Third Trimester Dance

Hooray! Finally we can legitimately perform the third trimester dance! To be honest, at least so far, I feel like I've cheated my way through this pregnancy, I feel blessed that it's been easier than I thought it would. Apart from doing the odd, vague "baby brain" act like putting the milk in the cupboard and wearing my running tights back to front (awkward), the second trimester was as smooth as a babies bum... which I can feel now protruding from my left side as I write (fun!)

It's been exciting to feel our baby's kicks and movements getting stronger and more regular. Even exciting at 2am... Until 4am most nights. Fair to say I'm already totally in love and a total pushover. I still feel great to run most days although the pace has slowed considerably in the last month since I have “blown out”. It’s the phrase my two brothers use to describe my recent growth spurt out front. Eloquent.

Re running, I've copped a few disapproving looks running along the esplanade, what can I say, I don't have time to stop and talk to every judging face to reassure them that I'm ok, running is what I'm use to, that it’s considered normal in elite distance running circles to continue to run easy through pregnancy and that the baby is not being harmed by “common sense running”. There is no evidence that sensible, guided running within elite distance runners during pregnancy is related to miscarriage, pre-mature births or low birth weight. Running is obviously not something every pregnant woman can or should do, obviously if you weren’t running fit before pregnancy then it’s not the time to take it up but in the elite running world, it’s considered safe and normal to run at an easy pace (a pace easy enough to hold and continue a conversation whilst running) throughout pregnancy.

It's funny, this whole pregnancy thing, because it’s not just the shock of seeing a pregnant woman running that warrants a disapproving look or opinion but there’s an opinion on just about EVERYTHING regarding pregnancy.

There’s an expert on every corner on what NOT to eat, what NOT to drink, what vitamins NOT to take, how NOT to exercise, how NOT to sleep, triple wash this salad… actually don’t eat salad! Don’t get your hair coloured, don’t get your nails painted, don’t dare listen to loud music and don’t freaking lift anything! At some point along the way my fellow pregz girlfriends and I have all lost sleep on worrying about how NOT to sleep.

The culprit is fear-mongering. Fear Mongering is defined as “the use of fear to influence the opinions and actions of others towards some specific end”. If I was writing the oxford dictionary I would take the liberty of adding to this: “often from an exaggerated fear or opinion based on incomplete data”.

In our modern litigious society, where everything has a warning label or advisory, the overload and influence of fear-mongering opinions have turned us into paranoid hypochondriacs. So how do we resolve to deal with fear-mongering in our more vulnerable state? Don’t believe that everything is conspiring to harm your baby. Rant over.

Now I’m going to have a lukewarm bath, eat a well-done steak and then build a fort with 7 pillows around our bed so that I’m sure not to roll on my back…

G’night xx

Written by Eloise Wellings for Jock Athletic Ezine

Photography by Bird and Bee studio