Pregnancy Update

October is here and it will soon be time for us to meet our little girl. As of today, I am 38 weeks along. I'm made the decision to be induced at 39 weeks, which means that I will be holding this baby in a week or less. One more week! 

36 Weeks Baby #3

Lance and I are very anxious for her to come out. He's looking forward to a few days off work, and I'm looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I'm honestly not sure if it has really sunk in that we will have a newborn within the next week. 

The last month of pregnancy is always difficult. The waiting game gets tiring and you are constantly hoping for a miracle that your baby might come early without any issues. But of course, things never seem to go as you want. So the waiting continues. I tell myself that she probably wont come until the induction date, but there is that small part that I'm trying to bury deep that is hoping she comes a few days earlier. The weekend would be much more convenient in so many ways and would be a big blessing.  

Usually at this point in my pregnancy, I am basically crazy. I am obsessed with doing anything and everything to get that baby out. I feel like I am doing much better this time around. I am still very anxious, but I'm trying to fill my days with activities to keep me busy, and I'm not thinking about it nearly as much. I'm made a small list of things I want to have done before she comes, and I'm working on checking those items off. 

Surprisingly, I've been sleeping really well, which is a miracle in and of itself. Usually I'd be up going to the bathroom 4-8 times a night, plus just general restlessness. But lately I've been getting decent sleep. It's definitely something I'm going to take advantage of this final week and really enjoy sleeping without constant interruptions. 

38 Weeks Baby #3

The kids seem to understand a little bit what is coming, but I'm not exactly sure how they will react. Will is very excited for his little sister. Blake....not so much. When I ask her if she wants her baby sister to come out, she says, "No, she's not big enough yet." And when I ask her if she loves her, she says, "No, I love grandma". So it will be really interesting to see how Blake does.  

It's the final countdown! Perhaps my next blog post will be announcing the arrival of our little one. How exciting!

Have We Lost our Minds?

Anyone who knows me well knows that being a mother isn't something that comes super easy to me. Having two kids has been incredibly difficult for me and the thought of another kid made me nauseous. But at the same time, I had this feeling that our family wasn't quite complete yet. It was beyond frustrating. When I thought about my kids in high school, I could always picture three of them. The problem was figuring out how to survive and make it through the younger years with three kids.

And for stupid and selfish reasons that I wont go into, I didn't want there to be a large gap if we ever decided to have a third. I had told myself that if Blake ever turned three years old and we were not pregnant, than I was done. Well, it looks like we don't have to worry about that. Baby Hinton #3 is on the way.

I am 26 weeks along and my due date is October 27th.

The first trimester was pretty rough this time around. Probably the worst I've had so far. And though I still didn't throw up, there were many times I wished I would, hoping it would make me feel better. My symptons and food cravings have been nearly identical to my pregnancy with Will. I started to suspect it was a boy and felt about 95% confindent about it. I was so confident, in fact, that I packed all of my girl things up and started to get my boy things down to sort and go through.

We were both more than a little stunned at our ultrasound when we were told it was a girl. We asked like 2-3 times if they could double check, and how sure they were. But even I could tell pretty clearly that it was indeed a girl. It took a couple of days for it to fully register and sink in.

I am approaching the end of the second trimester and am ready to be in the third and final stretch. I can't decide if the weeks are going slow or quickly, but we are chugging along, anxious for October to get here.

26 Weeks

Blake's Birth Story

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I made the decision that I wanted to be induced as soon as my doctor would allow me. We had the induction scheduled for Monday, February 18th. I was told to call the hospital between 6:00am-6:30am and let them know I was on the induction list. Then depending on how busy they were, they would call me back and let me know what time I was supposed to come in.

I slept TERRIBLE that night. The two nights previous, I had been waking up right around 3am with terrible stomach and back pain. I didn't realize it at the time, but I think they were probably contractions. The problem was that they weren't timeable. It was constant pain and discomfort for about an hour. I would walk around the house a little, sit on the couch, anything to try to get somewhat comfortable.

Then right when I was almost back to sleep, the hospital called me. It was about 5:15am and they asked if I could come in within the next hour. Thrilled, I said yes started getting ready.

At 6:15 am, we arrived at the hospital.

Let's do this!

Day of induction!

