This title might come as a surprise to some since I never blogged about being pregnant. The past year was full of complications, and there was never really a time that didn't feel scary to share the news. 

The birth was full of complications too that landed me in the ICU. Suffice it to say pregnancy and childbirth were not at all what I imagined they would be like. 

Here's one of the few pictures of me pregnant. This was me enjoying my last float in the pool the day before our baby was born. 

Now that I'm generally cleared for physical activity again, I'm slowly starting to find my way back to an exercise routine, and let me tell you, it looks a heck of a lot different than anything I did before.

I was slapped with exercise restrictions at 20 weeks pregnant. No more running, no heavy lifting. I could basically swim, walk or do yoga. It was a pretty devastating blow since I was just getting back to running after my hip injury. 

Once my favorite activities were off the table, I lost a lot of my aerobic endurance fitness, but I focused on what I could do. I got into a nice swim habit and spent a lot of time training my deep core and pelvic floor, knowing that would make postpartum recovery easier. 

Because of said complication, I was medically required to have a C-section. Having your abdominal wall and like seven other layers of stuff cut open requires some major recovery time followed by some major rehab work. 

In the first two weeks postpartum, I focused my efforts on deep breathing and reconnecting my brain to my core muscles. I was in quite a bit of pain, and other than sitting on the sofa, breathing and trying to go for some short walks around my house there wasn't much more I could be doing. Oh and trying to keep a tiny human alive on like no sleep. 

By week three, much of the soreness from the surgery had started to fade. At my two week doctor appointment, my OB was happy with how the incision was healing and encouraged me to start scar massage to help prevent the build up of scar tissue. 

So I added that in, along with some gentle core engagement work and slowly began to increase the distance I was walking. (We're talking going from like a quarter mile to a half mile, and then eventually progressing up to a mile).

My goal each day was a daily walk to get me and the baby some fresh air (assuming the weather was decent), some time spent breathing and doing those introductory core engagement exercises plus my scar massage. It maybe sounds like a lot, but I was only a few weeks post-major surgery so everything was really short durations and low intensity.

I'm about 8 weeks out now, and I've slowly started lengthening my walks and increasing some of the load on my core exercises. For example I've progressed from doing a wall plank to a plank on an elevated surface. I've also done a handful of strength training sessions with dumbbells. Again these are very short maybe 20 minutes or so that I can fit in during a nap. It also helps that I'm following a plan from a physical therapist that helps me map out how I should be progressing different things.

I'm itching to start running again, but I'm forcing myself to spend the time on the rehab first, and to try not to rush. A C section is major surgery, and the last thing I want is to injure myself because I jumped back into something too soon. I know I need a strong core to stabilize me while I run (and just exist day to day). I have big hopes of running some races later this year and into the spring, so I'm forcing myself to spend time building a solid foundation so that I don't suffer further set back when I start running again. I'm super impatient so this isn't easy,  but I keep telling myself it will pay off in the long run.

I wasn't sure what reading would look like in July what with a newborn to take care of and all. But turns out all those late night feedings leave a lot of time for sitting around and reading a Kindle in the dark. So I got through plenty of books in July. 

I kept things mostly light. The book needed to have a fast moving plot and not make my completely sleep deprived brain think too hard. Most of the books I read seemed to meet that target. 

Four Stars

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another easy summer read from Elin Hilderbrand. Every time I read one of her books, I'm sad she's planning to retire next year. This book centered around Hollis Shaw after she loses her husband in a car accident. She decides to bring together four friends from different points in her life for a "five star weekend" on Nantucket. The women don't know each other well and so their weekend together has so of the highs and lows you might expect when a group of strangers get together. A fun and fast summer read.

What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can't remember who recommended this to me, but I love a book set in/near DC, and this one delivered. Alexis and Sam are eager to move out of their DC row home to one of the more exclusive neighbors in the suburbs to make room for their growing family. But the 'burbs are expensive and they settle on a falling down home, still outside their price range, in an elusive neighborhood that they think will be safe. But soon after they move in a neighbor dies on a running trail and Alexis starts to learn that everything in their fancy neighborhood isn't all it appears.

The Only Survivors by Megan Miranda
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've enjoyed the last several of Megan Miranda's books, and while this one was good, I didn't love it quite as much as some of her others. In this book, a group of friends gets together each year to commemorate a tragic accident that happened when they were in high school that left them as the only survivors. But recently two of the survivors have died mysteriously and so when the group gets together this year things are tense as they strive to figure out what is happening to them.

The Senator's Wife by Liv Constantine
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I tore through this twisty book that opens with two senators and their wives on vacation together. By chapter one of the senators and one of the wives are dead and the other two eventually marry. The remaining wife has major surgery planned and brings in in home care to help her recovery, but her condition gets worse instead of getting better. This was a fast and suspenseful read set in DC.

Three Stars

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was another fun summer book about a group of people that spends the summer on Fire Island every year. The book opens with a little kid finding a dead body that has fallen off the boardwalk, then you jump back in time to the start of the summer when all the families are just arriving. There's lots of gossip and backstabbing and a young good-looking tennis pro that draws lots of attention. The book is told from multiple character's perspectives and all of them could have a motive and all of them could be the one that ends up dead at the end. A light summer read.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was on the waitlist for this book for a really long time and had been looking forward to reading it, but it was a little bit slower than I expected. Emily and Chess head on a girl's trip to Italy. They've been friends for ages, but don't keep in super close touch anymore. Chess has become a famous self-help author/influencer, and Emily writes cozy mysteries. They both plan to use the time at the house to work on their writing. But the house has secrets waiting to be uncovered and Emily and Chess have secrets of their own. This book was interesting, I was just hoping for a slightly faster pace.

The Chateau by Jaclyn Goldis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book started a bit slowly, but picked up toward the end. Four friends are invited to one of their grandmother’s chateaus in France 20 years after they spent time studying abroad there. The grandmother claims she has to set the record straight on a few things, but is murdered before she can. The friends struggle to figure out who did it, unsure if they can trust each other at all anymore.

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