I just wanted to start this blog with a wee thank you to everyone for their kind messages. I received a barrage after my last blog, through email and Facebook from both acquaintances and strangers, telling me their own pregnancy, and crafting with children stories. It was lovely to have such encouragement and for you to take the time to share your experiences with me. I also wanted to assure you that this blog will continue to be about being a self employed maker, not become a pregnancy blog… although at times (like the blog below) it will be vital that the two overlap, as my circumstances and the way I go about my day to day has changed.
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It took me the better part of the first trimester of my pregnancy to come to terms with the juggling act that my life had become. That sentence originally read ‘was about to become’ but I decided to change it to ‘had’ as something that surprised me most about pregnancy was the immediate life change that occurs from day one. I have many friends with children and babies and none of them had ever talked to me about pregnancy in, what I consider to be, an honest way. I’m talking about the bad stuff. Perhaps the difference between us is I complain and they don’t… either way… from day one all I did was eat, cry and pee. I lived in the kitchen in a way I never expected. I love food, always have… life has always centred around food for me, so what a surprise it was when all I wanted to do was eat, but the idea of food and the act of eating was boring. It was constant and it was hard to achieve anything when I was either preparing food, eating food or cleaning up the kitchen after I’d finished (rinse & repeat) at all times of the day. Awfully hard to make jewellery stock for after the baby comes (or even to fill current orders) when I couldn’t stay away from the kitchen for 5 minutes. Add to that getting up three times a night (at least) to use the bathroom, means not getting much sleep and having to stay in bed till quite late most days… not very productive sadly. Just after coming to terms with the fact the business might suffer in the long run (you know, in 9 months) I came to realise it had already started to suffer… and there wasn’t a hell of a lot I could do about it. I decided to be proactive. A lot of what I do involves smelly glues, sprays and varnishes. So off I went to the safety store to buy myself a proper protective mask so that baby (and I) would be protected from the barrage of toxic smells. It’s something I should have done a long time ago, although in my defence I don’t usually sit around amongst the smell. I glue and then leave the room, but it’s not a chance I feel I can take any more, now that I’m growing someone else’s brain for them… it all seems a bit more important.
My new, not so sexy, Darth Vader mask
I decided instead of stressing myself out with could have, should have, and would have been- I’d map out the year. New products for Imogen Wilson Jewellery, Ex Libris and Major Tom, what they would be, what I needed to do and buy to make them happen… when they would need to be photographed, and released and how I would tell the shops I stock that I would be on maternity leave right over the busiest time of the year (Christmas) and how I would deal with it. So really mapping out over a years worth of work to complete in six months… what’s stressful about that?
Must be time for a lie down…
imogenwilsonjewellery 