Our Pregnancy Journey: How I’m Preparing

This post may contain affiliate links

For a natural delivery:

• Exercises — Strengthening my lower abdomen and making sure my legs stay strong. Not so much in the traditional exercise sense; but really in the sense that I will be able to stay in goddess squat {see example below} for the duration of each contraction. Pelvic tilts, which looks a lot like cat + cow pose, but less arching, are supposed to help strengthen the abdominal wall. And kegels. Lots and lots of kegels.

  

• Practicing different forms of relaxation — Meditation, massage, Hypnobabies; all of the things that may or may not assist in labor.

• Accepting the inevitable — This labor is coming regardless of how I feel about it. I might as well take it all in stride.

• Having a plan — Chad and I have discussed, at length, my views on using medical interventions. We’ve prepped on answers to tough questions and sticking to our plan. We’ve written our birth plan out, gone over it with the various OBs at the practice, and printed out a copy for our hospital bag. Which leads me to my bags. I know I’m forgetful, so I’ve enlisted Chad’s help with that as well. I stuck to a list, and had him check it over to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. We’re also doing a second tour/walk-thru of the labor and delivery unit of the hospital next week {I’m hoping that will lessen any nerves I have about logistics of the whole situation}.

To bring baby home:

• The House — We’ve been doing lots of tiny {and overdue} home improvements. We did a basic kitchen remodel to replace a free-standing kitchen shelving unit, with h a built in floor cabinet {both functional and aesthetically pleasing! Win!}; we got rid of a lot of extra ‘stuff’; we’ve put most of the nursery together {I know that it will be a mostly useless room because he’ll be sleeping in our room for the first month or so at least}; and the car seat is installed + being checked by AAA today for safety.

• Help — We’ve arranged for Chad to be home for the first two weeks of Baby Boys life. 🙂 I’m so excited to have a couple of weeks for us to bond as a new family and it will totally help us all figure out how to navigate our new life. I’m hoping to take over things on my own with family visiting here and there to visit + help out; but I’m hoping to not need anyone here to stay with me full time when Chad goes back to work.

• Food — I’m putting together a meal plan for those weeks post-baby. And these next couple of weeks are going to be full of making meals and sticking them in the freezer. Thanks, pinterest + fellow bloggers! 😉

For maternity leave:

• My job — I’ve notified Human Resources that I intend to utilize the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to spend as much time with baby as possible. I’ve placed the initial call as notification of my upcoming short term disability so that all I have to do is call after delivery to set things in motion.

• Planned + saved — Maternity leave with my company isn’t paid. It’s covered under our short term disability, but our payout isn’t a full weeks pay. So I’ve supplemented my missing wages by saving as much as I possibly could. Unfortunately, car expenses have led me to panic a bit because my savings aren’t where I anticipated they would be. But it is what it is.

• Childcare — Even though it’s not really necessary to have this set up until I’m ready to go back to work, I’ve already got peace of mind knowing we’ve arranged for someone to watch Baby Boy when I go back to work.

For the very real possibility of postpartum depression:

• Postpartum doula — I’m currently on the hunt for a postpartum doula in our area. I do not have a history of depression, but I know that my hormones have been crazy throughout this pregnancy and I’m preparing myself for the worst. And I’m seeking help for this in advance.

• Homeopathic remedies — Researched some natural remedies and have placed orders for a couple of them in advance.

• Just surviving — I won’t know what to expect. So I’m going to just take it day by day.

For nursing:

• Delivering naturally — Babies delivered without medications and without a cesarean latch more easily.

• Skin-to-skin contact — Once the baby is delivered, we are delaying all of the tests and measurements for {hopefully} two hours. Those first couple of hours are critical in bonding with skin-to-skin contact and I don’t intend to give any second of that up.

 What I’m NOT doing:

• Stressing — I’m not letting myself stress about the labor, delivery or baby part. Why? Because it’s not going to get me anywhere. And I’m focused on enjoying these last few weeks of pregnancy and these last few weeks of life as we know it.

• Reading every single parenting book — I just can’t do it. It’s way too much information and I really don’t think it’s going to be necessary to jam-pack my brain with information.

• Pretending like I’m superwoman — I know I won’t get it all done. I know that things will be difficult after he arrives. I know I won’t sleep and the house will be a mess. I’m trying to accept it all now so that I don’t feel disappointed in the fact that I’m not superwoman.