Something our (unbelieveably awesome) doctor said at yesterday's check-up kind of made me think a little about (suprisingly) triathlon--specifically how this whole pregnancy is very similar to my first race.
A common misconception is that the human gestational period is 9 months. It's not, and if you ask any woman who is either currently or has ever been pregnant, she'll very quickly correct you and tell you that 40 weeks is 10 months, not 9 months. Yet, pregnancy is divided into trimesters. All of you triathletes out there understand that "tri-" means three. After a little quick arithmetic, we find that:
40 weeks/3 trimesters = 13.3 weeks/trimester
Depending on your source of information, the third trimester starts at either week 27 or 28. We're currently sitting on week 27.5, or for the sake of this blog, pregnancy's version of T2. I said earlier that this little revelation reminded me of my first race, and I'm getting there...right about...
The Swim (First Trimester)
My first tri was a little race down in Cincinnati called Tri for Joe. It is a nice little sprint distance event which features a swim in an outdoor pool. Since all of my winter swim training was done in an indoor pool, I thought this would be a great race to ease me into the sport. Well, it made sense at the time anyway.
The outdoor pool had just been filled a few weeks prior to race day. Oh, and did I mention the race was in mid-May and it was pretty cold that spring in OHIO. A quick recap of the conditions at the race start:
Air temp: 48 degrees (Fahrenheit)
Water temp: 62 degrees (Fahrenheit)
Wetsuit: Not yet purchased. You can see where this is going.
I was as ready as I was going to be. The starter counted us down, sounded the horn, and we charged into the icy depths--err--shallows. This particular pool is really shallow for the first 25 meters or so. Between running in and the adrenaline pumping, I was feeling alright. Then, the water started getting deeper and it was time to swim. I plunged my face into the water and...
This is where the swim from my first tri starts to resemble the first trimester of pregnancy. (The rest of the swim was pretty ugly, so I'll just leave that to your imagination.) This is moment when you and your significant other look at that little peed-on stick and you see that your life is going to be a little different from here on out. Your heart rate hits the red line, you can't breathe, and you run a mental diagnostic to try to figure out what the hell just happened. Much like the post-swim delirium, nothing really made any sense until the 8th week when we got to see our little "peanut" for the first time.
T1
Transition from the swim to the bike in my first tri was really not as smooth as I hoped. Of course, I hadn't really practiced or anything, so I shouldn't have been too surprised. I was weary, wobbly, out of breath, and very, very cold. The good thing is that I was about to hop on my bike and do what I do best.
At this point during pregnancy, things start to level out a bit. The initial freak outs from the first trimester have pretty much settled down and you both start to get a little more comfortable with what's going on.
Bike (Second Trimester)
Once I hit the bike course, I tried to put that horrible swim (if you can call it that) behind me. There was still a lot of work to do, but cycling is my strength, so even though I was pushing hard to make up some time, I was in my element. Although I was on my trusty mountain bike (that sure has changed!), I passed a bunch of fellow racers which felt amazing. I thought to myself: "Hey...maybe I belong out here after all!"
The second trimester was pretty amazing. There was a laundry list of household projects that we'd talked about for YEARS, but now that we have a baby on the way, we suddenly had the motivation to start crossing things off of that list. Add to that the endless list of decisions to make about baby gear, names, nursery colors and decorations, furniture, daycare/school, yadda yadda...it's amazing that we managed to plow through as much as we did in just a few short months. We aren't done yet, but we're getting there.
On top of all that logistical stuff, we started to feel like we might actually enjoy being parents. Sure it's still scary as all get-out, but going through the entire process of registering for all things baby, and making those decisions together, we started to think that maybe we belong here too.
T2
Coming off the bike was a little weird. After "flying" down the road for the better part of an hour (hey--it was a longish bike course for a sprint!), it was time to hit the brakes, slow down and get ready for the run--the hardest part.
This is where we find ourselves now. Many of the decisions we needed to make are out of the way, although many still remain. House projects that have been started need to be finished up, and so on. But for the most part, it's time to slow things down a bit and get ourselves ready for what's going to be the toughest part of the race--err--pregnancy.
Run (Third Trimester)
Once I hit the run course, my legs felt like cement and if felt like everything on Earth came to a grinding halt. It was kind of like the scene in the movie Spaceballs where they suddenly go from "ludicrous speed" to whatever normal space-cruising-speed is called. (Since I was breathing so hard on the bike, I didn't really drink any fluids to speak of either, so just like in the movie, the world may have briefly gone "plaid.") I literally trudged my way around the pancake flat 3.1 mile run course. Nevertheless, I kept moving forward and didn't stop or walk, no matter how much I may have wanted to. After all of the hard work I put into training for that race, I was determined to cross that finish line.
Since we are currently in T2 for this pregnancy, I can really only speculate on how I think our third trimester might go. For as busy, hectic, and fast (at times) that the second trimester was, I think the third might be completely the opposite. Amy has been nothing short of amazing throughout this whole pregnancy. She's been active, pretty upbeat, and other than a few wardrobe adjustments, it's pretty much been business as usual. We know that's probably going to change before long, but hopefully she sails through the last few months as gracefully as she has the previous seven or so.
The Finish Line (Labor & Delivery)
Once I could see the finish line at my first race, adrenaline took over and I ran as fast as I could to cross that line. Of course, doing so comes at a price, but it's (kinda) worth it. After months of training and a race that was harder that I ever thought it would be, I did it...I was a triathlete! (Note: This concept took a long time to sink in.)
Amy and my family found me recovering with a banana and some chocolate milk in the finishing area and quickly fired off the question: "So are you going to do another race?!?" While I tried to catch my breath and bask in the glow of my first triathlon finisher's medal (and keep myself from launching the aforementioned banana and chocolate milk all over the place), I calmly said: "Please don't ask me that right now."
The general public seems to make labor and delivery out to be some big, scary monster. I'm sure it will be one of the toughest things (if not the toughest) Amy will ever go through. But, her view of the whole thing is pretty astounding to me. I really admire her and the transformation she's gone through over the past several months. But, just like in the race, once she (and dare I say we) can see the finish line, adrenaline will take over, conscious thought will all but stop, and her body will do what it's built to do (in the physiological sense of course). And after ten long months of anticipation and planning, we'll officially be parents.
And please, when we're adoring our living, breathing, finisher's medal for the first time (and likely on the verge of passing out and/or puking), don't ask us if we're going to do it again.
