So, I haven’t made a personal blog post about myself in over 4 months. Yeah, I literally dropped off the face of the planet when I got pregnant with my third. Surprise (to those of you who didn’t know)!

So let’s time hop back to mid August 2016. I knew I was pregnant but it was too soon for me to tell anyone, including my coach. I had to go on with life as normal. But I was miserable. I was still training because I had two races left on my calendar for the year. The first was a ½ marathon at Mesa Falls, and another one was a women’s 5k.

Since Mesa Falls was on it’s 20th marathon anniversary, the race directors decided to fly in two super famous runners - Sara and Ryan Hall. I wasn’t expecting either of them to race (I just thought they were going to be present at all of the events). Come to find out, Sara decided to race the ½ marathon with Ryan as her pacer. I was already registered to do the ½, so I couldn’t back out on account of cold feet.

But I was totally underprepared for a 13 mile race at high altitude. Training for a steeplechase on the track is one thing, but to completely change gears and hope to race a decent ½ marathon one month later didn’t seem like a sane thing to do (especially considering I took a 2 week break from running following the Olympic Trials).

Still, I decided to suck it up and hope for the best. Everyone told me that Mesa Falls was a very technical race. But by looking at a topographical map, I couldn’t figure out why everyone claimed it was so difficult. On the map, it shows 4 miles of downhill, followed by a 2 mile uphill, followed by another long downhill into the finish line. Easy enough, right? Not so.

Here’s what the map doesn’t show: the first 4 miles are on on sandy/rocky trail. So there is no advantage to be gained in that downhill portion of the race. Then the uphill is deceiving - it curves around the side of a canyon, so you can’t tell where to top is. Every time you think you’ve made the ascent, it keeps going up. Once you finally get out of the canyon, the roads turn into rollercoasters (constant up and down) until the last three miles of the race, which is flat. The last portion of the race is nice except for a strong Idaho headwind that constantly blows from the southwest directly onto the racecourse.

All things aside, my goal was to keep Sara Hall in my sights. But Sara’s race strategy is much different from my own because she always starts out fast. If you know me, I am the complete opposite - I love a slow, steady start. So when Sara busted out a sprint the first 800m of the race, I had already lost her. But by the time she settled into her pace I was finally able to keep up (although I was 200m back). All was well until 2 miles before the finish line when my shoe fell off.  It took me some fumbling around to finally get it back on, and by then I had lost precious time. But I was ok with that. I had given it my best shot and kept with Sara for as long as I could. When I finished I was blown away with my time. I was hoping to run under 1:26, but I surprised myself with a 1:18!!! Side note: I don’t like to look at my watch during a race because it often messes with my mentality, so I didn’t know how fast I was running until I saw my time at the finish.

Not bad for being pregnant and sick, right (on top of losing my shoe and not really training for a ½ marathon)? I totally thought I could keep up my luck for the next race, but I was wrong. The week following the ½ marathon I was so sick I could barely get out of bed. I still went to cross country practice every day and attempted to run, but threw up all the time. In order to mask how bad I was feeling for the 5k race I decided to push Logan and Charlotte in my double stroller. I still ended up faster than I expected (19:45 pushing two kids), so I was grateful for that. But the week following  the 5k I had to stop running completely because my body couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t keeping enough nutrients down to have the energy to run anymore.

I was so frustrated with myself because I had been able to run just fine when I was pregnant with Logan and Charlotte. And I didn’t get sick with either one of them until later in my first trimester. This pregnancy I was sick before I could even test positive. I didn’t know what was different with this one. Everything was making me sick, and the normal ‘remedies’ for morning sickness only increased my nausea. My nausea was so bad that even drinking water made me sick.

This is THE ONLY picture taken of me in my first trimester.

I felt so crummy that I didn't care about taking pictures of my baby bump.

The only reason I have this picture is because my kids were playing around on my phone.

And yes, I'm in my PJs because that's pretty much what I wore all day every day because I was so sick.

