Kosama

Posted in Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

I am exactly at the halfway point of my 4 week membership to Kosama (a boot camp fitness center). Good news is they haven’t killed me yet. Bad news is that I hurt all over.

Let’s back up.

At our old house, I worked out in our basement either doing DVDs, the elliptical machine or workouts that I’d pull out of magazines. Or if the weather was nice, I’d go outside and run/walk with Samson.

Well at the new house, things haven’t exactly been conducive to formal exercising. Our basement is pretty much being used for storage and so the elliptical is shoved in the corner, the DVDs are buried in a box somewhere and right now it’s too cold to go outside. So I needed something else.

I had heard about Kosama and other boot camp programs on the radio and such, and they sounded great, but hadn’t really investigated them seriously. Then one morning I saw that Living Social was having a deal: pay $40 and get 4 weeks of unlimited classes, a t-shirt, pre and post fitness assessment, yoga mat and kickboxing gloves. Seemed pretty good but I wanted to do my research first. Turns out, a normal 8 week session is $350. I’d say $40 was a pretty good deal!

So I jumped on it and enrolled in the November session.

On 10/30, I went for my pre-fitness assessment. They took measurements, weighed us, determined body fat, took before pictures and put us through the paces on various fitness tests (push ups, crunches, wall squats, pull ups, flexibility, and planks). It was all recorded and saved so that when we do the post-fitness assessment, we can see what progress we’ve made.

The very first class was plyometrics. Now, I consider myself to be pretty fit. As previously mentioned, I work out 5 days a week plus play volleyball once a week (twice a week in the summer). But I’m not going to lie to you. After the first 10 minutes of this plyo class I thought I was going to die. It was basically an hour of jumping various ways.

(source)

And the next day I was so incredibly sore. It hurt to walk. To drive. To type. To breathe.

Yet, it felt good because I knew I had done something good for my body (no pain, no gain right?).

Did I mention that I go to the 5 a.m. class? That means I’m up everyday at 4:30 a.m. and getting my ass kicked from 5-6.

What can I say, I’m a glutton for punishment.

How it works is that they rotate amongst 7 different workouts:

plyometrics
kickboxing
kettlebells
upper body
lower body
circuit
yoga

The middle 5 are mixed up every week so it’s always something different, and then Tuesday is always plyo and Saturday is always yoga. They have mercy and give you Sunday off.

Last week, Mon. – Fri. was circuit, plyo, kickboxing, circuit, kickboxing. This week was upper body, plyo, kettlebells, kickboxing, circuit. And no two routines are the same.

(source)

What can I say – it’s a great workout. I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that some part of my body will hurt for the entire month on November. I sure as hell better see some results too. And it doesn’t hurt that Jeff, the manager of the location I go to is easy on the eyes. So when I’m halfway through a minute of burpees, I can look at his bulging biceps and feel a tad better. They also have women coaches who walk around and both encourage and correct form. That part has been great because a few exercises I thought I had the form perfect on, they gave me a few tips which made it that much more effective.

The question I’ve been asked over and over is if it’s worth paying full price for. I would honestly say no. While I love being pushed and working my body in new ways everyday, I’m not sure I’d pay $175 a month for it. However, if they ever do another Living Social/Groupon type deal again, jump on it. It was definitely worth the $40.

I’ll give a full report of my before/after results at the end of the month and let you know my final reviews!

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25Oct2011

The Plague

Posted in Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

It’s been a miserable few days at our house and there finally seems to be an end in sight.

It all started on Friday. I woke up with a sore throat and achiness but popped a few Ibuprofen, sucked on a cough drop and headed off to work. Little did I know, CJ would also wake up sick only his would be much worse. I found out when I got home from work Friday night. My father-in-law was here watching Isabella so CJ could sleep. I guess Ceige was having tummy troubles. I took Munch to a jewelry party and didn’t think too much of things. My husband has a sensitive stomach and it tends to happen every 3 months or so that something doesn’t sit right.

Saturday was mostly me hanging with Isabella while CJ slept all morning. Turns out it was more than eating something bad. I did manage to make a run to the grocery store. We ate homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner along with corn muffins and cheesy potatoes. It was yummy and just the thing for all of us feeling less than stellar.

