Author Archives: Jen Thompson

The road is long and winding

Well motherhood has certainly had its ups and downs. Baby Cub will be 3 months old tomorrow, and he is more than I could have ever hoped for. He is so fun when he is happy, cooing, kicking and learning new things. When he is not happy, he lets you know quickly and LOUDLY. Cub had found his voice in the past month, and he is not afraid to use it. In fact, one of his favorite past times is howling on command with his dad… yeah I stay out of that one.

When I say he is growing quickly, I am not exaggerating. He is already teething people! 3 month and we have teeth cutting through and making our little guy miserable. We have been on a constant stream of Tylenol and Orajel to keep him happy, and I have spent many more hours nursing than sleeping over the past 2 weeks. I just feel terrible for him. It’s really trying when you have a baby in pain because you want nothing more than to sooth them, but it just isn’t that easy. We are making it through, but wow, it is exhausting.

Cub is already in 6 month sleepers now. He is getting long and is close to 13 lbs. already. My little narcissist loves watching himself in my phone and really enjoys going to watch Chas’ wrestlers workout. He loves the movement and noise. This kid is going to be an athlete!

As for dad, Chas is finding it harder to carry him for long periods of time as he is getting heavier, but loves playing with him and getting him to talk back. Cub spends a few hours a week up at Chas’ office while mom has conference calls or appointments to attend. He had made friends with many of the volleyball players, and it seems that he hasn’t met a human he doesn’t like.

Mom, well I am doing better. The post-delivery issues I was having seem to be dulling with time, and I have started walking more with Cub in the stroller. I even finally hit my 10,000 steps a day goal this past week. I haven’t done that in almost 6 months. Running again is the next thing on my list, and I am planning on that happening sometime in the coming week. I continue to drop the baby weight, which I am working hard to get off. I still have about 10-12 lbs to go, but we are getting there, and I feel like I look better with each passing day.

Motherhood is hard. Like my mom told me, it never really gets easier. It just gets different. When we have gotten one thing figured out (sleeping for more than 3 hours at a time), something else arises (teething). We are taking it all in stride, and learning a lot along the way.

The New Adventures of Old Jen

Well, I have some good news, if you didn’t know already. The day after my last post (Pregnancy is a marathon), I delivered a healthy baby boy. Cub William Thompson is my new normal. At 8 lbs. 3oz. and 19 inches long, he made his appearance just as his mother wanted, very quickly. After having what I thought were just Braxton-Hicks contractions for about 12 hours, we knew that it was close to time for him to arrive. Sunday morning, June 28th, we headed to the hospital about 9:15 am, as my contractions were about 3:30 mins apart. After being checked at 10:30 am and measuring in at 3 cm dilated, the doctor broke my water, boldly predicting that I would be holding a baby by supper time. Cub had other plans.

I have been very strong in my opinion not to have drugs while I was in labor. I did not want an epidural, and knew that I had the strength to skip it. At approximately 11:30 am I looked at my husband and finally said, “if this is a 3, I need an epidural.” After discussing it with him and the nurse, she went to order the epidural and then came back to check my progress again. To everyone’s surprise, the extremely pain I was in was not 3 cm pain, but 8 cm pain. Before the anesthesiologist could even make it to the room (approx. 10 mins.) I was dilated to 10, pushing, and praying the doctor would get there in time to catch the newest member of my family.

At 12:21 pm, four pushes later, Cub came into this world with a perfectly round little head, and the cutest little cry you have ever heard. He was (and is) perfect.

I don’t remember a lot about the delivery. I remember my legs shaking like crazy, getting really hot, and keeping my eyes closed almost the entire time. It was an unbelievable experience, and the parts I do remember will never be forgotten.

Then there is this guy. Cub is the best and most challenging thing I have ever had to deal with in my life. Motherhood is constant problem solving, and I am getting better at it. I could spend all my time just looking at him. He is such a special and loved little boy.

Now that we have reached the 6 week mark, and I am almost feeling back to my normal self, I am excited to get into some sort of a routine, particularly with regards to my fitness. The healing process after birth is no joke, and I am still working on it.

The new life I am living is definitely the complete opposite of where I was just a year ago. It is still the old me, but I know I will continue to evolve, so really, it is a new me. And I like the new me.

