21 Minute Run + Cradle

Hoorah, yesterday I managed a 21 minute run!

It was a gorgeous morning and so we all went out as a family. Al pushed the buggy while I warmed up walking next to him. Once we had reached 'the beach' I took off my track pants and warm tops (it was sunny but chilly) and set off for my first running block. I had planned to do the following:

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute running blocks with 4 minutes rest in between but with the knowledge that if at any time I was sore to simply finish the loop walking.

I was so pleased to be able to do all running blocks and the I only had 3 or 2 minutes walking between the 3 and 2 and the 2 and 1 blocks respectively. I got around the whole of Lady Mary's so did 3 miles in total although not all at a run. I felt pretty comfortable running and wasn't sore at all. That was definitely enough though as although not sore I just knew that was just before the full limit of my abilities for that day.

So a good exercise week all round:

I make it 22 miles + 50 minutes Pilates.

I really want to try and get in more pilates, but ironically it is the hardest thing I find to do. Walks are 'easy' as Murray just get whizzed into the buggy post feed and off we go. Swim or gym I have to arrange with mum, so I keep the date, plus Murray is looked after, but Pilates relies on me getting the opportunity when Murray is asleep which is basically never once he is up in the morning! Hopefully now I won't be sitting expressing for an hour I might get the opportunity between 1st and second feeds when he usually goes back to sleep.

Cradle Time

Murray is now out of his Moses basket and into the cradle in our room. He looked so big in the Moses basket, but looks tiny again in the cradle. I can't imagine how tiny he would look in nthe big cot!

Murray's First Adventure and General Roundup

We had our first family holiday last week and it was great fun. We stayed at the Pine Bank Chalets in Aviemore http://www.pinebankchalets.co.uk/ and I can whole heartedly recommend them.

They might be a bit chillier in winter but ours had spare heaters so I'm sure they'd be fine - just pack some cosy jammies!

We drove up on the Monday once we had finally finished packing. My God; Murray was up as usual about 6am so he was fed and thankfully then had another good sleep after his feed so we were able to pack our own things. Despite that however we still didn't manage to get away until about noon! We had hoped to make it to the House of Bruar for lunch and to break up the journey but as Murray was due to feed about 12.30pm we only made to Bankfoot about 40 mins up the road!!!! Hee Hee! We actually had a really nice lunch there and it worked out perfectly as Murray fed while we ordered and then our food arrived just after he had been fed and burped so was happy to sit in his car seat while we ate. This also meant that at least half an hour had passed since he had fed before he had to go back in the car (we can't drive before half an hour or he'll throw up big style!!!!). Murray seems to have developed an aversion to the car - I think he gets travel sick as he will get quite upset at some point on most journeys now but thankfully he had a good sleep and woke with only 15 minutes or so to go. We arrived in perfect time to check in, unpack and feed Murray. We were a bit worried Murray might not settle as well as he does at home, but bath and feed at bed time and off he dropped to sleep letting mum and dad have a couple of glasses of wine.

Tuesday

We weren't sure where would be best for walks with the buggy and as the weather wasn't great in the morning we decided to head in to town and gets some info from the tourist office and potter around the shops. I found a brilliant pair of waterproof trousers in my favourite outdoor shop that has the BEST cafe upstairs. The trousers are Montane and velcro tight at the bottoms so you don't trip when running and are super light weight too. We had lunch in the Mountain Cafe upstairs and Yummy cake as they always have at least 1, often 2 wheat and dairy free cakes. Such good food. While we were having lunch it belted down with rain, but by the time we left it was dry. We decided to drive to the car park at Loch an Eileen and walk around it (3 miles) and it was sooo pretty. It was a bit chilly but it stayed dry so we were really lucky.

Wednesday

Thanks to the wee trail map we were given at the car park yesterday we were able to see all the different trails in the Rothiemurcus estate and so decided to do a 5 mile loop that we could do from the chalet. It was absolutely lovely lots of caledonian pine interspersed with views across to the mountains and strathspey.

