Cheeky Run Club

Pregnancy & running with Anna

• Phoebe Pincus & Anna Coldham • Season 8 • Episode 5

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Happyyyyy Monday crew!

In the third and final instalment of our Road to Baby series, we discuss Anna’s current pregnancy, including fears, joyful moments, symptoms, and (of course) running. If you haven’t listened to the first two episodes of the series, start from the first episode here.

Anna also answers some questions you guys sent through in terms of your cycle coming off birth control, running while pregnant and how to best support your partner trying to fall pregnant.

Finally, we finish off the episode by going through the Cheeky Track Night survey results, which 1600 of you took the time to respond to (thank you so much!). We can’t wait to build this event with you all!!! 

We understand this episode may be difficult for some of you, and if this is you, please know that you're not alone, and our hearts go out to you. If you or anyone you know is struggling with what we spoke about, please seek support through Pink Elephants or Lifeline. Our Instagram DMs are also always open.

LINKS:

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts + Instagram, TikTok, Substack, Phoebe's Strava + Anna's Strava, and join our Strava community 🩵

Music produced by Hugh Raper & logo design by Michael Cotellessa. Podcast edited by Kiara Martin.

phoebe:

Cheeky Run Club recognizes that every day we live, work, and run on Aboriginal land.

anna:

Welcome to Cheeky Run Club, the social running podcast and Welcome to Cheeky Run Club, the social running podcast and community for your everyday amateur runner. Hello, Phoebe. Hello Emma. And hello listeners.

phoebe:

today's app, we are chatting through the third and final part of the Road to Baby series. We'll be starting at the beginning of Anna's current pregnancy, all the way up until now, which is when this comes out. We'll be 25 weeks. Yep. Wow. You're gonna be coming on that journey with us. we also had a few people write in with questions around fertility, pregnancy journeys, especially in relation to running. So we'll have a crack at answering some of those at the end as

anna:

Mm-hmm. Yes. Can't wait. We will say from the beginning. I will say that answering the questions. I am not an expert,

phoebe:

not a doctor.

anna:

I was reading the questions being like, okay,

phoebe:

yeah. Pass, pass.

anna:

pause, pause. Can I phone a friend? or also I just wanna quickly, sorry. Before we get into the notable runs of the week, I just wanna quickly shout out my, I spoke about one sister-in-law last week, Sarah from London, who helped me when I had the miscarriage. I just wanna shout out to my other sister-in-law, Sophie, who helped me, with a few of the,'cause she is an expert in the obstetric gynecology field and she has helped me out with, a little, some fact checking, I guess that's good. Throughout this series. So she. She's probably not listening, but thank you Sophie.

phoebe:

Someone has to tell us out was fact checking. Um, well also. We, the Cheeky Track night survey has officially closed and we've had I think nearly 600 people, 1600 people register. wow. Which is absolutely wild. And we thought on this episode, we'll talk through some of the results that came through, some of the insights we got from it, and give you a little bit of an insight into what we're thinking.

anna:

Yeah. Nice. But first, let's start with our notable runs of the week. Phoebe, give me your,

phoebe:

gimme

anna:

a worst.

phoebe:

My worst. Is a confession. I haven't been to the gym in two months.

anna:

Two months? Yeah.

phoebe:

months? Yeah.

anna:

Wow. This, that's longer than me.

phoebe:

That's, that is quite some time. I went a few weeks before the marathon, and then I didn't go in like the two weeks leading up to the marathon, and I haven't been back since.

anna:

mean, I think that's completely fair enough. You have your give body a chance to rest. You've been going pretty consistently beforehand. I feel like sometimes you need to give yourself a

phoebe:

I feel like you're enabling my non

anna:

okay. Sorry. Get back to the

phoebe:

Get back. Well, I thought in my head that I would be doing lots of Pilates. Mm. Pilates is just, which I really want to be doing, but I, I'm too busy. I just can't, I cannot find the time in the day to go for an hour. whereas the gym, it is a little bit easier, I suppose, to just duck in. Mm-hmm. But I feel like I, yeah. I also feel like I either need to like, put my membership on hold

anna:

Mm.

phoebe:

Or start going again because it's becoming like a

anna:

Yeah, I mean all, you could continue as you are now. That's what my husband enjoys doing. he prefers paying for gym memberships. but not going

phoebe:

do you know Sean does that too? Sean's had the same membership for the, that gym like the

anna:

Oh, snap. Yeah. Yeah. But like, yeah, I was gonna say he's, yeah.

phoebe:

No, he doesn't go

anna:

But they are both, they're funding the gyms of the inner north of

phoebe:

Yeah. I wonder how many people there are out there that just won't cancel their gym membership,

anna:

because there's something that seems quite, I kind of get it.

phoebe:

like you're giving up

anna:

quite final about canceling your gym membership.'cause then you're admitting to yourself that you're not going, whereas if it's still just there

phoebe:

you can be like, maybe, maybe I will go

anna:

yeah. You just don't know.

phoebe:

Let us know if this is you. I want to hear about how, what is the, I wonder if which list has had the longest gap that they haven't been to the gym, that they're still paying for it. We'll see if anyone. Mm. Can beat Sean and Dave.

anna:

I six years surely is

phoebe:

Well, I didn't know if it was six years, but it's quite some

anna:

I reckon it's a, yeah,

phoebe:

it's quite some time. Yeah. Um, what is your worst run or running related

anna:

Mine is actually a swim this morning, which is kind of wild because I feel like

phoebe:

You never have worse

anna:

I feel like if it's ever a notable something, it's always the best. But, the lifeguard or someone slept in, so when we got there at six, it was actually still closed and they were setting it up and I felt really sorry for the people who would've, I mean, we got there at six, but so many people would've got there. I think it actually opens at five 30 and they were literally just standing around outside

phoebe:

waiting. Oh my

anna:

And that is just not the time of day that you wanna be

phoebe:

at five 30.

anna:

Yeah. anyway, and then we got in, we actually, it was like quite time efficient. It was also a gorgeous morning. Weather-wise, I just felt like sinking ship. I just felt so tired and just, I've never really felt like this in swimming before. I just, you know, when you feel really weak when you're running, I kind of felt like that, but in the pool

phoebe:

really.

anna:

really? Um,

phoebe:

Because you told me you can swim throughout the whole pregnancy. Yeah, yeah. Do you tend to get more buoyant or less buoyant as pregnancy goes on?

anna:

Um, I'm tipping. Well, I would've thought maybe more buoyant, but, considering how I felt today, I am gonna say less buoyant. We'll find out. We'll find out next week.

phoebe:

Okay. True,

anna:

Yeah. Yeah. No, I have, I do have a few, triathletes and stuff that I know and they all say that swimming gets way harder'cause I think Yeah.'cause you're sort of, front heavy so you're like dropping to the ground.

phoebe:

front desk.

anna:

anyway, but yes, that was my worst. And I'm sorry to, yeah. I'm sorry. To the swimming squad. Um, what about your best? Give it to me.

phoebe:

Actually my best is a prospective run. Mm. I'm hoping I'm racing 5K tomorrow night.

anna:

Yes, you

phoebe:

Yes, you are. And I've never thought less about a run that I'm doing.

anna:

maybe that's a good thing. It's

phoebe:

a good thing. I just like, I thought about it probably twice in the last week. Literally. It could not be further. I

anna:

I think I would've thought about it more than

phoebe:

Yeah. Yeah. Probably. Probably. Like, I, I just can't care. I can't make myself care about this race, but when I think about it, I don't feel negatively. I'm like, oh, fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like looking forward to it. Yeah. I did see they sent out the, there's one women's race mm-hmm. Which is classic and there's only 12 people in it. Really?

anna:

