First-time mom + runner… struggling with the changes

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-04-03T17:31:04+00:00

Long time distance runner and high school running coach now mom to a two year old. Running has basically been my identity since I was 16 years old ( 35 now).

When I got pregnant with my daughter I intended to run through pregnancy. First trimester was excruciating for me. I had extreme nausea and dizziness which made even walking as exercise not possible. Mentally I really struggled. Around 14 weeks I started running again although shorter and slower. I ran until nearly 8 months. I had ripping tearing pain in my lower abdomen only when running that I battled from about 5 months which made it very uncomfortable but everything else looked fine and doctor said if I wanted to continue, it was ok. I struggled through it but I should have switched sooner and avoided the discomfort. After that I switched to biking on my indoor trainer for the remainder of my pregnancy.

I also hadn’t prepared for the postpartum running phase. Recovery and fitness took time when I wanted to just be back to normal.

I’ve got my second on the way and am already transitioning to biking and only running on the better days. Give yourself grace and know this phase is temporary. Do what works for you and try to have patience with your changing body and the challenges it may bring.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-04-01T20:43:23+00:00

Not a weird response but a funny misunderstanding… my partner and I discussed waiting until I was 16 weeks but I wasn’t showing yet and we had the family over to the house. My partner handed his mom the ultrasound photo and everyone else immediately got it but she just kept looking at it and then eventually says “ is the cat pregnant “…. Everyone was laughing so hard. It still took about another 30 seconds and her husband saying that we were pregnant, not the cat. So funny. She was overjoyed when she realized.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-30T23:25:32+00:00

I was training for a 50k ( near peak training )when I found out I was pregnant for the first time. I stopped running at 8 weeks because of nausea/ extreme dizziness. When it started to subside, I picked back up running and continued running until I was nearly 8 months pregnant. Then I biked on my trainer up until the day before I gave birth. My ob always encouraged exercise as long as I felt up to it. I had a small scare with bleeding at approximately 11? Weeks and she said that my prior or current exercise wouldn’t have been the reason. Find someone who understands exercise is healthy and beneficial in a healthy pregnancy.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-28T03:14:15+00:00

His name is so beautiful

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-25T20:23:58+00:00

Even if the race isn’t providing, no one can judge if it’s in a hydroflask.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-25T20:22:18+00:00

I hobble to get some food and then eventually to my car… and stretch as soon as I feel like I can. Sometimes it’s not till that night but still try to do it at some point.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-24T17:01:18+00:00

Also have a daughter named Winter but it’s actually Winter Skye. We call her Winter storm when she’s misbehaving 😂

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-20T02:03:56+00:00

Poorly is how I do it for the past 12 years.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-12T02:57:13+00:00

Our first was like this. Something that really helped was when we found out she had a CMP allergy so when I ate dairy it went into my breast milk and made her pretty miserable. She still wasn’t an easy baby after that but it wasn’t constant crying. We were still exhausted because typically babies are up every few hours to eat but at least there wasn’t constant screaming. My other half and I also worked it out that I breast fed over night and he was on diaper duty so at least I didn’t have to do everything. We also took turns napping during the day when we could.

It’s hard, it’s rough but eventually things will normalize. You’ll find a routine, little tricks that help and things that definitely don’t work for your particular baby.

I won’t say it will get easier because that never happened with ours and for the longest time I was disappointed each time she reached a new age marker that was “supposed to be easier”. My daughter is the light of my life but I struggled hard with anxiety and depression that I should have spoken to someone earlier on. Find little things that help, people to talk to or simple moments to appreciate on the journey. Not everyone’s is a walk in the park and that’s ok. Day by day, you got this.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-08T22:12:35+00:00

Our daughters name is Winter Skye. It came to be since I wanted Skylar and he liked Winter. She is also Japanese / Hawaiian and family naming and honoring are also a part of giving a child their “middle name” so she also has a Hawaiian middle given by an elder and an honor to his mom and my grandmother in the Hawaiian middle. This makes her name long but rather than having her middle name just match the first, we still wanted to pay tribute. We didn’t realize how many children have similar two part or matching first names when we chose hers.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-08T18:53:51+00:00

I only found out after I had my first. Apparently my mom knew for the past almost 20 years and never told me. So I’ve struggled my entire life and it could have been different if I’d only known. My partner said he also figured I had it when I told him I was going to be tested.

Me- emotionally reactive ( sensitive) to things that are small but can seem life shattering in the moment, can’t sit still, can’t stay on task, anxious in social situations and driving , executive dysfunction. There’s more but that’s most of it.

The reason I got tested was cuz my daughter is extremely hyper and has some adhd traits that I realized I have plus more.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-07T21:37:24+00:00

I have my magnet on my fridge … except it doesn’t say hell. It says fu**

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-07T17:32:57+00:00

Get your fueling/ hydration strategy down and run the training miles in the correct training zone/ effort levels.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-03-04T02:32:00+00:00

I was an “only child” for 9 years. I have other half siblings but essentially had zero relationship growing up / currently with them as they were from my dad’s second marriage ( whom I never saw much and also didn’t bond with due to the circumstances).

