Sofia Hawkins Pierson is born!

After a very looooong 38 1/2 weeks of pregnancy, Sofia came into this world "relatively easily" on Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 6:28pm. We were happily surprised to find out she was a girl.

She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and measured 19 3/4 inches long. She has very long legs, arms, fingers and toes.

And of course I think she has the most precious face in the world.

At only 15 hours of total actual labor, I must say that this birth was a lot easier than any 24 hour adventure race I've ever done.

Announcing...

Sofia Hawkins Pierson

Born: Sunday, September 7, 2008
6:28pm

Weight: 6 lbs 12 oz
Length: 19 3/4 inches



Baby and Mommy are doing well after a fast and relatively easy delivery. First baby photos are currently under negotiations with the paparazzi.

Baby & Race Chatter

I got all the baby clothes washed and ready to wear. Isn't it just so darn cute!?! But I do have a feeling that some of it will be too small for "BIG TYKE!" We chose one outfit to bring Baby ____ Hawkins Pierson home in whether it's a boy or girl.

I was able to make it through two months without puking,,,,but now it's back. I was awake at my usual 4am the other morning when I had a "Braxton Hicks" contraction and then had to run to my throne to puke! Aaaaahhh,,,reminiscent of my first 6 months of pregnancy! Well, they say this means my labor day is getting close. Two and half weeks and counting!

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Just when I was about to be really pissed that no one covered the Olympic Mountain Bike Race, it aired on the very last day of the Olympics at 2:50am. No medals for the US but great fun to watch anyway. Looked like it was somewhat of a technical course which was really awesome for true mountain bikers to show off their speed, endurance and skills! Last thing they needed was a "road race on dirt!" Congrats to our US mountain bikers for a great showing. Georgia Gould has her race report up.

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Bern trekking on day 9 of 11.5 at the Patagonia Expedition Race in Chile

I've been giving Beginner Adventure Racer Clinics....basically talking to folks about how to get started with adventure racing. It's a little embarrassing when people find out that the immensely huge girl is the one who will be telling them how to race for 4 hours to 10 days! But thank goodness I'm able to show them a power point presentation with lots of photos of me racing. That makes me a little more credible so they will believe that I was somewhat fit before and have done plenty of racing.

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Did you know?
Lisa Leslie is a 36 year old MOMMY who still plays b-ball good enough to win her 4th Olympic Gold Medal!
Dara Torres is a 41 year old MOMMY who swam her way to Silver medals in Beijing.
Lynda Wallenfels is a thirty-something MOMMY who kicks booty in the endurance mountain bike scene.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are thirty-somethings on their way to starting families but most likely gonna play volleyball at the same level upon their return.

***These ladies are inspiration for me to get back to adventure and mountain bike racing!****

Chubby Chatter; Week 36 of 40

The last few weeks I've been very lazy about blogging. Especially since I didn't think anyone was still reading this blog since it had very little to do with suicidal adventures in foreign lands and more to do with my ever expanding belly. But then I received an email from my aunt in Texas who asked why I hadn't updated it in a while. Well, at least my family still reads it so I guess I better post something!

For the last 36 weeks, I have been very busy building a baby. And for those who don't know the feeling, this sort of construction requires A LOT OF REST! So I thank God for my DVR and all the great sports that have been on television! The Tour of California got me through a really rough first trimester of morning sickness. The Tour de France got me through the peak racing time while all my friends were out competing and I was at home resting. And now the Beijing Olympics are getting me through the "home stretch!"

My friends are also entertaining me via the internet while I'm on hiatus. Dave & Lynda are racing fools and just finished strong at the Trans Rockies. Fuzzy lives to mountain bike race and currently races to live. It seems like Christian and Melissa are doing adventure races every weekend! Lou is my kind of adventurous woman! And I'm living vicariously through Caroline's 24 hour solos and Mario's 12 & 24 hour duo races.

