How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:32:37 GMT

I'm always very confused by people asking this question. Didn't you think of it before? Thjis questin to me is much like peole who complain that their housae payments are too high.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Karen Duggan — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 04:25:03 GMT

Hi Sarah, I remember you too and CONGRATULATIONS! I'm going through this too. It's taken 4 kids but I have learned this: I am important too! I need a break and to exercise. I'm also showing my kids that exercise is important for mommies too! I have only missed two practices since having Finnian in Jan. I've made it more of a priority. I don't get upset as much when I swim because I'm not overwhelmed as easily. It's definitely a stress reliever. And I've learned to let the house go. It will be picked up later (the thing is once it's picked up, it's a mess again, so I don't stress over it!) And there's always more laundry... it can wait. I've learned to swim when I can. Sometimes 5:30am, sometimes 7:30 at night, sometimes during a school break during the day. I've started to bring a sitter to the pool occasionally too. I feed the baby, pack everyone up, and then we go. There's a classroom at the pool and they can play and/or watch DVDs. I'm all of 40 meters away, and I have had to get out to take care of "owies", but at least I was able to get in and feel connected to swimming. Also, two nights a week I have a neighbor (teenager) come up for 30 minutes, after the kids are asleep so I can go for a run. Again, I don't know why I didn't do this years ago! Please, learn from my mistakes :] Anyway, starting to ramble... DO take the time for yourself. In a few years you'll be glad you did.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:45:16 GMT

I will say I have yet to master the art of styling female hair, it's always ponytails around here for me. Wow Geek, you da man! :bow: My daughters four and she AND my wife give me the :shakeshead: when I try a pony tail. I'll try to do a good one and when she starts to :cry:because of too much hair pulling. I :whiteflag:and tell her to go get a head band.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:09:01 GMT

Sarah-I told the gang this morning I heard from you on here. Told them the good news about your twins. The team is pretty much the same, with a few more new people. My season is going pretty well for a 41yr old. Still train with the masters and the age group team. The coach is really good. He swam for Pitt and coached there for a few yrs after he graduated. His practices are very different from old coaches but change is good I guess. He is also a big time tri guy and will be going to Peru next month for a triathalon and then possibly a few world cups. If I remember right you moved south? For some reason I thought it was Tenn? Beth and Mike say hello. Take care, Greg

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Big AL — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:17:45 GMT

Maybe you can do a baby swap with another swimmer with little ones? Maybe the coach knows of someone else on the team to contact? One day you watch their kids when they swim and the next day they watch your kids while you swim (or the same day if you have multiple workout times available). Maybe something as easy as just hanging out in the parking lot, then there is not a lot of time involved with the exchange. :dunno:

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Allen Stark — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:02:46 GMT

Congrats as everyone says.When our kids were little my wife and I would trade off childcare and work and workout times.We didn't see each other much,but she got some "adult human" time and I got great bonding time with the kids.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

MegSmath — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:42:59 GMT

Congratulations! What everyone else has said is right on target. You definitely need to get back in the water. I waited 6 weeks after my son was born, and that was way too long. You will go stir crazy if you don't get out of the house some. And you will have mommy guilt, but you have to do it anyway. I hate to admit this, but I was SO glad to go back to work after maternity leave. And yet my husband had to practically drag me out of the daycare center, prying my white knuckles from the crib! Meg

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

aquageek — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:30:51 GMT

Tell your husband to buck up. It's only a few hours, he'll survive, you'll be happier. You need to get out of the house every now and again to interact with grown people and recharge the batteries. We have lots of funny stories in our home about the various misdadventures that have occurred when I was left alone with the kids while my wife went on business trips or even gym trips. No one was seriously hurt and I find that time alone with them to be quite fun, although I am graded on my efforts upon the return of my wife. Usually it's four thumbs down. I will say I have yet to master the art of styling female hair, it's always ponytails around here for me.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:23:15 GMT

No one was seriously hurt and I find that time alone with them to be quite fun, although I am graded on my efforts upon the return of my wife. Usually it's four thumbs down. I will say I have yet to master the art of styling female hair, it's always ponytails around here for me. LOL. I love getting the male POV on this!

