Hi Brooke,

I am more than halfway through my second pregnancy and have noticed over the past little while heading back into “slump mode”.
I spend all day with my very active toddler and try to fit my freelance work into the pockets of her nap time or after my husband gets home from work.

Lately however, I am having severe insomnia (which happened for my entire first pregnancy) and other “fun” side effects of pregnancy. At the same time my normally easy going toddler is going through a very assertive phase (meaning she collapses on the floor if I say no or we are doing something she doesn’t want to do). When my husband comes home I feel totally burnt out and have a hard time getting into work mode (sometimes opting to go to bed when my toddler does).

I know that lack of motivation doesn’t need to be an excuse to NOT get things done and I am still keeping up with my main work commitments when people are counting on me.

However, when it comes to the outside creative pursuits like working on my next book or recording my podcast, I am not maintaining the level of output I was before I was pregnant this time around.

I suppose my question comes down to figuring out how much rest I should be allowing myself and how much I should push through the inertia while I am pregnant and engaged with a toddler who requires more time and energy right now.