They were right....I hate to admit it, but.....

[mildred37]

......I am so freaking BORED!!! I took 4 weeks annual leave before my mat leave kicks in, meaning I left work at 33 weeks. Work/friends/family tried to discourage me...."you'll be so bored" "you'll regret it" etc. which I duly ignored, feeling all smuggy smugerson about having potentially 7-9 weeks to do as I pleased before Dc1 arrives.

3 weeks later, the bastards were right. I've cleaned everywhere several times, organised and re-organised cupboards/drawers/rooms, tackled our jungle of a garden, have arranged lunches/met up with friends, washed and organised baby's clothes and sorted te hospital bags.

So what am I meant to do for the next 3-4 weeks?! Argh!! Please tell me I'm being really silly; I know I will not have this time to myself again for a long, long time but my god I just want my baby to arrive now!

What did you do on your mat leave, or why do you wish you'd done?? Come on people; keep me occupied

Oh my god to have that time again! Watch some films and trashy tv, read books, go shopping, sleep in late! Just relax and enjoy it as much as you can because you'll never get to again I promise! Not for 10 or so years anyway! x

Go to the cinema, get your hair cut, nails done.
Sit in a nice park reading a book.
Sit in a lovely coffee shop and take your time.
Get in the garden and do some gentle pruning, potting of bulbs or plants?
Fill your freezer with lots of goodies for when lo arrives.
I'm finishing at 34 weeks shortly....

Definitely cinema. Buy box sets to watch after baby is born. Go on spontaneous days out. Read up about breastfeeding. Visit a historic property. Go to a museum or art gallery. Go swimming.

Have you done boring things like check you are on the cheapest gas/electric/phone etc

There was a section on moneysavingexpert.co.uk about doing a full financial makeover which some people have saved loads doing..

Definitely fit in a trip to the hairdressers. Every time I look at the photographs of me and DD1 at the hospital there is a hormone filled yeti holding MY baby

You're very lucky! Many pregnant women (including myself) are finding the last weeks physically quite hard due to either tiredness, spd or other ramdom ailments.

Enjoy your time off! Go for nice long walks if you still can, catch a bit of sun, follow some workshops, meditate, relax, sleep as much as you can.

Good luck with the next three weeks, soon enough you'll be looking back lovingly on this time.

I don't know I had dd at 36 weeks and ds at 35 weeks oh to be bored!

If I didn't have them now I would definitely lay in, take long hot baths, get your nails done (mani and pedi), shopping, coffee shops, batch cook, baking, swimming....

Complete every video game you own, so when dc is a little older and gets stuck, mummy can come to the rescue!

Get all birthday presents and cards for the next 4 months! Stock up your freezer with everything easy and home cooked. Enjoy being selfish, get your nails done, talk to people uninterrupted. Set up a list of baby groups near you for each day of the week and maybe go along before baby arrives.

Enjoying sleeping and doing everything you want to do when you want to do it!

Oh my gosh - I was exactly the same last time (only had 3 weeks off though) and wish wish wish I had approached the time differently. I did the washing, cleaning etc, then sat around being bored waiting for baby to appear. I wish I had done all of the things listed above and SLEPT - lie in, have naps.

Am now 17 weeks with number 2, and it's dawning on me that I completely missed the boat - mat leave with toddler is not going to be the same!

Get your hair cut and coloured as once the baby is here you won't get long enough between feeds (unless you express or ff and have a childcare of course). My roots aren't pretty!

Batch cook and freeze. New babies have a timetable of their own, and the evening witching hour means dinner time often turns into baby head butting and crying time. You have to learn to love your microwave, and having something home cooked to put in it really helps.

Go shopping and buy things you will need post birth - feeding bras and tops for example, and potentially some jeans or trousers that will accommodate the little baby belly you'll be left with for a month or so. I had to resort to elasticated waisted tracksuits as it didn't occur to me that neither my maternity nor pre-pregnancy clothes would fit. Duh!!!

Get lots of fresh air and exercise - you're going to need a fair bit of stamina soon.

Read! You won't have time again for a long time. I really miss reading. I naively thought I'd be able to read and feed. No chance... babies latch on and off, wriggle about, have to be juggled from one boob to the other, and winded. It can be a bit of a palaver.

Luxuriate in the pre-baby superiority that we all have about never having the baby in the bed/never putting them to sleep in any position other than on their back/believing that you will always manage to eat a meal with both hands etc for the last time. Once they are here all that will fly out of the window!

