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Reflections... 18 Weeks Pregnant

Reflections.... I am now 7 weeks postpartum and did such a bad job following my pregnancy journey that I didnt even post the below for 18 Weeks.... So here it goes and I'm not sure what the ending of this would have been.


 So here I sit at 18 Weeks 5 Days pregnant... Baby is the size of a bell pepper, 14.2cm and weighs about 200g. I call it Lil P.


I am not too sure how much I will blog but I am sure one day I will look back on this and reflect....

The first thing that comes to mind with my pregnancy is my mush brain. The amount of times I need to read and edit a message or email before sending is frightening. My words or spelling can be right but my tense is wrong or I will put extra words in. It makes me nervous about work as I work with system data for two big clients in South Africa and I am also busy with a system upgrade and re-implementation of data, so I need to work extra hard to avoid mistakes.


Another biggy for me is pain in terms of stiffness and pressure. I started struggling with pelvic pressure around 12 or 13 weeks while running - it felt like I had just had a 2l bottle of water and went running. 

So I invested in a pregnancy belt - it is quite a contraption and I'm still too small for it so it fits with lumps and bumps. First run out I was flying, I felt like my old self. After that I seemed to struggle more with pelvic or pubic/ groin stiffness. Some days it's manageable and I can do a run no problem - it might be that these are track sessions or more group runs so I have more adrenaline - but other days I feel about 90 years old and shuffle along. There are days where I get so stiff after my run or my running interval that I want to limp but how do you limp if the pain is from between your legs? And those days standing up from my desk or rolling out of bed is hard. 

To top this off I get painful hips, and this is something I started experiencing last year but now I can't (or not allowed to) lie on my back. This cramping feeling normally happens around 2am or 3am and I toss and turn a lot.

I have tried a heat pack, warm bath before bed, stretching, foam rolling and have yet to find the magical answer because it's not consistent every night.


This brings me to my running - honestly it's a disaster because I feel I could be running faster. My times at track are inconsistent, some days I'm speedy, other days I am the snail. My morning 5km also vary a lot and I think that it more to do with motivation and the general feeling of I don't have a goal this year other than keeping active. Whether I run my 5km at 6:20 or walk/jog at 8:00, I am still exercising and getting out my house and my 'office'. In some ways I worry I over think, I am use to pushing through pain and now I don't see a point because it might lead to more pain or discomfort or it could be a risk.

I worry about picking up an injury if I run too hard or too far, especially knowing that this is common with the production of relaxin. So I am never sure if it's all in my head when my body doesnt feel into the run that day....

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