Officially very impressed with Google!

Ok, so I am pretty impressed with Google. Check my search page today!

Happy 40th Birthday to meeee!

* The concerns around the obvious access to, and use of, my personal info notwithstanding.

Baby - pic & vid

The baby.

From the scan last week. A pic & video.

He yawn/swallows at the end of the video.

Legs were crossed in the pic...  ‘lotus‘ position? ;)

20+ week fetal anatomy scan done

We went for the 20+ week fetal anatomy scan yesterday. It was amazing. The technology and resolution has progressed SO much in the past 10-15 years. Previously it was kind of a case of 'yup, there's a heart and it's beating at the right speed, all good'. Now they can see, check and measure SO MUCH. It is incredible. We had an amazing u/s tech (same as last time) and she is brilliant. She is very detailed and thorough and explains exactly what she is looking at, the measurements she is doing and what she is looking for and why - I know a lot about anatomy and physiology anyway so this level of detail of developmental anatomy is fascinating!!! - and she has such a nice manner, she makes it so very interesting and enjoyable too. She strikes a great balance between making it fun and entertaining while still doing all the medical-scientific stuff she needs to for her job.

Baby is looking perfect and every measurement is spot on as it should be and all sizes and growth is exactly on dates. 

I was also amazed at how they can now check for risk of pre-eclampsia! as well as other more obvious checks like pre-term labour etc. Pretty cool since it used to happen seemingly 'randomly', so it's nice to know that there are known causes and they can be assessed early.

The little guy was quite active and was swallowing, waving, doing bicycle legs and moving all over. He moved from head down to head up and back again during the scan. At one point, when we were trying to get a clear view of the pulmonary artery arch, she prodded my belly to try to get him to shift over and he waved his fist around as if in protest. It was quite funny.

Anyway, all looks good, and that's it now. No more screening or scans besides monthly midwife visits.

This is starting to get fun now. :)

#MyYearOf40 #ProjectSurroBaby

Scary moment after Spar Ladies' Race

This guy went a bit postal on me on Sunday... 

After I ran the Spar Ladies Race I was exhausted and just wanted to lie down and rest, but I had to find my boys. This is NOT EASY in a crowd of about 25 000 people (there were 22 340 participates and then spectators too). I spent a full hour walking up and down and all around. But is was difficult to move anywhere, so it was slow going and you had to keep dodging people and waiting for a gap etc etc. 

So at one point this skinny clearly competitive runner (black man) marches at full pace through the throng just expecting everyone to part like the red sea so he can get through. As he got to me he just barrelled full steam into me. He clearly expected that I'd jump out of the way before he hit me, but there was nowhere to go, and I stood my ground, because after an hour of being considerate and polite and waiting my turn the whole time I wasn't going to let someone else just bulldoze through as if they owned the place. 

So he just bashed full force directly into me like a head on collision. Which HURT! He then looked annoyed at ME and then started walking around me. I was annoyed so as he passed I elbowed him and said 'Hey watch where you are going' (Admittedly I shouldn't have done this and causing conflict is generally not my style, but I was hot, tired, annoyed and just so over being in that crowd...). 

OMG He turned around and KLAPPED me, hard, on the arm and came and screamed right in my face. I was so taken aback and quite scared. He made to hit me again and I just yelled, 'Calm down. Please leave me alone. I am pregnant'. he carried on yelling and cursing at me and then said I mustn't beat people if I am pregnant. !?. It was awful, and he kept yelling and being really aggressive. I kept saying 'You can't just walk into people'. But he wasn't going to stop, so I eventually said 'Just F**K OFF!' and he finally went away.

I was so rattled and shaken though I ended up bursting into tears, which I NEVER do. It was horrible. It is scary how aggro people can be with so little provocation though. Although I admit if I just let him 'walk all over me' so to speak without reacting it probably wouldn't have happened, so I know I am not blameless... I hate situations like that. So unpleasant and unnecessary!

Spar Ladies Race 2014 - on a go slow...

I decided to go ahead and enter the Spar Ladies Race (aka Spar Women's Challenge) again this year, despite being pregnant and almost on 21 weeks at that. I decided to do it because it's a fun and social race, which the boys enjoy, and there's a great goodie bag, and also it's an 'everyone and their granny and their fat aunty' kind of race. Sure some people are competitive about it - heck I usually am, and it's where I have achieved many of my previous 10km PB times - but it's also a walking, social and jovial race where you don't HAVE to compete.