But don't get me wrong, I've been reading a lot too. I've read so much about birthing that I could do it right here at home by myself if I had to (oh shoot, I hope I didn't just jinx myself!) Anyhow, during this period of my own physical inactivity, I've been entertained and motivated by exceptional athletes, all from the comfort and safety of my own couch.
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Little did I know when I named my blog "WHO NEEDS SLEEP?" that it would apply to my final couple of months of pregnancy. Everyone says, "sleep now while you can before the baby arrives because then you will be getting NO sleep!" Hell, I haven't slept well for the last 36 weeks and it's only getting worse.
~I can't sleep on my back or stomach because it's bad for Little Tyke.
~There isn't enough room for me and my 100 pillows on the bed.
~Even with 100 pillows, I can't get my extra 50 pounds in a comfortable position so that my back won't hurt.
~I'm too hot!
~I have to get up to pee a few times. And getting myself up is a major task that requires a lot of strategic positioning and grunting.
~Sometimes I need a 3am snack.
~I have MAJOR INSOMNIA! (If anyone else is up every morning from 3-5am PST, I'm available to chat.)
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Swimming is great! After watching hours and hours of Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin, and Michael Phelps, I think my swim stroke has improved. Well, okay, maybe my doggie paddle is getting better but whatever. I've been spending lots of time in the pool because that's where I feel best and I think LT is really getting into it also. Maybe all this swimming is producing a little swimmer inside me? Sure feels like s/he's in there doing the breast stroke sometimes.
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I don't have my overnight bag for the hospital packed yet, but at least the car seat is in place. Of course we had to really read the instructions and figure the thing out, but it seems to be a really good one (according to Consumer Reports) and very easy to manage.
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My pregnancy progression in pictures...

Just found out! 3 weeks pregnant

17 weeks and already wearing maternity pants. (Probably because all my other jeans had absolutely no room to spare!)

Between 17 and 21 weeks I grew quite a bit.

22.5 weeks

28.5 weeks

29.5 weeks

30.5 weeks

36 weeks now but I went to the doc and she measured my belly as a 37.5 week belly! Yikes! I guess that means it's gonna be a big one! We're hoping that just means it's long. The ultrasound tech measured it's femur and said it has long legs.

33 weeks of 40...and counting!

I used to think that pregnant women who waddled were over-exaggerating. Like you see in all the TV shows, there are the stereotypical pregnant women waddling around and leaning back like they're doing the limbo just to sit down. Well I must admit, that is now me and I can't do a thing about it. I think most of the waddling is due to the constant pain in my hip flexors. It feels as if I've been stricken with the worst arthritis. I guess it just means my body is releasing the hormone called relaxin and is getting ready for the birth, but it makes me feel that much wider. It's hard to walk, hard to get into the car, hard to get out of a chair, hard to put on pants, and hard to roll over in bed! The only time I'm truly comfortable is when I'm in the swimming pool. (However walking to and from the pool sucks! It's like, "Excuse me,,,yes, Shamu is coming through. I know, I know, my belly is popping out of my suit but don't worry I still have 7 weeks to go! I just need to get in the water and take this extra 42 pounds off my back and feet.")




What's going on inside with Little Tyke

All of LT's organs are now developed and some are functioning already just as they will after the birth. Rapid brain growth has increased Little Tyke's head size this week. More and more fat is forming so LT's skin is becoming a rosy color. I had my final ultrasound to check on LT's growth. He/She looks to be about 5 pounds and 17 inches long and his/her feet are about 6.9cm. The tech measured LT's femur and commented on his/her long legs! For the next four weeks LT will gain up to a couple of ounces a day and the Doc says LT is on his/her way to being an 8 pound baby!

I know that LT is already head down and is very low in my belly. It seems to me that LT is just as anxious to get out as I am to release him/her. But we still have about 7 weeks to go and LT needs that time to keep growing. I love feeling him/her move around inside. Sometimes LT kicks me so hard that I jump and let out a small yelp, but mostly now they are slow movements as if he/she is stretching. Sometimes Greg and I even push back on his/her foot or arm and play with him/her. And I can definitely tell when LT has the hiccups!

We had another great baby shower and now Little Tyke officially has more gear and clothing than Mommy! Yup, it's true. I've been forced to start selling all my superfluous adventure gear to make room for all of LT's stuff!