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

aquaFeisty — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:55:14 GMT

Congratulations, Sarah! Wow, twins... I had to chuckle at the suggestion for dad to bring the toddler and twins to the pool while you swim. I have this vision of dad wearing a Baby Bjorn with one twin in it, holding the other twin, and chasing a life-jacketed giggling toddler around the pool. Hmmm... perhaps another adult would help in that situation? :) Everyone has given you lots of great ideas. I'll second Dorothy's point to break your workouts up into short chunks. When you can't make it to the pool, a treadmill is great, or if you already own a bike you can get a windtrainer (mine was $89 from Performance Bikeshop) and voila, you have a stationary bike at your house. Stretch-cords work well for swimming related movements, too. I try to do stretch-cord work and yoga ball stability type stuff twice a week while my daughter naps. But the best "invention" EVER is the fitness center daycare. If this is at all a possibility, go for it. I don't know if I'd be swimming much at all if not for the daycare. Look for a place where the workers are all CPR certified, that smells 'clean', and has a decent staff/child ratio. Some gyms take kids as young as 6 weeks; 6 months seems to be pretty standard. Most places have a policy of paging the parent if the child is inconsolable for a certain amount of time. One warning... these daycares are serious germ-breeding sites. From about 14 months to 20 months, my daughter caught a lot of colds. But her immune system seems to have caught up now and this winter is going much better (I also slather her hands with Purell the instant I pick her up...) Good luck and congrats again!

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

dorothyrde — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 05:51:22 GMT

Yes Sarah, one thing you have to change is a mindset that your exercise has to be this long continuous thing to be worthwhile. For a while, that just isn't going to happen, so grabbing 30 minutes here, 30 minutes there is what you have to do. Then as they get older, you can lengthen that time, and fit more in. Really in the grand scheme of things, this time is really short and there will be time for uber fitness again. Also remember, the weight and skin stretching and all that took 9 months to come on, it will take a while to come off, but it will. Give your husband a chance to take them on for short times. Fort's ideas are good. I remember feeding my DD right before I went and played ball(it helped me to!), leaving a bottle just in case, playing for an hour and racing back all worried she would be screaming and crying and beside herself because the milk ticket was not there......only to find her fast asleep, DH relaxing in front of the TV. Twins probably will not be that easy, but you might be surprised how well things will go for him. Mine are 5 years apart, so hubby did not have to deal with two real young ones.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:54:46 GMT

Sarah-first congrats on the twins and its good to see you again. Did you end up moving out of Ohio? When you trained with us you were improving each week. Hope you are able to get back in the water :-) Good luck and I will let your ole workout buddies know about the twins, congrats again. Greg

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:32:41 GMT

Piling on here... Congratulations, Sarah, that's wonderful news. Dads are just as capable as moms in the parenting department. Don't let the mommy guilt stop you. Go swim and take care of yourself. There's plenty of messy diapers and spit-up to go around!

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:02:56 GMT

Have Dad take the kids to the pool and play with them while you swim. That way the kids get an introduction to a great lifelong activity, and just plain fun for kids, and dad gets to spend time with them doing something they will all enjoy. And I would emphasize "play". Just a thought.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:56:20 GMT

Jim's reply was right on the mark. You owe it to your family to make time to exercise. Good luck!

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:43:35 GMT

First of all, Congratulations! Secondly, I believe most of us do remember. "M" stands for "Marine". Right? Thirdly: What they all said before me. And everything and everyone will get along "swimmingly".