After running the little Madness Relay at work last week though, which was 'only' 1.4kms but felt so much further and tougher than expected, I was feeling pretty daunted at the prospect of partaking in a 10km race. Even though I have been doing 10-12kms most Sundays anyway, most of that is usually walking, and I don't time or push myself particularly so a RACE of 10kms suddenly sounded very scary. Also having to wake up early and get to the start and brave a huge crowd seemed much more of a challenge than usual.

I had pretty much resigned myself to just walking it, knowing that even if I did I wouldn't be last.

We ended up waking up a little late but still in time to get there. Because I was not competing I wasn't trying to get  starting spot near the front - which I normally do - and we just joined the queue at the back. We only had about 5-10 minutes to spare before the start. Soon the gun had gone off and we were still standing there. 5 minutes later we were still standing there.... with 22 340 participants there is no way you all get going at once. It took us a good 10-12 minutes to get to and across the start line in the end. Good thing I wasn't trying to win any prizes! The first 1-2 kms were so congested with people, mostly walkers, everywhere. So as soon as there was any gap I'd take it and try to jog to gain a little ground and pass a few slow people.

By the 2km mark although there were still THOUSANDS of people ahead of me I just had the urge to break away a little and so I broke out into a trot and kept going. Somehow I carried on trotting and dodging and passing people and next thing I'd passed the 4km marker and then got to the water point at 5km. I had some coke and walked a little then and then took off again. It wasn't easy, but it really wasn't too bad. So off I trotted next thing I passed the 6km mark and then rounded the turn at the end of the promenade and knew it was the home stretch back tot he stadium. I considered walking a few times but at the pace I was going (between 6:00-6:45 min/km) I was able to keep plodding along without feeling exhausted or sore or uncomfortable so I decided to push onwards.

By the time I got to 9km I decided I might as well run all the way to the end! So I did. In the end I finished with an official time of 1h17mins. But I had timed myself from when I crossed the start line and finish line and had 1:06 recorded. I reckon without all the hold up in the beginning I MAY even have just cracked a sub-60, which I think is not too shabby all things considered!

So while this may have been my slowest official 10km ever, I still think I did damn well and am proud of the achievement. I mean I am very nearly (in 3.5 weeks) 40 years old (which is officially a veteran) and past half way pregnant with baby number 3 (technically 4), and I can run 10km in just over 60 mins. Nie te kak nie! :)

here's my recording from my iPOD Nike+ (it was not calibrated 100% correctly hence the distance seeming a bit short).

The results are out already... noting that there was a total of 22 340 participants on Sunday and 10 995 people completed the 10km event, and I started at the back and took about 12 mins just to get across the starting line and even then couldn't move more than a shuffle for a while... I finished 1517th, which is still in the top 15%. 

Which is both/either pretty impressive and/or shows just how not athletic the mob in this race is!

(I am usually somewhere between 100-200th in this race and came 70th last year)

Team Awesome Puts Foot

We made it into our internal newsletter and intranet too for creating a scene on Wed... and our team name is now completely official. ;)

Mutual Madness raises awareness of Put Foot Foundation Old Mutual hosted a 5.6km relay at Mutualpark in Cape Town yesterday. The fun-filled event got 240 Mutualites up and out of their office chairs. Team Foursome took first place during the race, followed by IT Kings in second and Blade Runners, in third. The event created awareness of the Put Foot Foundation, the official charity of the 2014 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon. Popular radio DJ Ryan O'Connor and members of the broader 94.5 Kfm Breakfast team also turned up for the fun. Glemis Olifant (picture, left) from Global Edge Technology put foot during the relay. Click the picture to biggify and see more photos from the event.

Team Awesome Owning the Mutual Madness Relay Race

My team and I took part in a relay race at lunch time today called the Mutual Madness Relay – which was part of the build up to the 2Oceans in a few weeks – we each had to run 1.4kms.

 

Yoh, running has become tough! But I RAN (ok jogged) the whole 1.4km of it which is good enough for me – being 20 weeks pregnant and all.

 

Team Awesome were awesome, as usual, and we did great as a team and are so nutty we were featured on the KFM FB page. :)

While we may not have won in terms of speed we were definitely the best dressed and 

had

the

best team spirit of all those there.

 

 

From the KFM FB Page...

 

 

The Official Half Way Mark

Although I do tend to bake babies for more than 40 weeks, and do assume I'll go closer to 41 weeks with this one too, I am exactly 20 weeks pregnant today which is the usual official half-way mark. 

So this baby is officially half-baked now. I am also (finally) feeling definite movements now. One of the best parts of pregnancy and quite exciting.

So it's all downhill from here!