when it’s beautiful here, but it would give me enough time to recover from marathon training for Chicago.

Right now, I’m leaning towards…

…but we’ll see.  It’s supposed to be a really fun race, and, well, why not?

What’s on your race calendar?  Any races out there I can’t miss?

Thank you all for your kind (mostly. ahem.) comments on my post last night!  I still can’t believe I did it and feel great. 

Here are my official splits from my Garmin for 10/10/10:

I was happy I took my Garmin off Autolap and lapped it manually at every mile.  I was surprised I remembered, but I did!  Looks like the course was right on.  The only snafu was really in the first mile, when I lost service in the tunnel.

You can pretty much see where the heat smacked me in the face between miles 20 and 21.  Sigh.

Me and marathons, yo.  We’ve got unfinished business.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel twinges of shame about my time.  It was slow.  Really slow, actually, and slower than I know I’m capable of.

But, then I think about which I would have preferred: finishing slowly, or not finishing because I had passed out from dehydration in a med tent somewhere around mile 22.  And I feel okay.  I’ve obsessively googled Chicago Marathon recaps all day, and pretty much every one sounds like:

"Miles 1-14 were awesome!  What a race!  Then it got hot, there was no shade, and I tanked, hard.  Oh well.”

At least I’m not alone.

Here is the official “this is where it hurts” report.  The day of the race, I was mostly fatigued.  Yesterday, I felt pretty good.  Today, DOMS snuck in and I feel like I’ve been battered in a few specific areas.  Yeowch.

(Hurty areas highlighted in green for quick reference!)

Head to toe:

1. Nose is sunburned.
2. Biceps hurt from holding 32 oz. handheld for 26.6 miles.
3. Shoulder is tense.  Bad form.
4. HIPS ARE ON FIRE.  Like, the outside of my hips.  I just keep standing there and kicking my hips out to one side, and then the other, and enjoying the stretch.
5. Hamstrings are tight.
6. My right knee is not really injured, but just feels kind of inflamed and annoyed.
7. Top of my foot feels kind of weird when I walk barefoot.
8. Potentially going to lose right big toenail.

I was glad I made the excellent decision to get a massage over my lunch hour!

The massage therapist literally focused on my quads and hips for 75% of the time.  It was glorious and helped a lot.  She’s a runner herself, and was really up on the table stretching me out a lot.  I thought my poor hips and hamstrings were going to snap!

I returned to work with serious JBF hair and smelling like incense, but I didn’t care.

I did a little office decorating today.  My new view? 

And, of course, I updated the bib board.

It’s so real now.  I did this.  I am a marathoner.

I’m not experiencing the same runger I had after my long runs during training—that was predictable.  I’d do a long run, go to bed, and wake up a bottomless pit.  Since the marathon, I have actually had very little appetite…except for a few random times when it hits me like a ton of bricks and I need to eat, like, NOW.  Strange.

Anyway, onward and upward.  I’m running the Kansas City Marathon 5K this Saturday and am looking forward to a fun run.  A part of me just wants to do a slow recovery run and enjoy the scenery; another part of me wants to go out as balls-to-the-wall as possible and shoot for a PR.  I don’t know.  We’ll see how I feel.

How do you recover from a hard workout?

Hi, guys!  Thanks for the race props.  I’m still in the hurt box today, but less so than I was.  I didn’t have time to get this up last night, but here is my first ever (short) vlog taken shortly after the race by Tim.  Please excuse my eyebrows (I’m due for a wax on Saturday) and sweat and general awkwardness on camera.

Here are also two quick vlogs taken with my Sony Bloggie camera about the Sony Walkman I used during the race!  (Standard disclaimer: I got this for free, but opinions are my own.)  Buckley makes a ferocious cameo in the first video.

Please be kind.  I’m not a camera person and yup, I’m totally awkward.

Today after work I ran three recovery miles in 30:00.  (Odd how recovery pace was faster than my race pace by a lot.)  It felt sooo good to get some blood pumping to my legs—almost as good as a massage!  (Almost.)

In other news, I had almost no appetite yesterday, but today I have had voracious runger.  I guess my body skipped a day?  I was pretty hungry Sunday night, too.

So, do I have a Chicago accent?