Oh. That's kind of sad.

phoebe:

so I feel like I'm gonna be guaranteed to be running by

anna:

myself. Yeah.

phoebe:

For 5K, which is not what you

anna:

are there women in the mixed races as well,

phoebe:

or there's no mixed, there's

anna:

just, oh, there's no mix. There's just men and then one female

phoebe:

One female race. I don't know how many men's races there are, to be fair. I don't really know how big of an

anna:

But I feel like we've done that event before and there've been

phoebe:

multiple multiples races or women's,

anna:

yeah. Or if, if I reckon at least two, but if I'm wrong, then at least mixed

phoebe:

at Colin. One Classic. Yeah. Oh, I don't think I've ever done it before. Actually. I've done

anna:

I've done it before. I maybe mixed. Yeah,

phoebe:

there's almost never two women's races. I feel like it's quite rare. That Box Hill Burn one we did. there were two. I

anna:

were two. Yeah. Actually, yeah. True. Maybe I'm just thinking there's more mixed

phoebe:

no, I'm excited about it. I feel like, it really could go either way. I ha I've done two 5K sessions, maybe three, 5K sessions. I haven't been feeling very good since the marathon, but then the last week or so, it has been feeling a

anna:

Yeah. And I feel like you're very fit.

phoebe:

Well, maybe, I don't know. I haven't really done a long run since the marathon, but, and

anna:

time will tell. Time will tell.

phoebe:

Time will tell. So I'm kind of excited for it. I think it'll be, I think we at six 30, so that's not too late

anna:

Yeah, that's good. Yeah.

phoebe:

what is your best?

anna:

Mine is from Tuesday Track. Yeah. It was a gorgeous morning. We actually filmed a little video for clinic that morning. The sun was shining. There was, it was blue skies. and there was a bit of warmth in the air. It was

phoebe:

yeah. It was like 18

anna:

Yeah. Not that I've been going to track for that long, but there were just so many more people than there has been the last few times. I reckon there would've been, what, 80 people

phoebe:

Oh, easily. Even a hundred.

anna:

It was really, really cool. did a session with our no longer Spanish correspondent, NAS and friend Mel, and you joined in for a little bit. and it was fun. Fun. It was really fun. Really fun. Yeah. I think I'm in the mindset now that any session that I can do is a bit of a win. I'm like, oh my God, I did another one. Yeah. Because I just, I don't know, realistically, I don't think I'm gonna be doing them for like that much longer. Yeah. So I just feel like anything that I can do, I'm like, oh my God, that was so

phoebe:

sick. Yeah. Yes.

anna:

Yeah. So yes. Tuesday track and then we had coffee after with you, and

phoebe:

we did,

anna:

no one wanted to leave. No one

phoebe:

Anna. Anna, I was laughing so much because Anna was, you could not have been more desperately trying to find topics of conversation to retain people. Anyone, as they right to leave, you're like, oh. By the way, um, did you see that TV show? Yeah. I was

anna:

Yeah. I was talking about

phoebe:

were talking about tv. show.

anna:

I was talking about a documentary. Yeah. You were

phoebe:

You were just like, I wanna sit and chat and you had this iced coffee and you drank it all. So it was just ice slept and you kept trying to swell around the ice

anna:

together. I know. I'm like, this isn't over until I say it's over.

phoebe:

I was loving it. I was like, this is Peak Anna. And it did remind me of

anna:

because

phoebe:

back,'cause I feel, I do feel like we used to have 30 of us that would all go and get coffee. every Tuesday. And we sit there for ages. Even when we first started

anna:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

before that. And now it's dropped off a lot and it's pretty quiet at the cafe, which is sad.

anna:

It is

phoebe:

felt like, I was like, oh, Anna's back informed.

anna:

Yeah.

phoebe:

She's here. This is her social event of

anna:

talking to a tree or something, be my friend.

phoebe:

Yeah. Anna's holding court at cheek. All is right in the

anna:

there's all these people being like, sorry, like lady, like I'm just trying to get to school. I need to catch the tram. Oh

phoebe:

Like are you

anna:

Oh, funny. Funny. Funny. Alright. Should we get into it? The Alright. Should we get into it? The of the three? Yeah. Parts. I mean, I'm sure I'll keep talking

phoebe:

yeah. I think we do a weekly segment from here on out, what's 25 weeks of pregnancy and running, like, you

anna:

yeah. Okay.

phoebe:

they should keep Checking in on it because it all evolves. Um, but why don't we, remind everyone where we finished up last week's episode.

anna:

Yeah. So, the end of last week's episode we spoke about When I did my pregnancy test after we were on the Gold Coast for a few days and it came back positive, and then right up until that first scan. so yeah, just kind of talked about the angst around that, but then got that scan, everything was fine. The doctor was so just like, yep, see you, see you in a few weeks. which was really nice. And yeah, I think I mentioned on last week's spot, it also made me realize that, I mean if we had have had that experience first. And then had, the one that we did have first, like with

phoebe:

him, with him where

anna:

think I would've been a bit more nervous.'cause he was very much like, oh, cautiously optimistic. Yeah. And you could tell just with his whole demeanor it was a bit different. so

phoebe:

so how, so you had that scan. Mm-hmm. You're told it's all good. Obviously up until that scan you were feeling like super anxious.

anna:

Mm.

phoebe:

mm-hmm. Whether you know how it was all gonna work out. Did you feel better after that scan?

anna:

Uh, I did. I did feel better. I think that lasted all about two hours. And I think the reason being is because the first one, I mean, yeah, as I spoke about last week, at that time point in the first one, things were okay, that, it was a few days behind, but then the next week I had a scan and it was fine. and I think I just had that in my head particularly because I wasn't really feeling pregnant at that

phoebe:

stage. Yeah.

anna:

I didn't really have any, I actually didn't really have any symptoms at all. So I think part of it was trying to kind of keep my, expectations at like a certain level, but then majority it was, I was just a nervous wreck. And I feel like even with you, you know, we'd sort of speak about it, but I feel like I just wasn't.

phoebe:

that

anna:

I was scared to let myself be excited because I thought that would kind of jinx what was gonna happen.

phoebe:

I feel like you believed in your head that it wasn't gonna work

anna:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

even, I actually, you, you just saying then you didn't have any symptoms. I have other vivid memory of you being like, I'm, I don't feel pregnant. I don't have any symptoms. So like, it's probably not gonna mm-hmm. Like, you were so

anna:

not

phoebe:

defeated, but you were so like, yeah. I just, it's probably not gonna

anna:

work. Yeah. I think I just didn't wanna let myself have Yeah. An ounce of,

phoebe:

dream like,

anna:

or like dreaming, like obviously I hoped that it would be a viable pregnancy, but I really just, I was so scared of getting ahead of myself, I think because. The let down, after the miscarriage the first time it was just such a spiral and it was I've just like never felt emotions like that. And I feel like I was trying to almost protect myself from that feeling again. So even if something did happen, I would be like, oh, well, yeah, I kind of thought that was gonna happen. I mean, in reality, if something did happen or if there's no way that I would've been just as

phoebe:

disappointed. Yeah.

anna:

Yeah. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I think it was just like maybe my brain trying to like, protect

phoebe:

itself. No, it makes complete, yeah. It when it definitely makes sense, as you say, in light of your

anna:

experience. Mm.

phoebe:

as well. Mm-hmm. so let's talk through the first trimester in maybe a little bit more detail.'cause that's, I mean, that was definitely probably where I was like most intense.

anna:

Yeah.