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:28:40 GMT

One couple who swam with us brought the baby to the pool with them. Mom would swim for the first 45 minutes of the workout while Dad stayed on the pool deck with the stroller. Then they switched places for the second half of the workout.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:50:28 GMT

It is hard when you have twins for sure. We had a 3 year old a two year old and then the twins came along. Not a lot of time for anything but the children. I participated as much as I could but limitations were great. My son took maternity leave from work in Canada to help with their child and recieved 75% of his salary for 6 months from the UEI. It was agreat relief for them. Our pool has a nursery with trained care workers that can look after the little ones while you workout.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:49:17 GMT

I meant to add congrats on the new recruits...you've got a nice little platoon to run there now ;) Yeah (hee), but I'm going to have to retire from recruiting... 3's enough! I love the Chuck Norris avatar...

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:45:14 GMT

Stud - What's up?!?!?! The sarge is back. HA! I meant to add congrats on the new recruits...you've got a nice little platoon to run there now ;)

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 10:43:34 GMT

WOW! What an awesome response from all of you!!! It's obvious that it will probably be a good idea for me to get back in... hee! Jim - Excellent point about Dad and kiddos getting some bonding time together! Dorothy - I could even go for 30 minutes! I really missed exercise throughout my pregnancy, threw up left and right and my belly got so big I could barely move! Geochuck/tomtopo/Mark/TJBurk - It is important to me to be a good role model for my kids and also for the hubby - I could either find a place that would watch the kids or everyone can come to the pool. GREG! - HI! I miss you guys! We have "moved", but we still haven't sold our house in OH yet... however, it's the last thing on my mind right now - ha! I hope you are swimming fast (as usual), how is the new coach? Please tell everyone that I said hello - I miss Mike's humor in the wee hours of the morning! Stud - What's up?!?!?! The sarge is back. HA! Fortress - Mommy guilt pretty much sums it up... but, I desperately want to buy a treadmill so I can run, maybe I'll be able to talk the hubby into it just in case I can't get to the pool much. Slowswim - I like what you wrote, fathers are definately not babysitters. Nellie - I think I may try the "odd" hours thing first and just hopefully everyone will stay asleep while I go swim, that would be the perfect situation and erase that Mommy Guilt!!! THANKS AGAIN EVERYBODY, YOU ALL ARE INCREDIBLE!!! :applaud:

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:59:28 GMT

Congratulations on the birth of your twins! You must be busy, busy, busy. And tired. I think the response that dorothyrde gave is right on the money. Try to take the time for yourself; after giving birth to twins, having a toddler, and doing everything that goes along w/being a mom, you deserve it. I had a baby a few months ago and found swimming to be a way to recharge. Luckily for me, my husband swims too, so he's been great about making sure I have some pool time with our team. While our group swims four times a week, my husband and I now each swim two nights while the other stays home w/the baby. It's not what it used to be, but after being with the baby all day, I appreciate masters swimming even more than before. I don't know if this is possible for you, but something I did when my little one was still waking up at 4:00 and 5:00 in the morning for a bottle, was to feed him, put him back to bed, and then head out to the pool. (Our gym is open 24/7, and it has a decent pool.) I figured that since I was up and dad and baby were asleep, why not swim? Using the odd hours, especially when I didn't have to worry about childcare, helped me get in a guilt-free swim. Again, congratulations on the birth of your twins, and good luck getting back into the pool.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:49:15 GMT

Congrats!! As a new father, I loved my time with my daughter and my wife needed the down time. Remember, Fathers are never baby-sitter so you can't "stick" him with his kids. You need "me" time too.

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:19:37 GMT

Hello all. It's been forever since I've posted here - some of you may remember me. Anyways, I actually just gave birth to twins and I also have a toddler... I'm wanting to get back in the water and I don't know how I'm going to find the time to swim!?!?!?!? Any advice? The twins eat every 3 hours and sleep most of the time, but I would feel awful to leave my hubby w/ 3 kids while I go piddle around in the water! Help!:drown: Welcome back, sarge! :D Get in some infant and mother swim clases and maybe u might find sitting there too at the Y or something?

RE: How am I going 2 B able to start back up?

Former Member — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:20:29 GMT

Welcome back Sarah and congratulations on your new little :angel::angel: Jim hit the nail right on the head....this is an amazing opportunity for dad to bond with the munchkins.