That night Isabella threw up. I was just laying down for bed when I heard her cough a couple times and then start crying. Something told me it wasn’t your normal cry for attention. Sure enough, I found her covered in vomit, with her sheets soaked too. I tended to her while CJ stripped the bed. She was so brave. She didn’t carry on or anything, just let me change her in to clean jammies and told me her tummy hurt. We went and got some water and I took her to our bed to rest until hers was ready. She just sat with me and snuggled. When CJ was done, I asked her if she was ready to go back to bed and she nodded saying simply, “Yeah.”

She slept through the rest of the night and didn’t have any more issues. Thank God.

It hit me on Sunday. CJ was feeling better and so we all decided to walk to the park in the afternoon. We played and then took the long route back home. By the time we reached the house, I was about dead. Now mind you, this was not a long walk. The “long route” comprises a total of like, 6 blocks. But I was pooped and starting to feel queasy. I sat on the couch and waited for it to pass. It didn’t. We decided to order Chinese for dinner but I only wanted some egg drop soup and rice. Figured that would be safe. CJ left to go get it around 6 and I turned on some Sesame Street for Isabella as I fled in to the bathroom. That was when the puking started. He got home and I tried to eat the soup but it just didn’t taste the same after having just regurgitated my previous meal. I could only choke down a couple swallows before I had to flee to the bathroom again. This would continue for about every 30 minutes until midnight. I couldn’t even keep water down. It got to a point where there was nothing left in my stomach so it turned in to dry heaves.

I have never thrown up so much in my life. And I never want to again.

I also had diarrhea going on. Now I know that’s an “unmentionable” but hey we all deal with it at some point in our lives and I certainly did Sunday night. I was pretty much alternating between throwing up and having things come out the other end.

Then we reached the inevitable moment when they both happened at the same time. I was not prepared for this. I ran in to the bathroom and barely made it in time to hurl. As I knelt before the porcelain throne, I felt things going on down below but there was nothing I could do to stop it. When all was said and done, I peeled off my soiled lower garments and tossed them in the trash. You know those scenes in rape moves when the girl curls up the hot shower and never wants to leave because she feels so dirty? That’s what I wanted to do. Just curl up in the shower and die.

I tried to sleep in between bathroom trips but I was so achy and feverish, it was hard to get comfortable. Finally I dozed off around midnight when everything seemed to settle down but it was a restless sleep. I finally got up around 7am and went downstairs for some juice and to try nibbling on a graham cracker. I was able to keep that down.

I didn’t want to spend too much time around Isabella because I didn’t want her to get it. We weren’t sure if her incident on Saturday night was due to the flu as well or just eating something that didn’t settle but I wasn’t about to take any chances. So I spent the morning in our bedroom, either sleeping or reading. She did come up and visit, bringing me some stuffed animals for company and asked if I wanted a smooch.

Of course I did! She gave me one on the forehead and I’m just sure that was what helped me turn the corner. I went down for a lunch of toast and to watch a bit of TV while Munchkin napped. Then I went back upstairs and had an afternoon nap myself.

The stomach/bowel issues have stopped and I’m slowly working regular meals back in. I wrestled with staying home from work again today. I’ve never been one to NOT feel guilty about it. Even in school I would tell my mom I was ok to go when clearly I wasn’t. I feel like I’m letting everyone down. But at the same time, I know it’s not good to go back too soon and risk getting worse again. Plus I don’t want to infect anyone in the office. So I’m staying put again today. Hopefully with a few more naps and some decent food I’ll be good as new tomorrow.

On the upside to this whole thing, I probably needed to slow down in life a bit and this was God’s way of forcing it. Plus I got caught up on all my DVRed shows. And I lost 3 pounds. But on the downside, this was the most miserable 24 hours of my life. From what I hear, this nasty thing is going around so whatever you do, channel your inner OCD self and sanitize!! May you all stay healthy!!

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Random Thought Wednesday

Posted in Health and Weightloss, Isabella/Munchkin, Travel by teamtradermom

Feels like it’s been forever since I wrote anything. I suppose it has been if forever is 5 days. A lot has happened since my last real life entry.

1. I went to Texas. I had never been to Texas before. It’s a pretty big state. You’d think I’d have crossed its borders at some point before last week, but you would be wrong. I was sent to Forth Worth for work.

Leaving Omaha:

Arriving in DFW:

The flight out was fine but the cabbie I got to take me in to the office was a jackhole. He made me load my own bag, enter my the address in the GPS, applied deodorant while driving and then had me unload my own bags. Really dude?

