Pregnancy is weird. I’m convinced that women’s bodies are made of elastic. We can grow and bend and push a person the size of a watermelon out of a hole the size of a lemon. It’s great!

I love keeping active, doing yoga, hiking and swimming. I’ve had 3 natural homebirths. Each one lasted about 6 hours. The pushing is insane, but once the kid is out, it’s out and euphoria kicks in.

Sure I’m a nature crazy Pagan, but no, I have not ever eaten my placenta or anything like that. I just like to focus on the baby as soon as it comes.

When you hit this late stage things are tougher. I’m so clumsy I keep bumping into things with my belly: desks, walls, people; you name it. I fell down the front porch steps outside of my house a couple of weeks ago and spilled more water than I can count. It’s like living in a dark comedy because some days I wake up ready to play in my gardens, and others, just opening my eyes is like lifting weights.

This is all normal. I’m sure even some men or in-betweeners have felt the same way.

What really shifts during this period is how I approach my work and my take on having an online presence. Certain elements of social media just become tedious. Sometimes they feel more distant.

I’m not a super-competitive person. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I love supporting others, but when I’m growing bigger and bigger I notice a change in my fan base.

YouTube is heavily male. Instagram is selfie-focused. And pinterest is all about fashion and imagery. These are all elements that make it as awkward as possible to keep up with your own presence when your energy is down, you’re not a millionaire with awesome resources, and there’s a tiny person swimming around inside you poking and prodding your ribs every day.

I say awkward because it’s still fun sometimes. Reaching out to people is why I do what I do and without book signings and in-person events right now, I NEED to reach out.

Everyone needs to do what is best for them. I’m totally nesting and enjoying the quiet before the baby storm. I’m prioritizing more and more. Writing will never stop, but HOW I reach out and through which platforms does change.

Quitting Twitter was hard, but honestly how many times can a person post taco jokes? Especially when you know that the admin doesn’t take a #NoTolerance stance against child pornography…

The FB debate is annoying because the closer I get to leaving it the more connected I am to my circle of friends and family. We often use facebook as an excuse to have lazy relationships. We sacrifice individual links to show “everyone” pictures at once, but you know, mailing copies is still possible. Picking up my cell phone to actually call someone and hear their voice is a better connection anyway. And again, FB-likeTwitter-removes political posts right away but has left up pages that encourage child pornography. I can’t support that and these social media sites make money off of us just logging in thanks to ad revenue.

So yeah, my presence is shifting. But I’m still here. This site isn’t going anywhere, I AM going to do a book tour next year, and I will always do my best to respond to every email that is sent my way (or snail mail for that matter).

The world that my children have been brought into isn’t the world I was raised in. The world that this new baby will meet isn’t even the same as the way it was when my eldest was born 10 years ago. Just as the world I knew wasn’t that of my mother or my grandparents. That’s natural. No time-periods are ever alike, but how I handle this reality is what’s most important. The values and interactions I focus on will affect my children for the rest of their lives.

Today is today and tomorrow can bring anything. I find a lot of excitement, hope, and adventure in that.

I’m just waiting right now, but I did want to apologize to anyone who actively notices me lagging haha I’ll be doing more videos and posting more on the platforms I trust again soon. I enjoy those elements of my job. Even so, the WRITING is what’s most important to me and that will never change.

My work is hopping. It’s constantly being produced and published. I’ll take a little time off once baby #4 comes, but after that 1^st week or two I’ll be dying to scribble out some words.

I promise.