16 weeks pregnant:

I got recognized as a pregnant lady by a stranger for the first time this week! It’s nice when the bump starts to take shape out the front rather than just looking like a slightly overweight person. We’re in Dublin currently on our tour of Ireland and I was travelling back to our hotel from the city on a crowded tram with only standing room left when a lady yelled out to me across the tram, “excuse me, there’s a seat over here for you”. It took me a while to register that she was talking to me and referring to the seat reserved for the elderly and pregnant women but it was a nice gesture. In actual fact I feel so completely normal that it would’ve been wrong for me to take the chair and it also would’ve been way to much effort to push through the crowded tram to get there but it’s a nice milestone to reach when the world recognizes that you have a baby belly not a beer gut (unless she thought I looked really old)!

I’ve been feeling really good these last 2 weeks on this work trip. At first it was hard to tell if I was tired from jetlag or pregnancy fatigue but this week the jetlag has resolved and I have an abundance of energy so I guess the early pregnancy fatigue has gone! Could also be something to do with being summer over here, things are always better when the weather is warmer. I’ve been trying to get to the hotel gym each morning to train and there’s actually some free weights there so I’ve been able to get a fairly decent workout in. When your job is sitting on the sidelines of sport all day, it’s important to feel like you’ve been active for at least part of the day. The funniest part is that people rush to me to help me lift my medical kit onto the bus each day, because they know I’m pregnant and don’t want to me lift my heavy bag, yet I lift much heavier weights in the gym each morning! It’s still nice to know that society has your back as a pregnant lady though. 

My boys seem to be coping really well at home without me and have worked out a little routine for each day. We facetime each day and the cutest part of all is that at the end of every phone call Denzel asks to see my belly so he can give his baby sister a kiss goodbye! I think he has definitely come round to the fact that he’s having a baby sister now and I know that he’s going to be a great big brother. 

3 more days of my trip left and I’ll be heading back home to see my boys. I bet I’ll look a bit different to them now too after almost 3 weeks away. It’s a really good thing to have time apart every now and then because it really makes you appreciate what you have and I can’t wait to get back and see my family and have real cuddles instead of cyber ones!