Friday, September 6, 2013

Heartbeats

Total steps yesterday:  18,464
Exercise plans for today:  none official, since I accidentally left my gym bag at home

I'm 18 weeks along today!  Lil W is the size of a green pepper.  I went in this morning for a check-up and all is well.  Or at least from what the doctor can tell from chatting with me and listening to the baby's heartbeat.  Lil W is still ticking along at about 160 beats per minute.  That is currently my favorite sound in the world.
 




Incidentally, to get the above picture, I did a google image search of "baby green pepper" hoping to find something cute, and the search auto-corrected to "baby green poop".  Suffice to say, not cute.  Though I suppose a dose of reality.

Speaking of heartbeats, I asked my doctor about safe exercise.  Her response:  "If you're used to working out, feel free to keep doing what you're doing.  We generally recommend not exceeding 150 bpms for a long period of time, but there's not hard evidence to back that up - it's all anecdotal."  She gave her stamp of approval for me to continue 3 mile runs, even though my heartbeat tends to get up to about 160 during those.  In general, she said athletes (she called me an athlete!) are her funniest pregnant ladies because they're all so worried about doing too much, and it's a greater worry to do too little.  On top of that, if you're used to exercising prior to pregnancy, you're better at recognizing your limits.  She said there was nothing I couldn't do as long as I listened to my body, so now I feel like I've spent the last month stressing out about nothing.  Oh well.

Also, have I talked about how much I love my Kindle?  I prefer running outside, but have been nervous about it during pregnancy since I don't want to get far away from home and have something go wrong, so I've been doing a lot of treadmill running.  Whether watching a show or reading a book, it's the best distraction to make treadmilling less terrible.

Good treadmill distraction
And finally, a brief, somber note on a heart no longer beating.  Today would have been my brother's 31st birthday.  He died by suicide at age 18.  He is missed always, but it's felt more keenly on days like today.
 
September is suicide prevention month, and there are so many resources and organizations out there able to help in this situation.  Many of these websites also have resources for family and friends grieving the loss of a loved one.  It's a topic that's a bit taboo to discuss, but it needs to be addressed.  So often, suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, and it doesn't need to take as many lives as it does.  

Now here's a cute GIF of puppies on a treadmill to make everyone feel better:


Better treadmill distraction


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