What will you do during your maternity leave, before your baby is born?

[frogalou]

I am starting my mat leave in 3 weeks, 3 weeks before my baby is due and I am really looking forward to the time off.... how will you spend yours? It is my first baby so I won't have a toddler to look after.

I started my mat leave 3 weeks before DD was due - I planned to wash, iron & fluff up all her little babygros, arrange things artfully in her room, shop for nursing bras, maternity pads and other essentials, pack my hospital bag, do some cleaning, read a lot of magazines etc... Then she arrived on the second day of mat leave. D'oh! Never mind, at least I didn't get to that 'I'm huge and fed up get OUT' stage.

I have been on maternity leave for 3 weeks now and have enjoyed some relaxation and me time. Money is tight as I am self employed and will only be receiving maternity allowance so can't do all the lovely things like massages, pedicures etc.

So far I have...
Slept (a lot), I was surprised at how tired I was initially
Got baby stuff ready
Last minute shopping for baby and myself
Cooked nice dinners and baked cakes
De-cluttered the house to make space for the baby things
Gone to a couple breast feeding support groups in my area
Ante natal classes starting next week
I have a lot of hospital appointments to I have been busy with them
Met up with friends for lunch/coffee etc

The best thing is the sleep. I plan to do a lot more of it!

I start mine in two weeks -can't wait. I plan on doing a lot of shopping for baby stuff. Still haven't got very much at all (so if he comes early I'll be a bit screwed!) as both me and DH work full time and I want to order stuff online, but need to be at home to pick up deliveries.

Also plan on going for short walks each day, meeting friends for coffee and cake, reading the 'Birth Skills' book by Juju Sundin, cooking a lot of meals to freeze, ditto baking a few loaves of bread, watching a bit of trashy telly and cleaning the house.

I start mine next friday and I plan to:

• wash baby clothes and organise in chest of drawers
• finish packing hospital bag
• batch cook for freezer
• sort out cupboards and drawers
• Clean house for a change well inc cleaning inside oven, fridge and washing machine
• Buy Christmas and birthday cards to end of year plus lots of stamps for thank you cards
• Meet friends for coffee/DH for lunch
• Go to Aquanatal/other classes
• Read
• Sleep
• Eat cake

Looking at that list I'm not sure 4 weeks will be long enough!

Ooh this is a timely thread, only yesterday I started a list of things I plan on doing, they include:

• cleaning out the inside of the car (boring)
• baking lots of lasagnas and cakes
• decluttering and tidying up/cleaning various corners of the house
• attempting to find unneeded stuff and putting a load of it on ebay
• finishing the half made quilt that has been hanging around for ages that will become bump's playmat
• going to a spa with my mum
• going to a craft show on a quiet day

3 weeks today for me too - Can't wait! Have fun :)

I had two weeks. I read, watched all the films recorded on the Virgin box, drank lots of tea, finished her bedroom and repacked.my bag.

Twas luffly!!

When I did it the first time round, I painted the house from top to bottom, supervised carpet fitters and we put the house on the market. My DH did the last room as my centre of gravity had shifted and I didn't want to be up a ladder any more. We moved when my DD was 3 months old. Oddly enough 5 years down the line we've only had her room decorated (and paid decorators to do it).

I also enjoyed fussing over all the new baby stuff and nesting.
I hope you all enjoy your quiet time before it all kicks off with your lovely babies.

Same as emsyj I started my maternity leave 3 weeks before my due date. I planned to tidy the house, wash the baby clothes, cooked things to put in the freezer. I went into labour on my second day on maternity leave! At least I managed a haircut. My advice is to book a haircut for the first day of your leave .

Mine started unexpectedly early when I was made redundant at 24 weeks, 3 weeks ago :/. Have been spending time relaxing, getting the house in order, dug out all old baby clothes & washed them and arranged in drawers. Sorted out DS school uniform, spent quality time with him before he starts school, ran around after my 2 year old & now... Starting planning Christmas! my excuse for that is I will be hand making some gifts so need to leave extra time for that, less money due to the redundancy & not wanting to Xmas shop with a newborn! :)

My first day of maternity leave is tomorrow! I am 30 weeks pregnant.

I am going to:

• Paint my skirting boards a brown colour that won't show dirt.
• Paint the back door to hide scuffmarks made by the cat.
• Get my hair cut into a short, low maintenance style
• Fill the freezer with home-made ready meals
• Pack a hospital bag (even though I am planning a home birth this time)
• Order lots of cheap books from Amazon, for reading while breastfeeding
• Spend mornings with friends, catching up on all the gossip
• Make time to sit by myself in a coffee shop, relaxing with the crossword

I can't wait!

i started mine 3 weeks ago, took it early due to spd not due till november, but so far iv done... nothing and it has been brilliant iv cleaned and stuff but i do that everyday anyway. maybe make sure you got your bag packed for hospital and dc has everything ready. then relax and make the most of your sleep filled nights, when dc gets here they vanish and its hard work.

Sounds lovely!! I cannot wait and I hope my baby will give me a couple of weeks to prepare. What kind of meal are you cooking to freeze? That's an excellent idea... maybe I should start a new thread to get inspiration.

I start at the end of today - cant wait! so wrote a list last night of all the things I want to do before baby arrives (I have to write lists for EVERYTHING now or I simply forget)

It included:
Sorting out baby clothes into size order
Cleaning out/sorting kitchen cupboards
Tidying airing cupboard
Cooking lots of meals to freeze

Sure there were other things on there but have forgotten, see what I mean memory of a goldfish at the moment

I have two weeks to go til mine. I will spend it sprawled on the sofa watching rubbish TV.

Thewre was a thread in Food a couple of weeks ago on this which was useful. I will be cooking:

• Lasagne
• Vhilli con carne
• Fish pie
• Quiche (separated into slices for lucnhes)
• Lamb tagine
• Sausage and spinach canneloni
• Soups (dhal, lentil and bacon, carrot and parsnip/sweet potao/coriander)
• Chickpea, potato and spinach curry
• Chickpea and chorizo stew thing
• Shepherds pie
• Hotpot

We have another freezer in the garage so can store things in there. I got boxes of 8 plastic containers for £1 in the poundshop which have been brilliant- they are like the ones takeaways come in.

I start mine a week today and I'll be just over 36 weeks. My plan is:

• do all the boring jobs I don't have time to do when working full time like finding a window cleaner and getting someone to sort the guttering out
• do a load of admin and see if I can cut some household costs while I'm at it
• watch the millions of TV series I have on Sky+ and DVD box sets
• sleep
• meet up with my SIL and friends who are already on maternity leave
• pack and repack my hospital bags as they are too big
• general cleaning and tidying
• more sleeping
• go to a breastfeeding support group locally
• do a bit of swimming if I feel lively enough
• go to pregnancy yoga

I strongly suspect I will only actually manage the sleeping and box sets!