Babymoon

Well I’m well and truly into my third trimester and it feels like it too. It’s a little taster of what general body movement might feel like for me at 70 + years old and it turns out it’s hard work. Back in the transition between second and third trimester we booked to go away for a little babymoon of sorts which I really felt was much needed by the time it came around. The second trimester was a heck of a lot easier than the dark days of the first which I chatted about a bit here.

By 16 weeks the horrendous nausea seemed to have left the building and I had marginally more ability to string a sentence together without needing to take a 4 hour nap. I even stopped craving chips and chips only and rekindled my love for salads, protein and fruit which was a relief because let’s be honest, no one can live on beige food alone! I was still however really lacking in energy and had many days where I still couldn’t fight the need for a nap…shorter ones this time, but they were necessary all the same. I had a spell of feeling particularly demotivated with work and getting frustrated at myself for slowing down my the pace of things. I just didn’t care enough which wasn’t like me at all. Having said that there was the excitement of finding out we were having a girl (not that a boy would have been any sort of disappointment) and gradually feeling more and more of her movements which has been so lovely and reassuring, even if she’s turned into quite an active maniac with those jolts against my bladder becoming less than comfortable. I also loved acquiring a tummy that actually looked pregnant rather than having a bloated belly full of chips and after worrying I wouldn’t like feeling like a whale, I’m now sure that I’m really going to miss my big ol’ bump when it’s gone. I have to say however that the magic of the mysterious second trimester never fully reached me. All that talk of suddenly feeling invigorated with amazing skin and hair and a ten ton bundle of energy was not something I can claim to have experienced. Mine was definitely not as glamorous and when people told me I was glowing I genuinely think it was the extra sweat during the horrendous heat waves rather than any kind of pregnancy radiance.

So by the time our babymoon came round I was so glad for some time to just relax, sleep and put up my yucky elephant feet that were by that point plagued with the dreaded pregnancy swelling, particularly in the 30 degree heat! I’d been way too optimistic when initially thinking about booking our little pre-baby trip, coming up with grand plans to do a city break with lots of exploring and undoubtedly lots of walking to boot. Nick told me I might need to reign my big ideas in a little, reminding me I struggled to keep up on our trip to Paris at just 16 weeks. In my head I was thinking ‘I’ll be fine. We’ll fly just before my time runs out and I might be tired but I’ll just crack on with it all.’ Thankfully a bit of a money bombshell meant we couldn’t afford my master plan and by the time it came to d-day I was so glad I wasn’t going to try and drag my sleepy, achey, hormonal body around a city.

We had opted to tag on a little 5 night break in Somerset after my 30th Birthday night’s stay in Bristol. The trip involved no flights or faff. We borrowed my Mum In Laws car which made life super easy and we headed for the countryside, me partially asleep on the car window. It was hard to find a decent Airbnb to stay in last minute but after trawling for hours, down a rabbit hole of cheap options that made me just want to stay at home, this little gem was added onto the site. I jumped at this cute little apartment as soon as I saw it with it’s reasonable price tag and good looking interiors. Score!

The plan was to rest and not much else. We wanted to read, lie in, have lazy breakfasts and watch House of Cards. The apartment was tucked away in Trowbridge which in of itself is not a hot spot location. If you walked more than 5 minutes you’d find yourself in a bit of a drab suburban town centre that not so positively reminded us of Basingstoke (our home town) circa 1999 but that was ok because the aim was to chill out and the stunning, homey interiors of the Airbnb made it easy to do that. Beautiful countryside also lay within a 5 minute drive and Bath was only a half hour drive if we needed a little more excitement. It just so happened that we actually visited Bath twice because Mr Muncey started getting decent coffee withdrawal. He had a moment of panic when he realised he’d left a key part of his coffee apparatus and panicked when the only available coffee nearby was Costa or Coffee#1 (definitely dubious). We kept things lazy and hung out in Colonna & Smalls for a fair amount of time, reading and coffee drinking, seeing as we’d been and done all the classic Bath sights before. It has to be said that even Nick was impressed by the selection and detailed boards of coffee notes that lined the walls. I was just happy he was happy while I sipped on my very uncultured tea.

Sometimes I need these kinds of breaks where I don’t have any option but to slow down because I’m generally such a ‘doer’ and as I said it was exactly what I needed at that point of pregnancy. We were free from days that were planned out and could, chat, cook yummy home cooked meals and just enjoy each other’s company. It was weird to think it would be the last holiday we went on as a family of two. It’s not long now until our whole world will be turned on it’s head in all sorts of wonderful and terrifying ways. Just don’t come too early little lady, we’re not quite ready for you yet even though we’re becoming more and more restless, wondering what you’re like.