This morning I got a call from a nurse at Kaiser.  As I mentioned yesterday, I assumed it was a call with the exciting news that I’d failed my gestational diabetes screening and would have to take another test.  But this nurse, who said she had my lab results, began by saying she had good news!  All I could think was “What in the world?  What good news could they call about from the lab?”  She told me with enthusiastic delight that I do NOT have HIV!  I’m thinking “Ummmm…good.  Why did you think I might have HIV?”

Now, I am blessed to be in a situation where I’ve never been concerned about whether I have HIV.  It’s never even occurred to me that I might have HIV.  I don’t think I’ve ever been tested before.  It was a rather confusing surprise to have someone announce to me with excitement and even some relief in her voice that I don’t have HIV.

Then I recalled that I’d had a bunch of blood work done at my prenatal appointment, and that probably automatically included an HIV test.  She was going on about how I should be tested again in six months to be totally sure, but that this test was a good sign, and that I’m very lucky.  I couldn’t help but interrupt her to explain that I’d never thought I might have HIV and that it was part of a prenatal bloodwork panel the doctor had ordered for me.  She stopped, congratulated me on my pregnancy, and seemed a bit disappointed that I wasn’t as enthusiastically pleased as she about my test results.  I thanked her and said something like “I never thought I had it, but I guess it’s a good thing to know I don’t.”  She replied seriously, “Yes dear, it’s a very, very good thing that you don’t have HIV.”  And we pleasantly ended the phone call.

It made me think of what a hard job she must have, calling people who are worried about contracting such a horrible virus and informing them of their fate.  She probably sits on the phone trying to comfort people all day, with few encouraging facts to share with them.

It also made me think, a few minutes later, that I am blessed to not be worried about something like having HIV.  My complaints are all temporary, relatively fleeting things that I know will probably go away eventually and have good treatment options.  I am confident in my husband’s past, present, and future faithfulness to me and mine to him.  What is a little morning sickness and gestational diabetes (which come with the blessing of a baby in the end) to the alternative of HIV and some of the things that would put me at risk of having it?

It’s nice to get good news when you’re expecting bad news.  And it’s good to have another thing to be grateful for.

I’ve been exercising 30 minutes a day, every day except Sundays, for more than 40 days now!  This is a huge change for previously unathletic me, and I’ve learned a couple of things in the process.  I thought I’d record my thoughts on the subject while I’m in a good mood so that next time I feel grumpy about exercising I can read over it again.

1. Exercising is great stress relief, helps me relax, and puts me in a good mood.  Even when I hate it while I’m doing it, once I’m done I have more patience with my family and it’s easier to have a good attitude about my problems.  I’m generally happier than I was before I started exercising every day.

2. Variety is important for me.  I’ve been doing a yoga video at home in the evenings for the last couple of weeks because I could do it inside with the kids, and at night when it’s too dark to safely go outside (and I’m sure people are in the apartment complex gym…I’m shy that way).  The last two days I started getting REALLY annoyed with the woman on the video and started exercising half-heartedly.  Last night, in the middle of my video, I decided to try something else.  I got the iPod out and went for a walk around the apartment complex–it was only dusk (reluctant thanks to Daylight Savings), and being outside was really refreshing.  This morning I walked for a while outside, then went to the gym and ran for a while, then lifted some weights.  It’s much easier to keep exercising if I can quit Option A when I get sick of it and have Options B and C to switch to.

3. Exercising while listening to something helps me work out longer.  Listening to the scriptures helps me focus and be calm (plus I get some scripture study in), while listening to upbeat music motivates me to keep going and distracts me when I don’t want to keep going.

4. Working out in the morning is best, even though it’s possibly the hardest time of day to make myself do it.  When I do it in the morning, it’s not hanging over my head as a to-do all day.  I also have that feeling of confidence-boosting accomplishment to start the day with and motivate me to keep it up.  Plus, I’ve got the endorphins going while I do my foundational work of the day, instead of “wasting” them while I sleep at night.

5. I sleep better when I exercise.  I haven’t had a whole lot of trouble sleeping since high school (when I hardly slept at all), but early this year stress started bugging me to the point that I couldn’t shut it off when I got to bed and it would take me a long time to get to sleep.  Since I’ve been exercising, that problem has totally gone away and I usually go to sleep happy.

6. Exercising every day is possible with little kids and without money.  Sometimes the kids work out with me.  Sometimes I exercise in 5-min increments in order to get my 30 minutes in.  We had a couple of nights without electricity and I still exercised.  I haven’t spent a penny on working out since I started this goal.

7. I don’t have to exercise a huge amount or get super-sweaty to make a difference or to lose weight.  Even a happy little walk outside or the easiest level of that workout video is worthwhile.

8. Runners aren’t as crazy as I always thought.  Running is sometimes easier than walking fast…who knew?h

9. My body really does improve and get stronger as I consistently exercise.  Having never really exercised regularly, it was hard to believe that if I made the effort I would see a difference.  Everyone has heard that exercising a muscle will increase its strength, but now I’ve actually experienced it.

10. Exercising alone is one of the few things I’ve discovered that will convince my mind to turn off its “mom-radar.”  You moms know–it’s that part of your brain that is always paying attention to whether the kids are doing okay.  It’s on when I’m sleeping, it’s on while they’re sleeping, it’s even on when Colin is watching them while I go on errands by myself.  Until now, the only time I would find that it would turn off was when I’d pay a trusted babysitter to watch the kids and go on a date with my husband.  But when I’m exercising alone away from the house it turns off.  Exercising is at least as good for my sanity as our weekly date.

