A day out on the town

During the first song of Händel's Messiah, I had one of those moments. I could not believe the three ladies I was sitting with, how lucky I was to be friends with them, how beautiful the orchestra was. I sat there overcome and then, of course, thought to myself I had better blog about it.

I had a ladies' day out with May-Britt, Helle and Henriette, whom I could say I met through running, but in reality, I met them through blogging - and then running.

We went out to a little restaurant in a basement in Copenhagen called Restaurant Puk. It is one of those places a foreigner, such as myself, dreams of. We enjoyed a 4 hour long real Danish Julfrokost (Christmas lunch) with lots of a delicacy called smørrebrød. This means butter bread, but is actually any sort of topping, well mostly fish and some meat, with a really fatty, tasty sauce, along with other accessories, which you spread on very dark, heavy rye bread and eat with a knife and fork. I am not sure if it is because I am American or because I am who I am, but I can not figure out how to use a knife. I grew up exclusively using a fork, except for spreading things on bread. I don't acutally know how to use both utensils at the same time. Danes, without exception, stare at me when I eat.

We had very lively conversation since the three ladies had had their share of beer and Schnapps. It didn't take much to get the table laughing. Much of the conversation centered around either running or how they all feel about being single. By the time we left, I had to run to the toilet and, unfortunately didn't make it and threw up all over the walls and floor and a little landed in the toilet. I still took it as a good sign and cleaned it up with a smile on my face.

We then walked to see Händel's Messiah in Holmen's Kirke: a beautiful place with perfect accoustics. It was hard not to sit there and think "This is my life, it is mine for the taking - I am happy." The soprano's voice was absolutely perfect as was the blending of the choir. And that is what music and friends can do - remind you that life is good - if you want it to be.

Ginger Spice and another (more important) topic

I haven't written in few days because I have been busy with things like not puking. Thank God. I have not been talking on the big white telephone, for the Danes reading this :).

After I wrote the last post, I started taking ginger 600 mg 3 x a day. I had prescribed this to many a nauseated pregnant woman in urgent care, but in the throes of my nausea, I forgot it even existed, that is until SR mentioned it (I was surprised that none of my informed readers mentioned it!). I actually took the first two pills while we were shopping (on an empty stomach) and then as we got to the register, I fell down to the growd in front of all of the check out lines and started horking. I thought I might actually die right there. SR calmly loaded the groceries into bags and paid, glancing up nonchalantly from time to time, as a crowd of concerned shoppers and workers garthered around me.

But after that, I stopped puking. My nausea hasn't entirely disappeared. And I still can't look at chocolate. But at least I have been able to work. Oh - and run! And you don't need to ask which is most important to me, because you all know.

----Natali's weight-----

Yes, the other topic. SR and I were called to a last-minute parent teacher conference. SR had arranged the time and assumed I could come, but that was my one day every two weeks I have patients during the day in clinic, so I couldn't. But I was sure the subject would be what a bad step mother I was.

But the reason her teachers called the meeting was they think she is overweight. I was shocked. She has been doing well with her weight since she moved here. But her teachers said we need to do something. They said she eats too much and doesn't exercise enough. (Let me just clarify that she bikes to a from school every day, has an hour of gym - where the often run for the whole hour once a week - swimming lessons once a week, and running for an hour with us every Saturday. But this -by Danish standards (and who am I kidding, also mine)- isn't enough).

SR called Natty from work to tell her what the teachers had said. She took it really, really hard. I fact she screamed and screamed, saying she would never go to school again. I was so worried. The last thing I want is for her to end up with an eating disorder because of this. I talked with her for an hour about how the most important thing is finding balance in eating: eating enough, but not too much. Eating healthy. And also taking care of her body by exercising. And guess what - she bought it - and so did I. Maybe I understood it for the first time in my life.

And maybe something good has come out of it. She went to an hour and a half of youth training at Scala (the gym I go to) today, where kids her age all run together (10 km on a treadmill) and then lift weights. And she loved it!

The truth is, she would already be considered healthy, maybe even thin, and getting plenty of exercise in the US. And no teacher would have ever said anything to her or us. And I told her that and it is our secret joke. You know, that Danes are crazy. But if I can convince her that taking care of her body and being aware of what she eats is cool and fun, then everyone wins.