phoebe:

like, Yeah. Yeah. So

anna:

yeah, at that scan I didn't feel pregnant and then I, like, I didn't have any symptoms. Maybe my boobs were like a tiny, I remember the first time I was pregnant, my boobs grew and they were really sore. But the second time at that stage they, I, I don't know, they just weren't, saw at all. And then I reckon bang on. Then I had another scan and I, and I think about eight and a half weeks or something. And it was pretty much at that scan I don't know if it was that day or afterwards that I just all of a sudden started to feel so nauseous and so I was just exhausted. And then that carried through for the next six, seven weeks. Yeah, I was absolutely, I mean, you, I was cooked.

phoebe:

You were so tired.

anna:

I was actually,

phoebe:

You were the sleepiest.

anna:

I was the sleepiest girl in the world. I was like more sleepy than I was now, than I am now. And. All I was having. I mean it would've been looking back, I'm like, surely everyone noticed all what I was eating at work. I was getting these, they're not even Gatorades, they're called Maximus.'cause they're in a one liter bottle. Yes. I was getting them and these gluten-free two minute noodles from the post office and that's what I was having for lunch because I don't know, I just wanted to keep putting things in my mouth to kind of. You know when you're hungover and you aren't feeling good, so you assume that by eating it'll make you feel better. It was almost a bit like that. Yeah. But then I just really felt like plain food. I remember one time thinking that I had made this delicious concoction and I sent it to you and you're like, that is

phoebe:

disgusting. Oh wait, was this the corn

anna:

Yeah, I made corn and then put heaps of cheese in it and like mixed it around and then put probably like five tablespoons of salt

phoebe:

that looked, it was literally just yellow corn and like Parmesan or

anna:

Yeah. I feel like I reverted to being a little kid. The only, I mean, even now it's still pretty good. I feel like my favorite food is just hot chips or like corns and cheese. Tasty

phoebe:

cheese. Yeah. Okay. So plain,

anna:

savory, plain, very beige food. Yeah. Yellow food. Yellow food. If it's yellow it's

phoebe:

good.

anna:

but yeah, that was it. That in itself, I think that was kind of funny as well.'cause it's obviously not. My close friends and family knew, but the whole world didn't know. And there were times, I remember walking Ted down Swan Street a few times, which is this busy street in Richmond and there are quite a few pubs and everything along it. And I would be dry reaching on the side of Swan Street in the gutter. And I was thinking if anyone's driving past, they would just assume, they'd be like, oh gosh, that girl is so hungover or drunk or whatever.

phoebe:

Yeah. Yeah. When when did you tend to feel nauseous? Like, were you feeling it in the morning or would

anna:

this is the other thing. I don't know who I need to take it up with someone. I don't know who, but whoever said it was morning sickness is, I feel like it must've been a man that made it up because it is all day.

phoebe:

Oh,

anna:

like morning, mid-morning, afternoon, evening, night. It's all the time. Uh, for me it was all the time. There was like not one bit that felt better. The only thing that felt better was being outside. Mm. rather than being inside, I really struggled. And that was also when I had started a secondment at work. And I remember thinking in my head, these people are gonna think I,

phoebe:

I remember.

anna:

so

phoebe:

you like could not stay awake.

anna:

I couldn't say away. It was actually crazy.

phoebe:

You joined, you started as a comment, just when the exhaustion hit so badly and which we'll talk about in a second. You got really sick.

anna:

yeah, I forgot about

phoebe:

was so stressed'cause you're like, I just go there and I just can't even,

anna:

I can't, yeah. I couldn't think. It was bizarre. One time, I've actually told her, she won't mind me saying this, but my boss from my like regular job, my non secondment job, she was away one, I think it was maybe a Thursday or Friday. And then one of my other colleagues who was there, like she knew that I was pregnant and I was so cooked. I was like, I would've looked delirious at the desk anyway. And then my colleague was like, why don't you just go into our boss's office, close the door and I'll just say that you are on a meeting. And I just went in there and then just fell asleep at her desk. And then I came out and Jill, my colleague, was like, it was so obvious'cause you had this big red mark of a hand print on your forehead.

phoebe:

Oh no.

anna:

Um, what

phoebe:

it about that? Because exhaustion and that tiredness is quite common, right? In that first trimester. Like what, why do you get so tired?

anna:

yeah, I always thought that was strange because the first trim I see the embryo, the ba is obviously absolutely tiny. So I always found it weird that it was when they were at their tiniest that they could cause the

phoebe:

most powerful.

anna:

Yeah. but I think it's good. It's a couple of things. So there are I mean, your body is obviously undergoing huge changes. and even though they, you obviously can't like see the baby, there's All this stuff going on. Sort of, I guess like behind the scenes in a sense, there's like a sharp increase in progesterone, which is a big cause of tiredness. And then your body's also working to develop the placenta, to support the fetus. there are also like cardiovascular changes, your blood volumes increasing, causing your heart to pump faster. a lot of the time it's actually interesting. They don't know why. What causes you to feel nauseous? Oh,

phoebe:

Oh, really?

anna:

yeah. Oh,

phoebe:

that's annoying. I guess that's why they don't really have like a solve for it.

anna:

Yeah. But they just sort of say to help

phoebe:

it, like

anna:

Try and stay really hydrated and eat small frequent meals

phoebe:

Does that feel

anna:

yourself feel better.

phoebe:

I feel like I've heard about an evolutionary theory as to why the nausea, it's like, it's good to have food, be really sensitive to food because they didn't want pregnant women like eating anything risky. Mm. And so is it like a really big overreaction to be like, only eat the safest food, but then obviously if that, this is the wrong word, but like that tendency is too strong then you just feel nauseous all the time. Mm-hmm. But like, it's meant to be like, just like more food aversion, I

anna:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

Yeah. But then, I don't know.

anna:

Yeah. That's so strange. Yeah, because I went off meat. I was really not, especially like, I was not into meat at all. Yeah. that has come back though. also coffee weirdly, I really, I didn't have coffee at all. I just did not feel like coffee. And normally I love coffee. but then it was sort of strange. I reckon around 14, 15 weeks pretty much. overnight, it just completely stopped. Yeah. And I just didn't feel nauseous at all anymore. Yeah. It was so, it was so nice.

phoebe:

So wait, so you had a scan at six weeks and then when was your next scan

anna:

then it was around between eight and nine weeks. and then I had another, I think it was eight weeks, then I had another one 10. And then, the first big one in quotation marks, just'cause that's where, they can see a little bit more and you go to actual, proper imaging place and they

phoebe:

can

anna:

see that the heart and stuff is developing and whatnot. So that's at 13 weeks,

phoebe:

so you're pretty much having one every two weeks almost.

anna:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

Yeah. And that was that because of what had happened last time and you, you guys just like, they wanted to keep a closer eye on it? Pretty much.

anna:

I honestly, I don't even think that, I think he would've been, again, like, uh, as I think I mentioned in the last episode where, have private health insurance so, are going privately and They kind of say, just come in as much as you want. Yeah.

phoebe:

like, see you tomorrow.

anna:

you're late seat. Yeah. But I, given that we'd had a miscarriage, they sort of said you can come in every two weeks or from the eight week mark, they were like, you can come in two weeks, or we can just wait for the

phoebe:

weeks

anna:

scan, but we just opt to come in, in two weeks time. Yeah. I say we, That's okay. Yeah.

phoebe:

And how was your, so we spoke a bit about like how you've been, how you're feeling physically, like how are you feeling mentally in those weeks following that first scan and before that, I guess that 13 week scan,

anna:

