Counting down days

There was never going to be an easy way to write about finding out I was pregnant and what this whole experience has been like for me. Even now, as we are nearing the closure of this phase and getting ready for the next one, the most challenging one for sure, it is still difficult for me to recapitulate. 

Just a few days before posting my Delphi photos, and as I was getting ready to run the Stratford marathon on the 8th of May 2011, I had the pregnancy test that confirmed what I had been half-suspecting since spending Easter in Athens. 

I had even told my mother, half-jokingly to be fair, that I was under the impression my period was a bit late and what did that mean, did it mean the obvious!

As a runner, the only reason I would keep a note of dates and days was so I could be aware if I would be running a race when I have my period. I absolutely hate running a marathon on one of those days as it gives me awful cramps and forces me to make pit stops. 

So I ended up having to remember when was the last race, and if I had my period then, and how long before, and after... Complicated stuff... And still i have no clear idea. Girls, just jot down your dates, please!

I more or less knew that it would not have to be that way in Stratford. But the race was coming closer and closer and still no sign of my period. Little did I know that I would be free of that worry for good for the next few months! 

The last (out of a total of three- just had to make sure!) pregnancy test that I took on the Saturday evening before the race, was again positive, as I said already! My goodness, by then, all concern about the race had seriously dwindled! This was the real deal! 

And anyway, do you run a race - a marathon or half-marathon, at that - one day after having found out that yes, you are definitely pregnant (and five weeks into it according to the digi kit!)? 

I guess if I had trained properly for it rather than rely on my previous fitness, which at that point was not in a bad place though, I might have faced more of a dilemma. 

But as it were, I wasn't. 

I was feeling ecstatic and overwhelmed - and completely lacking focus on the Stratford race, which was never meant to be. 

Fast forward six months later. What a whirlwind few months these have been. A pregnancy, a wedding, a honeymoon, quite a bit of work, a bump that has been stubbornly getting bigger and bigger, a few fears and many joys. And a boy that will be arriving soon. Not too long to go now! 

And no running since July. Do I miss it or do I miss it? What do you think?! Luckily, the counting down the days to motherhood, and then eventually to my return to action, has already begun!

A couple of weeks ago, Colin took this photo of me, my bump and my smiling Mum in the background.