I am training with a speed-demon named Dennis who I met while training with West Coast Road Runners. Our best half and full marathon times are within 1 minute of each other, so I feel so fortunate to have such an PERFECT training buddy! What works out even more is that he and I both got drawn in the lottery to run the St. George Marathon next month. We've been training 2-3 days/week together; doing hill repeats, long runs, and tempo runs. And I'll have you know.... he kicks my butt. He pushes me much harder than I would push myself. And yesterday? Well.. it was no exception to the rule. What I planned to be a leisurely, comfortable 20 mile run, somehow transformed into a hill-dominating, mentally-challenging, sub- 8:00 mile, tempo run. I'm not complaining in the least, but I'll guarantee you at mile 16 I would've told you otherwise. It was by far one of my more challenging runs lately, but the second I got back to the car, that feeling came over me and I was so grateful he pushed me.
Although it might seem slightly strange and/or crazy to get up at 4:30 to inflict 20 miles of torture on myself, it was a great run. And how often do you get to watch an amazing sunrise (while running up a hill the size of Mt. Everest)? Or watch surfers catch some "radical" morning waves? Or run through beach campgrounds (while being tortured by the delicious smell of pancakes)? And how about enjoying the most delicious cup of coffee you've ever had? All before 9 AM? Yeah, it was pretty awesome.
I had every good intention of going to a coffee shop to study all day, but my legs refused to be seated in a hard, wooden chair... so I stayed at home and studied on my bed. I got a lot done and I'm happy to report that I only fell asleep once.
The best part of my training plan is that I get to do back-to-back long runs. So today at 6:30 AM, Dennis and I did run #2. It wasn't nearly as long as yesterday, but you can guarantee the 7.5 miles did not feel awesome. Have I mentioned that I'm ready to taper yet?
Okay, enough complaining and running talk. The title of my post today is Miracle Baby. And while my runs the last two days were pretty miraculous, I'm not actually referring to that! The most heart-wrenching patients to see are mothers whom you have to explain that either: a.) there is no heartbeat or b.) there is an empty gestational sac. AKA- they've had a miscarriage. It literally breaks my heart into a million little pieces and I have to hide my face as I choke back the tears.
Today we had a pregnant patient follow up that had gone to two different ER's in the last 10 days because of severe abdominal pain and vaginal bleeding. They each performed an ultrasound and she was told that the fetus had no heartbeat and she had miscarried the baby. She was then told to come to our office to schedule a procedure (without going into too much detail) to remove what is remaining in her uterus.
We went and saw the patient and the doctor explained that he would need to do one final ultrasound to confirm. After doing a little exploration, the gestational sac appeared, as did a flickering shadow. There was no mistaking... there was a heartbeat! The doctor said, "This almost never happens. I don't know how they missed it, but your baby is alive!" He was in shock! After doing fetal measurements and listening to the heartbeat on doppler, it was safe to say the baby was alive and healthy! At the visits at the ER, the fetus was simply too young to see the heartbeat. I can't imagine a more beautiful and shocking surprise for the mother! :)
I couldn't find any pictures that would reflect my happiness for the mother seeing her little miracle baby.
So... here's a picture with my dear friend, Mr. Alpaca while I was at Machu Pichu last year.
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| Sonrisa! |
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