I’ve been on maternity leave for about three months and tomorrow I am finally going back. This was the longest time I ever went without working since I started working back in late 2012. I don’t mind going back, esp since I work part time. I just wish my mom or sister could babysit for me while I work. My boyfriend and his mom will watch her while I work. Luckily, they only live five minutes away from my job. I’ve been so anxious about going back to work that I haven’t been able to sleep much these past few days.
Tag: first time mom
Looking Back at 2018
Another year has come and gone. 2018 was a good year for me. So many things took place this year. One of the most exciting things that happened was I found I was pregnant with my first baby. I also got to travel and take part in fun races. Here are my highlights of 2018.
Pregnancy
My boyfriend and I always talked about having a baby, but we didn’t know it would happen so soon. My boyfriend wanted a boy and I wanted a girl. I was thrilled when I found out I was having a girl. This is a blessing and I can’t believe our little one is almost here. I spent the majority of 2018 being pregnant and while I did miss out on a few things, I will cherish all the little moments with my baby. For example, the first time I heard her heartbeat and saw her on the ultrasound, the first time she kicked, and when my belly bump started to get bigger.
Moving
Another thing that happened in 2018 was that my family and I moved out of Montebello. This was after living there for almost 10 years. We moved about 20 minutes from Montebello and while I do miss my old city, I am very happy and comfortable in my new city. Only bad things are that I live further from my boyfriend and my commute to work is a bit longer. When I was in Montebello, I was able to leave my house 5 minutes before starting work and get there on time. Now I need to leave at least 25-30 minutes before I start work. I give myself the extra 5-10 minutes just in case there is traffic of construction going on.
Travel
In February, I spent the weekend in Orlando by myself. I had gone to Orlando before back in 2017, but this was my first ever solo trip. The reason I went to Orlando was to take part in the Disney Princess Challenge. This is a series of races hosted by Run Disney. I ran a 10k on Saturday morning and then a half marathon on Sunday morning. I really enjoyed my solo trip and I’m so glad I got to experience it before becoming a mom.
In March, I ran a half marathon in San Diego. I normally travel with my family or friends, but this time I went with my boyfriend. This was our first weekend away together. It was long overdue. We have been together for 5 years and that was our first trip. Hoping we can take more weekend trips with our baby girl in the upcoming years.
I decided my last trip before the baby’s arrival should be a fun one. What could be more fun than almost a week in Las Vegas? In August, I went to Las Vegas with Giovanna for a few days. There were many things I couldn’t do like drink or ride on the New York New York roller coasters, but I still had fun. The best part of the Las Vegas trip was getting to see the Backstreet Boys in concert. I also got to try a lot of good food and we walked so much every day that I was always walking at least 10,000 steps, which was my goal.
Running
I ran almost 300 miles. I’m sure if I hadn’t been pregnant, I would’ve ran more. Regardless, I am still happy that I was able to run 300 miles. Not only that, but I was able to run one half marathon, one 10k, and two 5k races while pregnant. I wasn’t going to let my pregnancy slow me down!
At the beginning of 2018, I did my best half marathon 2 hours and 9 mins in Pasadena. This was so close to my goal of running in under 2 hours. I’m hoping that in 2019, I can reach the goal. I know this will require a lot of training runs from me, most of which will take place in the summer.
As I mentioned earlier, I did the Disney Princess Challenge in Orlando. I love to challenge myself. This was the first time I ran 19.3 miles in 2 days! What makes the Disney Princess Challenge runs even more fun is the fact that you get to run through the Disney parks and take pictures with the characters. I got to take pictures with Anna and Elsa from Frozen, Belle and Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, and even Buzz Lightyear to name a few. I won’t take part in the races this year, but I plan to be there in 2020!
In 2018, I ran the LA Marathon for the first time. I did not run in under 5 hours like I had planned, but I did improve by 6 minutes over my first marathon. Not going to lie, this was a tough marathon for me. It didn’t help that at the start of the run, I did some have pain in my left knee. I also didn’t follow my training plan as well as I should have. That’s okay, every time I run a marathon or any other race, I always learn ways I can improve my time and my training. The hills after mile 20 were the worst. Now that I know what to expect, I will definitely train for that in 2020.
Concerts
I went to see Brad Paisley in concert with my mom. My mom isn’t fan of country music, but she really likes Kane Brown, who was one of the openers for Brad Paisley. I had to choose between going to see Tim McGraw (my favorite country singer) and Brad Paisley. I decided to see Brad Paisley and it was worth it. He is such a great singer live and entertaining. I really like the song he sang with Carrie Underwood, who sang her parts via satellite/video.
Seeing the Backstreet Boys was the highlight of my Las Vegas trip. My only complaint is that I wish the concert had been longer. They played some of their newer music, along with their classics. It’s great to see them still together after all these years. They are touring this year. They are scheduled to play in Anaheim and Los Angeles. I’m hoping I can see them again. Fingers crossed that I make it to their concert.
