Here we go, the 10 week countdown is officially on! Wild...The due date is officially 66 days from today which sounds ages away but I guess it's really not.
Our pre-natal education continued this week. First I had an aunt follow up my dad's advice with: "don't lose the baby" and then, just as last week, the Annerley Clinic continued to provide us with their words of wisdom. Last week they talked to us about all things labour at home/when to go to the hospital, this week we had a chat about labour once we get to the hospital and what to expect.
The pregnancy hormones kicked in this week to give me a few bouts of pregnancy brain (more on this later) and a GREAT dream which I'll share now. On Friday night I dreamt that we were living in a post-apocalyptic world and all survivors was divided into different teams of people who had to set off around the world to save what was left of humanity. Given I was one of the survivors (naturally) I too had a mission.
My task: to defeat the clown from IT.
My partner on this mission: Freddie Mercury.
The location: an abandoned oil rig off the coast of some random nation.
The outcome: Success via fatal blast to the head. Freddie and I tried singing an array of Queen songs (we'd somehow figured out that the clown did not like singing) and eventually realised IT didn't like Radio Gaga. So we sang it, lured the clown into the water (where he would be able to escape our singing), and then we used our special weapons to essentially blow him up.
Upon successful completion of our task we returned to humanity's designated "home base", a random piece of forest land somewhere in North America (because when humanity is threatened it's always North America that somehow provides the last stronghold), where I found out I was pregnant. In this strange new world it was illegal for women to be single/unaccompanied by a partner while pregnant. The reason being there weren't enough humans alive to allow for the "it takes a village to raise a child" mentality so everyone needed to have a spouse to help. Jack was unfortunately on a 10 month mission somewhere else in the world so I had to chose a random person to be my new spouse. I didn't want to choose a random person but didn't have a choice. So I picked someone and texted Jack to tell him my decision. Jack replied with "well that's disappointing". The person I chose was very honoured and all the preparations were being made for the celebration, then Jack appeared out of nowhere, abandoning his mission. So the wedding was called off and the random person I chose was devastated.
The second part of the dream felt VERY real, the dream only stopped because I had to wake myself up to make sure it was indeed a dream. I really don't want to have to marry someone random right now. I woke up to make sure Jack was actually still around. Luckily, he was.
On that note, I'll share my pregnancy brain moments a little later but let's get to training first.
Training
No major themes to report here, still just taking each day as it comes to see how my body is feeling, check in with my energy levels, and practise my breathing!
Monday
The Monday schedule has been fairly unchanged for the last 4 weeks. 3 hours back to back in Clearwater Bay, studio clean up from 1:30-3, and then I walked from 3:30 - 5:30 (just to clear the 12k step mark). The waterfront walkway from Tamar Park through to the Wan Chai Ferry Piers is now open which is lovely! Made my way back into the studio at 5:30 to do a tiny bit of mobility ahead of our antenatal class.
Tuesday
Started off my morning with a nice 90min walk just to get the blood flowing. Then, between clients, errands, and another 2 hour walk later on in the day I managed to clock just over 20k steps. Naturally, I was pretty beat by the end of the day.
Wednesday
Today was a day Marie Kondo would be proud of. I had a full day at home to myself and I made the absolute most of it. I was pretty exhausted and had no will power or desire to move anywhere or do anything so instead, I decluttered. I threw away 3 bags of garbage and donated 3 bags of clothes! I also spent the better part of 3 hours switching from an old iPhone to a new one - transferring 3 years worth of photos (10k+) was no easy task...
Steps were non-existent today (almost at zero had it not been for a grocery shop) but there's something so freeing about throwing away so much garbage. Day well spent indeed!
Thursday
After my non-existent step count yesterday I started off my day with a 90min early morning walk into Central. As a result of the declutter yesterday I had a few errands to run today and wanted to get them done early. I followed up my walk and errand run with a physio appointment at 10am to finally do something about my right hip. Diagnosis: nothing serious at all, it's partly an old injury coming back to haunt me but it's mostly just due to pregnancy weight gain.
