Less than the 1% of the population that run marathons...

How many of that 1% run a marathon pregnant? Well, there was that amazing woman who finished the Chicago Marathon, 9 months pregnant, in labor but I would think that there are very few that actually do. Add me to the list of those that have! OK, so I was about 2 weeks, 4 days pregnant, but still...no sense in getting lost in the details. In the hotel that weekend, my gums bled, typical to what they do only when I'm pregnant. I should have KNOWN then, but I didn't.

After all the negative pregnancy tests, following the positive test, and a missed period, I called my OB to get a blood test. My beta came back at 58....which to everyone else is PREGNANT. Absolutely pregnant.

Wait a second...

I decided to take a test today, just for good measure...and the fricken thing came up negative. See -NO below. I had this happen once before; I got a positive HPT, call the intended parents, only to have a negative blood test. I didn't even get to the blood test this time... Medically, this is a chemical pregnancy. I guess I won't know for sure until I start my next cycle, but I'm prepping myself for it. 

From my surrogacy experience of myself & others, I know that getting pregnant is a total crap shoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I just hate that I gave the parents great news, only to squash it a day later. Sigh. Happy Monday.

NO? 

The 2 Week Wait

My intended parents came to Missouri the week before the marathon for some baby-makin activities. Over the next week and a half, I was sure I was pregnant, and then sure I wasn't several times. I swore, no more HPTs and I was just going to take the wait & see approach, like most other rationale people, surrogates excluded...

But then I had a dream that I was in Dubai, visiting my sister in law and we found a fancy HPT kit that also told you boy/girl immediately. I decided that when I woke up, I would pee on a stick...Today was unlike the days before, my heart was beating fast, my palms were sweaty while I waited for the result to show in the window. 

No denying this one! 

10dpo

2x Marathoner!

5:01:34 later, I am a marathon runner. I am so glad I did MCM because it just proved to me that when it's me against the clock, I keep running.

I loved everything about MCM - the expo was great, other than the long line to get it through security, the course, the post-race food, THE MARINES!! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Thank you to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for allowing me to make this run meaningful to more than just me!

Overdue Update

It's been a long while since I've written to this blog. I had good intentions but then I forgot my password...

First things first, I ran a marathon. I finished the Air Force Marathon somewhere around 5:30 with my good friend, Mandi. It was so nice to have that much time to chit chat --why would we want to run fast!?

Then I ran the Missouri Cowbell half marathon. It was tough, just 2 weeks after the AFM and not a whole bunch of water stations...

Last week, I raised all my money to donate to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I'm quite disappointed with them though; they promised that we would have shirts for MCM and that they would be shipped soon enough that we could train in them....here it is, the week of the marathon, and I don't have mine yet. I certainly won't have time to get it personalized with Rylie's name on it and if it doesn't fit, I guess I'm S.O.L.

In other news, my surrogacy journey began today! My Intended Parents arrived yesterday and we finally got to meet in person, though we've spoken a lot since early this year on the phone and over email. We'll find out by November 9 if I am running with a "Baby on Board" shirt or registering for the Flying Pig Marathon...

9 months = 273.931649 days

In 9 months, a woman can gestate a baby...
In 9 months, my 10K pace went from 12:09/mm to 9:09/mm.

In 3 months, I will run a marathon.

In 3 months, I will attempt to get pregnant for someone else.

I'm not ready for either.

But I keep working everyday to be sure I can go the distance. All the reading I've done says that if I put in the work, I will get to the finish line. In the month of June, I fell 3.5 miles shy of the recommended training plan. That's it.

July is tough though - I have 141 miles to run, I missed a long run and slept through two mid week runs already. I'll be playing catch up for the rest of the month to add those 20+ miles into an already tight training schedule.

As far as the pregnancy, no news is good news. I continue to monitor my cycles and am frustrated by it. When I had my own babies, there was no planning involved...it probably took a few drinks and a happy husband and BAM! I was pregnant...

With my two previous surrogacies, they were medicated cycles so my treating physician put a date on the calendar, jacked me up with hormones and we had a baby. This time will be a natural cycle so I need to be *very* in tune with what my body is doing. Baby Center's prediction is slightly off from Fertility Friend's predictions for my peak time in October. There's so much to coordinate all based on these dates....

And those pesky few pounds that I need to go away... 3 months isn't very much time for them to just vanish off my body!

So yeah, 3 months. That's not a lot of time at all!

99...

Kicked off today with a 3.74 mile run with Kel and our new running friend.

I also mentioned before that I was a previous surrogate mother and now in addition to hopeful marathoner, I'm a hopeful surrogate. A friend of mine from college has a family member will not risk her own health for a pregnancy, so my friend put us in touch, so I could help answer any questions they had to see if surrogacy was an option for them...

A few months back, she emailed me and said, "I know you just started working, I know your husband isn't living with you and you have a lot going on, but will you consider carrying for us?" And that was that. I happily said yes, but not until after I cross this marathon of the bucket list.

I was happy to come home and have a definite ++ surge on my OPK to know that I'm ovulating regularly so that in October, when my running dreams are wrapping up, I can start my next adventure.

It's so good right now to be in tune with my body...

The scale says 132 today...which is a move in the right direction.