2 years

Just remembering...2 years ago, I miscarried baby #4. While the pain of that loss has been eased in a way with the birth of Caleb, it's still sad. There was a little life there with us, if for only a brief time. And that little child led us on the path to bringing Caleb into our lives. If that child had lived, we wouldn't have this precious little 11 month old. At the same time, I wanted that child here. One day, I'll meet that soul I believe. But for today, I'm remembering...

Half Marathon....check!

I did it! I finally ran a half marathon! I've been training since, I think April and this past Saturday, I actually ran it! And it was awesome! My main goal was to finish, but because I have such a competitive nature, I had really hoped to come in under 2:45...my official time was 2:25:19! I beat my goal time by 20 minutes. I'll admit, it wasn't easy. I felt great for the first 7 miles. I have a tendency to start out way too fast. It's easy to do because there are so many people at the start and everyone sort of moves in a group...plus the adrenaline of running a race kicks in. At the 1 mile mark, I was at 8:58. It was a much faster pace than I should have been running for a half-marathon. I tried to slow down, but I hit 2 miles at 19min, 3 at 29min, 4 at 39 minutes on up to 6 miles...then I started slowing down. The toughest mile was 8-9. I did manage to run to mile marker 9, but then I had to walk a little past the water station. (I walked through all the water stations because I'm not coordinated enough to run and drink from a solo cup...but it was only a few steps). Miles 10-12 were pretty tough and I was ready to be done. Finally, I could see the flag and a hill to go over the interstate and get back to the track. A guy there said we were only half a mile away. Thank goodness! I knew my kids would be at the finish and I wanted them to see me finish running, so I walked up the hill and ran the rest of the way. Seeing my kids at the finish line was the boost I needed to finish strong! It's a sort of cruel joke that you get to the track and you can see the finish line...but you have to run a lap before you cross! When you are tired, even after running 13 miles, a lap can seem like forever! I gave Isaiah a high five as I got onto the track and as I came around to the side that the finish line was on, Isaiah ran along the fence as I crossed the line! It was an awesome feeling! I'm pretty sore this am. Stairs are not my friends, especially if I have to go down. But I accomplished a goal! I'm still celebrating but I've got some major, major training to do to be ready for a full marathon. At mile 12, I had serious doubts about whether or not I can be ready for 26 miles so soon. I still have doubts, but I've got to try. But for right now, I can say I've run a half marathon and I'm looking forward to doing it again!

Murphy's Law of Motherhood

You have sports practice for 2 of your 4 kids at 5:30, and you managed to feed them a healthy yet satisfying light meal at 4pm, get them water for practice, they are dressed (which is something for a momma who know nothing about football gear), baby is fed AND bathed after a blow-out diaper, the 3-year is excited for the park, and you *think* you have everything you need for the baby in the to-go-baby-bag should he get hungry/need a diaper change/want a toy, but you thought wrong. As soon as the 2 kids take off for their respective fields, and the 3 year old is outside ready to go play on the swings, the baby will projectile vomit his entire supper as you open the van door to pull him out of his carseat. And while you have wipes and a diaper, you realize you forgot a change of clothes.

Murphy's Law of Motherhood #567

"From that day on, if I was ever going somewhere, I was running!"

Love that movie, Forrest Gump. Anyway, since May, I've been training for my first half marathon, which is coming up on the 20th! My training has been going very well, I'm up to 12 miles, which is the farthest my training schedule has me run, until race day anyway. I'm ready, I will probably have to walk a little bit here and there, but my goal isn't a great time...I just want to finish the 13.1 miles and be able to say that I did it. It's been a huge stress reliever for me and in a way, giving me confidence. Each mile I add to my long run has been therapeutic and given me a renewed confidence in my determination and physical ability. I never thought I'd get to a point where I could say "Yeah, I can run 13.1 miles, I'm ready".

I haven't even run that half marathon, but I'm already looking forward to my next challenge: a full marathon. I entered a contest to win an entry to a marathon. They asked for people's stories as to what their motivation to run is. I still don't know why I did it because I'm sure not ready to run 26 miles, but something made me submit my story, my motivation. And guess what? I now have an entry into a marathon this October! I'm pretty nervous about it because I didn't really think I had a chance, so I was quite surprised when I saw I was among the winners. My initial thought was "Oh, crap! I can't do this! Not that soon!" but as I thought about it, there was a reason I submitted an entry. Something pushed me to do it. And I meant every word, that I want to be a role model for my children. I want them to see firsthand that even though the road to attaining a goal might be tough and take many miles, if you believe in yourself, work hard and give it all you've got, you can reach that goal. That's exactly what I'm going to do. It's going to take a lot of time, sweat, hard work and determination, but I will do this. I will complete a marathon this year. Eek!!!

Here's my story:
I've always considered myself a runner and thought that one day, I would run a marathon. After getting married and starting a family, I found it hard to make time to get out and run. I'd still get out when I could, ran a few 5K's, but I never really made the time to push myself and train for that marathon. It became just a pipe dream. Last year, after a difficult pregnancy, and preterm delivery of my 4th baby, I slipped into that dark world of post-partum depression. Determined to find myself again, I started running, setting a goal to run a 5K, 5 mile race, 10K and then a half marathon in August. I have successfully left post-partum depression behind me, ran that 5K, a 5 mile race, and I'm prepared to run a half marathon, looking ahead to running that first full marathon. Not only do I run for myself, but for my 4 children. I don't want them to think any dream, goal or aspiration is out of reach. I want them to know that if you set your mind to do something, work hard and believe in yourself, that you can do anything.

Telephone Triage

One weekend, the scrub tech answered the phone and got this panicked look on her face. She had wide eyes with a look of panic and said to whoever was on the phone "You need to come in but I'm going to have you talk to a nurse". It was a grandmother to be and she said "My daughter is pregnant, (went through a whole health history), her water broke and the umbilical cord is hanging out. Do we need to come into the hospital?" Now this is not unheard of, it rarely happens, but I can remember someone who had come in because she had something hanging out of her vagina, and it was indeed the cord, and thankfully it hadn't been compressed too much....I think because the baby was transverse or breech, but baby was delivered and fine. But it is a true emergency. After a few quick questions, it was determined that it sounded like a cord, and since you can't assess over the phone what is going on, and because of the potential serious nature of a cord prolapse, she was told "Yes, you need to have her get into a knee-chest position, hang up and call 911". Thankfully, anesthesia was already in house, we had an OB doc there who had just finished a delivery who had overheard the phone call, OR was opened and we were all ready. We figured she'd already have a IV in from the ambulance ride, doc would do a quick sono to make sure we had a reason to deliver urgently and we'd were ready. So a bit later, she rolls in, smiling, sitting up on the cart and we quickly check to see if we in fact have a prolapsed cord. The patient states "Oh, I pulled it out". Everyone is dumbfounded, and she holds up an emesis basin....with her mucus plug in it.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the tension lifted like a heavy blanket. There was never any doubt that we made the right decision to tell her to come in. We aren't allowed to give out info over the phone, all we can say is call your doc or come in, because you can't assess over the phone. This is a perfect example.