I recently had a good friend ask me some advice for her close friend who was about to have her first baby. I realized that I started this blog when Emery was around 2 months old, so didn’t have any posts about the process of getting ready for baby and after birth. My prayer is that this series can help any about-to-be mamas, new mamas, or even mamas about to have another baby.
The first part of this series is some tips to prepare for the birth of your baby. Please note I am by no means an expert, but have had two babies and do have some tips that you may find helpful!
Getting Ready: This obviously looks different between having your first baby, and your second. With Adelyn, the house was semi-clean , bags packed at 30 weeks, and enough meals made for 3 months. With Emery, the house was a disaster, I packed my bags 30 minutes before leaving for the hospital, and we had Stouffers lasagna in the freezer. Of course I’m exaggerating, but you get the point – it becomes more hard to prepare the second time but there are some things I did before having both girls that were helpful.
Preparing Meals: Before I had Adelyn, I had a friend who was also expecting her first baby around the same time. She came over and together we made a bunch of meals. With Emery, I made the few meals that I knew we enjoyed eating after we had Adelyn, and also froze well. I tried to make something for breakfast, lunch, and dinner so that I always had something quick on hand.
Breakfast:
Lunch/Dinner:
Writing these all out made me want to take an afternoon and add to our freezer meals. So expecting, or not, these all make great freezer meals. If you are like me, 5:00 rolls around too quickly and I love the option of having some easy meals in the freezer to pull out for dinner! Also…you may have noticed many of these meals were from Imagine Great Living – my mothers blog! Her cooking was the best growing up, so I can honestly say every recipe on her blog is amazing!
Treat Your Self: With both girls, I was induced, so knowing their exact due date gave me the option to take it easy the week before. I realize that this may not possible with every birth, but if your due date is getting closer, I believe every mama should take a little time for themselves to help ease nerves, slow down and enjoy the last moments of pregnancy, and to have an excuse to do things that you may not take the time to usually do. Getting a pedicure and prenatal message were two things I did the week before giving birth, but I know there are so many other things to do such as: getting your hair colored/cut, going out for a nice dinner, going on a “babymoon”, treating yourself to a large sundae (or two), organizing/preparing the nursery, or even just going for a nice walk outside. Remembering to just take the time for yourself before your baby arrives is so important (or really after having kids too), because if you aren’t feeling taken care of, it can sometimes become difficult to fully put your energy into caring for others. Last thing my husband and I did was made sure to save up and have cleaners come to clean while we were at the hospital. If you are able to, I would highly recommend doing this because the best feeling after giving birth was to walk into a clean home that I didn’t have to stress about cleaning.
I hope you may find a few of these suggestions to be helpful as you prepare for such an exciting time in your life! Next week I will be sharing what I packed in my hospital bag!
