How to keep occupied waiting for baby?

[paintedpony]

Hi all

I’m currently 40+5 and finding the waiting game quite tricky now with trying to keep myself in a happy mood and positive mindset!

I like being productive and can only do a fairly minimal amount of relaxing before I get bored/ unhappy. However I’m physically quite uncomfortable now so there’s a lot of limitations on what I’m able to do.

I have been doing everything I can think of; walking the dog with my DH, wandering round outside as much as I can, taking baths, birth ball bouncing, colostrum harvesting etc. Now the freezer is stocked with batch cooking and the nursery is ready I’m struggling to fill my days! I know I will blink and have the exact opposite situation and keep reminding myself of that but still finding it tricky and know the importance of trying to keep my mood and endorphins up!

Does anyone have any suggestions of what they did to keep occupied over these final few days please? Desperate for more ideas! Thanks in advance

Swimming, lovely not to feel so weighed down by the bump,
Lots of cake in cafes and gentle meander in garden centres
Bouncing on the yoga ball
Netflix and nap!

I painted all my skirting boards, as my pelvis was so awful I was only comfortable on my hands and knees!

Me and my partner made a jigsaw puzzle, really helped to keep the mind busy in the run up to baby arriving

Yes definitely swimming! Also a good idea to order an online supermarket shop to arrive in 2 weeks time when you really don't want to leave the house!

Same! First baby ended up being 11 days late and we spent it either doing jigsaws or scouring charity shops for jigsaws! I'd never done one in my life before that!

Coffee shop with cake and good book! I recommend Ina May Gaskins "Guide to childbirth" it was full of positivity around birth! Mine was 11 days late... Get loads of books, magazines and chill !

Oh wow
Cinema or even just watch a film at home
Read a book
Go to the loo by yourself and relish it
Massage
Get your hair done
Yoga
Swim
Go to a tiny restaurant that's too small for a pram, has lots of stairs and no baby changing facilities

Im 39+5, today I took a scraper to one of the garden walls and got the flakey paint off ready to repaint it. Don’t know why I did that! Then I fell asleep for a few hours. Sleeping is how I pass my afternoons at the moment 😆 It doesn’t help I can hardly walk, trying to take the dog out is just beyond my capabilities right now!

I could hardly move after 38 weeks so your activity levels impress me.

Just relax. Take some time to just put your feet up and do nothing. You'll be busy enough soon when baby arrives.

I swam loads. And went to some galleries and had lots of uninterrupted tea and cake.

Thanks all. Some really good ideas ☺️.

Hadn’t thought about going swimming, that would be great as think the lack of physical exercise (comparatively to normal as bump
getting sore so quickly now) is as much the issue as the mentally keeping busy! Will have to see if I can still squeeze into any of my swimwear 😂.

Have been listening to a few audiobooks and definitely going to nab a jigsaw off my Mum now too!

Hopefully baby won’t keep us waiting much longer now fingers crossed.

Walking with an audiobook and going for a daily swim were mine, even better if you can get in the sea than the pool - I always felt amazing after a sea swim.

Swimming, yoga, cinema? I worked til 40 weeks which helped!

@paintedpony Fingers crossed you won’t be left waiting too much longer 😊🤞🏼
Do you know if you’re having a boy or girl? 😊

Could you spend a bit of time getting ahead with any birthdays etc coming up over the next few months? I was pretty forgetful for a few months after so was thankful that I’d planned ahead and bought in birthday cards/wrapping paper etc lol

Really hope so, they seem to be quite comfortable in there still at the moment 🙈. We’ve decided to leave it as a surprise for the day ☺️ I hadn’t found it too hard not knowing but it’s so close now I can’t wait to find out!

That's a good idea on birthdays! I have done a few cards and one present but only for next couple of weeks so will look a bit further ahead and start thinking about more birthday present ideas to order for people!

Do things for yourself that will benefit you the most. I had the bright idea of one last break away before the baby came and took the other kids to Butlins for the week. OMG. Regretted it soon as we got up there.
My feet were like pork chops with all the walking around.

I'm nearly due now and booked myself in for a full head of highlights, nails my lashes and a massage. Then I'll be sleeping as much as possible. I cannot be arsed to do anything else!

@paintedpony i kept it a surprise too 😊 I loved finding out on the day 😊 I also spent the night feeds on my phone spending a fortune on clothes after my DS was born because I pretty much had all white for him before he was born lol.

Hopefully you’re not waiting too much longer 😊 let us know how you get on!