Some women enjoy every minute of their pregnancy and savour each and every change pregnancy brings to their body, but just as many pregnant women will be mentally fast-forwarding to the arrival of their baby and feeling more than a little bored and impatient with being pregnant.
All the wishful thinking in the world is not going to make pregnancy go any quicker – Mother Nature likes to have 40 weeks in which to grow a baby and that’s pretty much that. If you’re naturally impatient, ‘over’ being pregnant and running up the walls – keeping busy is the best way to see your pregnancy through. After all, you know deep down that this time is not going to last forever.
Keeping busy to beat the pregnancy blues
All of these pregnancy tips and suggestions can help to keep you busy during pregnancy, especially if you have stopped work. Buy yourself a diary and plan ahead, so you do not start each day feeling aimless.
1. Movie dates
Make a list of the movies you want to see and remember, if you’re on a budget, they do not have to be the latest new release movies at the cinema by any means. Check the videos you have at home, find out what films are scheduled for television viewing and visit the local DVD store and investigate their library. Make your movie session an occasion – invite friends round or make a ‘date’ with your partner and get the popcorn popping.
2. Stock up with baking and try new recipes
If you can find recipes that are suitable for freezing, why not invest a bit of time in stocking up? It won’t be long before you have visitors knocking at the door. Rather than run around making cups of tea and restocking the biscuit tin there and then, think how much easier it would be to defrost a cake or two! Now is also a great time to get inventive in the kitchen and try out a few new recipes – your tried and tested quick-cook favourites will become your staples all too soon!
3. Catch up with friends
Make time to meet friends who aren’t at work during the day – meet up for walks or for coffee. Enjoy having the time to be a ‘lady who lunches’. If your friends don’t live locally to you, why not write them a letter or send them an email. Let them know that you may only send them a short email or message when the baby arrives and use your chance to bring them up to date with all your news.
4. Exercise your body
Keeping up with daily exercise can not only help you sleep better a night, but it’s also a great way to stave off boredom and meet new mums-to-be. Exercise classes such as aquacise, swimming and pregnancy yoga are all good for you and popular with other pregnant women. It’s also nice to be surrounded by other pregnant bellies – especially if you’re missing your pre-pregnancy figure!
5. Tidy up the garden
Gardening is one of those jobs that never go away and no doubt there will be plenty to do after the baby arrives too. However, you may want to think about some of things you can do now that will help you to spend less time out in the garden later. Visit a few garden centres and get some ideas on how to keep weeds down (with weed mats, stone or bark covering), prune any large shrubs or trees, take any garden waste to the tip and try to keep the lawn trimmed. Remember not to overdo it though – listen to your body, take it easy with lifting and wear gloves.
6. Do your ‘baby’ shopping
Make a shopping list of all the things you need for the baby and work out where you’re going to buy them. Walking around a shopping mall is fine while you still have the energy, but you may prefer to visit online baby stores that deliver to the door or check out auction sites to grab a good deal.
7. Pamper yourself
It’s easy to forget what not being pregnant felt like, especially when you look down at your bigger belly and fuller breasts every day and wonder just how much more you (and baby) can grow. Taking a bit of time out to pamper yourself with a new haircut, a manicure or day spa (whether in a store or at home) can help you ‘own’ this new body of yours.
8. Arrange childcare
If you know you are going to return to work when the baby is born, start investigating the childcare options in your local area. Daycares and nurseries get booked up extremely quickly, especially for full-time places, so start looking early. Visit centres whenever you can and remember this can be quite time-consuming, so should keep boredom at bay for quite a while!
Feeling restless, bored and impatient can really have a negative effect on your psyche – not good for mums-to be. It’s much healthier all round, for you, your baby and for those you live with, to keep your mind and body active and busy. After all, as everyone probably keeps telling you, life will never be the same again when the baby arrives, so this really is the time you can make the most of. Enjoy!
This article was kindly supplied by NZS.