I can’t believe it was only three days ago that I wrote. It seems the more I am immersing into this the more there is to write!

I have returned to the pool with a vengeance this week after a slight case of slackness for the last two. I have enjoyed it immensely. This morning I was swimming and was watching these huge grey rolling clouds come over the hills. I was overtaken with the sense again, of how beautiful this part of the country is. I was filled with positive energy for my baby and myself. Lashing through the pool I could not help but think that I was rocking the little one back and forth. I wondered if it felt the difference with me in the water, wondered if he or she was swimming about with mum. I pictured tiny legs kicking in a froglike breaststroke and I remembered an image from one of the birth videos. The baby was born in a glass fronted bath. I think this was so that the other kids could see what was happening, whatever the reason there was definitely a view! Anyway, the thing that stuck in my mind was the bub kicking upward in this breaststroke fashion as it was guided to the surface. I was amazed at the reflexes and movements that babies are born with and I can’t help but wonder how my baby is moving right now.

I am really starting to look forward to maternity leave and spending my mornings swimming and the afternoons reading, doing yoga on the deck, waiting for and welcoming baby when he/she is ready. It sounds so blissful in my mind I wonder how I ever worried about giving up work!

I miss the stronger exercise I used to do like running and netball and I am excited to get back into things like kickboxing (I was watching Carrie at a boxing class on a re-run of Sex in The City and was incredibly envious!) and maybe even try training for (mini) triathlons. It is comforting to know that exercise is something that I actually am looking forward to returning to. It is not a chore but a part of my life and I miss it now that I am starting to slow down and simple tasks are becoming more exerting due to my size.

I used to practice Martial Arts. It was an amazing experience and I will always remember the lessons I learnt during that time. We focused a lot on channeling energy or Ki, and using the power of our mind as well as all the physicality of the practice. I have seen just how powerful our minds can be and have witnessed it in myself since. I think that has a lot to do with my unwavering belief in myself that I can birth naturally. A Ki saying that Renshi reminded us of on an almost daily basis, I know will be one of my birth affirmations or mantras.

‘Where your mind goes your Ki goes’.