Running drama

At my appointment today, I made the mistake to ask the dr about running the Boston marathon in April. I had been training with 20-milers and feeling great. Everything was on track. First she said it should be fine, since a marathon is like a fast walk for her, and one of her (marathon running) colleagues confirmed that. But then I get this email from her:
'I spoke to our Perinatologist, Dr. W (the doctor who did your amniocentesis) and he does not recommend running the marathon. I agree.

I know this is disappointing news, so I want to explain.

A marathon is a high-metabolic state, and can cause transient changes in the way your vital organs function. Dehydration and other stress on your body can be stressful on your pregnancy. I know that you are a very fit woman, but I don't want to risk preterm labor or any other pregnancy complication for a marathon you could postpone for a year.'

Wow - what to do??? I sent back the following response:
'Thanks for your message and for the discussion on the phone today. I have been thinking about this a lot - this is really important to me as I already put the training in (currently running more than 60 miles a week, with several long runs of 18-20 miles already completed in the last few weeks). Of course I don't want to endanger our baby so I'd like to find a compromise if at all possible. I read some stories of women who ran marathons as far along as I will be and didn't have any issue.
1) Is there any evidence that suggests that our baby would actually be in danger (ie cases where this occurred) or is it based on a theoretical risk?
2) What would be potential ways to monitor the baby before/during/after the run to see if there is actually an issue (e.g. body temperature, heartrate, baby's heart rate etc)?
3) If I was going to mostly walk the marathon and only run for maybe half of it, would that change anything?
Thanks so much for working with me on this!'
Let's see what she says...

Our little girl is healthy!

We got the results of the amnio today and everything is perfect. I was not expecting the results yet so when the dr called me at work, I was caught off guard. I had not been thinking about it too much - I just knew everything was going to be fine. Yeah for a healthy baby girl!

Amnio done

I had the amnio today and I am so relieved. Tom drove me there and we were both pretty stressed out. We had to go to the consultation beforehand where we learned about the risks and potential complications, how it is done and how they determine the results. Then we went into the dr's office where this funny guy first did an ultrasound and then the amnio, talking about random things the entire time. We saw baby move quite a lot and they confirmed again it is a little girl!!!
The amnio itself didn't hurt at all, it was like a flu shot. Right afterwards, I just knew everything would be fine...

Birthday party

Today was my birthday and we had a great party at home. More than 30 guests and lots of fun. As my luck would have it, Tom succeeded for the first time with his cocktails - and I couldn't drink! Planter's Punch was the drink of the night and people really liked it - consuming about 2 liters of rum! Good times.

Decided on amnio

After a lot of discussion and research, Tom and I decided to do the amnio. We are okay with the risk as long as we know for sure that baby will be healthy. I am scared of the amnio which is scheduled for March 3.

First trimester screening results

We got our first trimester screen results and they are not great. 1:148 chance of Downs. Technically that's a positive test result and they recommend an amnio based on these. Tom and I are unsure about it - should we take the risk of an amnio? Or the risk of a baby with Downs?

Daddy in Oz

Tom had to go to Australia for work right at the beginning of the year and left mommy alone for almost three weeks. I miss him a lot. The weather is unusually warm and sunny, so I am spending a lot of time on the deck in the sun. Fabulous...