What was harder? Childbirth or completing and Ironman?

Some time ago I blogged an entry contemplating which would be harder, having a baby or completing an Ironman distance triathlon. I am now able to look back and compare the two (disclaimer: this is a representation of my own personal experiences so don't take any advice from this. Individual experiences may vary greatly!!)

The training & preparation for the big event.

I definitely preferred training for an ironman rather than the 9 months of pregnancy! Whilst training for Ironman I was the fittest I had ever been, I looked good in my bathers at swim training and had a tan for the first time in my life, even if it did come with the terrible tan lines that only a cyclist manages to achieve. I could eat as many carbs and as much icecream as I wanted as I was burning so many calories in training. 

I hated my 9 months of pregnancy, the only enjoyment was knowing that at the end I was going to meet my beautiful baby girl and I did also love every time I got a sneak peak of her at the ultrasounds. Otherwise my pregnancy was not much fun at all, I constantly felt queasy and at times actually vomited (especially in the last trimester) I craved lots and lots of carbs but eating them was making me gain weight rapidly, I attempted swimming to try to keep a little active but looked like a beached whale in my bathers. I gained so much weight that it hurt to even walk in the end!

The big day!

The ironman race had a specific day with a specific start time, in the lead up I was anxious and nervous but felt prepared as I had trained hard. The event itself was tougher than I expected and by the last 10km of the run every little step was a massive effort but I always knew exactly how much further I had to run.

Whilst there is a due date for babies to be born on it is not very often that they actually arrive on this date and I was no exception with my little miss deciding she was far too comfy in her warm little home and arrived 8 days late. In the days leading up to my due date I was nervous, anxious and extremely impatient, I was over being pregnant and wanted more than anything to meet my little girl and hold her in my arms. I had no idea what to expect with labour so in the days leading up to the birth every time I felt a pain I thought that I could be in labour.  After a few false alarms and many acupuncture treatments I was finally in labour, I don't know when it exactly started and I had no idea how long it was going to go for. When I initially went to the hospital they told me that I was only a couple of cm dilated so I should just go home. I went home for a little while before starting to feel a lot of pain and headed back to the hospital. I had no idea how many more hours I was likely to endure this pain for and to be honest I didn't think I could keep this up for hours and hours as the pain was intense. After about an hour at the hospital they finally found me a room and I had decided at this point that I wanted drugs! Unlike an ironman event where drugs are not permitted I wanted to throw my natural birth plan out the window and take whatever drugs I could. But there were to be no drugs as I was about to deliver this baby, my labour had clearly progressed quite quickly and there was no time for drugs, or for Luke to run back to the car to get my bag and the camera. The labour pains and the pain of pushing out a 3.88kg baby were intense and there were times when I thought I couldn't do it, but unlike an Ironman where you can choose to pull out at any time during the race, this was one event that there was no retiring from!

The finish line

At the finish line of the ironman I hobbled across the line, completely exhausted and received my finishers medal and towel. I could barely walk and the first thing on my mind was icecream, lots of icecream! I had completed my biggest challenge to date and as tired as I was I was pretty proud of myself. I was now an Ironman!!

At the end of my labour I got to hold my beautiful baby girl in my arms, I can't even describe the feelings that I felt when I held her in my arms for the first time. I was absolutely exhausted, extremely emotional and overwhelmed with the love I felt for this baby that I had created and grown. This was a much better reward than a finishers medal and towel! I was now a mum!

After the event

In the days after the ironman I felt sore and could barely walk, I slept like a baby from pure exhaustion and I got to party! I also put on a few kg's as I wasn't training and I was probably over indulging just a little at plenty of end of year parties.

In the days after giving birth I felt a bit sore, I had lost 8kg's immediately and plenty more dropped off fairly quickly, I didn't get much sleep as I had to care for my baby and feed her and there was certainly no partying to be had. But who needed to party when I could spend all day cuddling my beautiful baby girl in my arms. 

Whilst it had always been a goal of mine to complete an ironman triathlon the achievement doesn't compare at all to having a baby, it doesn't even come close. Being able to call myself a mum is a far greater reward than being able to call myself an ironman.