Second trimester: Training for a marathon

I am a totally kinesthetic person. When I am grounded and in my body, I have infinitely more endurance. When my body is in shape, I have infinitely more strength. It really hit me this week how much different this process will be if I am in shape. So finally, after much hemming and hawing and procrastination, I finally joined the Y and went swimming a couple times.

I have been thinking of it as training for a marathon. Somehow thinking of it this way makes it easier to get over to the gym…or to skip the fries (god, grease is yummy right about now)…and get sleep when I want to go out to a party but my butt is dragging.

Today, my yoga teacher said that, when she was in labor, she danced a lot. She said belly dancing started as a way for women in labor to expedite the process. How unbelievably awesome is this???!!! What a frikking great way to do it! I wonder if Alta Bates allows DJs in the birthing rooms?

Wow. They weren’t kidding

when they said “you’ll feel great in the second trimester.”

What an understatement. I don’t feel “great,” I feel amazing. I feel infused by some supernatural force that gives me energy and hope and endless gratitude. I have so much extra energy, I don’t know what to do with myself!

After a long creative dry spell, I picked up a fiction project – let’s call it “Antlerville” – that I’d abandoned a few years ago, and love the characters more than ever. The topic feels more relevent now than ever, too. Taking advantage of jet lag from last week’s NY trip, I’ve spent the last few early mornings jamming on plot, character development, technology research, etc.

My achilles heel in these kinds of things has always been my follow-through, though. Like, I love the thing for the first while, and then some obstacle comes along and I bail on the whole project. I used to get in this cycle all the time, but it started breaking my heart too much, so I quit everything except spinning music.

C is a master at plowing through obstacles. I, much more comfortable in “flow,” am not. Thus, I called a writing coach yesterday to help keep this show on the road. He seems like a smart NY jew – an affable yet extremely articulate guy with a background in psychology – perfect. He happened to have an available appointment tonight, too. Door opens, walk through.

How does work fit into all of this? I decided to do an experiment. If I can leave work @ work for the next 2 weeks, AND make satisfying progress on Antlerville, I will stay there. As an ENFP, I need structure to keep my shit together. But – if this writing coach can provide the structure I need, and/or if I am unable to leave work at work, then I go.

I know this pregnancy thing gets harder. I have to decide where to do the birth, and still must find a midwife and doula. I have all but decided on natural childbirth @ Alta Bates, but need a reality check re: my “high risk” status, since I understand Alta Bates may require more medical-ness than I want now.

But I don’t care about any of that today. I just want to remember this feeling. I wish I could put it in a bottle and sell it. Just in time for the holidays! Or maybe I’d just slip it in the Bush Administration’s water supply. Fa la la. :)

Is this normal?

I am riding on the BART train this morning, standing because there are no seats left. I’m feeling great after a lovely breakfast with C, and reading this most intriguing book. Somewhere in the transbay tunnel I start to feel this weird sensation in my gut, almost like an internal tickle with a hot poker or an electric shock. I breathe into it hoping it will go away because it’s very uncomfortable. It starts to spread through my body – it feels like nausea at first, then like I am about to lose consciousness. I contemplate sitting on the floor, but it’s nasty and I fear puking. So instead, I grab the bar to keep from falling down, shut my eyes, and breathe really deep. There is a woman next to me snoring, and the snoring gets REALLY SUPER LOUD and echoes in my head like I’m in a tunnel. I keep breathing and thinking “I will make it - I just have to hold on and keep breathing” Finally, FINALLY we reach the Embarcadero station and I stumble off to make my way on to one of those benches where I can put my head down. It takes a few moments, but eventually I feel okay again.

Is this normal? I think I have passed out like this once before, after a couple of months of starving myself in high school. I eagerly await the return call of my OB/GYN.

Update: Spoke to my ob/gyn about this, and she said that it’s totally normal to have these kinds of episodes when you’re pregnant — getting light headed, passing out etc. I googled and found nothing. So there ya go – don’t operate heavy machinery, I guess.