As a friend said recently: the first trimester is like walking through mud.

Much like you forget the intensity of labour,  you so easily forget the depth of the exhaustion in the first trimester.

And just because you’ve reached 12 weeks doesn’t mean the fog lifts. It tends to hangs around, creeping up on you at inconvenient times like dinnertime, or tantrum time or “I’m hungry” time.

And just when you’re starting to feel human again, you end up back on the couch with absolutely no inclination to do anything.

I allowed myself that time though and chose not to feel guilty for everything I should of been doing. I just let the chaos unfold around me, asked Che and Poet to help out where they could and reminded myself that eggs on sourdough is a very good dinner indeed.

It’s fair to say that the house has fallen apart over the past few months but now, after being rekindled with energy and vitality, I’m starting to put the pieces back together. It’s so good to get a glimpse of those powerful nesting urges that have me eying off every unnecessary item that we own; my decluttering desire is raging!

I can’t help but notice that the fourth baby most definitely prompts a different kind of mindset. It’s unleashed a part of me concerned with organisation, preparation and planning – which haven’t always been my priorities. There’s a plethora of mums on instagram that are offering inspiration of the meal planning, budgeting, frugal cooking and house-running kind.

Stace just shared how she saved $500/month on her grocery bill, Emma just had her eighth baby, creates a monthly meal plan and manages to find really cheap buys at the supermarket and there’s an entire hashtag dedicated to using up the items lurking in your pantry.

It’s also fascinating to see the changes in baby-related paraphernalia since I was first pregnant ten years ago. I think it’s safe to say that excess has taken a stronghold; I’m gobsmacked at the sheer amount of stuff people seem to accumulate for babies still in bellies.

How can it be necessary? Or justified? Or is it all just show?

Regardless of the answers, I’m more intent than ever to stick to the essentials, use up what I’ve already got and make do. I’m sure there will be a few small purchases for baby of the wool-to-knit-a-blanket and fluffy onesie kind but apart from that we’re sticking with the ten-year-old pram (that needs a good scrub), bag of newborn hand-me-downs and neutral basics (we won’t be finding out the sex at our next ultrasound).

But before I tick those to-dos off the list, it’s get ready for school time. We’re on the countdown and I for one know there’s a lot of lunchbox prep to happen before Monday.