It is done. I, for the most part, spent the 2013 season on the bench because I was working on a project. Let me see if I have a photo of the final result...

Ah, here we go:



I threw at Ardenwood (14w pregnant) and again at Albuquerque (20w). It wasn't my best performance but I did get a perfect caber toss (on video!) and a gold medal thingy to give to my son as a commemorative token. Whoop de doo.

I lifted (somewhat infrequently) at the gym into late 3rd trimester, intentionally capping my squats at 155# but for the most part sticking to many reps with light weights like 95#. I gave up all ab-specific routines and maintained my biceps because dangit I worked really freaking hard for that 30# curl. I also had to bail on bench presses which turn out to be more ab-intensive than I ever credited them for. As late pregnancy wore on, though, many of my routines fell by the wayside - that business gets forever more difficult until you just feel like you're dead in the water and waiting for rescue.

This was my 2nd pregnancy and having experienced c-section recovery in the past, I was none too eager to do it again. I attempted to secure a natural delivery and came very close after 24 hours of labor, but my body didn't cooperate and we didn't want to put the baby at risk - so here I am six weeks postpartum and only now am I ready to get back on the horse (at least I hope I am - so far so good, I think). I went to the gym once at 4w PP and did a very, very light routine consisting of repeated squats and overhead presses with an unweighted 45# bar and my old buddy biceps curls (27.5#). The most adventurous I got was trying an overhead squat with the bar and I succeeded at one and then promptly fell on my butt on the second one. So that was that.

Having your lower abdomen sliced open, it turns out, really screws with you. I went back for a Real™ workout yesterday - started small with 95# squats - did 5. Form sucked so I focused harder and tried again. Got it. Great. Okay 115# - gosh it felt way heavier than it should, but I banged out five and the first three weren't even embarrassing. So I told myself I'd be happy if I did one solid squat at 135# - and I did. ...then I got greedy and did another - bad move. My back twinged and I barely re-racked before I had to get out from under it. Will I ever learn to leave well-enough alone? *sigh*

Oh well, the back thing isn't too bad - I expect it will be gone within a few days, and I've got a major case of DOMS today so it's working. The little one teaches many lessons in patience, which is good, because holy heck it's annoying to start from the bottom again.

But here's the million-dollar question: would I do it all again? Absolutely.