Now as the third trimester evolves, and week 32 creeps up to meet me, I still feel empowered. No longer am I counting up the weeks but rather counting down the weeks until I hope to meet our beloved Kiddo. I have had a few ‘eek’ moments, lying awake in the night with horrendous restless legs, cramps and itchiness, and wondering how to prepare myself for the unknown of labour. But then I remind myself that my intuition and trust in my body has moved me this far, and so I just have to trust that she will carry me through D-Day and the early days of motherhood too. I have still been super active through these first 4 weeks of this trimester, although the jogging is easing into a routine of more and more swimming. I head to the pool three or so times a week to swim with my mother, a gift in itself as we share laps and time together. I have also used creativity throughout this entire journey to balance out the mental load of work, the time with people, and then also the physical outputs. Sitting quietly drawing, painting or writing is something that harmonises me.

As the weeks continued to pass the nausea began to subside and the energy returned. The only challenge I faced was an increasing urge to pee… lots! I found that whilst I could ‘hold it, mostly’, being in the company of anyone other than my husband was really emotionally challenging. Admitting you need to pee for the second or third time on a jog isn’t easy, no matter how wonderful the friend. So, I began to hibernate and enjoy the company of the natural world more and more. I also found that this helped me to remain intuitively listening to my body’s callings, and keeping a lid on my own ego. I no longer felt that I needed to keep up with anyone, just tune in and go with the flow. I continued to exercise, perhaps even more than during the first trimester, but never hard nor pushing my body too far. However, at our twenty week scan I was informed that our little one was scanning, well, a little bit little. I was again advised to reduce my energy expenditure to ‘a couple of short jogs a week plus a little walking’. Again, I have interpreted this in my own language and definitely reduced my output, picking up less intense forms of exercise such as swimming and cycling. I truly believe that there is a fine line between doing too much and doing enough. I have other friends who are going through or have been through this pregnancy journey and whom stopped everything, only to find their emotional wellbeing begin to downward spiral. As a dear friend and mentor said to me, ‘whilst you must stay safe and humble in this journey Han, you must also remember that your Kiddo chose you and your state of health.’