What to do after finishing work at 36 weeks?

[reluctantlondoner]

Planning on finishing up work at 36 weeks... AIBU?! Simply cannot face commuting for any longer. Please help me plan what to do to make the most of the time before our long awaited DC1 joins us! DH will be at work still so looking for ways to amuse myself during the days. I am hoping I will still be feeling fit and well by then so (manageable) recommendations for fun stuff welcome too, as well as practical stuff I should do to make life easier once baby is here! In case relevant: location is East London (but can travel to other parts of London / Essex / Hertfordshire etc).

I left at 36 weeks too, spent the next two weeks watching boxsets, reading books and rearranging cupboards!

Sleep
Sleep
Sleep
Baths
Make over
Spa days
Long lazy lunches
Relax
x10000000

You'll miss it all when baby comes along! I miss baths and a decent lunch out and spa days! She is so worth it but I do wish I'd done more on mat leave before she came along. I did a lot of sleeping and baths though and I'm glad of that bit!

I finished at 33 weeks and did a cross stitch for the baby (less the name / date / weight). I couldn't sit still long enough for the cinema etc as it wasn't comfy.

It was also boiling hot, so was nice just to relax around the house.

At about 37 weeks I did a load of batch cooking for after the birth.

Make the most of it! I finished at 36 weeks and baby arrived 2 days later...all my plans out the window! Make a list of things and then prioritise! Pack hospital bag and make sure you have everything for baby in the first few days off then go from there, batch cooking, clearing out the house and cleaning then making sure you get lots of me time. Enjoy x

Sleep! Potter about and please yourself. Eat food that requires 2 hands and to be hot!

Read the books you have been wanting to for years.
Cinema (as others have said), box sets.
If you like tennis, Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
If you like football, the World Cup daytime games.
All the things for preparation that others have mentioned.

Hope the birth goes well and a healthy happy baby emerges.

Yanbu to finish so soon. Everyone told me with my first I would be late so went on mat leave at 37 weeks and went into labour 2 days later. Gutted.

Go out to non child friendly restaurants
Have a sleep in
Nap some more
Sit down and have a hot drink and just enjoy the peace

Nap
Watch tv
Play Xbox if that’s your thing
Read

I mean you could clean if you want. I didn’t

I'm 37 weeks and if I could I'd watch shit tv all day and sleep. But I have a poorly 3yo so can't do either, and I'm up nearly all night with them too.

Just enjoy the quiet.

Nice restaurants without a child menu
Cinema, cinema, cinema
Any decorating (much harder to do once they arrive!)
Lie down

These are the things I miss. Then again I had week old twins in nicu by then so I didn’t get a lovely few weeks of peace

I read, watched boxsets and films, knitted and did very little. I was poorly with both though so couldn't get out the house!!

If you happen to catch an awful cold/illness while you're off make the most of being able to lounge around feeling terrible. I'm currently absolutely loaded with cold but have a toddler and newborn so life goes on even though I feel like a bag of boiled shite.

Oh how I miss the days when I could just lounge and be ill.

(Ps if you do catch a cold I sincerely hope it doesn't last long and isn't too painful!)

I’m finishing at the end of this week at 38 weeks and I cannot wait. I’ve already been to the dentist, got my hair cut and cleaned the house so if she comes early at least I’m ready.

I was looking forward to doing very little until DD showed up at 35 weeks. Three years later I'm still hankering after a quiet couple of weeks!

Enjoy. I finished work at 36 weeks, hospitalised with preeclampsia 5 days later and came back out with a baby so always slightly jealous of people who get a few weeks at home! Really wish I'd relaxed, read, watched trash, slept and enjoyed having the house to myself instead of rushing around. Just take some time to enjoy the peace ( I still don't get much nearly 5 years later.....)

Walk walk walk, makes you feel good and definitely gets the baby shifting. The more organised you can get before baby arrives the better, but relaxing is also a must! X

Sleep, sleep, sleep.

Enjoy going for a wee alone.
Stock up the cupboards and freezer.
Get hair done.
Read.
Watch TV.

These are really interesting to read. I started my maternity leave last week at 35 weeks as I had loads of leave to take and have been advised our baby might have to be induced early for a couple of reasons.

Put sanitary towels with a bit of aloe vera gel in the freezer. Found this very helpful. You can look them up online. Called padsicles.

Just relax and chill and sleep.

I had almost 5 weeks ML before DC1 arrived (I was so bored) but it was fab.

I had to be induced at 38w with DC3 so went to work and then went to have the baby .

Go and do all the stuff you cannot do with a small person in tow (like the cinema).

Also buy cards and birthday presents for everyone you need to in the next 3 months as it's rather hard to buy them afterwards as small people don't like to be put down (which can make computers/laptops hard to use), kick up a fuss in shops so you get at max 5 mins shopping time and if they sense that you are concentrating on anything that's not them, they release a mind destroying cry that removes any thoughts apart from how to silence/appease your new small master(s).

I’d just enjoy the last 4 months of freedom before your life is taken over by a totally dependant newborn:
Meet friends for coffee/ lunch
Read books
Watch films in cinema
Sleep (I could sleep for Britain at that stage)
Wash/Clean the boring things eg curtains
Go swimming
Paint my nails

Your days will pass very quickly once you have had a lie in, leisurely bath and breakfast. Watch a bit of tv while having a cuppa. As others have said, get personal grooming things done. Maybe a potter around getting light jobs done, a bit of shopping and prepare a meal for dinner. A nice time of year for a walk. Catch up with family or friends, something not regularly possible when working full time. Maybe pop up to the local library to find out about mother and baby groups or groups you can join while on maternity leave such as mum and baby swimming. Not sure how long you are intending to be on leave. Afternoon nap? Reading, a bit of sun in the garden. Certainly time to relax and pamper yourself because as others have said, baby may arrive early.

sorry if you are a reader get stocked up on good books to read while night feeding

Get a kindle or kobo and fill it up with books.

I'm not pregnant or bf but I managed to end up with 4 kindles.

They are all synced so I can go from bedroom to bathroom and then to the living room and carry on reading without carrying a kindle with me. The fourth one lives in my handbag.

For anyone wondering why I have 4 kindles.

Apparently if you drop a kindle in the bath it is beyond repair, but if you try putting in a bag with rice 2 weeks later it starts working again and when the one you have bought to replace it has the screen freeze and is also beyond repair leaving it for 2 weeks and restarting does make it work.

But by that time I had bought an old one with buttons exclusively for the bathroom and Amazon had replaced the one with the frozen screen.

I sat on my ever expanding arse and binge watched box sets and slept. Oh how I wish I had savoured those moments more