The second week in Spain and we drive to spend time with the other grandparents, my in-laws.
For the past few days, I’ve felt especially tired and I’m starting to develop a bit of a cough. I guess the jet lag, the journey, the pregnancy and the excitement of being in the town where I grew up are taking their toll on me.
Again, lots of love to share, happiness, and welcoming Tres in the family. My in-laws live in a small village in Galicia. Everyone knows we’re coming, and everybody knows Tres is growing inside of me. So nice to receive so much love…
I’m still very tired. I can’t do much and I get a bit short of breath going up the stairs. I’m beautifully looked after so I can rest a lot, my bed becomes my best companion.
My in-laws have a vineyard and have been making their own wine for many years. This year the grapes’ harvest is happening while we’re there and it’s just an amazing celebration day! Neighbors and relatives help each other and when the harvest is complete, we all share a meal. This year my parents-in-law don’t need much extra help as they’ve reduced the number of grapes and work to just what they need for the year. Also, their 2 sons, daughter in law and Gaia and Zoé are here to help.
I took a portable stool to cut the grapes and was the target of some jokes, but just some as Tres gives me a good excuse to rest what I need without being called lazy. I don’t know how many more harvests I’ll be doing after this one but I intend to keep the stool. It was a great idea.
My cough is becoming really uncomfortable. I get coughing fits at night that wake me up and they’re so strong that a few drops of urine accompany them if I’m standing up. I try to leave the room not to wake the others up but coughing, walking, and being pregnant don’t seem like a great combination.
I need to get those pelvic floor muscles strengthened. If only the cough went away… I also get a lot of pain in my pelvis and sacrum. It’s dull at times and quite strong at some other times… I’ve got aches and muscular pains, a bit of a headache at times, and no fever at all.
I don’t want to visit a doctor. I know there’s not much to do when you’re pregnant apart from patience and rest. I feel I’m wasting my time and theirs.
The last night before we fly back home I’m very restless, I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t go back to sleep after. I’m nervous about the journey and the fact that we need to drive for almost 5 hours to reach the airport is adding to my stress.
We finally made it home after a bit of an eventful flight. After I slept so little the previous night, plus the driving distance, the sacral discomfort, and the stress of it all I suffered a panic attack 2 hours into the 10 hours flight. Our seats were very close to the flight attendants’ station. I rushed there and told them what was happening. Apart from them and my husband nobody realized about it, especially not my daughters. Everyone helped me calm down and it very quickly disappeared. They gave me a seat in business class and I slept for a few hours. Before falling asleep I talked to Tres, explained to her that everything was okay, that it was very frightening but we’re okay, we were well helped and looked after and everything was over now.
The most relevant piece of advice I can give to a pregnant woman is: talk to your baby, happy talks, tell your baby how much you’re looking forward to meeting him, how much happiness she’s already brought to your life… But especially talk to your baby when something upsetting, painful, stressful… happens. The hormones that run through your body will run through hers and it will affect the baby almost the same way they affect you. Explaining that it’s over, it’s okay now, what happened, reassuring her it’s not her fault… will help a lot with bonding and with building a strong, well prepared to the outside world person.
This was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me in a flight (and I’ve got quite a few stories as I’ve taken so many planes in my life…). That moment you realise “oh, no, I’m having a panic attack on a plane crossing the Atlantic” was very scary.
We arrived home around midnight. Although we’ve been living in this house for less than 3 months and in this country less than six I’ve never felt more at home than that night when my body rested on my bed and I laid my head on my pillow.