I still, it kind of makes me a bit sad thinking about it, but I just, I wasn't enjoying it in this, like I didn't have this innocent joy

phoebe:

that

anna:

one would hope to have when they first, when they like find out that they're pregnant and they're kind of skipping along, with no worries in the world. I mean, granted, I feel like probably a lot of people are always a little bit wary, but I feel like I was so far the opposite way. And almost wasn't admitting to myself that I was pregnant. it was really, I really wanted to get to the 13 week scan. I mean, you even found out,'cause we had a blood test for the, and found out a few things including like genetic kind of screening and we could find out the gender as well at the, about the 10 week mark. And we thought we would want to find out the gender then. So I actually sent you the document. Yeah. So you opened it and knew the gender and then we decided, oh no, we will wait till the 13 week scan.

phoebe:

Wait, because you didn't know it yet.

anna:

I didn't know it yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just forwarded you Yeah, the email. and then Dave and I decided to actually wait till the 13 week scan. Because we thought then it can be a little bit more of a celebration that we've got through the first trimester, and now let's find out the

phoebe:

kind. Yeah.

anna:

thing. Yeah. anyway, so you knew for about three weeks before we

phoebe:

It was so hard to know. It was like a burden. Yeah.

anna:

I actually, I felt quite bad for you.

phoebe:

No, no, no. Do not feel bad for me. But it was more just like it was so I was like, I am the only person in the world who knows. Who knows. Yeah. And I was, it was so hard to not let anything

anna:

you were so good. There's no way I could have kept that a

phoebe:

really?

anna:

Oh, I don't know. I reckon, oh, actually, I don't know. I feel like,'cause sometimes if people tell me something, but I'm like, oh, it doesn't really matter

phoebe:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. then,

anna:

then I feel like I'm, I kind of like I'm quite loose lipped. But then if it's actually something important, I actually feel like I am

phoebe:

completely, I love this candid self-awareness for you. I feel like I'm quite loose lip if I don't do so. No,

anna:

but if something's actually important, I am a

phoebe:

Yeah. And I also,'cause I wanted to do a little gender

anna:

reveal.

phoebe:

for you because

anna:

your brother and sister-in-law had done the cake gender reveal. They

phoebe:

did one. Yeah. Which it's funny, gender reveals get a bad rap. But they are so fun.

anna:

They're so fun.

phoebe:

such a nice just like moment. It doesn't need to be a big thing, but just like a moment with a few people. Yeah. To just be like, this is so freaking exciting. Yeah. And yeah, they did. Elle's Mom made this cake, and yeah, it's iced so you can't see what color. But then we all just went over for dinner and cut the cake at the end and you find out the gender and so I made you a cake. Made us a Yeah. Cake. And I was so committed to secrecy that I made Sean, Sean was buying ingredients and I got him to buy both colored food

anna:

Yeah, because I know that's right. You are so good. You didn't even, you are like, he can't even know. He can't know.

phoebe:

But he guessed, he like said, he's like, I bet I could tell by your expression. And he goes, because finitely said what it is. Yeah. You've

anna:

I actually dunno. It's a girl. It,

phoebe:

a girl. He goes to me. Hmm. Is it a girl? And I swear to God, my face did not move. Mm. No. I, and he goes after like 30 seconds, he is like, yes, it's

anna:

it's a girl.

phoebe:

I was like, screw you. But I didn't say anything. I didn't let him. I didn't actually tell him. Tell him. Um, but that was a nice, I do feel like that was one of the first moments for you like. Yay. This

anna:

exactly, yeah. I feel like I actually let

phoebe:

because as you say, it was after 13 weeks.

anna:

Yeah. And they had sort of checked everything. You could see that there was a heart that was beating. It had sort of all four quadrants and they could see that there were. Two legs, two arms and that kind of stuff. It's like very, it's basic. You get a, you get a better look at the anatomy scan at like 20 weeks. but as far as 13 weeks scans go, it was

phoebe:

completely Everything was, somewhat, yeah. I remember saying, yeah, like the heart rate was really good

anna:

Mm.

phoebe:

and everything, and maybe that was in the ones leading up, but Yeah. what did that 13 week milestone mean to you?

anna:

I started growing when we left the hospital. I just think I was, so, I think it, it was the first time seeing it because the, the earliest scans, it kind of just on the scan it sort of just looks like a dot. It doesn't really look like a baby at all. And also because the 13 week scan, it's a, higher quality image and it was the first time it actually, it was in the shape of.

phoebe:

a baby. Yeah.

anna:

a little human. And there was something so magical about it. You could see the spine and it just looked real. It literally just, yeah.'cause I feel like the, the other ones, you could see the general sort of shape of it ish, but it didn't, it kind of just looked a bit alien. Yeah. Whereas for the first time I was like, that's, that's a human

phoebe:

being. Yeah.

anna:

Yeah. And I was like, that's ours.

phoebe:

That's it. Yeah. It becomes more real. Yeah. And I remember you telling me that it's at that 13 weeks or so, which is I guess end of first trimester. Yeah. Yeah. That things get less risky, right?

anna:

Yeah. Yeah. Like there's obviously still, I mean, you are never in the clear, like there's always a chance of miscarriage or, preterm birth or still birth. But the 13 weeks is sort of generally speaking. I think that's the, that's the sort of like. Why, the reason why there's that inverted commons rule social rule that a lot of people don't tell people until the 13 week scan.'cause your miscarriage likelihood decreases quite a bit after that. there's actually, for anyone who is a bit of a nervous, nearly like I am, there's this, website and it's a mis it's called if you just type into Google, like miscarriage reassure it will, and then you pop in your, how pregnant you are and then it will feed you data being like you have, and it, it like flips the narrative a little bit. Instead of saying like, you have a 20% chance of miscarriage, it'll be like, you have an 80% chance of not miscarrying. This is blah, blah, blah percent higher than it was like two days ago. Yeah. I don't know. And then you can click for more facts to kind of like make it more reassuring, which is really nice. I don't know. I feel like it depends. Some people. Might find that more stressful, but I really liked it. Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

I remember you showing me that. Yeah. You are like checking it all

anna:

time. All the time. Every day

phoebe:

Literally. Yeah.

anna:

you are 0.1% more in the clear than you were yesterday. Yeah.

phoebe:

And it, I can so see how it would be though.'cause actually it changes very quickly. Yeah, it does. It goes from being like 25% or something. like lots

anna:

like 15 to 20. Yeah. To all of a sudden being like

phoebe:

you're like 95%,

anna:

Yeah. Which is sort of, yeah. It's like nice to,

phoebe:

yeah. I just feel like it broke it down You a lot more to be like, okay, when I get to the next week, then I'm 90%. Then this week then I'm,

anna:

I think as well when you are a bit nervous about something, you know how your mind kind of goes off on these, all different directions. So it's nice to sort of have the facts being like, and also twisting the narrative a bit, being like, you are 97%. It's not, you have a 97% chance that you are not gonna have a miscarriage. Yeah. And that is like, oh, okay. It's like kind of more glass half full rather than Yeah.

phoebe:

Yeah. It's focusing on how likely it is that things will

anna:

Yeah. Yeah. So I personally felt like that really helped me.

phoebe:

Maybe we'll link it in the show

anna:

Yeah. Nice. Good idea.

phoebe:

and you got really sick at some point in this process.

anna:

Yeah, just before the 13 week scan. Actually. I got RSV when I was down in Port Ferry, which hit me for absolute six. Some people probably remember I sounded so bad recording. It was actually

phoebe:

And you blamed your dad.

anna:

I blame my dad. I still

phoebe:

my dad.

anna:

yes. I went down there for a relaxing time away. I got RSV and I don't think, I actually don't think I've ever been so unwell. I was, yeah. And I guess.

phoebe:

Probably in

anna:

part the RSV, but also because my body was Al Al already working so hard and all these changes were happening. So then like having a virus on top of that, it just, yeah. Completely flat me. But I was fortunate enough that I was with my mom and dad and they were cooking me food.

