I need to slow down!

Last week was a little bit busy for me.

I was asked to speak to a group of uni students about one of areas of activism that interests me. Usually I'd be pleased to be asked, but being 22 weeks pregnant I had to pause and consider whether or not this was something I could reasonably do. It was a Monday, a work day for me and because my workdays are long (9 hours) I generally avoid making commitments on nights where I have worked and then have to get up and do it again the next day.

There was also the "how do I get home" consideration, but as most of you would realise, if you want to do something then you can generally find a way. So after making sure I could get home at a decent hour (they provided me with a cab charge voucher) I agreed. What I didn't do first was check that I had no other alternate commitments that week.

As fate would have it, I have a commitment one Tuesday a month, and, you guessed it, the day following my talk I again had a commitment straight after work. The thing is - the talk I gave was great, good engagement, but it's hard work. Hard when you have a growing foetus roughly the size of a barbie doll and all the accoutrement's (placenta etc) squashing your diaphragm. Hard when you know what you're talking about is contentious, and hard when you have lots and lots of questions thrown your way. By the time I got into a taxi I was absolutely exhausted.

Fortunately, my Tuesday night commitment is much less taxing. It's usually reasonably passive and doesn't involve much participation - and once I've signed in, I can leave before it gets too late. After all my now obviously pregnant belly makes for a great excuse for all such occasions.

Wednesday evenings I'm usually out of the house. Before I fell pregnant I was a reasonably active sportsperson, and my sports association needed someone to supervise the grounds on a Wednesday night. Keen to stay in touch with my mates who I otherwise never see, and given it's not a particularly onerous task I readily agreed. Hubby gets home in time to look after Master 2, we have an early dinner together and I'm home before it's too late. Most weeks not at all difficult. After 2 consecutive nights out, I have to say I wasn't particularly looking forward to another one. The weather was lovely and mild and I got to catch up with friends and watch some games which was pleasant enough. But by the time last week finished I was absolutely exhausted.

I really really need to slow down.

Maybe next week.