We found a lovely restuarant in the Rothiemurcus visitor centre for lunch and as we could walk home had a cheeky wee lunch time tipple - it's official, I am a lightweight - I felt decidely tipsy tootleing home.

Thursday

The weather was foul on Thursday so we took Murray swimming. He was soooo cute in his wetuit ( http://www.twobarefeet.co.uk/ ) and it helped him to last 15 mins.

He could have gone longer I think but I didn't want to over do it, plus WE were freezing!!!! Another lunch in the mountain cafe and then I got to the gym while Al looked after Murray.

My 2 men chilling out in the afternoon.

Excitement upon excitement I tried my first wee run. I managed 7 mins on the treadmill. It was longer than I expected but I didn't want to do more as I wanted to get a workout on the x-trainer.

Friday

We managed to get out for check out at 11am and drove leisurely down the road to The House of Bruar so we got a lunch there after all. A lazy lunch and wander around the deli and stores and we were happy to head home. We got back in time for Murray's mid pm feed and then I showered, expressed and had an early tea before heading out to my friend's house (an hour away) for my first girls' night post Murray. It was great and Al was happy for me to stay overnight so I could have a few drinks. It felt very weird not to be with Murray in the morning but it did feel great to have had a night out! The night came at a great time because Al was at home so I could get ready and get out at a reasonable time and he knew the routine as he had been helping / doing it all week so was confident he knew what to do. He was feeling right pleased with himself when I got home the next day and so he should too!

Playing with Murray before I headed out for my night out.

So cute he was totally stroking it.

My Second Run

I got out for another run on Sunday. I headed out from the house and walked for 5 mins before breaking into a jog for 5 mins. I then walked for 3 mins and did another run block of 5 mins. I turned around and headed home at that point and after 6 mins of walking ran for a final 4 mins. I had planned to run for 5 but 4 was enough and so just walked home. I had definitely reached my limit as I did try another try a wee bit later but it just wasn't comfortable at all so I was pleased to have stopped especially as I wasn't sore the next day. It's a far cry from what I was able to do even at 34 weeks pregnant but it is a start and hopefully I will be able to keep building on that.

12 Weeks Today

Murray is 12 weeks today - how on earth did that happen? I am a mum of a 3 month old! As such I am going to start winding down the expressing. It takes me an hour each time I pump now and it is pretty exhausting as I'm pumping when I could be resting or exercising or housework or anything. Plus it is starting to hurt a little as I'm on for so flipping long while getting less. He's had 3 months of breast milk and while I would have loved for him to have more I'm pleased under the circumstances that he had this long. Swapping to expressing and bottles was sooo the right decision and allowed him to get another 3 - 4 weeks of breast milk. I didn't realise how much the breastfeeding was getting me down until I swapped and realised I wasn't dreading feeds any more.

Exercise

Sun: 3 mile walk with 14 mins running

Mon: 2.2km swim(equiv to 5.5 mile run) + 2.5 mile walk

Wed: 50 min Pilates

Thurs: 4 mile walk pushing buggy.

Aim to get to gym tomorrow for gym or swim and doing equiv of miles to make a 20 mile week - my best yet. Hopefully on Sat I can Pilates again. I'm also looking forard to my next attempt at a run. 14 mins or anything above that will be great.

I know this was a long blog post but as the expressing takes an hour by the time I've put Murray to bed, made and ate dinner, expressed, sterilised bottles for the morning etc etc I just haven't had time to blog. Maybe now I'll have more time.