Here's the part that I probably shouldn't write, but will. WHY does she have trouble keeping weight off compared to her friends? Why is she pudgy? Why does she think about eating so much? Well, it is really complex, of course. Genes contribute, but intrauterine environment is also very important in programming of kids future weight. It is so important for women to not gain too much weight or be overweight when pregnant - and to exercise. Studies have really just begun to show this in the last 5, maybe 10 years. But kids of moms who don't gain much weight and exercise will NOT have to deal with obesity or being overweight as a child.

Natty has been overweight since I met her at 4 and was overweight as a toddler, too. She will struggle with her weight all her life.

But, as I said to Natty, we all have things we are born with that we have to deal with. And this is hers. But if she gets control of it now (without getting an eating disorder) things will be much easier for her in adulthood.

Running songs of the day:
Where is My Mind by the Pixies
Fading like a Flower by Roxette
(being pregnant apparently makes me like 80's music)

Sky High hCG

I am just assuming my hCG is extremely high at this moment. I have thrown up about 50 times today. I was supposed to get a cavity drilled at the dentist at 1:30 pm - but the thought of a drill - or gloves - or anything - in my mouth was unbearable. I rode my bike there - and when I started puking on my bike, I decided I had better call and cancel.

Even as I sit here writing - I can smell the most horrible scent in the world - can anyone guess?

chocolate

Who would have guessed it would come to this? Me hating chocolate. Well, ANYTHING for a healthy baby. And I can only assume that all of this nausea is, well, a good sign.

And I just read that the higher the hCG level, the more likely it's a girl. Would make sense since I don't remember anything like this with The Lorax. Or maybe it's twins.

How is the exercising going? Hmmmm....

Well, actually yesterday I ran for three hours in frigid temps and icy snow with SR, slowly, but no puking. But this morning I went to a pulse/core class and as we were lifting a bar over our head repeatedly, the room started spinning and I had to take a break. I took a quick run a the treadmill - which went horribly - but got to watch a clip of the Metrodome's roof in Minnesota collapsing under the weight of all of the snow. Yes, folks, it even made the national news in Denmark. It's incredible footage, if you haven't seen it.

In a last-ditch exercise effort, I tried to go for a swim. 30 laps in 50 minutes. That is a new record in pathetic. I felt like I was swimming through mud. One thing is for sure - I could NEVER run an ultramarathon right now. I should have suspected something was up last time around.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to see patients all day. It sounds impossible. If you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I'm spending time with my toilet.

My stepson

I have been a little bit avoiding talking about our trip to Disney World because, well, it wasn't exactly the perfect vacation we had been hoping for. You may be thinking - well, SLG, it doesn't really matter what you thought of it as long as the kids had fun. Well, I was driving home with Natali tonight and she confessed that she would have much rather stayed at home in Denmark than have been in Disney World. Maybe that was true, but maybe she'll also have memories that will stick with her a long time.





And my parents got to spend time with all of them, which made everyone happy.



And when I say "all" of them, yes, my step-son, Andreas was there, too. And, while I love seeing him, we all seem to have trouble understanding how to relate to him. And the truth is, none of us really knows him anymore. We all expected it to flow naturally, but it didn't really. You can actually see in all of the pictures, that he has placed himself a bit to the side, as if he always felt a bit outcast. And it makes me sad in retrospect.

Things started out strangely when he called SR "Jeff" (SR's real name is not Jeff, btw) multiple times and then called him "grandpa". For SR, who had been with Andreas day in and day out from when he was born until he was five, this was very surreal.

And Andreas has perfected ambivalence torwards adults. It didn't matter how many times any of us asked him to do something, he would just pretend he wasn't listening or loudly say "No!". And who can blame him, I guess? Who were we to suddenly step in his life and tell him what to do? But it was to the point where he wouldn't dress himself and pretended he didn't know how to put on his velcro shoes (he is 7, by the way). And when we finally got to the park, he refused to go on bascially any ride - even The People Mover. And this lasted all four days we were at the theme parks.

At some point, I started to feel I was being too hands off with Andreas and allowing SR and my dad to do all of the reprimanding. After a couple of days of him only eating junk food between meals, I told him at noon he could eat nothing until he had a piece of fruit or some veggies. I didn't think it was possible, but he actually ate nothing the rest of the day.

When I said good-bye to Andreas the last day, I was again yelling at him because he refused to put on his shoes. And now he's gone from our lives for another few months. And he doesn't really understand who I, SR or my parents are.

(But if you asked Andreas for his version of me, he would say that I fell asleep early every night instead of taking him to the pool and was running while they were eating breakfast.)