My stay was decent. Generally, work trips involve working hard all day and drinking all night. Not this one. No one involved in the meetings wanted to go out so I had to make my own party. I called upon a co-worker who’s based out of FW and he shuttled me around, showing off the highlights (if by highlights you count a Mexican restaurant in Roanoke, a sports bar in one of the suburbs and a pub in downtown). But we had fun chatting, drinking and watching the Rangers kick some Tiger butt so it was all good.

Turns out Fort Worth isn’t all that different from Omaha. They’re both spread out, built around the slaughterhouses, and have a lot of construction going on. FW is just twice as big. And for the record, I didn’t see any cowboy hats – not one!

The drive back to the airport I was able to get a car service and that driver was awesome. In his spare time he works security for Cowboy Stadium so we had a LOT to talk about. He’s originally from Kansas City and is a huge Chiefs fan. CJ and I plan to go down to KC in November for the Chiefs/Steelers game so I told Willy we’d look him up. He invited us to his families tailgating party. I guess they do it up right with all kinds of BBQ and what not. Count me in Willy! Just don’t get mad when the Steelers kick some KC butt!

2. We finally got all our stuff from storage. For the record DO NOT EVER HIRE MAYFLOWER SELECT VAN AND STORAGE TO DO YOUR MOVE! They cheated and stole from us. So, we hired Two Men and a Truck to do the storage move. They showed up 5 hours late. Poor CJ was parked out at the storage place that whole time waiting for them. But at least they apologized and gave us a break on the cost. That was appreciated.

3. I’m pretty sure our little child genius did subtraction the other night. It was time for bed and she told me she was going to bring 3 of her stuffed animals with her. When she got to the stairs and looked up she realized it might be challenging to climb up all those steps with her 3 friends in tow. So she handed me one and said, “Here mommy, you take one. That leaves me with 2.” I just stared at her for a minute while I did the math on my fingers and realized she was right.

4. Tonight we hung Halloween lights in the front windows – ghosts, bats, pumpkins and skulls. She was helping and when we were all done, I turned off the lights and when she saw them all lit up she said, “Wow! That’s perfect!” I love how in awe kids are of the little things. Things we take for granted.

5. I bought a boot camp package today – it’s a one month trial thing. I’m looking forward to the challenge. I need a challenge. All my workout gear is still packed up and so need something different to energize me. I think this just might do the trick. Plus it includes a pre and post fitness assessment. I’m really curious for my results!!!

6. My Fantasy Football team is totally tanking this year. Oddly, I’m not all that upset about it. We started bad and never got any better so I’ve accepted it and moved on.

Well, time to head down and chillax for a bit until bed. 5 am comes awfully fast!

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18Sep2011

Running and Remembering

Posted in Family, Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

I am tired. It’s been a long busy day. It started at 6 a.m. and it’ll end here in an hour or so.

I got up so early on a Sunday in order to head downtown to the Omaha Corporate Cup Run. The information sheet I had said to arrive no later than 7:30 a.m. so, being the good little girl that I am, I got there at 6:45. I think I was one of the first ones. The vendor booths weren’t even up yet! At least I got a good parking spot!

I spent the next 2 hours sitting around inside the Civic Auditorium Arena waiting for the race to begin. The vendors put up their booths and I watched them. People started meandering around and I watched them too. I went down at one point to get a goodie bag, then found another seat.

I decided to load up on free stuff before the race since I had a backpack to put it in. So I went from booth to booth, collecting whatever they had to offer. Finally it was race time and I headed outside.

It was a cold and dreary rainy morning. The fog was heavy and I was greeted to a beautiful, albeit gloomy, site when I exited the auditorium.

I headed over to stand with the other walkers and runners, and waited for the gun to go off.

I didn’t have any goals with this race – other than to finish. I wasn’t out to break records or run the full 2 miles or beat anyone. I just wanted a good workout. The last race I did was in October 2010 for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. With that one, my goal was to run the full 5k and do it in under 40 minutes. I finished in 39 minutes but I didn’t run the whole thing. I walked part way. In my perfectionist mind, that wasn’t good enough. I beat myself up for days because I didn’t push myself to run more. Consequently, I didn’t enjoy it.

This time was different. I just relaxed and started walking. I let my iPod drive my pace. I had it in shuffle mode and if a slow song came on, I walked. If it was a fast song, I ran. Simple as that. I didn’t pay attention to any one around me other than to respect them for being there. I didn’t try to beat anyone or compare myself. I just did my own thing. And I enjoyed it. I finished the 2 miles in 35 minutes and that was a-ok with me. I left right away and headed home. I was ready for a nap and a shower.

