If you are going to have a baby soon, it's important that you are as prepared as can be. The third trimester is full of a lot of exciting things, and probably most exciting is the fact that you are finally almost done with pregnancy.
When it comes to preparing for your child's birth, you often don't do any sort of mental preparation that is really needed. It's hard to imagine what your life is going to turn into, but be prepared for the hardest period in your life. Having your postpartum necessities is great, but that still doesn't prepare you for what's to come. I wanted to provide you with five tips to mentally prepare for whats to come.
1. Read some self care tips for new moms, and prepare yourself to practice them. You won't get a lot of "personal time" to really practice a lot of self care, but that doesn't mean you can't do little things.
2. Take advantage of the time you have right now. You won't have this time without baby forever. I know you probably can't wait to NOT be pregnant (and for baby to come too!) but remember that this is your last chance to live some semblance of a normal life. Take advantage of that and go get a massage, drive up into the mountains, or read a book.
3. Write it out. Start writing out your emotions and what you are going through right now. Not only does this give you a little place to vent over the daily struggles of pregnancy (because it's rough!) but if you keep on when your baby is here, you will end up with a lovely little journal accounting your journey through pregnancy and babyhood.
4. Spend time with your partner. If you don't have a partner, make it a friend or your mom. It doesn't really matter who it is, but pretty soon your number one will be a screaming ball of joy. That means you will have much less time with those around you that you care about.
5. Make a plan. Make a plan for visitation, your self care, and clean your house right now. You won't want/shouldn't clean for a while after your baby arrives, so finish what you can before your newborn is here. Accept that you won't have a lot of time after baby is here, and let that be okay. Plan to buy a lot of paper plates so that you can utilize that (wasteful I know) instead of having to stress about dishes. Saving a tree (at least in my opinion) isn't worth your sanity.
Remember to be easy on yourself. The newborn stage is not easy for anyone, but women have been doing it for thousands of generations. This means it is likely that you can do it to. The most important thing I can say is to make sure you are being easy on yourself. Remember that this time will pass when things get hard, and do your best to enjoy the time you do have.
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