Finally, Tim was so concerned after one day when I was only able to drink 6oz of water that he sent me to the doctor. During my visit, my Dr. diagnosed me with what I dreaded.... Hyperemesis Gravidarum. In a nutshell, HG is severe morning sickness on steroids. Many women with HG have to be given IVs and feeding tubes in order to get nutrients, liquid, and medicine in their bodies. My Dr. recommended the same for me but I wanted to try so see what I could do on my own first. It came down to one option: broth. For 3 weeks, broth was my diet. I had it 3-5 times a day and could only take small sips at a time. Picture this: It took me 1 hour to drink 8 oz of broth because if I drank it any faster I would end up throwing it all up. Several times I tried broth with noodles, but that went to waste too. My no carb diet meant no running either. Actually, that’s a bit of an understatement... I could barely walk around without seeing stars, and I couldn’t go up stairs without the fear of passing out. The worst part was that no medication worked for me. And my sense of smell was so repulsive that if Charlotte pooped her diaper I had to wait for Tim to come home from work to change her because I couldn’t handle it.

After 3 weeks of broth I was starting to feel slightly better so I transitioned to watered down soup with vegetables. I still couldn’t eat meat or noodles with my soup (they were too complex for my stomach to digest). Finally I was able to slowly transition back to solid food. Since then, every food I have tried is trial and error. My body definitely isn’t the same as it was before I got pregnant. My digestive system has been so messed up that it is likely that I have developed a gluten and a lactose intolerance. My doctor can’t promise that those problems will go away after I have the baby either (I may have a gluten and lactose problem for the rest of my life, but right now I’m going to hope for the best). I did hope that my nausea would disappear, but my doctor said that if I was sick through 24 weeks, it’s likely I’ll be sick the remainder of the pregnancy. Well, I’m at 29 weeks and I’m still sick all day long (so here’s to 11 more weeks of being sick). I keep wondering if I’m just being a big baby. But then I remind myself that I’m not. When I was expecting Logan and Charlotte I definitely did not feel the way I do for this pregnancy. HG is a completely different realm, and should never be compared to normal pregnancies. Yes, I have survived this far, but I don’t know if I ever want to experience it again.

For those of you who have never been educated on HG, here is a little chart that provides a comparison with ‘normal’ morning sickness.

So here’s my self-diagnosis following this chart:

Severe weight loss - Yes. I lost 7 lbs of weight in one week (which is a lot for someone my size).

Severe Nausea and vomiting - Yes. I could eat very little (i.e. broth) and was constantly dehydrated.

Vomit bile - Yes. Basically throwing up even when there’s nothing left in my stomach. It tastes awful.

Dietary lifestyles - No. I didn’t not accept IV treatment because I was able to find an alternate solution (broth). Looking back, I realize I should have taken the IVs in order to get better nutrients to myself and the baby, as well as more fluid to keep me from getting dehydrated.

Duration of nausea - Yes. I’m still sick all day long every day.

Ability to function - I was completely incapacitated for my first trimester and the beginning of my second trimester. Family support was much needed. I had to stop attending my job as assistant cross country coach.

So there you have it. That’s my condition in a nutshell - sorry if it grosses you out. All these symptoms are similar for most women with HG, although each woman with HG may experience different symptoms (such as my gluten and lactose intolerance).

You can imagine my delight when my Dr. finally gave me the ‘ok’ to start running again. I’ve only been running for 6 weeks, but here’s what I’ve discovered. Oh boy am I slow! When you add on a few pounds of baby weight in a few short months, it’s hard to counteract. I’ve accepted the fact that I’m definitely not as fast as I was 6 1/2 months ago (like 2 minutes slower per mile). But the good news is, I still have my stamina/endurance. I just have to deal with the pain (yes, running with a big belly really hurts), but it’s nothing I can’t handle. So what’s on my calendar next? The coaches 1600 at the Simplot Games. It’ll be a hoot. If you want to watch a 6 ½ month pregnant girl race, then mark your calendars for February 18th at the Holt Arena.