Josa’s pregnancy diary - weeks 24-26

At the moment I am very happy to be home alone. I am naturally rather hyperactive and restless, and find the discipline of freelance work a big challenge – which of course I force myself to meet.

Now I am not restless at all. Working at the computer is simply a pleasure. My days are made up of walking, trying to eat (appetite still elusive), working and sleeping luxuriously every afternoon. My puritan work ethic in normal life would deny me this luxury – but I feel I am living in a parallel place, a temporary place, where normal rules do not apply.

I am having the most alarming dreams. Last night I dreamt that someone had planted a bomb in our bathroom (which is awaiting the delayed attentions of the plumber) and, when Thoby went to bury it in the garden, a baby elephant covered in wet red mud burst through the fence.

Classic anxiety dream – bomb equals mess the bathroom is in. Baby elephant equals baby, and my anxiety about how I am going to cope. Other dreams are less surreal and more frightening – illness and death crop up frequently. I sleep badly, and have taken to propping the bump on a pillow and putting another between my knees. I don’t feel quite so queasy in the mornings though, and hope to have given up the uncharacteristic sugar in my tea.

See Anastasia's diary for weeks 24-26.