What to do on mat leave?

[RAFWife12]

I go on maternity leave next week, and will have 5 weeks till due date. I know the usual things are to relax, batch cooking to stock freezer, cleaning, getting last things ready.
However, I won't be in my own home - I will be at my parents house. So batch cooking and cleaning really aren't required! I will obviously help out with the chores, but can't deep clean in the same way I would in my own house!
I'm really worried I am going to get bored - as I am not a "do nothing" sort of a person - always on the go and like to keep busy. I can't go out on long walks due to SPD, although I will keep up with the dogs 2 walks a day. Friends will all be working.
What sort of things do other people do on mat leave to keep busy?

I'll go on leave in 5 weeks time,

Oops...

Planning on reading some good books whilst sat in garden, going for gentle swim, and maybe doing some crafty type projects if I can manage it :)

I do love to read in the garden, but even that bores me after a while! I am filling my kindle up with lots of books in preparation.
Would love to do crafty projects, but I am just not creative enough - they always go wrong and I get annoyed. I like the idea of making some baby items, but we don't know what we are having.
Did think of swimming, but can't afford to buy a swimsuit that will only get used for a few weeks.

Thanks for the suggestions!

I mostly slept. Read the paper every day. Read lots of books. Drank hot cups of tea. Best advice I was given, especially running up to the due date, was to sleep when you're tired because you never know what time of day or night you'll go into labour.

Sleep! I love the cinema and went loads, I'm glad I did as something so simple becomes difficult once you have children! Read. Just enjoy it, you will never get an opportunity like this again!

Get your hair cut, go to the dentist, have your nails done etc etc - all stuff that will go out of the window once baby arrives!

Relax as much as you can, life certainly changes when baby comes along, get some gentle exercise, make sure everything is ready, maybe check if there are any classes you can attend once baby is born, mother and baby swimming, etc.

Nap
Drink hot tea
Read
Bathe
Launder and put away all the baby clothes
Pack your change bag

Wear a bikini to swim????

Visit local sling library / nappy library if you are thinking of using either slings or cloth nappies.
Pack hospital bag
Get waxed
Paint toenails
Wash baby clothes
Check camera works
Write birth plan

Write a letter to your baby about how you feel preparing to meet him/her.

Perhaps write a letter to yourself about your thoughts/wishes/feelings on becoming a mother and put it away to read in a few years - I think that would be really interesting.

Contact people you've lost touch with and have a chat.

Sleep. And sleep some more. Only because I'm jealous that you get to sleep and that I didn't appreciate the preciousness of sleep before I had children.

You can buy an ordinary swimsuit - I wore my usual one right up to 40 weeks, it just stretched over the bump. Swimming is great for keeping active and won't affect your SPD too much.

I'll have a couple of weeks I hope.

I'm going to swim every day - in a floaty sort of way, then sit in the café at the gym and have a nice decaf cappuchino while reading the paper.

Then I'm going to get my hair done, get waxed.. and nearer my due date, get reflexology (everyone I know has had this bring on labour).

I'm going to listen to the radio, to music I want to listen to, loudly.

I'm going to go and see some friends who have slightly older kids, but are still off work.. oh, and see my nephews a couple of afternoons a week, maybe take them swimming.

It's taken me ages to relax into taking things easy, I'm normally such a frantic person. But now at 26 weeks I'm enjoying some sitting down and floating in a pool and reading a book all day if I can get away with it. Work is frankly just that - work. I fought to stay until a week before my due date, and now I'm just thinking I might not bother.

Organise to see friends for lunch dates, read, hair/wax/facial/pedicure stuff, sleep, cinema, exercising (swimming is fab esp later on), day trips to places you've always wanted to go to.

Although don't so what I did - I worked until 39 weeks, made plans up until the due date and now am a week over and hadn't really thought that she'd be late but she is . Work on the pretence of the fact you may have 7 weeks before the baby's due rather than 5 (assuming no scheduled CS or induction).

I'm going off 8 days before my due date, reckoning that I'll get 2 or 3 weeks before it arrives. 1st baby.

I'm not counting on going over! Firstly I have learnt that first time doesn't necessarily mean late - I know plenty of people who have had firsts early. Plus with DH being only home for 2 weeks I am asking for early induction, before he has to go back out on military tour.
Thanks for all the ideas! Not sure how meeting up with people will work - as everyone will be working!

Maybe you can have lunch with people that are working?

If you like crafting, maybe try that new thing, the loom bands? It seems easy enough to do.

I'm going off 3 weeks before and taking 4 weeks before that leave (I have a monster commute so seems sensible) and I intend to watch telly, wash the baby's stuff, watch some more telly, watch telly round my brother's with my niece, meet my mate for lunch as she goes back to work after her maternity 2 months after I finish, meet my mum for lunch, do some swimming, cook some food to feeze and also watch some more telly and just enjoy not being at work!!

Organise baby's things - put baby's clothes in drawers/underbed boxes according to size. Did this with DC1 but haven't had time with DC2 and it's a nightmare finding stuff in the right size at the moment!

Go to the cinema - that's pretty much impossible once baby arrives.

Go for lunch/coffee with friends on a whim.

Wander around shops at your leisure and treat yourself to a few nice things for post-pregnancy. Shopping is much more fraught when you have a screaming hungry baby/a major poo explosion to deal with/a grumpy toddler in tow.

I have been off for 5 weeks so far and I have been to the cinema, slept, had pedicures, hair done, browsed around shops and drunk a lot of drinks in cafés whilst reading the paper.

All on the days I don't have my 3.5year old!

If I could go back in time before having my twins I would go to the cinema more. It will be quite a while before DH and I will have the spare time/ a babysitter for trip out to just watch a film and I miss it. Also, if you have the energy just have a mooch around the shops, stop for a coffee, read a magazine; it's so much easier without a buggy in tow! Enjoy the last few weeks as much as you can. How exciting!

Sleep, eat cake, sleep, read books, sleep, go to cinema/cafés/pub with friends in the evening. And sleep some more.

Go to the pub in the evening, and the cinema. It'll be a loooooong time before you'll be able to do either again!

Plus do anything important that might cost a bit of money, like new specs or going to the dentist. After the birth you'll be haemorraging money.

I am due end July and have already had 3 weeks off. Am zipping through some classic books which I'd never got round to reading, downloaded free off Project Gutenberg, which have been really useful for the hours of wakefulness between 4 and 7am. Was pleasantly surprised by how readable (most of) War and Peace was.

I've caught up with friends that I hadn't seen for ages, baked cakes, slept A LOT and listened to relaxation/hypnobirthing CDs. I am more chilled out than I have ever, ever been.

Most of all I am enjoying a completely guilt-free period of not working!

I'm planning on knitting for the baby - there are some great beginner knitting baby books which make starting really easy and the small projects are quick and satisfying. I really recommend Debbie Bliss' baby books; that's how I learned to knit.

Also reading. Sitting with my feet in a bucket. Watching box sets. Getting a hair cut. Seeing friends. Shopping for my hospital bag. Making a time capsule to give the baby when he's 18.

Probably also getting bored stiff, but I figure that won't happen again for a while so I'll try to enjoy it!