Amber Miller was nearly 39 weeks pregnant -- expecting her second child any day -- when she set off from the starting line of the Chicago Marathon Sunday.
She ran and walked even as contractions started kicking in toward the end of the race. But she managed to cross the finish line -- and grab a bite to eat -- before giving birth to baby girl June Sunday night.
"I got the OK from my doctor to run half, and my husband ran with me and supported me along the way," Miller told WGN-Channel 9 from her bed at Central DuPage Hospital. "I ran half and walked half, that's how I finished.
"Everybody just kind of stared as I'm running by.?
Miller said she had been running throughout her pregnancy and marathon officials did not discourage her.
"Nobody tried to do that," she said. "It wasn't too bad, you know? I have been running all the way up until this point anyway so I'm kind of used to it."
She finished the marathon in 6 hours, 25 minutes and 50 seconds. Not her personal best, but she did beat her husband.
?Without training for it, he actually got a little bit behind,? Miller said. ?But he was out there with me.?
Miller said the contractions started out "just randomly? during the race.
?But I think just from running throughout the pregnancy, I?d usually get a contraction here or there anyway,? she said. ?But then, a few minutes after I finished, I started feeling the contractions and they were coming every five minutes. So I think we waited an hour or so just to kind of make sure it was real labor. They were pretty consistent at that point.?
After grabbing a sandwich, she headed for the hospital and June was born at 10:29 p.m. Seven pounds, 13 ounces.
Asked if she was going back to work today, Miller laughed and said, "No, I will not. I'm taking it easy today
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Woman gives birth after finishing marathon
Has everybody else seen this story? Since so many of you ladies are moms and/or runners I was curious what everybody thought.
By Ronnie Reese and WGN-TV
2:59 p.m. CDT, October 10, 2011
Re: Woman gives birth after finishing marathon
I feel bad for her because I'm sure she was flipping exhausted after running/walking that far and then giving birth - but I'm not side-eying her for endangering her baby or herself or anything else that seems to be happening elsewhere on the the nest. (and in the cube next to me)
My Goodness...another food blog. Featuring: Macarons from a old post with a photo taken by my mom for a break from my crappy food photos!
DE IVF #1= 04/11 - BFP
That's great for her. If her dr told her to go for it, and she was full term, I guess its really no big deal. If it were earlier in the pregnancy, I think it would be pretty risky as far as possible setting off premature labor.
FTR I have no desire to run while pg.
The radio show I'm listening to right now is talking about this. It's two guys and they are flipping out. All the women callers are saying its fine.
Personally, if her Dr. said it was ok, then i think it was fine. She said in the interview I saw this morning that running marathons wasn't out of the ordinary for her before she was pregnant.
I don't see any problem with it as long as her Dr. was fine with it and she knew what she could handle. I ran until 31 weeks during my pregnancy, and did 11 races, no marathons for me but I did do 3 triathlons. I actually felt really good until about 28 weeks into my pregnancy, and knew at 31 weeks it was time to give my body a rest.
My Dr. does not think that my activity level during my pregnancy was the cause for my pre-term labor.
You were actually the first person I thought of when I heard the story. You doing your races seemed perfectly normal. You were a runner - you were already in shape - it was just a matter of maintaining that conditioning through the pregnancy.
Now if I got pregnant and decided I wanted to even do just a 10k - that would be insanity, but I'm starting from scratch. There's a HUGE difference.
My Goodness...another food blog. Featuring: Macarons from a old post with a photo taken by my mom for a break from my crappy food photos!
She most likely went into labor because of the race, which is fine since she was full term and her body and baby were ready. I wonder how long she was in active labor and what kind of birth she had. Many women compare the natural high you experience after a natural delivery to the "runners' high" as the endorphin release is similar.
Walking (and I would think running,) sex and nipple stim (sorry if that's TM for some of you delicate flowers) are the only DIY things that can help get dialation & contrax going that actually work. FTR- I am too lazy to walk/run the distance required to get move things along.
It's pretty sad that I was in better shape during pregnancy than I am now. You better start your training now so when you decide to have kids you'll be ready to do a marathon on the way to the hospital.