Julie had a very cute cake made for us. Going along with the Alaska Experiment theme, there is our cabin, a baby with a chocolate backpack climbing a mountain, and the quote, "The real adventure is about to begin." Isn't that true!?!?

My Aunt Irene & Uncle Sid came from Texas to help with the party and vacation in Cali! Pictured here with friends Kirsten and Dave.

About 60 people came through the party to enjoy the great food that Pam, Winsome and Betina made!

And of course there was music and dancing involved. These guys were great! They played Jimmy Buffet, Neil Diamond, Elvis Presley and much more!

Even our Alaska Experiment producer Brian Catalina and his family showed up for the festivities!

Christian Burke and Bill McBlaine joined Greg in the baby changing contest. Although Christian had lots of previous experience with his own child, he was still caught off guard with the "special mixture" that was smeared on the diaper! But he won the contest and left with a super cool prize!

Week 29 of 40 and growing...

My "weekly pregnancy e-mail tips" suggest I learn to "power nap" during the day. They say I should practice how to nap because I will need one almost every time I put the baby down. And making the most of naps can minimize fatigue and keep me well-rested and feeling great. Hmmmm, sounds familiar! FINALLY!!,,,SOMETHING BABY RELATED THAT I ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO! I've spent the last 6 years perfecting power naps during multi-day adventure races and have even been known to catch a few ZZZZZZ's while on my mountain bike (not recommended). So bring it on Little Tyke!! Let's nap away!



They say Little Tyke is now about 15.5 inches from head to heel and weighs about 2.7 pounds. LT continues to be active and grow. In fact there are times when I think LT is having a raging party inside my belly! Sometimes I can see my belly moving all over the place and it is wild!

LT's head is now in proportion to the rest of the body. Fat continues to accumulate under the skin. The brain can control breathing and the eyes can move in the sockets. LT is regulating his/her own temperature and the bone marrow is completely in charge of red blood cell production. LT is even urinating about a half liter of urine into the amniotic fluid everyday! He/she is becoming sensitive to light, sound, taste and smell and is very busy getting ready for the birthday!

Greg listening for LT's heartbeat

The discomforts of pregnancy are definitely getting to me. I know I'm supposed to be cherishing this time however, I know I will be more than ready to pop LT out and get my body back.
Things I look forward to:
Sleeping on my belly, my back & twisting and turning as I want
Eating anything I want with out aversions and/or restrictions (I miss sushi!)
Real workouts
Not feeling like my belly is about to explode
Getting up to walk without hip flexor pain
Wearing my regular clothes

I've started preparing my birth plan. Just like a 24 hour solo mountain bike race, I cannot predict exactly what is going to happen during the event, but it will be great for me to have a written plan of attack to share with my "support crew" (AKA: doctors, nurses & Greg.) The plan is a list of options that Greg and I prefer for the birth experience including pain medication, music, cord cutting, etc. I'll get back to you with more details on the plan when we have it all worked out.

Texas Style Baby Shower

It is true! EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS! Even the baby showers!

Over 150 people attended the party in preparation for Little Baby Hawkins' arrival.

My aunts, uncles, cousins and parents threw us the baby shower of the century at my parents' house in New Braunfels.

Of course many of the people wanted to hear all about The Alaska Experiment so we went around chatting with each table and gave them more details.

Some of my best girl friends from school were there! L-R; Anissa (friend since 7th grade); Mari (since 5th grade), Denise (since 2nd grade), Jana (since 6th grade), Lisa (since 6th grade)

Greg won the diaper changing contest,,,even though the diaper was on backwards!! How the heck did I know it was on backwards???....only because my aunts told me! :)

More games!

The cake was soooo cute!

The Mama is soooo big!

The party went into the night when the DJ arrived and we all danced. Little Baby Hawkins even took a couple of spins on the dance floor!

More of my cupcake creations--Panda Bears!

Were you inspired?

The Alaska Experiment show is over.