Later in the afternoon, we went to a Remembrance of Life Service being put on by the health system my OB-GYN belongs to. It was a memorial service to honor all those babies whose lives were lost too soon. At first I was all keyed up because it was raining and I was nervous about my family finding the park. Then I was worried about Isabella behaving. Finally I made myself stop and become fully present for the service. They read a poem, then sang a few songs. One of the songs was about how we were never meant to meet on Earth but will one day meet in heaven. The words moved me to tears. Isabella sat on my lap and I clung to her, letting myself cry quietly in her hair. Then they read aloud all the names of the babies that we being honored. When they said “Baby Trader 1” and “Baby Trader 2”, tears came again.

The final piece was to release balloons in to the air, one for each baby. We got to write a note and attach it to each balloon. Then we let them go.

Those are our 2 balloons, rising up with the rest. I got choked up as they rose, up and up, onward to the heavens.

There were a lot of babies being remembered and a lot of balloons rising up high. Soon they all disappeared.

It was a neat ceremony and I was grateful to Methodist Health Systems for putting it on. It was cathartic and healing for both of us.

Now, it’s time for bed. Time to relax with a book and then drift off to sleep, ready to take on a new week!

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D & C

Posted in Family, Health and Weightloss by teamtradermom

First of all, I have to thank everyone for all the warm wishes and condolences on our loss. I knew we had amazing friends and family was I was honestly surprised by the number of people who took the time to write either CJ or I a note. Many were from the usual close friends and family. Some were from acquaintances and there were even a few from old time schoolmates whom I haven’t talked to or heard from in over 10 years. It’s amazing how as a human race we come together in times of sorrow to care for one another. I am truly thankful for all of you and my heart is full.

Many have commented on how brave I am to share this experience with the world. I don’t really think it’s all that brave. To me it’s just being honest and open. Sadly, many women feel they can’t talk about having a miscarriage because they think it’s shameful or somehow their fault. It’s not. As women we want to blame someone and the natural inclination is to look inward at ourselves, the one carrying the baby. But unless you’re out smoking and drinking every night, it’s not your fault. It’s just natural selection. It’s nature recognizing a fetus that is somehow too malformed to survive and so it just stops forming. Believe me, it helps to talk about it. Though my original intention was admittedly more of a selfish one – therapy for me – if sharing my story can help someone else then I’m happy to be able to give back.

It’s nearly 4 am as I write this post, 3:52 to be exact. I can’t sleep. My mind is racing from all the things that have happened and those yet to be done. Since writing, and this blog, are a kind of therapy for me, I thought the best thing to do was just get it all out and hopefully I can sleep peacefully when that’s done.

I went in to work on Wednesday just trying to get through the day. Just after lunch, my Director Instant Messaged me to go home. I told her I didn’t have the extra PTO days. She said not to worry about it. To take the rest of the day, along with Thursday, Friday and Tuesday if I needed it (since Monday is Labor Day) and not to enter any PTO time. She would cover me. Another seemingly small gesture that really means a lot. It means I can spend the extra time with my family without having to worry about going in to the hole on hours at work. Another gift.

We spent Wednesday evening out to dinner as a family and then walked around the outdoor mall where we were at. Isabella loves the fountains they have so we strolled over to those and made some wishes. This was the first time she had actually thrown the pennies in herself. Before she made us do it. The first time we took her there was in the Spring. I wished for our dream home and a baby. The next time we took her there was a few weeks ago. That time I used my pennies as gratitude offerings for both my wishes having come true. This time, I didn’t make any wishes at all.

Wednesday night I had to take a shower with a special antiseptic soap. Then I scarfed down some food because I wasn’t allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight.

Thursday was the big day. Surgery day. I was expecting it to be very emotional but surprisingly it was not. I only had a couple moments of heartache. The rest of the time was just getting through it. I had to take another shower with the special soap and wasn’t allowed to put on any lotion afterwards. All my jewelry was to be left at home as well. We packed up Isabella and dropped her off to spend the day with her boyfriend Owen. Many thanks to Heather and Jeremy for watching her so that my mom could be with me at the hospital. Another gift.

We got to the hospital and it is beautiful. It’s a new hospital just for women and you can tell they have thought through every little detail.