Last Breast Feed + Holiday

This time last week I did my last breast feed. I've tried to post about it at various times this week, but I've either been busy with Murray or just not able to put into words how I feel. The previous week, each feed was getting harder and harder because Murray wasn't getting enough from the left side only, so was having to top up on the right. The problem with this was that as he is getting bigger latching on in rugby ball was getting near impossible without me twisting my back to get him into position and even then he wasn't very comfy as his feet were hitting the back of the sofa. I would keep trying to put him in the cradle hold but he just wouldn't open up or would bite down on half of my nipple. I actually had decided on the Thursday that I would swop to bottles, but when I woke on the Friday just couldn't do it. Then on Friday the second feed was disastrous so I thought perhaps I would just keep up the morning feed and then on Saturday the first feed was just too much. He had emptied my left side (or wouldn't suck enough), couldn't get on my right but was still crying for more. We eventually gave him a bottle of expressed milk and he took another 2 oz or so. That for me was the last bit of evidence I needed and I decided that from then on I would express for as long as I could and give him as many breast milk bottles as I could and the rest with formula. So for a week now I have expressed in the morning and evening and managed to express enough for either 2 or 3 bottles of 6oz. It usually works out that he has 2 one day and 3 the next. This has helped me as I know he is getting the benefits of breast milk, it is preventing him getting constipated and me from becoming engorged or getting mastitis. I had hoped to express 3 times a day but as I'm often out and about during the day it is pretty tricky to do it, so it has become twice a day. I only had a manual pump until Thursday so it was getting hard work, but one of my friends gave me her electric pump which is far easier and much more efficient and means I'll be able to continue with that for a lot longer.

Al decided we should go on a family trip on Saturday so I didn't feel too awful or sit thinking about my decision too much so we went to Rowerdennan and had lunch and then went for a walk with Murray in the buggy along part of the West Highland Way. Poor Murray, when we got there he needed changed so I took him to the ladies' loos (no disabled or changing table) to change. As I was doing this a lady came out of the loo, washed her hands and dried them with one of those dyson air blade hand driers which are incredibly loud. OMG, poor Murray got the fright of his life. The scream! He has only screamed like that when he got his jabs! He was so stressed he wouldn't really feed and so we had to throw our lunch down our necks and head out for our walk in the hope he calmed down enough to maybe want some more later. About 5 / 10 mins up the track, sure enough, "wah wah wah, I'm hungry" came from the buggy, so as it was gorgeous weather we stopped and fed him on the trail. Al took these pics while I was feeding him. They've actually helped with the transition to bottles as they are so beautiful. I still feel quite sad about it, but I don't dread feeds any more and I love the fact that Murray can look straight at me while I feed him and so I feel very connected to him.

Holiday

As of yesterday, Al is on holiday. I must say it has come just at the right time as I'm feeling quite tired (been an emotional week) and could do with an extra set of hands. It is the The Comrie Hills Relay race that my club organises tomorrow, so we will head up for the BBQ after the racing, then on Monday we head up to Aviemore until Friday. I'm really looking forward to getting out for walks and taking Murray swimming.

Exercise

I had a good week last week, but this week hasn't been as successful. Mainly because I've had so many check ups. One good thing is I was able to go to the gym on Monday for the first time. I did 20mins on the x-trainer and 10 mins on the recline bike with 5 mins warm up cool down walking very briskly on the treadmill. That was enough, but I'm sure I'll be able to increase it, bit by bit. I asked at my appointment on Tuesday about getting back to running and they said once I don't get the heavy pulling feeling any more I can try, but to stop as soon as I get that. I'll stick with the x-trainer for now as there is no way I want to make things worse.

C-Section

I was also told on Tuesday that future deliveries will be by C-section as they do not want to risk further damage if a repeat delivery occurred next time round. Yes it has been one of those weeks. Bit of a shock and relief all rolled into one. No wonder it has taken a while to heal and no wonder exercise has been a step too much. It is very hard to put into words the mix of emotions I feel from this news. Relief that I won't have to battle to be taken seriously next time round and sadness that I'll never know the full birthing experience - I still don't feel like I pushed Murray out as by that stage I was numb from the chest down and it was all so surreal as I was so out of it after 31 hours and especially the 30 minute ambulance ride and 2 hours enduring contractions without being able to push while I waited for an operating theatre to become free. God it was all so bloody awful at the end I'm so glad I won't have to go through that again, but - well - the emotions that are wrapped up around child birth are so deep and strong and irrational. Yup it has been a heck of a week! Like i said, I'm glad Al is off for the next 10 days.

Photos

Al and I have been snap happy recently so here are a few corkers.

Daddy Cuddle

Smiles all round!

I've found my hands - look at these funky bugs!

Mummy cuddles!