The Thought of Labor Terrifies Me + We Did the Incline!
The final countdown is on. I have 3 weeks left...maybe less or maybe 1 week more (they will induce me if I am a week late). I have to be honest with you. I am TERRIFIED! It's not the fact that I will now be responsible for a small human being -that is scary enough, but I know I can handle that and will have lots of help from family coming to visit and friends. It's actually getting this baby out of my body. I know I am strong, physically and mentally, but this is scary. I keep telling myself that women have been doing this since the beginning of time, but that doesn't really seem to help calm me off the ledge. Frankly, I am ready to not be pregnant anymore (if you've read my past blogs, you will know that I am not loving being pregnant) - it would be nice to be able to breathe again, to be able to bend down to pick anything up off the ground or turn over in bed without thinking about it or accommodating my belly and having more than 5 shirts to choose from. But thinking about everything involved with labor and delivery is SCARY!
Because I would like to move around during the labor, I would like to not have an epidural (plus I hate needles so the thought of having one is scary too), although I am not going to consider myself a failure if I need to have one. We are having an amazing doula with us to tell us what to do and I've read a lot of articles of breathing and what to do, but that still doesn't calm the fear. I am just going to have to trust the team supporting me and God that it will be fine. And it will be worth it once we finally get to meet Skittles.
I was probably about this scared before my hip surgery a couple years ago - although that was more about am I going to wake up or if the surgery would work and fix my issue. And that road to recovery was LONG, but looking back now, it was worth it.
Anyways, enough about that. You all know I have been staying active this whole pregnancy. Sure, I cut back on intensity, lifting heavy weights, running and jumping but I keep moving - making sure I get in at least 6 workouts a week and at least 10,500 steps a day (although that can mean me walking in place in our bedroom right before bed to get the final 500 steps or so). On Saturday, Chris and I headed to Manitou Springs to do the Incline. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's 1 mile long with 2744 steps to get to the top, climbing 2000 feet. The steps are not even - some are 2 inches tall, while others are 18 inches. There is a 3 mile hiking trail leading back to the parking lot once you reach the top since it's dangerous to go down the steps.
I've done this a couple times before, but wanted to do it while pregnant - partly to encourage people that if I can do it in this condition, then they can, but also partly to prove I can still do it. I got my doctor's permission beforehand too to make sure it was safe - she said it was fine as long as I went early to avoid overheating and drank at least 64 oz of water while doing it. It was hot, even though we started early in the morning - and I was surprised how difficult it was to breathe in some parts (especially the parts with the larger steps), but with Chris' encouragement to keep stopping to rest for a minute when my heart rate got too high (I have a tendency to just push through things - see I can do it with exercise - I hope I can do it in labor too), we did it in an hour and 10 minutes. People were high fiving me and telling me I was amazing or making them look bad. It made me feel good. I hope that I did encourage people - showing them that you don't have to sit around and do nothing when you are pregnant - sure you need to rest more and take it easier - but you can still get outside and be active. And I was proud of us for doing it. It felt great!
