Unfortunately I wasn’t very well last week. I came down with a stomach bug (damn those colleagues who come into work when they are ill and spreading their germs instead of taking a day off) on the Sunday and was pretty ill until the Wednesday and then felt more drained and tired out than I ever have before.

Other than feeling fed up about lying on the sofa for days on end alternating between watching Friends and reading Harry Potter I also started to feel pretty guilty about my diet of buttered white toast (I never eat white bread but I just couldn’t stand the thought of brown or seeded bread) and Lucozade Isotonic drinks as I was worried it would impact the baby. After checking the NHS site and talking to my Mum (the standard phone call whenever I feel under the weather! I guess I’ll have to get used to that in years to come.) I concluded as long as I was getting lots of fluids I was OK with a diet of plain food for a week. I got mega cabin fever by the Wednesday and decided doing a load of washing would be both helpful (Sam had become chief toast-maker and man nurse to me when he got home each night) and a good use of my time at home. That was until I actually had to have a five minute sit down after carrying the basket of wet clothes upstairs. I felt pretty pathetic. I still need to learn when to take it easy it seems.

Luckily I felt much better by the end of the week albeit incredibly tired. It’s actually only today that I feel back to 100% in terms of my energy levels. I think it just goes to show how much any illness affects you during pregnancy and how any nutrition you are taking on board goes straight to the baby before you.

I went back to Pilates last Friday which made me feel a bit more energised. However, by Saturday evening I realised that I should heed my own advice and take it easier as I just blindly followed all the stomach exercises at the end like I always had done in the past. It turns out your stomach muscles really do weaken/start doing a different job once your bump appears properly and don’t appreciate you working them too hard doing anything else other than supporting your growing baby! Ouch. I also went to a new Yoga class at my gym on Saturday morning – an early weekend start 8:30-9:30, but I am up then anyway as Sam leaves the house at 7:45 for work – and I loved it. There were a few modifications for me (no Upward-Facing Dog or Cobra, just the Child’s Pose instead) but otherwise I could do all the other moves. I had done a little Yoga before and forgot how relaxing and invigorating I found it. I will definitely be going back as it had no unpleasant after-effects unlike the Pilates classes.

People at work are definitely making sure I am taking it easy at least even if I need to try harder. Today I have borrowed a radiator from the far end of the office (…I have temporarily re-homed it from under my colleague’s desk as they are on holiday this week) to combat the freezing cold draught under mine. I was perfect prepared to climb under the desk to unplug it and drag it down to my desk but my colleague was having none of it and she carried it for me then set about plugging it in for me. I guess this is one of the perks of starting to look more pregnant!

A weird symptom I have developed over the last few days is a slight tingling and numbness in my left hand. I was worried it was the start of a migraine (*touch wood* I haven’t had one since before I was pregnant) but one of my pregnancy apps helpfully informed me today that it could be the start of carpal tunnel syndrome. Apparently this is pretty common for pregnant women thanks to any fluid retention and swelling increasing pressure on the nerve in your wrist. I’ll ask the midwife about it at my next appointment. I was worried that I had started to swell a little bit around my ankles – my socks have been leaving a lovely deep red mark around my lower calves for the last couple of weeks. I walk every lunchtime and have always been active but maybe I’ll have to put my feet up, quite literally, a little bit more on an evening to counter-act the effects of my sedentary desk job. What a great excuse to make good use of our reclining sofa!