6:45 am - The nurse did her initial check to see where I was. I was only dilated to a 1.5-2, which is where I had been at my previous appointment the last Monday. I was really surprised as I had been having contractions and pains all week. I thought for sure I would have progressed at least a little bit.

Soon after she checked me, she got my IV going and started the pitocin.

Super excited that this day was finally here. 

At about 8:30 am, I was still only dilated to about a 1.5 and was having contractions every few minutes. They were super uncomfortable and made me feel really sick to my stomach. I wouldn't necessarily say they were painful at this point, but they sure didn't feel good. Right before I got an epidural, they started getting more painful, and I happily welcomed the drugs.

8:30- Got epidural - The epidural actually hurt quite a bit this time. I don't remember feeling anything when I got it with Will so I was surprised at how much it hurt. I spasmed and jerked a few times because it hurt so bad. But a few minutes of pain is definitely worth it to avoid hours and hours of pain. I felt great shortly after given the drugs and didn't feel much the rest of the time.

Feeling much better after epidural kicked in :)

From this point on, the nurse came to check me hourly. Within the first 2 hours, I finally dilated to a 3. Then things decided to get a bit interesting.

We were both surprised to find me still only dilated to a 3 every time she checked. Each hour, the report seemed to stay the same. I had thinned out a little, the baby has dropped slightly, but no change. So each hour, the picotin dose was increased.

-1 o'clock passed with no change.

-2 o'clock passed with no change.

Finally, my nurse decided to connect an internal monitor to see how strong my contractions were. They were frequent enough, but perhaps they just weren't strong enough. Once that was connected, we discovered that they were indeed strong enough, but for some reason my body just didn't want to progress.

-3 o'clock passed with no change.

-4 o'clock passed with no change.
-5 o'clock and still no change -  I was beyond frustrated at this point. It seemed like this baby was never going to come. I hadn't eaten anything since 5 am and I was starving.

My nurse started talking about the possibility of having a c-section. She said that there was a pretty good chance that I would need to get one. My doctor had a different c-section scheduled for 6 pm, so we would discuss it with him once he was finished. I was fully expecting and planned on having a c-section around 8 pm that night. And at that point, I was more than ok with it. Anything to get that baby out.

Between 6-7 pm, I started feeling a lot of pressure. It almost reminded me of the pressure I felt when I was pushing Will out. I was slightly hopeful that maybe a miracle had happened and I was somehow a 10 and needed to start pushing...otherwise, I needed to use the restroom.

So when she checked me and I was dilated to a 4, I wasn't happy. It was only a slight change, but because I had progressed (even a little bit), I was told we should keep waiting.

No c-section. I was not happy. You'd think I'd be thrilled, but I really was just super frustrated and ready to be done. After 10 hours and only changing 1 cm, I was sick of waiting. And I was scared that it would only continue at that rate. I was convinced it would be March before I would have that baby. (Little dramatic, I know.)

Lance decided he should go home for a few minutes to check on Will and to get himself some headache medicine. He got home around 7:45 pm. When my nurse came to check me at 8 pm, we were both shocked to find I was suddenly 9 cm.

I called Lance and told him that he needed to hurry back.

After many hours not progressing, I was pretty happy to be told I was now a 9.

Meanwhile, they started getting prepped for delivery and getting everything ready. At one point, we were pretty much ready to go, but just waiting on Lance. My nurse didn't want to check me again until Lance arrived in case it started something.

Waiting for Dr. Olsen to arrive.

Lance arrived, and Doctor Olsen came shortly after. After about 3-4 sets of pushes, Blake Nicole was born. 

They immediately placed her on my chest and let me hold her for a moment. (This was new to me as Will had to be taken immediately and I didn't get to hold him until he was all cleaned off.)

Tired and hungry, but thrilled to be holding my baby girl.

She was born at 8:42 pm, weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and measuring 20 inches long.

  Just like her brother, she was born with lots of dark hair.

.

 Even before they cleaner her off, you could tell she was going to be a beauty.

.
Always something special between a daughter and her daddy.

I got the shakes again, though not as badly as I had them with Will. 

Blake getting her first bath at the hospital.

She was pretty content to have her hair washed.

 We had quite a few visitors while we were at the hospital. Thanks to those who stopped by.

 Special thanks to both our parents. My mom watched Will for a few days while we were in the hospital and Lance's mom watched him a few days after. It was nice to be able to go home for a day and adjust with a newborn without having Will's craziness. 

