Welcome, baby

He's finally here - my little miracle baby! We had a little boy five weeks ago, a full week and a half late (oooooof). The labor and delivery was a little tricky with some serious complications, but we both emerged healthy at the end. I will require surgery for the uterine mass later, but we already knew that, right? The good news is that I had an MRI immediately post-delivery, and not only does it now appear to be a fibroid (not cancer), but also stable enough that we can delay surgery until perfusion to the site has reduced (assuming it does, otherwise, yikes).
Baby is healthy, except for a watch-and-wait kidney condition which seems pretty mild to me, and of course his total inability to eat! He just doesn't breastfeed well, so we've been doing a combination of breastfeeding, pumping, and bottle feeding. Phew! It's exhausting!

Now anyway. On to the stuff that matters: running!
I will confess that I returned to running early, at 13 days postpartum, actually. I needed to get out of the house and clear my head! And I felt good. Well, weak and very anemic, but that was to be expected. Since then, I've been only able to run some short miles, mostly due to a not-so-stable baby schedule plus just being plain old tired. I've now been officially cleared to run, but honestly, I think that is more a personal decision than something a healthcare provider can tell you. I was most worried about pelvic floor issues, but I have had no such problems at all, thankfully.

Heading out for my first run back since baby!

Running since baby:

Distance: The furthest I have run is 8 miles so far. I've mostly been doing a 4.5 mile route.
Pace: My easy pace is still in the 10's. I did one stroller run and pace was 9:53, which was actually a pleasant surprise since it felt like 13's!
Mileage: I've run 90 miles since having the baby 5 weeks ago, so - averaging a whopping 18 miles per week. But since actually returning to running, it's been about 25 miles per week.
Injuries: During pregnancy, I tore my posterior tibialis tendon. That is mostly healed, although still sore on occasion. It just took time. I also had excruciating lower back pain at the end of the pregnancy that totally vanished as soon as I gave birth! I also had a painful SI joint, but that is almost totally gone, too (once in a long while it feels stiff, but it hasn't bothered me running). My hips do not feel 100%, but...they never really do. I am carving out time for hip exercises to maintain some strength as my pelvis settles back in to semi-normal shape.
Races: You know, I haven't signed up for anything, and I think that was the right decision for now. First I need to navigate the return to work! Then I can look more closely at the upcoming race schedule. Right now I need to slowly regain my strength, anyway.