What to Do in Your Last Trimester

A couple of days ago a lovely gal emailed asking how she should fill her time during the last weeks of her pregnancy. I thought it was a fantastic question so I posted it on Facebook and Twitter and got some fantastic answers. Here are just of few of the great ideas you peeps had (clearly it is unfortunate that we can’t bank sleep) but feel free to add more.

1. “Go get a pregnancy massage.”
2. “Sleep, rest, watch tv, sleep some more, rest again…repeat.”
3. “Figure out how all the baby gear works ahead of time. As someone who’s not mechanically inclined, waiting until I was bleary-eyed with exhaustion and had zero patience was not the time to be reading instruction manuals.”
4. “Follow every single impulse she has. If she wants to read, sit down and read, wants to take a bath, do so immediately, want to drive to the store and get a popsicle? Go. Feel like staring at the flowers in the garden, uninterrupted? Stare away……etc. After babe is born, any of these things will take careful planning weeks in advance to be able to do.”
5. “Go to a matinee movie by yourself, put your feet up and read, go out to dinner with friends, go on a date night with the hubby. All things that are quite difficult to do afterwards!”
6. “Every meal you make – double it. Put the leftovers in the freezer. You’re not going to be up to cooking when your waking up every 1-3 hours to feed a baby. Also, get familiar with the stroller and carseat. You’ll want to know how to put the darn thing in. You can do crafts in your free time. One good idea is to make the birth announcements so all you need to do is insert a picture. You have time now. Might as well do it while you can :)”
7. “Eat ice cream, demand solitude, and schedule endless hours to spend snipping plastic tag attacher thingies off of baby clothes before washing them. Talk about time-consuming tasks…”
8. “Some practical things that didn’t get taken care of after our birth: get the dog groomed, vacuum out the car, get out your next seasons clothes, get a haircut, work out with a neighborhood kid/kids mom to mow/rake/shovel ( or hire a service), and something dumb that I wish I’d done was look at newborn photo shots and figure out what I pics I’d like to get. I could kick myself for not getting a pic of my nb twins in a frickin crocheted peapod.”
9. “This will sound strange but enjoy peeing with the door closed … Have not done this since April 25th.”
10. “Get a haircut.”
11. “Have sex – the long time consuming kind because that won’t happen for awhile. Also enjoy long hot showers that you don’t have to rush through.”
12. “Get a pedicure.”
13. “Squeeze in as many date nights as you can.”
14. “If you’re planning on breastfeeding, learn as much about it as you can, including possible problems you might encounter. Then if something goes wrong, you’ll be able to recognize it and you’ll know what to do. Make sure you know where to get professional support. It might sound silly but trust me, when you’re at your wits end being educated about what to expect and what to do can relieve a lot of stress!”
15. “Get some pregnancy pictures done. I think pregnant women are beautiful.”
16. “Vitamin E oil. Perineal massage. Just sayin’.”
17. “Go shopping with your mom! Once you have a baby you arent the baby anymore, and it’s one last time to take advange of being the one she buys a new outfit for. I was actually trying to induce labor by spending all day on my feet but my mom bought me a really cute coming home outfit out of the deal and we went and got our toes done cuz when my feet were up in the air I wanted to look at petty toes lol After baby I found it hard to go places with her w/o the baby cuz she was my babysitter.”
18. “Get a wax downstairs if you know what I’m sayin'”
19. “Stock freezer pantry and bathrooms. Set you DVR to tape all your favorite shows. Stock up on laundry detergents.”
20. “Stock the freezer and sleep. and do all baby laundry now, if you haven’t already…… oh, and sleep some more!!”
21. “Drink your Third Trimester Earth Mama Organic Tea, it prepares your body for the delivery & takes away leg cramps!”
22. “Go to the movies a lot, and spend lots of time with childless friends – you won’t see them for dust once the baby comes!”

Related:

Hospital Bag – What to Pack

You may also want watch this video of The Final Countdown from Europe to get you in the mood for the last lap. I know, there’s nothing like a good 80s hairband to say, “I’m almost there.”

Can you think of any more?