Pregnancy is a marathon

IMG_3592We made it to week 40! The big 4-0. It is a comforting feeling, because I know that the growth of Baby T is complete. On the other hand, I have been pregnant for forty week people. And not with just any baby: Chas Thompson’s baby. Those of you that know my husband know him as a noise maker, a wiggler, a wrestler (obviously), but a very sweet guy. Well I may not have met him yet, but I can tell you my son is just like his father, besides the fact that I am fairly certain he will wrestle at 197 or heavyweight based on his and my size at this point! At 34 weeks he was almost 7 lbs already… Yeah.

I am so in love with my husband, but he paces around the house when he is thinking hard or talking on the phone. He is constantly making noise like water dripping, or randomly singing out of nowhere and scaring the living daylights out of me (he has even made the baby jump before). Like his father, my unborn son does not stop moving. I have actually asked the nurse at my prenatal appointments if there is a point when you worry about your baby moving too much. I swear he will come out and be like Dash from The Incredibles, his little legs never slowing down. It’s like hyperactivity disorder in the womb! But in the end, I think he is just a happy boy that likes hanging out with him mom everyday.

When you first get pregnant, you know that week 40 is your goal. If you can cook that baby to week 40, you can relax a little bit, because growth should be done by that point. But for all women who have ever had a baby, you realize how much a marathon this process is. Let’s start from the beginning shall we?

At the beginning of the race, you are excited! You have you number on and are waiting in your corral, and if you are at Disney, you get to see fireworks as you cross the start line. Pregnancy… well I will just leave it at that.

The first few weeks, like the first few miles, you are getting your groove, getting used to the idea that you will be running for hours on end or carrying this baby for months. You feel fairly good as you get your stride, and are excited that you have something to look forward to: the finish line.

After about mile 4-5 (week 6-7 of pregnancy), you start wondering why you are doing this. You have so far to go. At Disney, you aren’t even to the Magic Kingdom yet! You need food and fuel, but you sort of feel like you might spew at any minute, but you force down that gel anyway. Really you just kinda wanna lay down. This is called the first trimester, and it lasts until about mile 8 or so.

From mile 8 to mile 18 (week 13-27), things start to go numb. Things hurt occasionally, but you are sort of in your groove, and the crowd of excited fans has finally thinned out a little bit. You realize that there is no turning back now, so you are basically just going through the motions attempting to make it to the next mile (or milestone). With every gel, your energy level increases for a bit, and you feel like you can actually accomplish something here.

Once you hit mile 20 (week 30ish), you know that you have only a few more to go before you get to see that finish line. You are once again excited and rejuvenated, but at the same time, your body hurts so bad that it is hard to concentrate on finishing. You know you will and can, but sometimes you just want to stop and cry, asking yourself why in God’s name did you sign up to do this in the first place!

The last month of pregnancy is pretty much identical to the last .2 miles of a marathon. It takes forever to get there, and you are sure that you were probably in such a daze you ran right past the finish, just continued to keep running and missed it, because there is no way in hell that .2 miles takes this long to run. Yep, that is pregnancy after week 36. You know what is coming. You are constantly in pain with a foot in your rib, nerve pain that cripples you at the drop of a hat, and peeing 14 times a night. You know this is what you have been working for these past nine months, but the ending is so unpredictable that you are still nervous. 

I know at some point I will make it to the finish line. We aren’t there quite yet. And like getting that nice shiny medal, my little baby will be the prize at the end of a long race. And oddly enough, I will probably be walking the same as if I had finished a marathon when he finally gets here. I am also fairly certain that when I see him, as when you finish a race, I will forget about how horrible the full experience really was and probably sign up for another. However, I am telling my husband that we are never doing this again…

The Long Arduous Journey

IMG_357438 weeks… That is how far along I will be tomorrow morning. Baby has decided to grow by leaps and bounds since my last post, and I am now measuring over 40 weeks, even though we have not reached that milestone week yet. Life has gotten significantly harder since week 30… ah those were the good ole days!

I can’t walk anymore, because I have so much nerve pain in my pelvic area and legs. Oh, and not to mention a nasty limp when I do walk. My hands and face are swollen. Not even my maternity clothes fit me anymore, and waistbands are out of the question. What does that leave for daily attire? Basically just muumuus. I pee about 3 times an hour, and go through a least 1 roll of toilet paper every 2 days. The baby is constantly moving, and burrowing his head into places that make my life a living hell.