We stayed in the hospital until Wednesday morning. By then, we were definitely ready to go home.

Blake all buckled up and ready to go.

 Because of the bad flu season, no one under the age of 14 was allowed in the hospital (including siblings). So Blake was several days old when Will finally got to meet her. We showed up at the Hinton's during dinner, and first thing Will said was BABY! Then he refused to finish eating and insisted on seeing the baby.

And lastly, a few pictures during her first few days. She is such a beautiful baby and we are so thrilled that she is finally here and healthy.

We love you, Blake Nicole!

The Waiting Game

I started a post a few weeks ago (when I was about 38 weeks), and I have been debating whether or not to post it. I wrote it mostly to vent and get my emotions out. Writing really helps me focus and see things from a bigger perspective. Often just writing about a situation will help me get over it and move on.

So anyways, I wasn't really planning on posting this, but decided that I want to remember all aspects (good and bad) of pregnancy and remember at least a small part of how I was feeling.

Written on Feb. 11, 2013:

"I think I've hit another really rough spell this week. I've been super depressed, grumpy, and short on patience. The smallest things will set me off and I have to keep reminding myself to calm down and not do something I would regret.

A big part has to do simply with being completely exhausted ALL THE TIME. With or without a toddler at home, this pregnancy is draining every ounce of energy I have. Throw in a toddler, and I get downright miserable to be around. Throw in a toddler who has started waking up several times during the night, as well as refusing to take a single nap during the day, and I lose it.

I'm extremely emotional which also doesn't help. A few days ago, I was so overwhelmed that I had to go lock myself in my bedroom just to escape for a moment. I sat on my bed, plugged my ears as tight as I could to drown out Will's screams, and I just tried to calm myself down. After a few long minutes I went out to get Will and I dinner. Will had dumped our garbage out on the kitchen floor. I tried to remain calm. Then as we were eating, he kept dropping pizza to add to our already disaster of a floor. I lost it and bawled like a little baby. Overreaction? Of course. All I wanted at that moment was a somewhat clean house. I was disgusted with the "place" I was living in and hated the environment it was creating. And while I knew it was an "easy" fix (I mean, all I had to do was get off my butt and start cleaning), I couldn't make myself do it. I sat there on the couch, miserable and upset, yet not doing a thing about it.

But I feel like I'm no longer in control of my emotions. I find myself angry at Will for the dumbest things, then it makes me angry and disappointed in myself that I haven't controlled myself better. And it spirals out of control.

I'm way done with being pregnant. Yet I don't really want a baby yet. I'm afraid that it'll only make things worse and that I'll be even more out of control."


Fortunately for me and my family, that emotional low only lasted a day or two. But boy were those few days rough, on everyone. I understand I was only 38 weeks along and I shouldn't have expected my baby until 40 weeks, but I was ready to be done. I was sick of being told how close I was when every day felt like weeks.

Even though I wasn't dilated much, I convinced my doctor to induce me a week early. The earliest he was allowed was the 16th (one week before my due date), but because he was going to be out of town, the earliest he could do it was the 18th. And even though that was only a week away, it still sounded like a lifetime. I did everything to try to get labor started, but nothing worked. On Tuesday night (the 12th), I started having contractions. They lasted between 40-60 seconds and were coming about every 3-5 minutes. I remember being told to go into hospital when contractions are about that far apart and have lasted over an hour. After about 40 minutes of this, they stopped completely. Talk about a major letdown.

I became so desperate that I even called the hospital and asked if there was anyway that another doctor could induce me so that they could do it on the 16th. Two days earlier sounded much more doable. They said no, unless there was a medical emergency. It's what I expected, but I was still bummed.

Luckily, the last part of the week went extremely well and I was pretty happy. Lance and I were able to go out on a last date on Valentine's Day, then my mom came into town on Saturday. Once she got here, I was much more stable and content to wait until Monday for my induction. I think a major part of my depression was me tired of being alone all the time. I'm a very social person, and it's difficult for me to be alone all day, most days. So having my mom around for a few days was great because it gave me someone to talk to.

