As a first time mom and the first time being pregnant, I have spent a lot of time preparing for our baby, the labor, delivery, and postpartum experience. As I am nearing my end of pregnancy I have found some things that I have done throughout it to be extremely helpful currently and I am definitely thanking my past self right now. Here are my pregnancy recommendations.
I knew at the end of my pregnancy I’d be slowing down and unable to do a lot of the things I wanted to do to prepare or have done prior to our babies arrival. So my 2nd trimester was dedicated to getting all the big things done and leaving the little tasks to prep for baby for my 3rd trimester.
This third trimester I am focusing my efforts on making my birth plan, packing my hospital bag, and cleaning and organizing my son’s things. I am also preparing for postpartum with meal prepping and getting things lined up for help once I’m in labor and the baby is here. These things have been enjoyable for me to do and I am happy I have lighter tasks saved for this phase of pregnancy.
Pregnancy Recommendations
So, What do I recommend doing to set yourself up for success in your pregnancy?
- Meal prep for postpartum AND pregnancy
- Get house projects / strenuous things done in the beginning to middle of 2nd trimester
- Get Rest
- Have things ready for delivery early
These are my biggest things that I have noticed that I am so grateful I have done throughout this pregnancy. So let’s get into why they are so huge for me.
Meal Prepping
We’ve all heard the pregnancy recommendations of making freezer meals for postpartum to make it easier to eat. This is great advice, but I’d recommend taking it a step farther and have meal prepped freezer meals or easy meals on hand for your pregnancy. I’ve done this for my 3rd trimester because I noticed how much of a chore that was becoming and I always wanted an option to have a meal cooked at home without the effort, even if it’s just mentally exhausting.
If I am pregnant again I will most likely start this from the very beginning. This is because I’ve head many waves or phases of extreme exhaustion where I couldn’t force myself to make a dinner even if I wanted to. I didn’t want to feel like I had to spend a lot on eating out to give myself a break. So, I made this change and it has been a great pregnancy recommendation to follow.
I’ve been loving meat loaf, breakfast casserole, chicken noodle soup as freezer meals. I also prepped chicken breasts into the correct portions and cuts so that I can thaw and start cooking immediately without the prep which definitely has helped me want to cook when it’s hassle free. My family eats a lot of chicken so, I plan on making this a standard for me from now on. It’s seriously been a game changer.
House projects and strenuous work
Like I’ve said I made it a top priority get the big things done in 2nd trimester. If I was to do it again I would shorten the time frame to the beginning of the 2nd trimester to the middle of it. As the days got closer to entering the 3rd trimester I started to feel it in my body much more and it was getting harder to do the physical intensive things.
I am extremely grateful I did make these projects a priority when I did because as I write this at 33 week I could not imagine how tired and sore I’d be if I was to be painting my rooms, kitchen cabinets, building things, etc.
That being said, I actually didn’t get everything done that I wanted to in that time frame. The things I have left are definitely easier tasks on my body than the ones I was doing in my 2nd trimester. Mainly because as my nesting urges have kicked in I have been adding much more to my list of to-do’s for the house. So… give yourself more than enough time or a buffer to get it all done because everything takes longer than you think it will or should. This is especially true if you are trying to get things done at the later end of your pregnancy, it will take longer and that’s okay.
Get Rest
The most important pregnancy recommendation is to get rest. Okay, I know easier said than done. I get it, this isn’t a simple task. This is why I want to talk about it. Since it’s so hard to get rest making it a point to rest more often is so important! This will help you have more chances to get some rest in and take care of you, your body and baby.
It’s important to set yourself up to get more rest than you normally would. This can be sitting, laying, sleeping (or trying to), self care, relaxing activities, etc. Rest can look very different from day to day, but it’s all the same in importance.
It’s also important to be able to take breaks or get more rest when you feel you need it and set things aside. Sometimes this will look like simply being okay with being behind, or you ask for help so that you can rest, slow down on something, or you get ahead so that whenever you need to you can rest.
I have done all of these things in different ways. For work, my blog, I have gotten ahead so that I can slow down and take a break when I need to. I have also have slowed down on my work and simplified it for this season of life to allow room for rest and eventually taking care of our new family’s addition. For chores, I’ve simply been okay with getting behind and asking for help to get it all done. This has been so helpful for me mentally and in prioritizing rest.
You may want to look at your life and see what you can do to set yourself up for success in being able to rest. You will thank yourself later when there is a day where you can’t bring yourself to do anything but rest because that’s what you and your body needs.
Have things ready for delivery early
I know many people that feel the same way as me and that is being anxious that things won’t feel ready when baby arrives. I know whenever I go into labor it will be okay no matter if I have everything I want done or not. Even while knowing this, having all the babies things prepared to a point that I’m good with has given me peace of mind.
You never know when you’re going to go in labor so having a packed hospital bag ready for everyone has been nice to ease my mind and it may help you too. There is no rule on when you can do this so do it whenever you feel like you are ready to. This is why my last pregnancy recommendation is to have things ready for delivery early, if you want to.
Don’t forget when you are preparing for labor to have plans for your pets if you have them. For me, my parents will come over to pick them up. I have a bag packed ready for my pets so that I know they have everything they need once they are at my parents. I also have a list of things to grab when they are at my house. This makes it easy for them to get my pets and take care of them without having to ask questions while I’m in labor.
I also have started to wash and organize all the baby items in my house. I know that I may feel like doing this again closer to delivery and I am totally okay with that. This is because I know whatever I am doing close to labor is not something that needs to get done for me to feel prepared it is just things that will keep me busy if I feel like doing something other than resting. It takes the stress off of things when it’s all done ahead of time. You never know when you’ll have the energy or feel like doing something at the end of pregnancy, so this ensures I can rest whenever I want to.
Prepare whatever you feel you need to that will give you peace of mind. It’s worth it even if you have to do it again closer to time. Remember, there are no set rules on when to do things. So, if you want to do something, do it! No reason to wait, just to feel like you are following the norm.
Pregnancy Recommendations
These were my pregnancy recommendations. I hope you found this list helpful and are going to implement some of them into your pregnancy journey.
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