But I still love the little guy, and I really can’t wait to meet him. Everything is pretty much ready for him to arrive. The nursery is done. We have an installed car seat. Hospital bags are packed. All attending parties are on call in case of something happening at any hour of the day. I am pretty much just counting down the days now.

My days seem very long as a person who works from home. Like I have said before on here, I am so lucky to be able to do that, but when you feel miserable often, the days tend to drag on a bit. So what did I do? I started a calendar of what I am going to do everyday until he is born. Here are a few great example:

June 14th- Clean out kitchen cabinets
June 18th- Vacuum and dust the baby’s room, Wash all the curtains in the house
June 23rd- Appointment with Dr. Fort, Clean the bathroom

Exciting, I know. Now, if I can actually get any of these accomplished, that is a totally different story, but I am sure as hell going to try!

The hardest part of all of this is that I have been having urges to run. Like CRAZY urges. Part of this running year, or most of this running year has been spent not running. That’s ok. I have to grow a little baby, and that is much more important right now. But wow, I can’t wait to get back out there. And best of all, I have a really great jogging stroller to try out too!

 

Three Fourths of the Way

The kitty already loving on his baby.

When you are running a marathon, you have a lot of time to compute things in your head, assuming you are still conscious enough to do it. I love math, so attempting to calculate what percentage of a race I have left is sort of a regular in my repetriore of things to think about while running.

Naturally, as my pregnancy has progressed, I tend to do the same thing. We hit the 3rd trimester about a week and a half ago, which was huge. The chance of baby surviving outside of the womb is about 90% now, which is so encouraging, especially since it takes 6 full months for him to even be viable in there.

As of Saturday, I will be able to say that we are 3/4th of the way done! And if you have seen any of my other posts throughout my pregnancy, you know that I am certainly looking forward to the end, not because I get to meet my little guy (although I am excited about that), but because I have been fairly miserable my entire pregnancy. Every day it is something else, and I tend to have more bad days that good. I literally couldn’t walk almost the entire weekend because I was having such bad muscle (stretching) pain in my groin. It feels like someone is stabbing me with a knife, NO JOKE!

It’s funny that my little guy is now on sort of a schedule, even pre-birth. He always kicks me a few times between 7-7:30 in the morning, before Chas’ alarm goes. He is the first to let me know that I am hungry. In the evening when Chas gets home, he always let’s me know that he is aware of it, and best of all, he likes music now. I have been playing a variety of things for him, but so far is favorite song is Crimson and Clover. It is pretty cool to go through, but all the while painful.

As we continue to get closer to delivery day, and I get larger and larger, the excitement and fear grows. He will be here soon, and there is still so many things to do, trips to take, and moments to remember. It’s going to be a fun ride.

Just a few more days

20150216134520546There are many milestones in a pregnancy, and again, I don’t think they are talked about enough. The first is just getting that positive test. For some people, this takes a lot of time, energy, money, and for some it never happens. We were extremely fortunate, and it happened with little effort.

The next milestone is the end of the first trimester, when the chance of miscarriage decreases to something like 7%. Again, while my first trimester was rough, we met and exceeded this milestone easily.

In my opinion, as seldom talked about mile stone is the 24 week mark. Once you hit 24 weeks, the pregnancy is finally viable, and the baby could technically survive outside the womb. We are four short days away from this mark.

You would logically think that it should be all down hill from here. If something happens, your baby can be born. You are only 3 short months away from the birth. But there problem here is that the baby is only about one pound right now. That means that over the course of the next 16 weeks, The baby could gain somewhere between 4-7 more pounds, making the mom’s job even harder!

My current experience is that I continue to get hungrier and hungrier, but I have less and less space to hold anything extra. That’s good, because my baby is growing big and strong, but it is getting more uncomfortable every day. Even though I am feeling less and less like myself, I am very excited that our last ultrasound showed that we are having a little boy.

We are getting closer and closer, but for an expectant mama, it seems like it is taking WAY TO LONG!

How a boa constrictor ruined my Saturday

The harsh realities of pregnancy got the best of me yesterday. I have been out in California for the past few days for work, which has been going very well so far. Yesterday morning, I woke up and prepared to drive to Sacramento to live stream a basketball tournament. While getting ready, I saw a piece on the Today Show about how a family’s 12 ft. pet boa constrictor got out and slithered into the baby’s crib, suffocating it.

