What did you do/wish you'd done before having a child/TTC?

[DancingDonkeys]

Just that really. Big or small, practical or whimsy. Is there anything you wish you'd done or are really glad you did do pre-kid(s) either for yourself or to prepare for them?

We think we likely have at least a year before we want to start ttc and want to be as prepared as possible with the least regrets but lots of the common suggestions don't work for us so well (we are both teetotal and enjoy staying home in the evening).

I'm hoping to harness the wonderful collective experience on here to get a real range of ideas/tips so please post anything you can think of on here

Glad we did a couple of holidays we'd always wanted to do which would have been difficult with young kids, and bought a house x

Personally I wish I'd managed to move up the ladder at work a bit more. That's only because I find it difficult at times to juggle everything and I couldn't fit in the countless extra tasks I'd need to do to work towards the next promotion while the kids are so young. So I'll probably be where I am for quite a while. It's not a problem but had I already moved up I wouldn't be having to do very much extra for a good bit more money.

Got fit by running and swimming, started doing pelvic floor exercises, went to therapy to work through my own childhood.

Oh god yes agree with fitness and pelvic floor!

Same here, I wish I'd had a better job and some savings.
One thing I did right was to train Ddog to get him ready for being around a baby. He was a snappy breed and I had a lot of people warn me he'd be dangerous, but turned out just the opposite.

Written my first novel. I wrote it on maternity leave, but it would have been better with more sleep!

Had a fling with a handsome man who could show me a great time in the bedroom.

Wish I’d spent more time with babies and small children (beyond the 15 minutes ans hand them back experience I actually had). Might have had more of a clue about the realities then.

1. Slept more.

2.. Had really gone for it in my career in terms of having more confidence. (Having children has made me more confident in a way).

1. I did travel which i am really pleased i did. (Know that is opposite of your question but really important to me).
2. We moved house when i was pregnant to a doer-upper. Wish i had renovated before i was pregnant but life's like that sometimes.
3. Visited more friends around the country.
4. Did NCT course which was pretty good and made some amazing friends but wish they had taught more about actual babycare and parenting rather than focusing on the labour...but it is National Childbirth Trust so i s'pose i wish i had done a parenting course in a way rather than learning on the job - did a lot of reading!

Thanks so much to everyone who's posted, there's a great range of answers here and it's definitely what I was looking for- I seriously am looking for all suggestions, from going on exotic holidays to putting how ever much money aside for baby shoes ----(childcare) or ways to childproof our house and lifestyle.

Unfortunately actually doing everything is more difficult than just sitting here reading replies 🤣 (and I'm not sure I'll be writing a novel- kudos for managing that on maternity leave!). But it certainly gives me some goals to get started on and things to look into 🙂

Thanks again for your help and congratulations to all of you on your DC and everything you've achieved.

Worn all the nice clothes. I had a cracking body pre-children and looked good in most things. Now I have a c section wedge and am rather less toned so clothes don’t hand right.

More therapy is my first thought. I feel like what I had was great for getting me through the crisises I had, but I hadn't really learned how to process those and move on well which was a block when my kids were small.

Also, worked on building up more of a social network in the UK: I'd recently immigrated, pretty much only had my spouse, and I ended up really isolated.

I agree with fitness, though it would be more getting something that would have helped me continue it more - I was into lifting before that, but the second trimester wiped me out and because of the isolation, it was really easy to just not and hard to get back into once I was feeling better.

I don't really have bucket list sort of things I wish I'd done, it's all being more proactive in getting my daily life more what I would have liked it to have been rather than thinking it would all naturally fall into place with time.

Spent Xmas & New Year on holiday in a hot country. Had plans to do so but became pregnant unexpectedly and was too pregnant to fly by the time the next Xmas rolled around

I know it will be possible in the near enough future (and DC might actually enjoy it when they’re older primary school age?) but we’re firmly in Santa territory now.

Mistakes;

• going to see a live band at 6 months; DS started doing cartwheels and I had to go home and have a lie down.
• Nesting. I now know that the urge to spring clean and rearrange furniture meant delivery would happen within the week. I shouldn't have bothered, I should have just slept.

Known how flipping impossible getting pregnant is and how much lies are told about the dangers of unprotected sex.

I wish that I had not got my hopes up or imagined myself as a mother.