11. Having social support is important.  For those days when I’m discouraged and don’t want to keep it up, it’s a huge help to have Colin around to be accountable to.  I know he’ll ask me if I exercised before we go to bed, and I don’t want to say no.  And if I tell him I don’t want to exercise today, he’ll give me a long list of reasons not to give up.

12. Rewards make it easier, and they don’t have to be food-related or expensive to be motivational. Especially at the beginning, I found myself thinking of how I could keep walking for just a few more minutes or stay up the extra half hour at night to get my 30 minutes in, because if I did I’d get flowers at the end of the week.

13. Ironically, when I exercise I have MORE energy to do other things, not less.  Weird, but true.

14. Weight lifting is sometimes more fun than yoga, walking, running, or cycling.  You have more instant gratification–I have a feeling of accomplishment every time I finish a set of repetitions, and that only takes a minute or two in some cases.

This morning I took two kids to the doctor with me so I could get a physical.  It was an adventure!  It was the first normal, healthy, no babies, regular doctor (not an OB) physical I’ve had in I don’t know how long.  The doctor (someone I’d never seen before) seemed a little confused that I was there because I wasn’t sick.  Funny.  Everyone seemed confused that I had two kids with me, but they managed politely and positively to work around Maggie screaming when I put her down and Degen wanting to continually get another drink of water from the water cooler (he loves water coolers).

The doctor checked the red spot on my tummy and said it’s no big deal, just an infected hair folicle that should go away on its own.  The scar on my back is definitely just a scar, not a cyst, but may be the kind of scar that keeps on growing.  As my sister later said on the phone “what’s the difference between a scar that keeps on growing and a tumor?”  I’ll have to ask my mom about that one, but the doctor thought it wasn’t a big deal.

Because of my history with gestational diabetes, he checked my blood sugar and said I do not have diabetes.  He seemed totally unimpressed with my assertion that I’d been working on improving my chances of not getting diabetes and had lost 15 pounds in the last month and a half, and I was a little disappointed that he wasn’t more cheerleader-ish about it.  He was also unimpressed that I’ve been working out 30 minutes a day for the last 40 days.  Hmph.  He did tell me to keep doing it and said that if I don’t I’ll get diabetes.

My tongue has big cracks in it, and the doctor said that can sometimes be a symptom of anemia, so he had an iron check done.  No anemia, either.  Both that test and the blood sugar test involved drawing blood, but the nurse at the lab in the office was so expert that I hardly noticed the prick!  It was seriously the least uncomfortable prick I’ve ever experienced.  Speaking of needles, I was also a couple of years overdue for a tetanus shot, so I got one of those from another angelic nurse who managed to give me the shot while I wasn’t looking and I didn’t even know for sure if she’d done it or not until I felt her stick the bandaid on.  THAT is impressive.

Degen was excited to watch him check my eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.  He listened to my heart and my breathing and Degen liked that too.  I have a feeling he’s going to start to pretend he’s a doctor soon.  Maybe a Batman-Doctor.  Degen and Maggie both have been entertaining us by singing “na na na na na na na na BATMAN!” at unexpected moments lately. They both like the old Adam West 60s version of the Batman Movie.

So, clean bill of health.  Nothing to do but what I’m already doing.  And now I can step on rusty nails sans consequence…j/k

As of today, I’ve exercised eight days in a row (excluding Sundays) for 30 minutes or more each time. I don’t think I’ve done that even once in my whole life before now. Yay Bethany! Also, because it’s Saturday and I managed to do each and every one of my health goals every single day this week I got to go buy myself a bouquet of flowers! Colin and the kids went with me to buy them before General Conference this morning.

I ended up choosing three little bunches of yellow daffodils from the florist’s refrigerated room of beautiful blooms. I was expecting to go to a grocery store or Walmart to pick up a bunch, but Colin surprised me by taking me to a real florist shop with lots of variety to choose from and friendly, knowledgeable sales people. It was definitely more romantic and rewarding that way. Thanks Colin! Degen held the flowers in his lap almost the entire way home (he wanted to smell them) and wanted to help me put them in a vase.

As a bonus to my great feeling of accomplishment and my lovely motivating reward, I LOST FIVE POUNDS this week! Isn’t that awesome? Plus, I’ve felt quite healthy and generally positive about life. And exercising has been really fun and a good break for me with legitimate alone time. I’ve borrowed Colin’s iPod each time I head for the gym and listened to my tween Mega Movie Mix CD that Colin bought for me a couple of years ago.
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It’s cheesy and I would hate to admit it’s what I listen to in front of a sophisticated audience, but it’s clean and a bunch of it has a good beat that’s perfect for exercise. I listen to other songs, too, but that’s my current default. Watch out FOO8!

Today I lifted weights on the crazy, huge machine that has about 10 different kinds of weights to lift. It looks like a demented black-and-white metal octopus. I never know quite what to do with weights, but since I’m almost always alone in the gym I figured I couldn’t embarrass myself too badly by trying. Ironically, just as I was finishing my attempt at lifting and heading over to the treadmill, someone came into the gym! It was a big, muscular man who must have been a football player when he was younger. I told him that he was welcome to change the TVs to something other than Food Network (which he immediately did with a little chuckle). He then proceeded to lift with great confidence and apparently no effort about 2 million times more weight than I did (yes, I exaggerate…a little) about 100 more reps than I did. This didn’t intimidate me, however, because I’m a beginner AND it gave me a chance to watch him covertly in the mirror so I could find out how the machine was supposed to be used. “Oh! That goes behind your shoulders!” was typical of my internal responses. So, thanks to the big man in the gym who didn’t know he was teaching me how to use the weights machine.