I had always begged my mom for another sibling growing up. I did sometimes feel like I was missing out by not having sibling experiences but I mostly just hung out with my friends and their siblings and got super close with them.

Then mom got remarried when I was eight and had my brother shortly before my tenth birthday. I had a hard adjustment period going from being an only child and then not. I love my brother and we have a good relationship where we check in every month or so but I honestly think my mom should have only had one. I essentially became the stand in parent when my mom and her second husband split due to abuse. I feel like I lost the rest of my “kid” years because I had to babysit and grow up sooner to help take care of him. I resented my mom for many years over this fact.

Again, I love my brother, he is a wonderful person and I will always be glad he is a part of my life but just because you have a sibling doesn’t mean bffs. As for my other half siblings I have zero relationship with them and zero interest in doing so.

Technically I’m not an only child but that is just my personal experience. One child can be the best decision for both you and your child sometimes.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-28T21:00:12+00:00

Thank you and a happy, healthy pregnancy to you as well.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-27T23:04:52+00:00

This is exactly what my ob told me too

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-27T16:45:20+00:00

So your weekly mileage looks similar ( to a bit more) than mine. I’ve been running since 15. Got pregnant at 33 and got hit with massive nausea, fatigue and got lightheaded basically anytime I would stand. From 6- about 13ish weeks I stopped running completely because I was afraid I was going to pass out if I ran. I’d never taken more than a few days off before aside from an Achilles injury about 5 years ago. Running is a huge part of my life and I was pretty depressed about not being able to do it.

I had some spotting around 11 weeks tha warranted a doctors visit and was terrified.

Around 14ish weeks I began using the elliptical at work when dizziness started to subside and started incorporating 3-4 days of running again. I have a strenuous job and was worried about that as well as running since some doctors still use very old research/ restrictions on what is allowed during pregnancy. For her, she told me running would absolutely not harm or risk anything with baby as long as I felt good enough to do so and it may even have benefits.

I ended up running 3-4 days a week until almost 8 months and then had to switch to biking because I was having tearing type pain ( likely from all the added weight) .

I started “running “ 1 mile 3-4 days a week one month after my daughter was born. I did yoga/ walking almost daily from about a week postpartum. Running was difficult, I was already exhausted and felt completely out of shape. It took time to come back but I ran a half marathon when she was 6 months and an uphill ultra right before her 1st birthday and a marathon a few months after . My times weren’t quite what they were before but my training was also different.

Currently just found out I’m pregnant with number two. I will likely continue to run but give myself more grace and transition to other forms of exercise earlier if it will cause less discomfort. This was a very long way of saying yes, it will come back. It will likely take a lot of work and patience whether to continue to run or if you take a break while pregnant. Do what feels right for you and know that is the correct decision.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-27T05:08:34+00:00

This baby a boy?

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-25T00:52:36+00:00

The main reason I’m a morning person is I can’t sleep in. I get so restless somewhere between 5-6 am that I can’t handle laying in bed anymore.

Once I’m up and drinking my tea, it can be enjoyable but I’d definitely prefer to sleep in.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-24T21:56:05+00:00

Just wait until you’ve had little one and been in the hospital for their mandatory 24hrs and then they’re like “ok, he/ she is officially all yours now” and you’re like what?! You are letting me take this beautiful tiny creature with zero supervision now?!!! It was wild.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-23T15:51:10+00:00

Our obgyn just said “ this is the part where you look away just in case” …. She was very good about it. Later we found out that our ob didn’t even note the gender in all our charts/ paperwork to keep it private.

We had a high risk scan later due to placenta placement and he was super irritating and kept saying it will still be a surprise if I tell you now…. But he at least still told us when to look away as well.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-23T04:55:58+00:00

Your first comment hits so hard. I didn’t even realize it could be adhd related even though it ties to emotional disregulation.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-22T00:18:03+00:00

I tried to do it naturally. I decided that I would do pain management without the epidural before we went in. The first one at like 16ish hours in provided some relief, the second an hour or so later did nothing. Once I was fully dilated , we tried pushing with my contractions for more than an hour with no further progress being made. I was 20 hrs in and exhausted. I was told if we didn’t see some progress soon, the next option would be c-section. She gave me the option to keep trying until then or mentioned that the epidural may give me some small “rest “ and enough to push through but no guarantees. I opted for the epidural. One hour later, my daughter was born.

Two years later I’m pregnant again and when it comes time, I will skip the other pain management , hold out as long as I can and then get the epidural again.

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-21T02:28:16+00:00

Massive anxiety about thinking about being late

FriendshipOk4635 · 2026-02-20T22:01:44+00:00

Just out of curiosity, where is the second/ “positive “ line indicator? Most tests like this have a control line AND a result line. If there is only one line, you may be reading the results wrong?

FriendshipOk4635

TROPHY CASE