Week 39 - how should I occupy my last week of pregnancy?!

[BackOfTheMum5net]

Hospital bag is packed, I'm slowly filling up my freezer with batch cooking, I've got a hair appointment booked... what else should I be doing this last week?

I'm obviously doing a lot of relaxing, but is there anything else I should be doing in preparation for birth? Any recommended exercises, yoga, favourite breathing routines?

Or should I just do nothing?! Tips gratefully received.

Hey, congratulations!
My list was as follows:

• put ward/midwife numbers on fridge so partner can find them
• sterilise and unpack bottles etc..
• get baby caddy ready for downstairs (nappies,wipes,cream)
• inform family and friends about times/days YOU want to be visited to avoid any well meaning drop ins, if this is something you don't want of course
• get about 5 days worth of outfits together so your partner doesn't keep bringing the wrong ones to you if you can't get up and about easily
• stock your bathroom ready with pads etc.. so you don't have to when you get home
• do a little luxury shop for some nice food bits to snack on when your home that you really enjoy as hospital food is boring.

Above all else watch a box set with your feet up and relax!

Hope this helps, best of luck xx

I am probably very weird but I spent it putting my money and tax affairs in order. I was glad I did!

Get a massage, pedicure, go to the cinema. Stuff you can’t do with a baby.

If you can, do a charity shop run to clear out some space, you’ll accumulate stuff as you go and tidying is hard with kids.

Did you do an antenatal class? If not try some hypnobirthing videos on YouTube for ideas. Maybe a birth playlist? And download some podcasts in case you get stuck in hospital

Go to a lovely restaurant and stay out as late as you want, and have a lovely long bath

Enjoy going to the loo by yourself

If you haven’t already done it, get a picture of you with your bump! I don’t have any of me at that stage and I so wish I did now.

Aloe Vera gel on a pad and then stick in the freezer.
Also order a supermarket shop delivery or click n collect for 2-3 weeks time for all the bulky items you know you'll need.

Figure out how to apply for child benefit
Look into a nursery/childminder place- some areas have a 9-12 month waiting list!

Cinema, lunches out, meeting friends enjoy going out without a large bag full of all sorts of tat!

@KateC1x1 Yes to nice food bits and nappy caddy! I’ll be sorting that today.

When you say outfits, do you mean for me or baby?

@TeaKitten good reminder- I keep forgetting too!

This. I spent my last couple of weeks pre-birth going out a lot, hearing a lot of music, going to the opera, seeing friends, eating out with DH.

OP, bear in mind that you may go quite late. I finally had a CS at 42+3.

Lunch/dinner with friends.

Visit a museum/garden/stately home you always “meant” to visit and enjoy just meandering around unencumbered!

Gentle decluttering and sorting 🙂

I did some swimming at the pool (it was very hot last summer), saw some friends and family for lunch, finished setting up the nursery. Slept a lot/read during the day. Those last two weeks of pregnancy were glorious 😍

Someone suggested on here buying and writing all the birthday cards you need to send over the year. Could even put cash into the ones for whoever you'd normally buy a gift for, then you can not think about birthdays for a whole year.

Personally id read lots - I totally lost the ability to focus on reading for a good few years into parenting. My kids are late Primary now and I'd say it's only in the last two years that I've got back to my old reading habits and even then it's nowhere near as intense.

Reading is a good shout, but honestly, I think ‘writing all the birthdays you need to send in a year’ is both joyless and insane. If you’re about to give birth, you’re about to enter into a phase of your life where you’re servicing someone else (tiny and demanding), your time isn’t your own, you lose sleep, you’re doing a lot of repetitive, unrelenting tasks, you’re not living primarily for yourself. Why waste the last week or two of comparative independence by doing ‘advance’ chores?

I think this is a great idea. I won’t be doing a whole years’ worth but I have 5 birthdays within the first 2 months so I’ll at least buy the cards, if not the presents too.

My advice OP is essentially do whatever you feel like doing each day when you wake up, if it’s hot maybe go for a swim, if you’ve slept poorly (fairly likely at this stage!) have a nap. Basically the biggest luxury you’ll lose is having a choice when baby comes - obviously they’re worth it but life tends to revolve around them (at least initially anyway).

The enjoyable things on my list are to go cinema and get a foot massage. The less enjoyable things are to help make life easier for when baby arrives i.e. washing the baby clothes, generally giving the house a good scrub, decluttering as much as possible and making sure I have plenty of wipes, muslins, nappies, washing powder and food shopping at home.

Enjoy OP, won’t be long until you’re bringing home your bundle of joy and in the wonderful newborn poo explosion bubble :)

@BackOfTheMum5net outfits for you deffo. My husband was up and down the stairs and rummaging in the wardrobe about 5 times a day hunting for the "right" leggings or the "top with the boob bits that open" hahaha. He tried bless him 😅

Great idea to have extra outfits ready for yourself - with my first, I had to stay in hospital longer then expected and my husband had to bring me in extra stuff, I was so glad I’d packed an extra bag of clothes/pads/underwear/baby stuff “just in case”, as he didn’t have to guess what might fit me or be needed.

I would definitely just do whatever you enjoy over the next 1-3 weeks (mine were 42-weekers too!) - have hot cups of tea, go out to the cinema or to local towns for a mooch and a coffee, if you’re anywhere near a beach go for a nice walk by the sea, read, see friends, etc

I had an EMCS just before 37 weeks and here’s what I wish I’d had time to do:

• Tidy kitchen haha… I didn’t think I was about to have a baby that day so I left dirty plates on the counter to deal with later… then “later” turned out to be 5 days later and accompanied by a newborn and it wasn’t pleasant haha
• Take all the tags off the baby clothes
• Just enjoyed the last few days of having my little bellyfriend. Feeling his little kicks and things.
• As pp mentioned, reading books/binging box sets
• I wish I’d done the child-proofing at that time because now he’s 8 months & days away from crawling, and I still haven’t had chance 😂

I was advised, when bored in my final week of pregnancy, to pass the time by visiting my local breastfeeding support group. So I did that. I waddled in, 9 months pregnant and said hello. The breastfeeding teacher looked at me as though I was a weirdo. After a sitting in embarrassed silence for 10 mins, I left.
So, probably, don't do that.