Now, we don’t have any pet snakes, or plan to get one for that matter, but for some reason this got to me. I continued on and when I sat down to eat breakfast, I started crying thinking about all the potential things that I could unknowingly be doing that could harm the 18 week old fetus in my belly. I got myself settled down, and set off to Sacramento thinking of things that I could easily change to help make myself and my pregnancy just a little bit better.

I made it up there nice and early and decided to head to a store called Buy Buy Baby to start some baby shopping. As I walked around looking at pacifiers, booties, crib sheets and humidifiers, I immediately felt overwhelmed. Again, what if I pick the wrong thing and it hurts or harms this small human I am growing? Suddenly I came upon the stroller/car seat section. Near one corner, with a salesman, a very well dressed woman in a fedora, with her fancy husband and adorable pregnant belly. She was asking a million and one questions: What colors does this come in? Will they deliver to our house? What sort of attachments are available for the handle? Does the car seat snap into the stroller the same way it does the car?

Literally they have 400 strollers

OMG! Why don’t I have any questions to ask? Do these things have safety ratings? Can I sit in the stroller and hyperventilate while you go get me a paper bag? I managed to escape the store holding back tears and retreated to my car only to spend the next 3o minutes blubbering like an idiot. In hind sight, it is dumb, and certainly something to laugh about. But it still proves the point that I am unprepared, and being almost half way through this pregnancy, I/we have some major catching up to do.

Obviously lack of sleep, being away from my husband and hormones got the best of me yesterday, but that doesn’t make up for the fact that I still have to pick out a stroller!?! How in the world am I supposed to do that?!? I don’t know what I need in a stroller, because I have never really used one before. Do I take my dog to the store so I can try it out? Oh lord there is a lot to think about.

One day at a time Jen. One day at a time.

Why the events of 2014 are making my 2015 even better

I am usually a very sentimental person around this time of year. I like to reflect on the past year, but I love looking forward to what the next year will hold for me. This year has been a little bit different than normal. I haven’t really felt that way this year, for multiple reasons of which I thought I would share with you.

dsc_8518 (1)Reason #1: I got married!
That was of course a major life changing event, and something that I had been hoping for for a very long time. There is a level of satisfaction that comes with marking that milestone off you list of things to accomplish in the future. The fear of being alone is long gone, and I think that is the void that was filled more than the need to have a diamond ring and a fancy wedding dress. I couldn’t be happier about the path my love life has taken. Having a witness to all the good and bad that we have to wade through year after year is totally worth the heartbreak and pain you go through in your dating life.

Reason #2: I have a home!
This is hard to explain, but every place that I have lived (Cleveland, Parsons, San Jose) has never felt like where I was going to stay. Something inside of me always said that it was just a temporary stop on my way to my final location. Because I always had that in the back of my head, I also was extremely reluctant to completely unpack. I put stuff away, but I never made it my own. When I moved into Chas’ house back in May, there was a sense of relaxation in placing everything where it needed to go. I finally felt like the space was mine, and not just a stepping stone. I am sure this isn’t where we will live for the rest of our lives together, but for now, it is perfect for a newly married couple, 2 English bulldogs and a tuxedo cat.

Reason #3: I’m having a baby!
First comes love, then comes marriage. Well we have almost completed the final step of this school yard rhyme. So many people have said something to the affect of, “Man, you guys didn’t wait long!” We have been together for 7 years and were smart enough and responsible enough to wait until we were married to get pregnant, and now they are hassling us because we got pregnant three months after we got married! Suck it people! At least this baby will have two unbelievably committed parents in a loving relationship… I tell you. You just can’t win.

Reason #4: I don’t have to worry about my weight for the first 8 months of the year!
This has actually been a tough thing for me to comprehend. I am a fairly fit person, as can be deduced from the name of this blog, and telling yourself that it is ok to see extra pounds show up on the scale is not a easy mind switch. Of course I want to stay healthy and fit for my baby, but knowing that most of this year will be spent at a higher weight than I am used to is sort of a relief! My fitness goals are complete different from every other year of my life, and that is comforting, relaxing, and almost a bit satisfying.

