Baby on Board
by Team Athleta • Jul 27th, 2009 • Category: Share Your Chiby Anne McColl
For a couple of weeks, I was wondering how I was going to tell my husband Ted that I had spent a lot of money on a new custom surfboard. Finally, I came up with a good plan.
That night at dinner:
“Honey, I’m pregnant,” I announced. We had been trying for, oh, one whole week.
Ted jumped up and shook his pelvis about doing the I’m-a-stud-dance and said, “Yeah, baby!”
In the excitement, I revealed the other news, “Oh, by the way, I just dropped a thousand bucks on a new custom board.”
Of course, I didn’t really get to surf much on my new longboard because surfing while pregnant isn’t the wisest idea. I was able to continue to paddle my waveski for a few more months. Those were magical mornings. I would be riding down the face of a wave and could feel my baby bouncing inside. (And I wonder why she is a daredevil.) One morning while out at Boneyards, just north of Swami’s in Encinitas, a dolphin came so close I was able to pet it. I’m sure the dolphin could sense the new life growing within me. The ancient Hawaiians called protective animal spirits aumakua. Gina is blessed with a special protector.
I stayed active kayaking, swimming, and doing yoga up until the last week. Regina Marie (known as Gina Marina) was born on July 8th. I got back in the water three weeks later, while the summer water was still warm here in San Diego.
Having a baby certainly changed my husband’s and my surfing routine. It was no longer a couple activity. Instead of surfing for three hours together, we had to tag team. First Ted would surf while I breast fed Gina on shore and then he would come in and I would go out for a session.
One morning while I was in the water, Ted met another dad with a daughter named Gina. His wife was in the water at the same time as me. Andres, Lea and Gina Sophia became some of our best friends and we met every Saturday to surf together. One year and one baby later, we collected another family into our surf group — Jim, Amy and Jessie. The two Ginas were ten months apart and Jessie and my son Robert were three weeks apart. While my children enjoyed new playmates, I gained some new surf mates. While the husbands stayed on shore, Lea, Amy and I enjoyed waves and good girl time out on the water.
Anne is a surfer and mommy in San Diego, California. Besides surfing waves, she also spends a lot of time surfing the Internet as an interactive and advertising copywriter. You can follow her on Twitter at @annemccoll and annemccoll.wordpress.com.
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fantastic story. I wish I would have had this when my kids were little. The good thing is now that they are 10 & 7 everyone either surfs and/or paddleboards together. But, the mom connection would have been so nice. Thanks again.
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Loved this story, thank you for sharing.
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I really enjoyed reading this story and thanks for sharing the photos with it. I have always wanted to surf but haven’t had the chance yet.
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This is the first summer I had realized I could no longer take my son Noah on my paddle board for the long sessions we used to have. At almost 6, he was getting too big to share the board with me. I sighed and realized it was time to let go and teach him to paddle on his own. It was a sad and sweet realization all in one!
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There’s so much to appreciate in this story… women hanging on to their individuality through motherhood but also enjoying the shared experience, families being active together (what a great example for kids!), dads sharing the parenting duties in recognition of both that responsibility and that their partners are healthier for “doing their own thing”. Most of us go into parenthood with these expectations, but meeting them–finding the balance for everyone in a family–is always a challenge. Wish I could join you, but I’m landlocked in central Illinois!
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