Spent the afternoon relaxing a bit and seeing clients.
Friday
Started off my day with a quick gym session in the studio and then followed up the gym session with an afternoon of walking to clients.
3 sets:
15 Swiss Ball Hip Thrusts with Adductor Squeezes
15 Swiss Ball Seated Low Rows
10 Standing Banded Hip Adduction
20 Walking Lunges
8 Arnold Presses
Swiss Ball Hip Circles and Pelvic Tilts
10 Chest Flyes
10 Standing Y Raises
30s Poloff Isometric Holds
In the afternoon I had a 3 hour gap between clients so decided I'd go for a walk. After 80-90min I was hit by a huge wave of exhaustion. I popped into the closest 7/11 to buy a bottle of bonactive, found some shade, and sat down for an hour.
Saturday
Today Jack and I set off on a coastal walk of HK Island. We started at home (Wah Fu area) and walked along the water all the way to Wan Chai. It was a glorious day for a walk and talk but very hot. We popped into IFC to grab a sandwich for lunch and after 17km of walking, we ended with the best kind of treat: an acai bowl from IACA. The walk took around 4 hours, I think Jack definitely could have done it faster, but I'm a fair bit slower than I used to be these days.
Sunday
Bring your husband to work day is back. I let him do his own thing in the studio while I focused on upper body. My legs were a bit tired from yesterday.
3 sets:
A1. 12 Push Ups
A2. 10 Ring Rows
B1. 10 KB Push Presses
B2. 12 Face Pulls
C1. 45s Isometric Bicep Hold w 15 pulses
C2. 8 Bird Dogs
30 min mobility
Life in General
I definitely noticed a bit of pregnancy brain this week! Nothing major but quite a few times this week I'd start to do something and literally immediately forget what it was I was supposed to be doing. I'm talking 2-3s into my new task I'd have no idea what I was supposed to do. Twice I had to completely abandon my task as I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was I'd decided to start doing...Couldn't have been that important I suppose! An honest and sincere apology to clients this week, a few clients definitely clued in as my counting was very interesting this week. 6 more turned into 4 more and then turned back into 6...Oh well.
The heat is really making me struggle with my attempts at consistent eating as my appetite really hasn't picked up. I find all I'm craving is ice cold water, a cold green tea, or a cold fruit. Actual meals are unappealing, it's just too hot. I guess that just means I'll have to have more chocolate oatley...we all have to make sacrifices for the greater good.
This week I also started to compile the hospital playlist. The first addition was Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd (I figured it was appropriate in case I do opt for an epidural) followed by Babe, I'm Going to Leave You - Led Zeppelin (for when the pain is excruciating and I'm full of resentment towards Jack for putting me in this position). The rest of the playlist is a mix of stuff to calm me down (Bon Iver, OG Coldplay, Volcano Choir, Phil Collins) and put me in the best of moods (Steve Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Beyonce, Gladys Knight, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Hall & Oats, John Denver, The Beach Boys...etc). The playlist is currently 4.5 hours, I'd like to get it up to 7ish and then just have it loop. I'll keep you posted.
Back to more of the nitty gritty stuff. The calcium supplements have definitely helped, I'm not cramping at all anymore! While my energy levels are definitely very different these past few weeks compared to the second trimester they're still no where near as bad as the first trimester. While I'm sure there's a slow down coming soon for now I'm quite happy walking around and my 2 gym sessions a week are keeping me in a good place.
Someone asked me this week how much weight I've gained, last I checked it was 6.5kg but that was 2.5 weeks ago. I imagine it's in the 7-8kg range now but I have no idea. My gym shorts still fit me but my casual shorts don't. That's my current measure.
I think I've successfully dodged the whole weird pregnancy cravings thing but you never know what the next 6-10 weeks have in store for me...Someone asked me if I think I never got cravings because I already eat a very varied diet - I have no idea!
Between now and the next time I talk to you Fudge does get a little check up so I'll fill you in with Fudge details next time!
For now, as always, stay clean, stay safe, stay sane, and put a smile on your face :) Love and peace to all!