I seemed to get a lot of mixed reactions when people found out I was getting induced a few days early for no reason. I know a lot of people avoid getting induced at all costs and think it should only be done if it's an emergency. For the sake of my mental well-being, it is a good thing I got induced. Obviously, if getting induced wasn't an option, I likely would have lived until the baby decided to come on her own. (However unlikely that seemed at the time.) And even though my induction didn't go as smoothly as I would've liked, I don't regret my decision and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Every woman handles pregnancy different. Some women absolutely love being pregnant and handle everything great. Others are sick and miserable the entire 9 months. While I complain and sometimes dislike being pregnant, I realize what a blessing it is. So many people struggle to even get pregnant and would happily endure the woes of pregnancy. I am grateful for my kids. I am extremely blessed to have had two smooth pregnancies and two healthy babies. I know things could be so much worse. It's times like this when things are so rough that I really need to remember to focus on the things I have and the miracles that are in my life everyday. It's sad how we can waste so much time focusing on the tiny negative aspects and forget the huge blessings.

As I look back now, it's easy to forget and think "oh, it wasn't that bad". And I know that many people probably looked at me and thought the exact same thing. What could you possibly have to complain about? And honestly, there probably was nothing for me to complain about. Sure I was uncomfortable, but that is part of pregnancy. I wasn't constantly throwing up. I was never put on bed-rest  Things always looked good for my baby, and complications never came up. For the most part, I was still able to do everything I wanted and function pretty normal. Nevertheless, I found myself extremely depressed and unable to do much about it. Even at the time, I realized that there was no reason to be so down, but it didn't make any difference.

In a few months, I'll likely look back on my pregnancy and only remember the good things. When people ask how my pregnancy went, I'll tell them it was great. (And for the most part it was). However, I wanted to remember some of the other little details as well.

How's that for a long, put-you-to-sleep kind of post? Kudos to you if you actually made it to the end.

Recent Projects

It appears that I get the "crafting bug" while I am pregnant. For me, it's one of the best ways to pass time while also preparing a few things for the baby. It came as no surprise that there were about 4 times as many crafts/ideas to do for little girls as opposed to little boys.

With Will, most of my crafting was focused on his nursery...making, blankets, etc. But with baby girl, I've done a lot more accessory type things. It's definitely given me something to do and really helps get me more excited for her to come.

Here are a few of the things I have been working on the past few months:

My first project I did was to make this blanket. It's often referred to as a bubble quilt or a biscuit quilt. It was very time consuming and I spent  many hours on it. Though I made a massive mistake (which most people wont notice hopefully cause it's on the backside), I'm happy with how it turned out.

I've also been making some skirts for her to just wear around. I have never really seen little babies in skirts, but thought it would be fun to throw one on her every once in a while. Fun way to dress up a onesie while just chillin' at home.

I've had some fabric lying around forever and wasn't sure what to use it for, so I decided to make a new carseat canopy.

I love seeing little babies with bracelets, so I had to make some bracelets. You can't just make one...so I made quite a bit. And I have a ton of beads still, so if anyone wants one, let me know. And it's hard to tell, but each of these are different colors.

And if you know me at all, you know that I love little girls in headbands and flowers. Might have got a bit carried away with the flower making, but I've had fun experimenting and trying different styles.

I made all of the flowers with little clip/barrett attachments so they can be attached to any headband. That way I can exchange them as needed and make them much more versatile.

And finally, this hat was made for a friend, but I like it so much I wanted to post it. I've been debating whether to make another one for my baby, but figure she already has enough hats and hopefully warm weather will come sooner rather than later.

Well, I think that covers most of the projects I've been working on. Definitely getting anxious to be able to use them! 

20 Weeks

This is my first "real" update of this pregnancy. We knew that we wanted to wait as long as possible to announce the pregnancy, even to our families. I believe we kept it completely a secret until around 9 weeks, when we didn't have much choice but to announce it to my family. We were at Lake Powell and my family couldn't figure out why I didn't want to tube or do anything fun. We kept it from Lance's family a few weeks longer. They were kind enough to watch Will overnight for our Anniversary. So I made Will a shirt that said "Big Brother in Training" and had that be his pjs for the night. They weren't quite sure if it was a hand-me-down shirt or an announcement.

Lance and I always knew we wanted our kids to be pretty close in age, like less than 2 years apart. Suddenly the time came where we needed to consider it if we wanted them to be that close. Fortunately things worked out and they will be right around 22 months apart.

This pregnancy has been decent so far. I've had a lot of rough moments, but I know many people have it way worse than me, so I consider myself very lucky.