phoebe:

care of you. Yeah. But I still,'cause I remember we were having a, we were on a holiday for the podcast and you were having a holiday and then you just went down there and

anna:

I know. I got, yeah. And that also contributed to some more nerves around the 13 week scan.'cause I was worried that that would impact, the scan, but it, it didn't. And I mean, again, I spoke to my sister-in-law, I spoke to the doctor's rooms and they were kind of like, just monitor for a temperature. But otherwise, you know, there's no reason why anything should change. Yeah.

phoebe:

Yeah. I do remember you stressing a lot about how much you needed to sleep off the back of that. Yeah. Because you were sleeping like 14 hours. Yeah.

anna:

was really stressed about going back to work because I genuinely in my head was like, logistically, yeah. How can I sleep for 14 hours a night, go to work, do like life admin, do the pod. I was so stressed. Yeah, that's right. I forgot about God. Lucky you're here. I feel like there's so many things that I'm like, oh, I forgot about that.

phoebe:

Yeah. Yeah. I just remember I was sitting at coffee, I think Dave was trying to reassure you, and he is like, it's all good. Like just sleep. Just like have a big sleep. You're like, you don't

anna:

understand. Yeah. I got so frustrated. Yeah. I was like, you don't get

phoebe:

yeah, you're, you're really, you're like, you don't understand how tired

anna:

Yeah. You've never felt like this.

phoebe:

Yeah. Um, and so at what stage in the pregnancy were you able to start running again?

anna:

so I started running about the 10 week mark. I started doing walk jogs again. Yes. Which was, it was so strange. I kind of feel like for quite a while I wasn't, I mean, I, I was able to run, but like very restricted and then I got injured. So then when I wasn't running at all, and then I also wasn't pregnant. And so it was like two of the like major things that I, well, one major thing that I wanted wasn't happening. And then my, like, love of the one, the, not the one, but like the, one of the major things I loved doing, I also wasn't doing. And then all of a sudden I could like start running and walking and I was pregnant and I'm like, God, life is

phoebe:

Cryptic. Yeah.

anna:

so yeah, started running and walking at 10 weeks pregnant. that was very, I mean, in, in a sense it actually was probably. It was probably good that I was feeling so average because I really took it slow. Yeah. Just purely from a physical point of view, I could not actually do

phoebe:

much. Yeah, you're right. Actually, probably it was good to be run walking.

anna:

Yeah. And then, yeah, kind of slowly have progressed for the last 15, 15 weeks, I guess. And then so last week yeah. I think last week was my biggest week in 18 months or something, is kind of wild. Um, but yeah, it's honestly, yeah, it's funny it know when, I'm sure people will relate when you're coming off an injury and then you obviously feel super, super unfit and then after a few weeks you kind of get the hang of it a little bit and then you start to feel a little bit fitter. I think I had that for maybe three or four weeks. And then I think obviously then the pregnancy was progressing and then I started going back down the hill. Yeah. And now I feel like, so I mean, I'm just like so grateful to be able to run, but it's hard. Like running is really, really

phoebe:

Yeah.

anna:

at the moment. you did

phoebe:

a quick progression.

anna:

I saw a quick progression and then now I'm seeing a swift

phoebe:

regression regression.

anna:

but it's all part of it. And I, I'm just, I'm just so grateful to be running and still be able to run and also be pregnant. I just don't care.

phoebe:

Yeah. When did, talk us through, when that, pregnancy anxiety, that fear start to recede? or has it receded like

anna:

Yeah, it definitely has. I think after the 20 week scan, which is the big anatomy scan, so similar to the 13 week scan, you go to a proper imaging place and it takes about 30 to 40 minutes. They kind of check for everything. They check to make sure the arms are growing, the legs are growing. there's like blood flow wherever it needs to be. throughout, the liver, the heart, you can, it's pretty incredible the stuff that you can see. you can literally see the blood sort of pumping through the heart. Wow. It is crazy. and then, yeah, you can like see the brain and everything. So I think after that 20 week scan, I brought that one forward. Of

phoebe:

Of course. But actually we laugh, but I don't remember. Yeah, I remember.

anna:

because

phoebe:

I felt like you'd been feeling better and better. Mm. But then it was like, yeah, the closer the scan got, the more worried

anna:

Yeah. Then I started getting really nervous again. but then since that scan I felt like I've been able to enjoy it. And I think that's down to a couple of reasons. Like I now haven't had a scan in four

phoebe:

Mm-hmm.

anna:

which is is why wild.

phoebe:

Gal's been getting some scans,

anna:

Oh my God.

phoebe:

she's been treating herself.

anna:

normal. And I'm like, whoa, this is crazy. but I think I feel better for a few reasons. I mean, I'm obviously touching all wood, my head fingers and toes crossed. That's, I do have a uneventful and healthy next few months, but since the 20 weeks like that was completely fine. I've started feeling her move around and she moves around quite often. I think that's reassuring. And then. This is so simple, but I'm just, my belly's getting bigger. Yeah. Yeah. So with that, I'm assuming she's growing. Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

So, they're like all

anna:

the, yeah.

phoebe:

need to know because Yeah. I feel like since you started noticing her wriggling it's, or moving you've been,

anna:

yeah. I just love, I think that has been the most reassuring thing out of everything. I love feeling her move. It's, I remember at the beginning thinking it was kind of, it was a bit strange and I couldn't work out if it was her or if I was just digesting

phoebe:

Mm.

anna:

But now it's, it's so obvious. And even last night when I was laying in bed, I had my top up and my skin. You can see it.

phoebe:

No way. Yeah. Oh my gosh.

anna:

I feel like she's getting stronger as well, which

phoebe:

She's stronger.

anna:

Yeah. I mean, who knows, maybe in 10 weeks I'll regret saying this'cause I'll just feel like I'm getting punched in the ribs all the time. But at the moment it is really,

phoebe:

really, what does it feel like?

anna:

it feels like really, it does sort of feel like. Punches or something's in there, but just really gently sort of more like a just like a brush of like, hello, I'm here. Yeah.

phoebe:

That is so crazy.

anna:

Yeah. But it's strange. So when I,

phoebe:

after I

anna:

eat and stuff, then she's way more, I just imagine this is pro, this is definitely not what it looks like. But after I eat, I feel like she moves around way more. So I'm kind of just imagining her getting this energy and doing like, flips inside my belly,

phoebe:

Oh yeah.

anna:

being like, how many times can I go back and forth

phoebe:

Yeah, Um, and yeah, your belly has finally started to grow.

anna:

I know. My, my belly button has completely popped. It looks like a little nose and my belly's act. I genuinely have a belly

phoebe:

You do? Yeah. I swear. Even at like 20 weeks. you couldn't

anna:

Yeah, I couldn't. Yeah. I reckon just in the last three weeks or something, I'm like, okay, I am.

phoebe:

yeah. You said the other day, you, we were, when we were filming a video, you were like watching yourself and you're like, God, I really am pregnant.

anna:

Because you kind of forget,'cause you obviously, I mean, you feel, you do feel different, but you kind of

phoebe:

just

anna:

forget through the day. And then sometimes I catch myself in the a reflection. I'm like, whoa. I'm like, I have a gut.

phoebe:

Yeah.

anna:

Um, but yeah. It's so nice.

phoebe:

And so obviously each phase of pregnancy has its own like challenges. Like where are you at now? How are you feeling day to day? How are you feeling with your running, your energy, all that sort of thing?

anna:

