Bump update: the third trimester.

Attempting to tune out the chaos.

Obligatory 'Baby on Board' pin.

Pinterest worthy.

Enjoying new activities that seem highly at odds with pregnancy.

Taking advantage of the situation.

I remember, just a few weeks ago, lamenting the end of summer and dreading what I assumed would be a painfully slow and uncomfortable final stage of pregnancy. While I can definitely confirm that my prediction of discomfort was correct, and perhaps slightly underestimated, I must admit that the weeks have actually flown by. 

Between the start of the new school year, our house renovation activities, and all of the baby related preparations, we've barely stopped. This is fine by me, as I almost always prefer busy over bored and it means that I am that much closer to my maternity leave, but in the back of my mind, I think I have always known that I wasn't going to be able to sustain this pace forever.

Thankfully, things are starting to slow down now. Figuratively, because we are now avoiding making any kind of set plans - especially those that require long-distance travel, and literally, because I am often to be found moving at a snail's pace in order to conserve energy. 

My job is an active one, which is something that I love about it, but this has meant that I have had to make some changes recently in how I go about my day. Luckily, I work in a very supportive environment, but even with so many great colleagues stepping up, I am still finding myself exhausted.

When I was first considering how to structure my maternity leave, I was determined to work for as long as possible before the baby's birth. This was mainly because I couldn't imagine what I would do with more than a couple of weeks of unstructured time, but also because I care about my students and wanted to see them through as much of the start of this tumultuous year as possible. 

My perspective has started to shift over the last couple of weeks, though, ever since we returned from our half-term break. This is due in part to my increasingly inconsistent sleeping schedule and the rising daily discomfort. But also because it suddenly seems as if every mother in my life has a story about how early their babies were and how unprepared they felt! I had always been under the impression that first borns were generally late. Why didn't anyone ever tell me this before? Where were all these stories when I was filling out my mat leave forms eight weeks ago???

All I want to do now is focus on our impending arrival. In terms of the material, there is still so much that we need to get before we can actually say that we are "ready" (although we do have the car seat, so there is that), but it is the mental and emotional preparations that I am really eager to dive into. I have thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant, but I don't think I will be able to really relish this final stage until I can let go of all of the other obligations, and turn my full attention to the baby.

I'll do my best, anyway, to stick it out for another week or two, if only to make the transition as easy on my Year 9s as possible. Hopefully my daydreams about how I will spend my pre-baby maternity leave will sustain me and keep me strong. Either that or I'll just end up going into labor at work. That should make for some interesting schoolyard gossip.

 - A -