Were you inspired...
To get outdoors?
To go camping?
To get in shape?
To spend more time with family?
To buy a really good heater?
To sign up for The Alaska Experiment Season 2?
To have a baby? :)

Tell me! Post your comment.

Shopping for Little Tyke

I've entered a whole new world of SHOPPING FOR BABY! Who would have thought that a tiny little creature would require sooooo many things? And who would have thought there would be sooooo much studying involved in choosing those things?

So I decided to cheat and have the answers given to me on-line. ConsumerReports.org has been a total time saver and I highly recommend it. I go to the product I'm concentrating on,,,say for instance DIAPERS. And it gives me:

1) a basic rundown on the differences between cloth and disposable diapers
2) reasons why I would choose one or the other
3) estimated costs of each of them
4) how many I need to start

This is all really great information for me who has never had any experience at all with baby diapering...or babies in general! :) So after lots of reading and product comparisons on ConsumerReports.org, I was able to wisely choose a crib, stroller, car seat, and a bunch of other essentials.

Whew! Well luckily TARGET has everything! I thought about registering with Babies R Us, Pottery Barn and other stores, but Target seems to have all the right items at all the right prices. No need to spend a bunch of extra money at specialty stores when Little Tyke is gonna grow out of it all so fast. We'll save the money for tennis and golf lessons...and college too I suppose! (Nope, no adventure racing for LT...too dangerous! ;-))

There's a whale in the pool!
I'm now 25 weeks into this pregnancy and about 25 extra pounds into it also. It's been rough carrying all this extra weight but swimming has helped tremendously. The more I swim, the better I feel and the stronger my back gets which helps me sleep better.

There are sharks in the kitchen!
My highly anticipated "nesting" phase has arrived but not in the form of cleaning and organizing. It's come in the form of CUPCAKE MAKING! These are my latest creations...

I guess the up side to this form of nesting is that I don't really like sweets so I don't eat them. I just make them for other people so put in your orders now folks!

Bernice's Alaska Experiment Journal

They posted my journal entries on the Discovery website. If you didn't get enough of us on TV, you can find out a little bit more of what it was really like for us at Hawkins Glacier Cabin. :)

And since we finally made it off the glacier alive (just barely), there is only one more new episode left. It is the "Reunion Show" that will air next Tuesday night, June 10. The ten of us got together with a special host and we answered questions about our time in the wild.

People like the show!

The Alaska Experiment seems to be really popular. Lots of folks watching (over 2 million per episode) and lots of blogs going on. They even aired The Alaska Experiment marathon last week in response to the great demand! The official Discovery blog about the show is here. The website should have our video and written journals up soon.

Discovery is so pleased with the show that we've been doing follow up interviews and filming. There are three more new episodes left to air on Tuesday nights so keep tuning in!

The Alaska Experiment previous episodes can be seen on-line at video.discovery.com. The show is also going to start airing in the UK on May 26. It will be cool for some of my foreign friends to watch. Here's more info.

Some folks are wondering why we did it:
Was it to be on TV and get our 15 minutes of fame?... Well, I can honestly say that we actually wished we could have done it all without the cameras. But it has been great to have our families and friends take a look at what we learned while living in that wonderful land.
Was it for the money?...NO, there was no money, no new car, no million dollar prize at the end. For us the reward was an incredible outdoor experience of a lifetime that we got to share together.
Was it for the challenge?...Sure. We all get so comfortable living in this "world of conveniences" that we thought we'd put ourselves out there and find out if we could survive without running water, electricity, television, internet, and all the things we take for granted in the modern world.
Was it to get closer to each other?...Yes. Even though we've been married for 12 years, it's amazing how much more we learned about each other when we relied on each other for survival. The lack of outside distractions allowed us the chance to really communicate and understand each other's feelings so much deeper than ever before.

Whew! Anyhow, yes it was an incredible experience that we will remember for the rest of our lives. And we hope that it will inspire others to REALLY get away from the madness of the lifestyles we have created in our fast paced lives. Take a break from work, from TV, from internet, from telephones, and enjoy the environment in which you live no matter where you are. Maybe not for 3 months, but for 3 days or at least 3 hours.