Let me just say this: being a parent in a family with a happy marriage is easy. Okay, not easy, but so natural and the kids grow up with a sense that the loving people in their lives will always be there. And they become happy and trusting (and thus easy to parent).

Being a parent of a kid from a broken marriage, who you hardly get to see, is really difficult. Not because you don't want to love them. I was going to say it is harder being the step-parent, but actually, it is harder for SR. And you know what: it's worst for the kid.

But what can we do?

One person, who has no trouble deciding what to do is The Lorax, who worships the ground "Big Guy" (Andreas) walks on. He talks about his older brother on a daily basis, though he only sees him a couple times a year. It is actually kind of incredible the way they get along. He they are, leaving me behind in the jaws of death.
And one other thing: if there are enough bubbles involved and SLG has a beard, everyone will be at least slightly amused.

And there were times when Andreas was really fun. He had this game of going on It's a Small World again and again with The Lorax. And taught The Lorax how to draw robots. And he conquered the biggest waterslide at Old Key West, showing everyone how fun waterparks can be. I have to imagine that this side of him would come out more often if we had a chance to get to know him well again.

The most notable studies on running in pregnancy

In light of Steph's question about studies on distance running in pregnancy, I thought I'd make a list of all the studies that came to mind, which I have read over the past few years, that deal with health and safety of running/exercising in pregnancy. For those of you who have been reading for years, this isn't the first time I've mentioned most them.

Bear in mind that this list is no substitute for good clinical judgement and there ARE contraindications to running while pregnancy (but great debate exists around what exactly those contraindications should be).

Clapp 1989 - women running 19-88 km/week or aerobics three or more times a week.

Spontaneous abortion (miscarriage)
controls: 25%
aerobic dancers: 16.5%
runners: 16%

Hall & Kauffman 1987

Strength training and c-section rate
control: 28%
low intensity: 24%
medium intensity: 19%
high intensity: 6%
(I know. It's not running - but wow - ALMOST as good as running [see below]!)

Clapp 1990

running 14-68 km/week and/or aerobics 3-11 times per week (case control study; controls were equal in education and age, etc)

c-section rate

controls: 30%
runners: 5%

length of labor

controls: 390 minutes
runners: 260 minutes

meconium (sign of baby distress) when water breaks

controls 25%
runners: 14%

abnormal heart rhythm in baby during labor

controls: 25%
runners: 14%

Long-term baby outcomes (baby now 5 years old; same running women and controls)

-children of runners significantly leaner and more active
-children of runners significantly "much" higher IQ and oral language skills

Sørensen et al 2003

Pre-ecclampsia rates

controls - control rate
physically active: 35% relative risk reduction
physically active more than 6 hours per week: 69% relative risk reduction

Juhl 2007 Danish National birth cohort:

20% reduced chance of preterm birth among women who exercise > 5 hours per week

This last study is the one I am applying to get permission to analyze specifically for women who run more than 5 hours a week.

P.S. Steph - I'm not trying to give you specific advice, but you mentioned wanting to see studies, so I hope this might be some of what you're looking for.


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In other news, The Lorax has chickenpox. He seems completely unbothered by it. I don't think they itch him at all. Happily I've had it, otherwise I'd have yet another pregnancy worry to dwell on.

Speaking of which, I gave myself an ultrasound in the ophthalmology dept. today, just to make sure my pregnancy was intrauterine. The tiny eye probe went just deep enough so I could identify the anterior side of the uterus. I found what might be the gestational sac on the left, but it might have been bowel. There is a reason people go to ultrasonographers, I guess. In Denmark, you have to wait until week 12 to get an ultrasound, so I've got a while - but I'll probably know if it's ectopic before then anyway.

A tempered OUC half marathon - or why running fast while pregnant might be dangerous

It's a bit overwhelming to write a race report and a Disney vacation report. So I've decided to talk about the race in this post and then take on Disney next.

Saturday, which now seems like ages ago, was an ideal day for a race. A cloudless sky with temperatures that would later reach the 60's. I had snuck out of Disney World's confines: a magical place for kids, but a nightmare for anyone attempting to go on a run (think half mile sidewalks that end abruptly and don't begin again). I spoke French with the Haitian cab driver for the half an hour drive to downtown Orlando (there is no shortage of Haitian immigrants in Florida these days - it is hard not to be saddened by this). It was still dark when we arrived at 6:30 for the 7 am start.

