Well folks, I know this will probably go without saying but so sorry for slacking on my blog. For those following me on Facebook, you can confirm that it sure has been a hectic ride since my last post. For those not following me on FB, let me tickle your little brains with a small musing of events...
Well, following on from my last post of a Liverpool FC rant, things as we all know aren't much better and have stayed pretty much the same with the whole club in turmoil. However, my life, on the contrary, has flipped upside down and side to side! As, yes, my baby son Paul, has finally graced us and the rest of the world with his little presence! Although Dervlagh wasn't due until the 24th of May and I had (without her knowing) dastardly and fiendishly planned my leave from work around the beginning of the world cup, things went a bit...as they say..."tit's up".
Yep, EARLY! - Feckin' EARLY! All along, everyone who I spoke to had said "don't worry mate, if its her first she'll be a week late...", but nooooo...EARLY EARLY EARLY! Now although some of you might not see the big deal with this, if she had went a week late, that would have been the beginning of June before I would've needed any time off work and as I explained before, then could have wallowed in my joy as my afore mentioned devilish, fiendish plan would have been a roaring success and the World Cup could have been watched during wee Paulio sucking on his cow juice and not a worry about work in sight! Turned out in fact, that the wee fecker wanted to come out to play on May 19th! And I would be back in work with paternity leave over, and without a world cup ball even kicked!
Poor Dervlagh, her labour started in the early hours on the 18th and at 6pm we were being escorted to the delivery suite as she has reached the emmm... 'required stage of dilation' to justify a room. Things slowed until the early hours of the 19th, when she was then started and then the pain kicked in. Pain mind you, not for her....but me.
If any of you have had the lucky escape and good fortune to avoid being in a delivery suite when your missus is in labour....stay away. Im confident that in the 3-4 hours before the actual birth that every woman, on the earth, regardless of race, age or background.....suddenly becomes the Anti-Christ!
Im 31 now, and losing my hair faster than I would like...however during the final hours of labour, I lost more hair off my head than if I would have nipped out for a Number 1 all over! Not only that but my shoulders, arms, hands, legs and feet hurt from all the sporatic grabbing and kicking I endured. I am also confident that when you see middle age men walking around with a bald head, it is not due to 'style' or because 'having children is so stressful'; no, it is because that those poor unfortunate fellows have been in the labour ward for a minimum of 4 visits and thus lost approximately 25% of their scalp on each visit! :-)
What a feeling though! It has been spoke of so many times, but seeing the birth of your child is one of those moments that you just cherish so much and take with you, wherever you go, for the rest of your days. Similar in fact, in my life, to seeing Liverpool win the Champions League in 2005, and, seeing my flexi balance in the green.....for example! lol
The euphoria which engulfs you is too overwhelming to describe with words as none could do it justice. And in that moment it was when the inevitable happened and I, unashamedly, broke down in tears like a little boy.
We got him home the next day after everything was checked and ok - thank God - and it was then that my priorities in life changed. In that moment your child becomes your sole responsibility. Every action which he/her does for the remainder of their lives is down to entirely how you treat, raise and care for your baby. A few months back I was watching Chris Rock in stand up on Sky and it was shortly after the birth of his baby girl. He had famously said that his only goal in life now was to 'keep his baby off the pole'. Although a little extreme...i mean, there are no clubs such as that in Belfast...are there Gerard? The same principle applies. He also mentioned something about them never wearing 'Clear Heels', but I hope that was again meant for his baby girl and not any baby boys he might have had...lol :-)
There have been plenty of late nights up until now and also very early mornings, but like so many of you out there I wouldn't change it for the world. Everyday I look at my son and hold him and talk to him with a pride that can only be outdone by my fathers for me. Everyday he changes a little tiny bit and to have him in my life is just a miracle which I can almost not fathom. Although sadly, he will probably not grow up to be a Liverpool supporter, given the family which I unfortunately have married into (Utd mad the lot of em) haha, I can ease my mind knowing that my name and his Granda's name will live on through him and that hopefully he too will have a wee Paul O'Neill running around his feet someday, a long, long time away from here.
It will come as no surprise to you that all of this has made me step up and get serious about my health. I have stopped and started for too long. The time is nigh to get my arse into gear and make a serious effort to lose the 3 stone that has climbed onto my body over the past few years and to get back into the groove to help me enjoy life with my son as much as I possibly can. I know for sure I don't wanna be one of those dad's who takes their kids to the park but is out of breath only after a few minutes play time. I wanna do the fun things too and do them well. I want to teach my son how to ride a bike, teach him how to play football, and golf. To take him camping and teach him about nature and animals. To go pick conkers in the autumn, and build giant snowmen at Christmas. All of this is what I want to be able to do.
I started back to 5 aside a month or so ago and did well for about 3 games, then...the ankle that I previously broke during a match, went on me again. It wasn't a break but just badly sprained and had some bruised ligaments. It put me out of action for 3 weeks. In that time I couldn't really train and kinda got pissed off and had a sort of 'here we go again' attitude. Now I realise that it was a challenge. I wasn't going to let it stop me from getting fit again. I joined Queens PEC gym and shortly after that received my certificate for my Nutrition & Weight Management course through the post. I had passed! What an awesome feeling to achieve something like this, being out of school and studying for over 10 years.
For the last 2 weeks I have been training hard in the gym through HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) and weight training, and have also been sticking rigidly to a clean diet. HIIT is basically 1 minute of jogging, followed by 30 seconds of flat out sprinting, before returning to the jogging again to get your breath back. Not only is it less boring than spending aaaageeeesssss ploding along on a treadmill at a moderate pace, it has been proven to burn the most fat and get you fitter faster than any other aerobic exercise. Because of the intensity of it, you could do no more than about 30 mins. This keeps your exercise sessions short, sharp and intensive and limits boredom. It also supercharges your metabolism for hours and hours afterwards.
The weight training regime I am following is a full body 2 day split on Mondays and Thursdays. I am keeping the reps low (5) and sets to only 3 per exercise. Again this will make it short and intense but in addition also generate the most muscle stimulus making your strength gains greater. As muscle burns almost twice as many calories as fat, an individual with a moderate amount of muscle mass will burn more calories at rest and doing nothing, than he/she who does no resistance work at all.
My diet is also super clean at the moment with almost no junk food, sweets or anything else like that in two weeks. As a result of all of the above I feel healthier, stronger and fitter than I have done in ages and have lost 6lbs. Now at just a slither over 15 stone, the only way from here is to let nature take its course and I know that the fat will continue to disappear and my muscles and strength will continue to grow.
My short term goal at the moment is to reach 14 stone 7lbs for 1st August and continue to lose a further 2lb a week thereafter. It is not a race, I know that, but as long as I keep to my gym sessions as I have been doing and eating right, I will get there without much problems.
Today is to be my second HIIT session of the week and I cannot wait to get it started. As always, I will continue to post my workout results on my Facebook page, and thank you all for the comments, they really do help to spur me along!
Well, thats about all for now I feel, not much else to mention other than the standard of the World Cup. Pretty diabolical by comparison to any other world cup...ever. At least poor Emile Heskey managed to cast his World Cup woes aside by doning a frock and winning the womens Wimbledon title lol.
Thanks again for reading and I'll do my my best to keep you abreast of my developments on the fitness and fatherhood fronts. I'm off now to get some long over-due studying done and go wake baby for some huggles! haha! ;-P
C U all again soon....be well and good luck. :-)
Paulsy.
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