Sickness hit me about 6-7 weeks. I had an upset stomach and felt really nauseous every day for the first few hours of the day, then a few hours before bedtime. I had to eat immediately upon waking up, plus constantly throughout the day. I would tell people that I had 3-4 breakfasts each morning. I think they thought I was joking, but I defintely wasn't. I seriously had to eat several small bowls of cereal to feel half decent. It seemed impossible not to gain weight when I had to eat constantly. And gain weight I have.

Like with Will, one of the only things that seemed to really help settle my stomach was lunch meat. I know most pregnant women avoid it like the plague, but I just couldn't do it. My doctor had said it wasn't that big of a deal and the chances of it causing problems were very low. If he'd said not to eat it, I would've; however, I'm very glad he didn't say that.

Pregnancy is exhausting. I don't remember being this tired with Will. Though back then, if I wanted a nap, I could take one any time I wanted. It is much more difficult being pregnant when you have a toddler. It doesn't matter if you are feeling sick or tired, you have to be there for your child. I've gone from going to bed at midnight, to sometimes crashing around 9pm. And that includes a nap during the day. I think it's driving Lance crazy. He doesn't understand why I am so tired all the time. I'll admit, it's super frustrating. There have been times I couldn't even go on a walk with them because I didn't think I could move off of the couch.

I have tried to keep working out, but because of the tiredness, it just isn't as practical to do as often as I would like. I still managed to run the TOU half marathon when I was 14 weeks along. You may have read about it here.

The biggest difference between this pregnany and my last is the constant headaches. They started about the 2nd trimester and were relentless. There was a week where I had about 4-6 migranes. For me, that is unheard of. I usually only get 2-3 migraines PER YEAR! So to have that many really worried me, especially as my "migraines" have some scary symptoms like numbness and not being able to think/speak clearly. So my doctor recommended I go see a neurologist, just to be safe. Things seemed to be normal there and my headaches were diagnosed as migraines. We ruled out doing any CT scans because of price and the likelihood that they would point to migraines as well. My sister was having similar issues with her pregancy and at one point ended up in the ER. She was told sometimes crazy hormones with girls can cause it to happen more frequently. That was when I first really started to think I was having a girl.


But then during our doctor appointments, the heart rate was always in the 130's. There is the idea that girls typically tend to have really fast heartrates and boys have slower. Will's was much faster than this, so I started to doubt and wonder if maybe it was indeed a boy.

I wont try to deny it, I really wanted a girl. For a long time, I refused to even think of another boy, and at that point I would've been pretty upset if it had been. A big part of that is that my sister and I have grown up talking about raising little girls together, and she just barely had a little girl. I also just really felt strongly that this one was a girl, but I wasn't sure if that was mostly wishful thinking or mother's intuition. But then as our ultrasound date got closer and closer, my attitude really started to change. I'm not sure if it was dreams or hearing other horror stories, but I started getting extremely worried that something was wrong. I became fine with the idea that we could have another boy and even started to suspect that it was. I just prayed that we would hear a hearbeat during our ultrasound.

My stomach was in knots as we were about to begin. But the first thing the ultrasound tech pointed out was the beating heart. Huge sigh of relief. After that, I really didn't care about much else. My baby was alive and healthy and it didn't matter whether it was a boy or a girl.

Things that are different:
-Much more nauseous
-Constant headaches
-Breaking out more (skin issues)
-Tenderness in chest

Things that are similar:
-Needing to eat constantly
-Exhausted all the time
-Still haven't felt any movement
-Haven't thrown up (related to pregnancy.

The ultrasound went really well and we were told we are having a healthy baby girl. I don't think I've seen Lance smile that big, though I'm not sure if he was happy about the news or just happy because he knew how much it would make me happy. We were told she weighed about 10oz, which is right about average. Looking back on my 20 week post with Will, Will was estimated to be 14oz at this point. So it'll be interesting to see the size comparison when they are actually born.

 She was basically curled into a ball the whole time, with her elbows to her feet.

 No sign of any boy parts.

We had a really hard time getting a clear picture of her face.

We are really excited about our little girl and we can't wait to meet her. I'm hoping at least part of the second half will pass quickly since it is filled with so many holidays. We are pretty sure we have a name picked out, but we aren't ready to share it quite yet.