We are half way there!

Week 21 of 40!!!

Last week I had a Level 2 ultrasound and an amniocentesis. These tests were suggested by my doctor mainly because,,,,well.......I'm old. Oh, come on!?! Okay, I admit, I'm 35 but I feel like I'm 25. And when I'm flying over the handle bars of my bike, I feel like I'm 12! But whatever, I guess my eggs are 35 years old so I took the tests.

Level 2 Ultrasound
This special type of ultrasound gave a very specific glimpse of Little Tyke. (But no, much to my Mom's dismay, I did not find out if LT is a girl or boy!) LT weighed in at 11 oz. and looks to be taking shape nicely. S/he was doing the "Macarena" in there and didn't stop moving the entire time. Even the technician was giggling at how much LT was moving around. I guess s/he already likes being on camera! :)

LT's heart had all four chambers pumping strongly and the kidneys, bladder, stomach, brain, and spine all looked good. My amniotic fluid levels, the location of the placenta, and the fetal heart rate also looked good.

I could have sat there all day and watched my Little Tyke but the show was soon over and the next test began.

Amniocentesis:
A small amount of my amniotic fluid was removed from the sac surrounding Little Tyke. The sample of amniotic fluid (less than one ounce) was removed through a long, fine needle that was inserted into my uterus through my belly! Yikes, sounds freaky huh? Well, since I was already feeling a bit queasy from my never ending morning sickness, I decided not to look at the giant needle that was going into my belly! (No anesthesia) The fluid was sent to a lab and tested for certain genetic defects. Thanks to God everything was normal.

So far it looks like all my puking hasn't affected LT at all and s/he is progressing nicely. They say Little Tyke can hear me now and some outside sounds as well. So I've taken up the guitar so I can play for LT. Greg says LT is probably covering his/her ears when I practice but I'm guessing now is the best time to play for LT since s/he probably doesn't know good from bad yet! :)

My progress report:
1. NO the puking hasn't completely stopped! It appears I'm in the 15th percentile of women who continue to have morning sickness past the first trimester... oh lucky me! I'm still on Zofran to control the puking when it gets absolutely unbearable.
2. NO clothes to wear! Yes, I bought some maternity clothes and I wear that, but how many times can I wear a "hawaiian flowered potato sack" over my shoulders?
3. I can't breathe! LT is starting to take up a lot of space in there and it makes it harder and harder to catch my breath, even when I'm sitting still!
4. I can't sit still! Sitting upright is starting to get uncomfortable. I had to pre-order my first Mother's Day present....a rocker/recliner that will allow me to recline comfortably with my growing belly.
5. I can't hold it! When I gotta pee, I gotta pee and damn I gotta pee all the time! Good thing I have lots of experience going in the bushes! Be careful if you invite me to your house and the WC is "Ocupado." I might be outside watering your lemon tree!

However, feeling Little Tyke's kicks and punches inside my belly make all of that other stuff worth while!

Our Alaska Experiment Premier Party

About 120 people showed up to our Alaska Experiment premier party! Everyone had a great time eating, drinking and cheering us on as we entered the wilds of Alaska and headed to our cabin.

The cast: Greg & Bernice at Hawkins Glacier and Jasmine & Tim (Allan lives in NJ) at Flower Lake

The calm before the storm.

By the time the show started, the room was completely full and there was standing room only.

But the early birds were treated to pizza, salad, beer & soda.

Even my neighbors showed up!

Mel & Kat take time to see a photo of Little Tyke!

Kevin!

Kurt, Michelle, Anita

The adventure racing gang

Jack is so handsome.

Carl and King Richard

Eron and Cindy enjoyed my "popcorn" cupcakes!

Laughing at ourselves on the show.

Greg and Red

Arzu made this great cake that had our cabin, the river, the mountain, and even the mountain goat!

I've officially started "nesting" and baked over 80 "spaghetti & meatball" cupcakes and "popcorn" cupcakes for the party. They were a big hit!

Thanks to everyone who came to the party and made it so much fun!