Oh and finally, enjoy couple time. I've almost forgotten what that means. In the nano-second we get together we are usually scared to breathe in case we wake she who must be obeyed

Good advice sauce - go shopping and get yourself some nice new clothes for when you're postnatal, potentially breastfeeding (vests and tops to go on top) - seriously comfy stuff that you could nap in if necessary, but feels fresh and presentable for when you need all the help you can get... And don't wear any of it until after the baby arrives

Sleep. A LOT.

Sleep, sleep and more sleep.
Keep active for hopefully an easier birth.
Sort out anything that takes longer than 10 minutes to do.
Enjoy your last few weeks of having time to yourself. It will be a looooong time before you get it again!

Lie in every morning and watch trashy tv

Go to the cinema and watch a daytime showing

Prenatal yoga

Swimming

Baby shopping

Cleaning

Meet up work coffee at your local nct bumps and babies class

Walks in the park

Read

Start finding out about baby groups and devise a timetable of classes and activities

Gosh, I ha no problem fillin my maternity leave pre baby...loved it!

Well sleep seems to be a recurrent theme!

Thanks for all the advice. I think I need to make a list of all these things, can't do alot of shopping at the moment as we're a bit skint but will be hitting the shops once payday arrives!

Am now treating myself to some books on my kindle....I forgot how much I love reading :)

I am very of your free time as I am self employed so will have no choice but to work until the last minute - in fact I will probably be sending emails on my way to the hospital!!!

Give yourself a manicure, go the cinema, go to the swimming baths (and if you can't be bothered swimming take a magazine and sit in the warm baby pool). Bake some cakes that you can put in the freezer so you can have tea and cake with no hassle once baby arrives.

Do you like organising? I could spend hours looking at blogs like iheartorganizing and then reorganising my cupboards. I realise how sad that sounds, but I can live with it...

I'm obsessed with repainting the interior doors with gloss paint before the baby arrives. They're looking a bit grubby and gloss will be easier to clean.

Or how about getting a waterproof cover for your Kindle and having nice long baths?

Oh, or sign up to a months free trial for netflix and find a couple of series you like?

I put all our photos into albums. Whenever we look at them now I am so pleased I did it. We have tried to keep it up, but we would never have the time to start from scratch again.

Absolutely the same here! I've taken to sleeping / napping, there's only so much cleaning you can do!

Ive Invested in a kindle to get me through the next 3weeks, and realised I've lost the ability to keep sane in my own company :)

Sleep!! Drink an uninterrupted cup of tea with some biscuits!!
I was due to finish at 37 weeks, in the end finished at 35 weeks as we only got into our new house when I was 33 weeks!!
My plan was to sort house. Well, the 2 weeks that followed saw me in and out of hospital after being diagnosed with OC and my DS being born at 37+3!!
He's 4 months old now and I'm only just getting my hair done on Friday!!
All I can say is enjoy it, you will never get that much time to yourself again

make a list of all the things in your area that 'only tourists' do and then do them.
visit some museums, galleries etc.

I would go crazy spending that much time 'at home' but if you're not too uncomfortable then i'd say get out and stay active if you can.

oh, I've got the day off as I couldn't be arsed trying ot commute into London today hen finish work next week at 33 weeks - so leave from 34 - 38 weeks then mat leave.

Personally, I'm knackered, last time round I worked to 36 weeks and had DS at 38 weeks, I know I was making silly mistakes the last couple of weeks of work and couldn't retain the sort of information I need to do my job well - and the commute was killing me! This time round the finishing early is more about not working than needing the time.

I would suggest you:

1. Get your hair done

2. Make sure you get hold of useful people information, so crainal osteopath, breast feeding support locally, lists of baby groups and drop in centres (try to find a local one for each day of the week so on any given day you can have something to do if you want to go out without having to think about it in a post baby fog)

3. Batch cook things like spag bol, chilli, curry etc and put in containers that are one or two servings in your freezer for not having the time/energy for cooking

4. pack away all your work clothes (I realised I'd got all these hanging up taking space for months when I took over a year off!), sort out breast feeding friendly outfits from your current clothes (cardies, stretchy vests etc - summer dresses that you'd have to completely strip to get boob access are no good!)

5. Book pedicure, facial, general pampering (it will be at least 6 months before you sort of 'emerge' and are ready to start that sort of thing again) - and finding the couple of hours and spare money seems impossible for most

6. If you intend to return to work after maternity leave and use a nursery, book visits to nurseries now - you can always go back and visit again after you've had the baby. Read Osted reports, think about logistics to drop offs and pick ups with your commute etc. Check out waiting lists and costs for putting a name down.

7. watch trash TV and the news channels, rather than cbeebies or nothing because you do'nt want your DC watching TV.

I'm finishing work at 34 weeks (currently almost 22 - on countdown already!) - so all these suggestions are really helpful - thanks :)