I think at the moment, as I've been telling you, I have been struggling a little bit just with tightness. but I do have, I had blood tests and I am like slightly, My iron is low, so I've got an iron deficiency and then I'm slightly anemic as well. And then I think just that on top of working and like trying to be social and admittedly, I just think in the last few weeks I've probably, I've just been trying to live my old life and not really taking into account the fact that I need more rest. So I've put a ban on myself for weeknights, aside from the pod obviously, but just not to do like social stuff. And then on the weekend we were on the dance floor at, on the wedding, for I think three and a half hours. And at the time I was a little bit tired, but I thought I was fine and that the next day was so bad. Anyway, so I've learned my lesson. I have another few weddings coming up and I'm just gonna limit myself to about an hour on the dance floor and then go back and get a drink of water and sit down on the

phoebe:

day. Mm. I was thinking, I feel like you do sometimes forget that you are.

anna:

Yeah.

phoebe:

because you're in denial for so long. As in you, not that you were denied, but you didn't wanna let yourself accept that you were pregnant. Mm. And so you were just kind of going about your life. And I feel like now you're not like used to seeing yourself as in my mind, I'm like, oh my gosh, if someone's pregnant, like they like, yeah, yeah. Do whatever you need to do. You know what I mean? Whereas you don't give yourself those break,

anna:

No, not at all. It was so strange. I went for, it was really cute. I went for a walk with a couple of school friends the other day and, we were just doing laps around the park, and then one of them was like, oh, are you, are you all right to do another lap loop around the park? And I kind of looked at her, I was like, why would I not be okay to do? And then I was like, oh yeah, of course. I was like, yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Yeah. And then she, I mean, she's like, bless her. She's so nice. And then Ted did a poon and she was like, do you want me to bend down and pick it up? I'm like, no, it's fine. But yeah, I don't think I really, I, I think I need to like, allow myself to just be a bit more,

phoebe:

I think so. I think it's a combination of like, yeah, as I say, maybe you, didn't accept that you were

anna:

pregnancy.

phoebe:

But then also I feel like you're a very, like, your identity is very, like, I'm someone who keeps up

anna:

Yeah. I like doing stuff. It's really hard. Yeah.

phoebe:

And I feel like you don't, I mean, I'm just like thinking about you as a runner, you don't like to get dropped, you don't

anna:

like to, no, no.

phoebe:

No, no. You will do what needs to be done to like keep up

anna:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I feel it's really only been in the last, it's been since last Thursday. That I, I remember chatting to Dave and, well, he, I mean, he's like always the voice of reason, but he was like, I think you really need to be a bit don't try to keep up with people. You just do your own thing. It's completely fine. But like, for once, just try not to

phoebe:

like

anna:

push yourself so much. Anyway, so then last Thursday, I feel as if I, well, gotta stitch halfway through, but then I wasn't really trying to keep up with

phoebe:

the Yeah.

anna:

like Izzy Noz at the front. And then on Tuesday, the first few I was okay. And then I started to get tired and I just let the others go. Yeah. And I'm like, just, yeah, it's

phoebe:

fine. Yeah, yeah, of course. It's fine.

anna:

Yeah. Because in

phoebe:

24 weeks pregnant.

anna:

exactly, in reality I'm only, I'm only going what? Like, I'm only getting slower. It's anything that I can do is an absolute win in

phoebe:

itself. That's, yeah. That's such a good attitude. Yeah. And what,

anna:

um, it is quite hard to, I will say it is quite hard to flip that narrative though. Particularly when you are like someone who's quite competitive and really thrive. I love kind of, you know, like trying to like push myself and that kind of

phoebe:

thing. Yeah.

anna:

Yeah. So it is really hard to be like, no, you're okay.

phoebe:

I can imagine like, I feel like I can really see how you would struggle with that. Like even when I was doing the session with you guys for a little bit

anna:

on Tuesday. Mm.

phoebe:

which at that stage you were running with everyone. Yeah, yeah. But I was just like, in my head I was like, I feel like even if you were finding it so hard, you wouldn't wanna let s like, yeah.

anna:

Yeah. Well, yeah.'cause I feel like at the start of sessions, a lot of the time, you know, you people are like chatting and stuff or I'm like, I am not chatting.

phoebe:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's actually so weird running beside you. And hearing you like out of

anna:

breath. Yeah, that's what David said. He's like, you, you, you like puff.

phoebe:

you panned.

anna:

She, she bend, she bends.

phoebe:

But it's so weird.'cause I feel like normally you are, you have like the, you always are in control of your breath when you're running pre-pregnancy, you and I guess you just always like so fit. But I'm always like, notice my breathing. I'm running next to you. Whereas when she's there

anna:

you, yo, is this chick good? Can you just shut up a little bit?

phoebe:

She's laughing. So

anna:

Oh, so funny.

phoebe:

funny. Um, there's some other questions I wanted to ask and then let's get onto the, we've got five questions we've selected from the ones that were submitted by the community. Um, pelvic floor because we, we ages ago, did an episode

anna:

Yeah,

phoebe:

prenatal pregnancy.

anna:

I reckon we link that in the show notes for everyone else and also for me because I wanna listen to it again. but I've been seeing a pelvic floor physio called Laura at sense physiotherapy. I'll actually put that in the show notes because I don't think it's often that you come across some like a professional and you are, I don't know. I was just, as soon as after five minutes, I was just like, you are so

phoebe:

good. Is she so good?

anna:

she's just, she is amazing. Anyway, I'm seeing her again next Wednesday. she's really realistic. Very much just makes things like super individual really wanted to kind of like, learn about me. And admittedly, like I've had a, I've had a like shocker of a pelvic floor since I was sort of 12. Like I used to be so embarrassed about it. But I remember I had to go see a pelvic floor physio when I was in year seven at school. because I really struggled with bladder leakage whilst I ran. and I obviously told her all of that and she was just really, really good at kind of managing expectations, but very much like, we'll talk about the like labor and like birth and that kind of stuff at a later date, but for now, just like focus on these exercises. she understood the, importance of running for me and she was. Yep. Really good to keep doing it. Just if it, if it starts to get, painful or anything, obviously stop. but hopefully by the next time I see you, you're still running and we can just like, keep going from there. She was just, she was so good.

phoebe:

Oh, that's, so good.

anna:

yeah. So yeah, I'll pop her in the show

phoebe:

and so she is very reassuring about like Yeah, it's fine. To

anna:

really reassuring. Yeah, she actually, she said, and then I've,'cause I've done quite a lot of reading about it, obviously exercise and pregnancy, it's, it's a lot of unknown. Um, because historically people just. Didn't, you know, they got pregnant and kind of stopped running and, or, or just like really sort of, pulled back on the exercise. And I've spoken to Ellie, who's my old running coach. Um, she's a, well, I mean, she's an Olympic marathoner, but she's had two kids. I've spoken to her. I also spoke to Jess Stinson, which was really good. And then I've spoken to some other friends who, are really into running and have had kids just about kind of their journey. And they all kind of say each week listen to your body. one week might be better than the other one, even day to day, which I have found to be so true. One day you can feel really good. Uh, well, not really good, but like fine. Yeah. And then the next you can be really struggling to even just jog, which is so even like for me on the weekend, like Saturday, I was completely fine. Yeah. And then Sunday was such a battle.

phoebe:

Yeah. that's right. That was the perfect example of you were like, told we were going to do three laps of the park and you were like, I'm just going to do two. Yeah. And we got to the end of the two and you were looking at us like, oh my

anna:

Yeah. Yeah,

phoebe:

how can I not do it? But you

anna:

yeah, yeah. but yeah, I feel like they've just been, they've been really good and there's also been quite a lot of research that's come out to say that exercising as tolerated is actually really good for, for you during pregnancy and also for the baby.

phoebe:

