I got back to the US early November from finishing the Crocodile Trophy in Australia and went straight back into my massage certification which I started in September and doing all my hours for that.
I had been talking to Jeff, my family and a few close friends about what my next plan of attack in life might be( and how to deal with that change) as I felt I had achieved what I wanted in triathlon and needed a change. I also felt I didn't have the hunger and fire I used to, to race at the level I expect and knew it was time to take some time away from being a Professional Triathlete.
Of course the subject about having a baby had come up and been suggested by many people especially after spending a week with my sister and her two little ones. It wasn't a good time to try to convince me to have kids after 9 days of hard mountain bike racing and sleeping on a camp mat with minimal sleep and badly bruised ribs...I was a little tired and just wanted to sleep but was woken up every morning at 5am because, as my nephew explained ' the sun's up Aunty Kate!'.
I love all my nieces and nephews but know that having your own is quite different.So fast forward a few weeks as Jeff and I decided we will 'just see what happens' , IT happened very quickly. I was not feeling so good, putting on weight and my boobs (sorry guys!) were SO sore and rather big for me. My (twin) sister called me and said ' are you pregnant?' and I said ' I don't know, i haven't taken a test'. She said 'well, you better go and get one as I was feeling a bit sick and thought I would check but i'm not, so you better go and get one and take the test!'. I called Jeff and he bought a pack of 3 at the drug store on his way home. I decided I would do it in the morning just incase it was the 'girls' making their visit.I got up early to swim and decided I would just do one so I could go and swim and not worry about it. Jeff got up and was wondering what I was doing and I told him and got him to time the 5sec peeing on the stick and 2mins to check the result as I still couldn't see too well as I was really tired. I was watching the results and could see 2 lines (before the 2min was up) which on this test was a positive and told Jeff to double check it but he said ' the 2mins isn't up yet!' .I showed him and said ' I don't think we need to wait 2mins then!'. We decided to make doubly sure I would do one later when i got home....sure enough we didn't need to use the 3rd test, it was well and truly positive. Jeff was rather proud of himself and I think if he were at a bar with his friends, he would have been high fiving them for his manly-hood efforts! I was thankful we got pregnant so quickly as I thought after racing for so long and not having regular 'girly' visits, it might be more complicated. I booked in to see the appropriate Doctors and had a sonogram to confirm I was pregnant and was 6.5wks when we got back from Hawaii which explains the nausea starting there and it gradually got worse, to the point where it felt like I had a stomach bug and virus, all day, everyday for about 4-5weeks until it let off for a day or so, only to start again. I found myself in bed by 7.30pm many nights and the simplest daily tasks were challenging. I forced myself to exercise which usually helped the nausea a little bit or at least kept me sane.
We bought some books and I read the things you could experience each week and thought ' who would get that?!' and by the next day....I would have the answer....'me!'.
I emailed a few friends who are athletes that are either pregnant or recently had their first child, to ask some questions about exercising whilst pregnant, how they cope with a variety of things whilst pregnant and afterwards etc etc which has been really helpful. My sister has also answered a million questions for me and telling me stuff that may have been nice to know before we decided to have a baby....all I can say is 'ouch' and 'gross' !!! It's been a while since Sex Ed at school!
I am now 14.5wks along and feeling the extra weight and the total take over of hormones throughout my body but know it will be worth it and I am looking forward to this experience as it is certainly unique to any other I have had. We had an ultrasound last week and it was really cool to see the baby moving around, kicking it's legs and seeing how much it had grown from only the week before! And the Doctor told me that for ' my age' my results came back extremely low for any birth defects...'my age!' huh!! So now we feel better about telling more people.
I am due August 18th-ish so I will massage as long as I can and continue coaching the Mermaids group until June/July and doing some work with the 5K9 Walk,Run,Wag event that will be held in San Rafael, August 4th and subbing a little bit at Velo SF. That will be and is plenty for me at the moment.
Jeff is off to NYC for a doubles squash tournament this weekend and another one in DC in May (which I will go to and visit some fun friends!) and is still liking his coaching at the Olympic Club.
Kaisley (our dog) is still herself and last weekend chased her first bobcat on a run with Jeff at Lucas Valley and luckily came back in one piece and by herself:)
I will try to keep a more regular blog as we go through this new adventure in our lives if I can remember to do it and don't fall asleep before i finish it....'it's the hormones!!'.