Reason #5: I have new family members!
Friends that started the year as just my friends have quickly become family to both Chas and me. In January, I ran one of the toughest series races of my life, the Dopey Challenge (see previous posts for more information). My friends Darren, Bruce and Julie ran with me. Not only was that another life changing experience that happened in 2014, but it brought us extremely close together. They are now my family, and I have been lucky enough to get to spend quite a bit of time with Julie and her daughters in San Diego this year. I am so excited to be part of Darren and Bruce’s wedding in February, along with running the Glass Slipper Challenge with them and Julie at Walt Disney World that same weekend. As always, it will be epic!

My new extended family! Love them all!

Combine all 5 of these things into a person’s new year, and you have almost a perfect year on the horizon. I am sure there will be bumps in the road, but remembering all the good things about 2014 and the special things that are coming are sure to keep me focused on making 2015 the best year of my life… and my husband’s life… and my little lemon sized fetus’ life!

On to the next one! Cheers!

One down, Two to go

We made it through the first trimester! Yay! Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. From nausea to food aversions, cramps to complete and total exhaustion, I… WE, have been through quite a bit. Chas has been a trooper through it all. He has taken over almost all the house duties, because I simply don’t have the energy to do anything. It seems to be getting better, but I have days when I am just not sure anything will get done.

How cute is that?!?

How cute is that?!?

When you envision getting pregnant, you picture the positive test, the elation of telling your closest family and friends, and maybe a little morning sickness, which you are fairly certain won’t happen to you. No one tells you about the flatuence, the exhaustion, the ten MILLION times you will have to pee, or the smells that will immediately make you run to put your face in the toilet (like the pulled pork I came home to one evening. OMG, I am getting sick just thinking about it.) Unless you really dive in and do your research, which you won’t do unless you are obsessed with getting pregnant or find out that your pregnant, this is stuff you don’t really hear about. People don’t ask you about how you are as the mother. They ask to see the ultrasound picture, or what size the baby is in terms of fruit that week (we are up to a peach currently). They could care less about the fact that your pelvic bone constantly aches and that your pants don’t fit anymore. Well folks if you want the truth, come to me!

So far, pregnancy sucks! Don’t get me wrong. I am completely and totally in awe of the fact that my body will take the grilled cheese sandwich and tomato basil soup I had for lunch and turn it into a human, but it really is not a very fun process so far. But, like a good mom-to-be, I have been reading up. According to the literature, I am almost out of the woods, as most of the books say that the 2nd trimester brings about calm, less pee, and overall less “I just want to kill myself now” symptoms.

Well let me just tell you universe, I am waiting…

10 weeks in and still going strong

Note to readers: this was written on Thanksgiving day, but is just being published because we feel we are now far enough along to let people know our good news.

Well, we have almost made it through the first trimester! YIPPEE!!

Wow, it has not been easy! I have had more morning sickness, more nausea, and more terrible feeling days than any expectant momma should EVER have to deal with. From about week 6 to week 9, I don’t remember doing much but sleeping and complaining, which my husband was wonderful about dealing with. Anything I needed, he was there to help with. I couldn’t be more thankful for him and his willingness to get me through all of this. He even thinks of things that are silly, but are very good points, like working on my laptop with it sitting directly on my lap, or walking down the stairs without using the hand rail… he is just the cutest sometimes.

So here we are, in week 10. Our baby is now the size of a kumquat, which I have only ever seen on the Food Network. I head to the doctor for my first appointment on December 16th, and I can hardly wait. Let’s get this baby stuff on a roll! I want to make sure everything is ok, that I am doing all the right things, and that this baby is growing the way it is supposed to. I already have a nice little belly on me, let me tell ya! Fortunately, I have only gained about 2 lbs. so far, which I guess is about right for a person my size.

The maternity pants were bought last week… oh boy was that a tough thing to do… but they are SOOOO comfortable! Totally worth the money spent. I sort of feel like once we get through our first appointment, and through the holidays that it will be time to turn on baby mode. I am hesitant to buy anything yet, as we definitely don’t want to jump the gun prematurely. Things can always go wrong, and it would be a lot more painful with visual reminders if something did happen.

It also never escapes my mind at how lucky Chas and I are. Some people try forever, and it never happens for them. We tried for 3 months, and here we are! Here go the hormones… I cry at everything by the way! This baby is going to be the luckiest baby in the whole world! Between us and its grandparents, this child is going to be so spoiled, and I am sure it will be the sweetest baby ever. It has the most caring father, and a mother that worries about everything that will make sure that it always has what it needs.

I’m sure my next update will be after my appointment, so look for something soon!