Yeah. I was gonna say Doctor Izzy Smith, who we've had on the show before, she, I feel like she's been posting a fair bit about Yeah, it can be good. It can be if, if you're able

anna:

yeah. Yeah. And they, they sort of say contact sports and like things that you, that sound kind of dangerous, obviously don't do, like riding a bike and like. Playing a FL or whatever. and like skiing and that kind of thing. But yeah, it's pretty much like, it's literally just as tolerated. Like if you can keep running, go for it. Yeah, yeah. Which is, yeah. It's, I, if someone had told me you would still be running at 25 weeks pregnant, I would've been like, shit. Yeah.

phoebe:

Yeah.

anna:

So,

phoebe:

you're running and you are,

anna:

You are,

phoebe:

yeah. You're running like you're doing it within your own capabilities. Yeah. Yeah. You're doing sessions, you're doing long runs. Like so exciting. Yeah.

anna:

Yeah. It is exciting. It is. I will say it is, as I mentioned, it is getting, it's getting pretty hard.

phoebe:

Yeah, it's getting hard.

anna:

I think it, it'll make postpartum running feel really good.

phoebe:

Maybe. I don't know. Maybe,

anna:

I don't know. Maybe, uh, we'll see.

phoebe:

No, you are. Yeah. See how that relatively,

anna:

but I just, yeah. I just, I don't know because.

phoebe:

you know,

anna:

Obviously have a human inside you. Then there's all this fluid you're carrying, so like, so much extra weight, your like diaphragm and lungs are kind of like a little bit squashed. it kind of makes me, yeah, I just look at people who, you know, run up until giving birth and I'm like, that is amazing. Like one of our girlfriends, she ran pretty much on the day, bef I think it was the day before or the day of getting induced. And I, I remember at the time being like, well that's amazing, but, and now even more so. I'm just in awe. Yeah, that is amazing.

phoebe:

have a question. Have you experienced, and I guess because you're, you haven't really been showing, maybe not, but have you experienced any judgment from people about choosing to run during pregnancy?

anna:

Um, sorry.

phoebe:

no one that knows you is surprised? No,

anna:

I have, I have copied a little bit of flack. Um, but I, I think that's why I wanted to do research. About it. So I can confidently say I actually have an argument kind of thing. Or I can even like try to educate them and point them in the

phoebe:

direction Yeah, yeah.

anna:

of the reading. but yeah, I have had a few people, but surprisingly the people that are, not people that run.

phoebe:

Ah, yes, yes, yes,

anna:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

well, should we ask some of the listener questions? Yeah. Because there are some very interesting ones that came through. One, I might kick off with one that is kind of just carries on from what we were saying, which is how long do you plan to run for? Mm.

anna:

Mm, I think I'll just take it week by week. I would love to keep running, but I understand that there'll probably come a time where it's just not enjoyable or not really feasible anymore. or I'll like develop some sort of pain and at that point, because I, I've looked up quite a lot of, it's called pelvic girdle pain. and there's round ligament pain as well, which are quite common in pregnancy. It's just sort of, it's essentially like one sort of pain in your abdomen. The other one's like pain around your pelvic area. Um, and you don't really wanna inflame those.'cause once they get bad, they kind of. Hard to settle down and then can also like impact just your day to day. So if I'm in pain, I'll stop and if I stop wanting to go for a run, I'll Sorry if Yeah, if I stop wanting to go, then I'll, yeah, yeah. I'll stop as well.

phoebe:

we should talk about maybe in another episode about your, pregnancy pants. Your running

anna:

pregnancy. Oh yes. I should do an Instagram video of

phoebe:

Let's do an Instagram video. That's true. Because it's good to demo.

anna:

Good to demo. Yes. They are a site for sore eyes.

phoebe:

They're, they really are. Next question is, when should I seek medical adv advice, medical advice if no period after coming off the pill?

anna:

Yeah. Again, we are not experts at all. but I mean, I know that it takes like quite a lot of people months to get their period back, I also am of the opinion. That if you are, if something is troubling you and it's on your mind all the time, there's no harm in going to a GP and

phoebe:

Yeah.'cause they can just tell you,

anna:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So I would just be advised by them. Like, if you're worried about something, then there's, no harm in like, seeking medical advice. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

phoebe:

Yep. That's a good, that's very fair. Next one's also a no period, one no period. And scared of the weight gain phase, how to get past

anna:

Mm. That old chestnut. yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna pr, I'm not gonna like pretend that I'm on some high horse who didn't kind of find this hard. and still even now, like being pregnant, I, I find the idea of like gaining weight, overwhelming in a sense because so much of. my life, you know, you are like one size and you kind of get used to that and you're like fit and healthy, and you're used to clothes fitting, but I think the bigger picture is your health and other than your health is just like number one priority, it's like kind of all you've got at the end of the day. and that is just so much more important than anything else. So yeah, I would say just embrace it. I would say a huge thing is that if clothes aren't fitting, then just stop trying to squeeze into them just buying new clothes. It's not gonna make you feel better. Just chuck them out or like give them to give them to a friend or take them to an off shop or something. It's not gonna make you feel better. and yeah, just, I don't know, like I feel like Try to answer that question from as if like a friend's asked you, like, what, what do you think would be important? And like, what would you want your friend to do? Like your health is yeah. You don't have anything if you don't have your health.

phoebe:

Yeah. It is just made me remember the, and we spoke on the podcast before about the, the A FR article.

anna:

Oh yeah.

phoebe:

We, and we got the, all these comments

anna:

these comments. Yeah.

phoebe:

And they were the kind of comments that they were so ridiculous that I feel like normally you would've been like, oh my God. Like

anna:

yeah. But I really

phoebe:

with, yeah, because you were at a stage and also you're pregnant at this stage and like obviously your body does change in pregnancy. Yeah.

anna:

Yeah. My, yeah, I feel like my body obviously has changed in pregnancy, but I feel like it also changed a little bit before that. And it is hard. And I think that's like part of the, I've found posting on Instagram and the podcast kind of hard'cause you know, you are.

phoebe:

are

anna:

that's what people see is just you, and especially, you know, we're running, it's not as though we're like covered up. We're like in little shorts

phoebe:

and like Yeah, yeah, yeah.

anna:

whatever. but yeah, I feel like it is, it's just like a work in work in progress. Yeah. Mm.

phoebe:

I think you're right to keep that perspective of it's not to push it aside and say it isn't hard, it's sure it can feel hard, but it is what's the most important thing. is to like, be healthy and, you know, be able to have a baby if that's the goal.

anna:

that, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I think just, I don't know. I also think like chatting to people, like I was seeing a, I've been seeing a psych and like I obviously spoke about that with her and just having good people around you, like nice, like supportive friends and family and if you have a partner as well. and yeah, I think just sort of maybe take a back step or like really think about what your values are in a

phoebe:

a sense. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that's very good advice. Speaking of partners, we had the fourth question was tips for partners wanting to better support on this journey. Mm-hmm.

anna:

I really like this

phoebe:

I know,

anna:

I just think being there is more than anything and being sort of understanding, asking questions and holding space for your partner to chat or cry or not talk or just sit or do anything. I feel like I'm so lucky. I feel like these kinds of things, really kind of people's true colors in a sense, that I just feel so lucky with Dave that he's was just like so supportive the entire time and continues to be. but. Little things, like, it doesn't sound like much, but he would come to every scan and appointment with me. even like all of the cycle tracking scans to like see if my follicles were growing. Like some of those, some cycles I would have six to eight scans and he, and they would take three minutes, but he would just always come. I just feel like showing up, and just empathizing that, that means, well to me anyway, I feel like that means so much more than, I don't know, getting like a random bunch of flowers here

phoebe:

there. Mm. Um, but

anna:

but yeah, it's just like, yeah, being sort of thoughtful

phoebe:

Just being there. Yeah. yeah. Yeah. Go Dave. Go Dave.