(I should add that SR was at the ASH [American Society for Hematology] conference outside of Orlando and didn't want to miss any of it for the race - it was hard not to be a little down about that).

There were nearly 3000 runners signed up (officially 2309 finishers: 1156 women, 1153 men) The line was too long for the port-o-potty, so I enjoyed a pee by the shore of Lake Eola, in the heart of the pretty downtown. There was a tiny sliver moon: my new favorite moon phase.

It was time to line up and I really didn't have a strategy at all. I was actually a little scared. I knew I could near a PR if I really pushed it, or get in the low 1:30's (It's a perfectly flat course with relatively few turns). But I was hesitant to run fast for two reasons (for those joining the blog now, I'm 6 weeks pregnant today):

1. When I look back on my miscarriage 4 months ago, I can't forget the day I was running a tempo run and got severe pain in my left pelvis, which corresponded approximately with the time the fetus might have died. Considering my pregnancy tests were always weakly positive, there was likely something wrong from the beginning (the urge to blame oneself is so strong!)...

2. I finally read James Clapp's book: "Exercising Through your Pregnancy". He is a cheerleader for exercising, especially running, pregnantinas (excuse my neologism for pregnant women) and reinforced what always made sense to me biologically and evolutionarily: exercising while pregnant is not dangerous; it is healthy. BUT there was this one study he did that bothered me. He actually showed there were signs of decreased blood flow to the baby while the mother ran. This exact fact makes for a bigger placenta and a more resilient baby in many ways - over time. But this also pointed out to me that if a mother is exercising at max pulse for a considerable amount of time, that blood flow may, at some point, be inadequate. Cigarettes, alcohol and hypercoaguable disorders, all proven causes of miscarriage, negatively impact bloodflow to the baby. It is hard to believe that something so natural and healthy as exercise could be harmful - but at an intense enough level, if the bloodflow is decreased enough, theoretically it could. Deep down, I doubt this is true, but I certainly wish there were more research on the subject...

So I lined up with the 8 min/mile group. And I actually ran the first few miles slower than this because I had a weird pain in my pelvis (on the left, as always). I thought about stopping, but it was such a beautiful day and I felt so good otherwise. Eventually the pain migrated up to a side-stitch. I was relieved. I began running at about 7:45 pace. My goal at that point was to finish under 1:44. I felt so in control and energetic. It was a beautiful route (if you like road running) half on pavement, half on cobblestones and with no shortage of palm trees. There were cheering crowds everywhere, sporadic music playing and announcers attempting jokes at various points. The more I ran, the more struggling young people I passed. I felt so old and wise! Starting out slowly sure is fun. I picked up the pace even more for the last couple of miles and came in at 1:43:30, 90th female, 7:54 pace. I think this pregnancy may teach me how to run a race as a training run. It was fun and I wasn't even sore the next day.

The first female came in in 1:14:07 and was 4th overall! Damn! Her name is Erin Nehus Vergara and she's from Indiana and was attempting to qualify for the Olympic trials. Sad thing is I don't even know if she did - though I imagine she did.



Above is the scene after the race. Perhaps the woman in the pink compression stockings catches your eye. I did beat her, but who's keeping track? ;)



Same old race outfit as always, this time with an Orlando flowerbed backdrop.



Lake Eola in downtown Orlando and right next to the race start. This is the exact spot I had peed right before the race.

I didn't even listen to my iPod during the race, so no running song today - sorry!

Stuck in Chicago

It's the kind of thing you see on the news: 2 kids and a mom stuck sleeping in the airport due to cancelled flight. Well, okay, actually only The Lorax fell asleep in one of our large bags of luggage. We flew in from Orlando to Chicago last night and learned our flight was cancelled, with first opening on another flight in two days. And I had no phone. I thought about posting something on Facebook or this blog, like, come pick us up, someone!!

But SAS ended up giving us a hotel: The Hyatt O'Hare, where I finally moved all the kids and baggage to by midnight. For a pregnant woman, the stress of a half marathon, which I ran earlier in the day, was nothing compared to moving six bags and two kids up and down multiple flights of stairs. I got to the hotel and just started barfing. I then got ahold of my dad, who is picking us up today. Luckily they are just an hour and a half from Chicago. SR continues to enjoy sunny Orlando at a conference :).

Here are some pics from our great trip, though:



There are many more, but the kids are up now, so gotta get going!