I checked in with the gal at the front desk and verified all my information. Then she informed us of logistics like where the cafeteria is, which floor to go to, etc. She also mentioned that if we hear music played overhead, it means a baby was just born. I’m not sure if she knew why I was there but I imagine that’s part of her standard speech. Not 30 seconds later the music came on letting us know a new life had been brought in to the world. That was my first emotional moment as I realized I wouldn’t be hearing any music today.

We headed upstairs and got checked in there. I was led back to my room and went through more paperwork. At one point we had to talk about the remains. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought much about this because the baby was so small, only 7 and a half weeks, that I assumed nothing could be done with it. But apparently you can have either the hospital cremate the baby, along with all the other hospital tissue needing to be disposed, or have your own cremation done. If the hospital does it, it’s free but you don’t get to keep anything. With a baby this small, the ashes only amount to about a teaspoon in size. Not really prepared to make a decision, we opted to have them hold the remains aside for us until we could figure it out. Today I have to call funeral homes and cemeteries to see what I can find out. At first it seemed silly to me to have a vault or plot for a teaspoon of ashes. But it’s not silly as it’s more than just ashes. It’s a life. It’s my baby. It deserves a proper place of rest.

Then it was time to change in to my lovely gown and get prepped. These gowns are actually very nice. They’re thicker, warm and even have a hole in them that can attach to a blower so that if you do get cold, they can pump warm air in. Nice! The nurse put my IV in, attached a heart rate monitor and checked my vitals.

She was a very nice lady and I was glad to have her as my nurse.

The Anesthesiologist came in and introduced himself. He was very nice too. He hung out and chatted with us for a bit and then went off to get ready. After that the surgical nurse came in. The first thing she said to me after introducing herself was, “I’m sorry for your loss.” That was the first time of the day someone had said the words out loud to acknowledge it and why we were there. I got teary eyed. My second emotional moment of the day.

Now it was waiting time. We were waiting for the doctor to finish with another woman and come in to see me.

Finally she arrived and we were ready to go. The surgical nurses came in, put a special thermal hat on me (sorry, no pics…there are some things you just don’t need to see) and off we went to the OR.

They had me move over to the operating table and put more monitors and wires on me. I heard the anesthesiologist say that he was going to start the medicine and to let him know when the room started to spin. A few seconds later I said, “There it goes!” and the next thing I remember I was in the recovery room.

I went in and out of sleep for about an hour and when I was fully awake, she brought me juice and toast. After 16 hours of no food or drink, that was the best juice and toast I’ve ever had!

We headed up to the room then and they told me I was pretty much free to go since I wasn’t nauseous or anything. I decided to wait for a bit, just to make sure I was steady on my feet.

My mom laughed at me when I took this picture. I told her I had to document the journey. This was post-op. I wanted to smile to show that I wasn’t in any pain and overall feeling good but it came out looking a little crazy. I’ll blame it on the drugs.

Finally it was time to go and they wheeled me out to the car. We dropped my mom off at home, swung through the McDonald’s drive thru to get a shake and then the Taco Bell drive thru for food. On the way home I started to panic as I could feel my nether regions getting very warm and hot. I wondered if that was normal after this procedure until I realized it was because I had hot tacos on my lap. Again, I blame it on the drugs.

It was too late to nap by the time we got home and ate, as I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep later if I took one, so I watched some TV and read a magazine. Samson was my constant companion.

CJ left to pick up Isabella. I called ahead to let Jeremy know he was coming and found out that when Jeremy got home from work Isabella asked him if he’d seen her mommy. That warmed my heart. She missed me as much as I missed her.

CJ picked up dinner on the way home and we all ate as a family. We got La Casa pizza because it’s my fav. I ate the whole small pizza by myself while CJ and Isabella split some spaghetti and bread. CJ carted Munchkin off to her bath while I rested, watching some pre-season football (hurray!). When she came back out we snuggled on the couch, watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then read some stories.

After she went to bed I sat down and enjoyed a piece of Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake I had picked up from the Cheesecake Factory on Tuesday, after finding out the news. I needed the chocolate for comfort then but only ate half of it, knowing I’d want something yummy today. It was worth waiting for.

Now it’s 4:56 am and I’ve pretty much poured it all out. Today will be spent calling funeral homes and cemeteries, napping and just enjoying my family. I will want to pack and clean and do a million other things but must force myself to take it easy. There will be plenty of time for all that other stuff.

And now I’m off to bed where hopefully I will drift to sleep and dream of cheesecake, wet toddler kisses, and new life.

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