anna:

Go Dave. Go Dave.

phoebe:

and final question, which I love. What has been the best moment so far, and what are you most excited for?

anna:

oh, best moments so far. I think has probably been when I've been, um, maybe one of the first times, that I felt her move and Dave was there and then like he, put his hand on my belly and then like, he could feel her as well. Because a lot of the time this journey, like obviously we're in it together, but because it is my body, I feel things and like I tell him about it and stuff, but it would be hard to completely feel a part of it. Whereas like that moment I felt it was so special'cause kind of felt like he's like, connected

phoebe:

Yeah.

anna:

to her in a sense. and then, yeah, I just, I love it when like he can feel it.'cause I can obviously feel her without putting my hand there. But yeah, I feel like that is really, really

phoebe:

Yeah. That is so

anna:

and then I'm most excited, I'm most excited to meet her. Yeah. I really, I'm like so impatient. I just wanna meet her now, but I obviously don't want her to come early, but I also really wanna meet her. Mm.

phoebe:

It's so crazy. Like

anna:

I know.

phoebe:

already there.

anna:

Yeah. Yeah.

phoebe:

She's not

anna:

yeah. It's so bizarre. But yeah, that's what I'm most excited for.

phoebe:

Oh, I'm excited too.

anna:

too. I'm excited for her to meet Auntie Fess.

phoebe:

I know. Oh my gosh. Well, yeah, I feel like, as I said, I reckon we, I reckon, should be a weekly segment to check in on pregnancy. It's so exciting.

anna:

It's so exciting. I mean, it will probably start coming up in my notable runs of the week, because I'll just be like, Ugh. Oh, woo-hoo.

phoebe:

True. True. We'll talk about Omar, and we've been talking about doing some content as

anna:

Yes. Yeah. Some pregnancy content. Yeah. With my b with my round belly.

phoebe:

Your little belly. Yay. So exciting. So final thing we want So final thing we want to talk about tonight is cheeky nights,

anna:

cheeky track notes.

phoebe:

We want to give a bit of an update because as we said, we've had about 1600 responses to the survey. Why? Which is so crazy. And so just want to share like a little bit of info on what we found through the survey. And we are just about to kick off the planning phase of actually bringing this to life. So just thought we'd bring you guys all on the journey with us.

anna:

Yep.

phoebe:

So the first thing, I mean probably a lot of people are run, are wondering is we asked everyone where they lived because we wanted to figure out where to launch it. Probably no surprises that Melbourne has come out on top, followed by Sydney, which is huge. We then have a, literally, there are like five. Between Brisbane and Adelaide.

anna:

Yeah. It's actually wild.

phoebe:

Then Absolutely. Neck and neck. So, that's quite interesting because I feel like based on these results I'm like Melbourne and Sydney feel like a shoe in.

anna:

Yeah. Surely,

phoebe:

But yeah, then if we do it third city, we just need to figure out

anna:

Brizy or Adelaide.

phoebe:

Brissy or Adelaide. Um, Bruce Vegas.

anna:

Which or the famous Adelaide

phoebe:

Adelaide, ELA or Brisbane. Yeah. I mean, we'll have to have a, we'll have to have a look. We'll have a look into both, both options. Yeah. I think, but also like these first ones are a pilot. They're a tester and if they go well, we'll do more. Yeah, we'll do more. So we'll, we'll try and get around, to as many places as possible. Also, so Perth, which was, fifth most popular. Which means that we probably won't get to Perth straight off the bat. However, we did get an email from some lovely ladies in WA they started a, Instagram page. SAV and Vicky from WA who have launched.

anna:

they're, so they're launching Wa Women's Track Night, which is super exciting. It kind of sounds like a similar event to Cheeky Track nights. But they were kind of saying that they feel like sometimes Perth gets left off. the map. So follow them along. If you are in Perth wa Women's Track Night, that's what it is on Instagram. Um, because they're creating a track night over in the west. I know.

phoebe:

I know. And they did say they said inspired by you.

anna:

Yeah. Which was very

phoebe:

which is really nice. Like the goal of this is that more women run on

anna:

the track. Yeah, exactly.

phoebe:

so I feel like, and I mean we need to respond to them.'cause we both read the email and we're like, oh, that's so nice. I haven't responded yet, but how good if more people are picking up this and running with it, that's a great outcome

anna:

It's amazing.

phoebe:

Yeah. And if we can help, And we've even had some messages from like run clubs in rural towns and so on who are like, oh, it'd be so amazing to have something like that here. If we can help get anything going where you are. Yeah, let us know. Like, and otherwise, obviously the more people who can like travel to Melbourne and um, Sydney and et cetera, like the better. That's amazing. But otherwise, like, let's make this happen everywhere.

anna:

Yeah.

phoebe:

get women on the track. Um, the other interesting things to share from the survey, so 75% of those 1600 people have never done a 5K track race before. So that is the vast, vast, vast majority of you. So if you are sitting there, feeling a bit unsure because you haven't run a 5K track race before, that is completely fine. This is absolutely, you'll be for

anna:

for you.

phoebe:

It is literally for you. The other interesting pieces, um, we asked, what's your biggest barrier to attending sort of like events like this and nearly 60% of you said not feeling fast enough. So that's a, for one, it's kind of funny to like step back'cause fast enough, more than half people don't feel fast enough. Yeah. And like if that's not a reflection of the amateur running scene and what it's like to be an amateur

anna:

runner. Mm-hmm.

phoebe:

and just like perpetually feeling like not quite fast enough, then I don't know what it is. the other one, which was really interesting was we asked everyone what, resonates the most about the event. And easily the biggest response was just the community and the fact that it was women only and the fact that people wanted to like get around that, which we spoke a little bit about last week, which is very exciting. And finally we kind of added a throw in question about we don't anyone be interested in pre-event meetups, training sessions, et cetera. And nearly 70% of you said yes, and then another 20. 6% said maybe. So almost every

anna:

So almost everyone's a maybe

phoebe:

fair enough. cause if you don't know what

anna:

you don't know what it means. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

phoebe:

that's so cool because I feel like that could be a really fun part of this is if we're just like, cool. If you are in the Sydney event and you want, or even if you're not and you just wanna like practice running around, track everyone

anna:

it's such a good way to do

phoebe:

all meet up and just do a session

anna:

Yeah. I love the

phoebe:

that. would be So fun.

anna:

it'd be so cool.

phoebe:

cool. Yay.

anna:

Um, so yeah, thank you so much. Thank you so much to all 1600 of you who filled in the expression of interest form and also answered all of our questions.'cause they, and so many people went into so much depth and just, yeah. And literally, I don't know, I kind of thought, oh, we're like asking a lot by, putting out all these questions, but essentially everyone just completed them all.

phoebe:

There's like some questions I think only five people didn't

anna:

ask. Yeah. Which is wild,

phoebe:

of you. That is so cool. So thank you all so much and we'll keep you all updated as we start kicking off the planning for this Sydney, Melbourne Lookout, Adelaide, Brisbane. I mean, if anyone listening is from Adelaide or Brisbane and wants to make a really strong case. for why

anna:

Our dms are

phoebe:

otherwise, who knows? Maybe will try and do both.

anna:

Alright, that's what we got time for today, but we can't wait to be in your ears next

phoebe:

week. Yay. Bye.

anna:

Bye bye.

phoebe:

did you want to do that on today's app?

anna:

No, you do that,

phoebe:

but then right now I'm gonna be. Not saying it'cause I'll go. Welcome Cheeky Run Club. Hello Anna. Love you.

anna:

yeah, true. Okay. You do? Yeah,

phoebe:

yeah, yeah. Sorry. Kiara a bit rusty.

anna:

I'm so nervous.