Favorite Movies
Normally I am the kind of person who waits for movies to come out on DVD or Netflix instead of going to the movie theaters to watch. In fact, most of the time I only go to the movies once or maybe even twice a year. This year, I ended up going to 7 movies, which is a lot for me. Who knows if next year I will be able to watch as many movies since I will have my little one. Of course, I will make an exception to watch the new Avengers movies. Here are the movies I went to watch in 2018. The little kid movies are the ones I took my sisters to go watch.
Sherlock Gnomes
Black Panther
50 Shades
Hotel Transylvania
Avengers Infinity War
Goosebumps 2
Crimes of Grindewald
2018 was a memorable year for me. I can’t wait to see what 2019 will bring for us!
January Baby 2019
I shared this news with friends and family a while back, but for those who don’t know, I’m pregnant with my first baby! I am almost 7 months pregnant. I am having a baby girl, she is due a week before my 28th birthday.
When I first found out I was pregnant, I cried. I was in shock. I texted my best friend immediately, but didn’t tell anyone else for about two or three weeks, not even my boyfriend. I was so stressed out that the first two weeks or so, I cried myself to sleep. Having a baby was not something that I had pictured myself doing. Finding out that I was pregnant was definitely scary. I heard about all the symptoms and the pain of giving birth. I didn’t think I could handle it. I also started thinking of everything that I was going to give up. Not just the things that I would give up during the 9 months of pregnancy, but also things I would have to give up in the long run and maybe even forever.
Then I started thinking of the new experiences that I will have with my baby and being a mom. These new experiences are so exciting that it makes me forget about the things I will miss out on. It makes those things seem less important. Once I have my baby, I will still be able to run, I can still travel, and I can even start a business if I want to. Having a baby won’t ruin my life or make me miss out on things. She will change my life for the better. I know it won’t always be easy, especially the first few months of her life.
It took me 3 pregnancy tests, an ultrasound, and hearing the heartbeat to finally accept that I was actually pregnant. As time went on and I started telling more people. My family and friends were happy about it. Funny thing is that I was so nervous and scared to tell my mom that I was pregnant because I had no idea how she would react. Lucky for me, she was happy about the idea of having her first grandbaby. I started feeling better about it. My mom and sisters are anxious to meet the baby. My mom and little brother wanted me to have a boy, but everyone else was hoping for a girl. Of course, I wanted a girl too. My sister Destiny went with me to the gender reveal. That same day, we had a little gender reveal party just for the family. Destiny decorated the dining room with streamers and balloons and I made cupcakes with pink and blue frosting. We had my mom cut into the cupcake which revealed pink filling on the inside.
Sometimes pregnancy sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t wait to meet my little one, but I definitely won’t be missing the annoying pregnancy symptoms like heartburn, leg cramps, back pain, and insomnia. I don’t feel cute or like I have that pregnancy glow. Sometimes I feel gross, esp. when I’m working out and see this little basketball popping out from under my shirt. But feeling the baby kicking and hearing her heartbeat is just an incredible feeling. I never really ever pictured myself as a mom to be honest, but throughout these last few months of my pregnancy, it’s become something that I can’t wait to do. I’m so anxious to meet her. I dreamt about her and can’t wait to hold her in my arms. I can tell she will be so loved and spoiled, not just by me, but by the rest of my family. I just hope my sister Ayanna, who is 4 years old and the baby of the family, doesn’t get too jealous.
There are many symptoms that I have yet to experience and I’m worried that I will eventually experience them in the upcoming weeks, such as my hands and feet swelling, getting stretch marks, and having even less energy to continue with my workouts. One thing that has surprised me is the fact that I haven’t gained much weight. It’s suggested that pregnant women gain 25-35 pounds, but at 28 weeks, I have only gained 12 pounds. I’m a little bit worried that I’m not gaining enough, but my doctor says the baby and I are both healthy. Maybe once I stop running and doing so much cardio, I can finally gain weight.
Cravings and pregnancy go hand in hand. I’ve had a few cravings, but nothing too crazy. Some things I’ve craved in my pregnancy are red meat-pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, pancakes, and ice cream. Of course, I can’t actually eat hot dogs, but that hasn’t stopped me from craving them. There are so many things I can’t eat during my pregnancy that I will definitely indulge in once I have the baby.
I always thought that once you get pregnant, women would be forced to stay in bed and take it easy during their entire pregnancy. That’s not the case. It’s amazing what women can do when pregnant. In the last month or so, I’ve climbed up 75 flights of stairs in 24 mins and ran a half marathon in 3 hours. I’ve heard of women who continue working out until days before they give birth. There are even women who run marathons weeks before giving birth. I give them props because running a half marathon at 6 months pregnant was hard enough for me. I have made the decision to stop running at 28 weeks. While there might be women who run throughout their whole pregnancy, I feel this is the best decision for me and my baby. I will continue walking and doing light exercise, but as the due date gets closer, I do plan to cut back.
I am now in my third trimester and it feels like time is going by so fast. I still have so much to do before the baby gets here. One of those major decisions is coming up with a name for her. We have a few options, but most likely we will wait until she’s born to pick a name for her. We are 2.5 months away from meeting our little princess and that will be the happiest moments of my life. I haven’t met her yet, but I already love her so much.
90s California Runner Mom 