Hello again from Hong Kong!
After 4.5 weeks away, Noah and I returned to the humidity on Monday night. It was a glorious 4.5 weeks away but it does feel good to be back home for what's going to be a very exciting end to a crazy year (can you believe it was only 5 months ago that we were all still wearing masks and using the LeaveHomeSafe app everywhere??).
Coming back from a long time away naturally means dealing with a bit of jetlag. Miraculously Noah only took 3 nights to adjust back, granted it was 3 nights of falling asleep at 6pm, waking up hungry from 2-4am, but at least it was only 3 nights! Also, the first night was actually a welcome wake up as I was actually hungry too. As for me - the afternoon crash I used to get travelling from Vancouver back to HK hit hard the first day and then I don't think energy levels really recovered for the rest of the week. The theme for the week was generally being quite lethargic and unfortunately being unable to either nap (that only makes jetlag worse) or have a coffee to keep myself going.
This did also mean I entered a bit of a chaotic mess of low energy, low motivation, dull nausea and low appetite where each thing directly caused the other. Couple that with being hot and sticky for most of the week and it was a recipe for just a generally weird experience I wouldn't like to repeat.
The best news is I can confidently say that travelling in later stage third trimester was not NEARLY as uncomfortable or difficult as I'd expected. I very much appreciated being ushered to the front of immigration and security lines at airports and as long as I had my trusty trio of compression socks, compression tights, and pre-flight yoga - I was golden! The last flight back it was a bit more difficult to get comfortable but that was mostly because I had Noah attempting to sleep partially on me, partially on her seat, and partially on her Stokke Jetkids. Noah passed out for 8 of the 12 hours on the flight home and I probably slept for 5, mostly out of choice (I was reading a great book!) but partially out of being sleep trapped by a 2 year old.
As for activity this week - it was a bit all over the place but I'll summarise anyway! Training
In general the movement was a bit all over the place. Some days I did 6000 steps, others I did 12,000. Most days I didn't really want to do anything but I knew that would be a recipe for just feeling worse so I did do some light weights and did 2 yoga sessions.
Monday was flying day so that just about sums it up.
Tuesday morning I woke with a false sense of energy, I think the lack of sleep and movement the day before spurred an intense desire to do something. I got many steps in and also did a weight training session.
Wednesday was my mum's birthday so I spent the day with her! Energy levels wouldn't have allowed for much movement anyway.
By Thursday my energy levels still hadn't come back so I opted for a 45min yoga session which did feel wonderful.
Friday I snuck in a quick weights-ish session, I say weights-ish because other than my incline bench (which luckily remains at a steady 12.5kg dumbbell) all the other weights dropped to approximately 30-40% of my usual weight. It felt good to lift something but I definitely didn't have the energy or desire to lift much.
Saturday I went back to yoga and Sunday was a rest day (ie. I finally saw Oppenheimer!).
All things considered, it obviously wasn't a stellar week but I made do with what I had and I have no regrets. Next week is a new week!
Life in General
The nesting instinct is slowly creeping in! I had a sudden realisation this week that there are things that need to be done. I need the unglamorous postnatal stuff (mattress pads, nipple cream, adult diapers...etc), I need diapers and wipes (although not for another 5 weeks or so), I need a new diaper bag, I need the saddle board insert for the Yoyo so I don't have to carry a 2 year old and push a newborn at the same time. This stage last pregnancy I convinced Jack we needed to sell our sofa and buy a new one...I'm not there (yet) this time. All I've done is buy an extra pillow for the sofa we do have.
On the topic of comfort - the bump is feeling tight but not huge. Breathlessness is still very much a thing, I'm quite slow up hills these days...Essentially, I'm waiting for my stomach to expand a bit more to accommodate for what feels like a growth spurt on his end. The gymnast of a child needs more space for his flips. Other than that, we're still tracking well!
I've also 80% decided on a maternity leave start date, the date is TBC after my growth scan on Tuesday though. I'll clue you all in once I've confirmed the date. VERY excitingly, Jack gets a full 5 month paternity leave this time around and he's taking 4 months straight away which means we'll have a much more wholesome start to this little guy's life. It's a time of a lot of change in the house (Noah starts full day big kid school 2 weeks before her brother is due) so it'll be amazing to have 2 parents at home. This also means I'll most likely take a good 4 months off too. Last time I think I took 10 weeks before I went a bit stir crazy and started up with clients again. This time we'll have 4 months of quality family unit time - something you aren't blessed with very often in life so we'll definitely make the most of it.
On that note, it is time for my Oppenheimer screening and HashtagPriorities so I'll speak to you all next week and give you appropriate updates!
Stay cool and hydrated!
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