No Longer Outnumbered

13.1 Miles

One of my New Years resolutions was to run a half marathon. In January, I started training. At the time I could run about 0.25 miles straight. After a few weeks, I worked my way up to a full mile, and I was probably at about a 13 min mile pace. Over the next few months, I increased my mileage and decreased my time until I ran a 10K in June in just over an hour. Each week, my time would drop and I would feel better and better. My original goal to run the half marathon was two and a half hours. But as my time started dropping, I changed my goal to two hours and twenty minutes.

But then a "little complication" came up. A little thing called pregnancy. For the first few weeks, nothing really changed and I was feeling really good. But then I started feeling really sick and the last thing I wanted to do was go running. On days that I was feeling good, I would run, but it took far more energy than normal. Instead of coming home and feeling great after a run, I would come home exhausted and barely able to function for the rest of the day.

Needless to say, it took a serious toll on my running. Instead of running 5-7 miles per day, I was only doing 2-3 miles once or twice a week.

The closer the race got, the more nervous I became. But even though I felt very unprepared, dropping out was not even an option. But I definitely needed to alter my goals a little bit. Instead of shooting for 2:20 finish time, my goal became simply to finish....without having to crawl over the finish line.

A week before the race, I did a long 7 mile run (without stopping to walk/take breaks). It took me about 1.5 hours. Somehow it made me feel slightly better about the race, but at the same time slightly worse. That was barely over half the distance and I felt like I could barely walk afterwards.

A girl in my ward was also running it, so we went together, We had to wake up by 5am to go catch the bus to the start line.

Keep in mind this is 5am. And yes, I look scary.

I was exactly 14 weeks pregnant.

The line was insanely long and we didn't get up the canyon until after 6:30am. And it was quite cold up there. You could tell who had experience running races by how creative and prepared some people were. Like several were smart and wore garbage bags to keep them warm, so when you got hot, you just took them off and threw it away (don't have to worry about losing nice clothes). Some wore socks over hands, and again just discard as needed.

The race started and I was feeling pretty good. I was happy for the cooler temperatues because I knew I would be sweating in no time. There were restrooms/water stops every 3 miles or so. I almost stopped at the first one, but made the mistake and decided to wait until the next one at mile 6. Well apparently so did EVERYONE else. There was a HUGE line and only 4 restrooms. But I didn't think I could go another 3 miles, so I jumped in line. No exaggeration, I waited about 13-15 minutes just to use the restroom! It was painful watching so many people pass while I was just standing there thinking about how much it time was passing.

About mile 8 I was really starting to feel it and had to start walking every once in a while. I tried to walk for 1 song (or less), then run for 3 songs straight. It helped, and somehow, I kept going. About mile 10, I was ready to die. My ankles hurt, my knees ached, and I wasn't sure I could take another step. I was so ready to just sit down and give up, but I didn't want to face everyone if I didn't finish. So I continued on. I was almost in tears for the last 2 miles, I was hurting so bad. And it hurt just as much to walk as it did to jog, so I tried to jog as much as possible to avoid prolonging the agony.

At last the finish line was in sight. It seemed like it took me forever to get to it, but I did. I was even able to push a little the last bit and make it just under 3 hours. My "official" finish time was 2:59, though I hate to admit that. I was tracking the whole thing on my phone also, and I paused it for that long wait for the bathroom. My phone said I finished 2:47...so that is what I am going by. It's not nearly as well as I wanted to do, but it's not terrible for being 14 weeks pregnant and having the last 2 months of training disrupted. Plus, it'll make it easier to beat next time, right?

But perhaps the very worst part of the entire thing was walking back to the car once the race was over. Lance had to park about a mile away (it was probably less, but seemed like 10 at the time) and my legs were not cooperating.

Unfortunately Lance didn't make in time for when I crossed the finish line. I don't think he was expecting how far away he would have to park. He got there shortly afterwards though. And he made up for it when we got home by having a bouquet of beautiful flowers waiting, plus he bought me a bike trailor!

It was a great experience and I am glad I did it. Yes, it was very difficult, but I set out to accomplish my goal and I did- I finished. I had some GU packs to eat throughout the race, but they were so gross I couldn't stand it. Next time, I need to find something to eat/drink throughout the race to restore my energy and keep me going better. Believe it or not, I do plan on running it again. But not while pregnant.