Inspire me: what did you do on your maternity leave?

[Jane7]

I'm almost 39 weeks and I keep finding myself spending the day washing up, doing laundry and really boring things. Everyone says I should be doing fun things...would love to know what everyone got up to at this last stage...

Sit, alone, in silence. And enjoy, for you never will again.

Rest!

With my first child............naked sunbathing in the garden. I regreted when it came to labour though as all the midwives could see I had been sunbathing naked and they chided me.

My advice would be to sleep as much as you can. You are going to need it.

i'm torn between sleeping and resting lots in bed and going for long walks and taking exercise to speed up labour...

Oh God, don't try to speed up your labour! Watch crap tv, read a book you've always wanted to read, sleep like you've never slept before. Indulge yourself. It will never happen again.

seriously
Take this advice
Enjoy having a cup of tea without being interupted. Having a pee on your own. being completely alone in the house.
Waking up when you wake up rather than when someone else decides you should be awake.
And sit with your best friend and or partner and have a whole conversation without interuption. You will seldom do that again for about 15 years.
Rest
and then rest somemore
Anyone who is telling you to do fun things is a twit.

watched the Olympics
baked

Carry on doing boring things. Regardless of how foten people tell you to enjoy it while you can, you can't because you just want the birth to happen at the end. So ignore them and carry on doing whatever you like to get through the day.

i made the mistake of booking a hair appt for my due date ( not least so i wouldn't sit around all day imagining twinges.
When stylist looked at me she said 'omg you are huge - when are you due'
when i told her she gave me the quickest and worst haircut I have ever had.
Don't know what her problem was - she had hot water and plenty of towels

slept.

a lot.

fuck what everyone says.

do what you want.

because you never will again.

Assuming it's your 1st child...
I went to the cinema, to matinees at the NT and Barbican. Met friends for lunch. Lots of pedicures (had a thing about nice meet in labour )

It was winter and I read lots of Dickens in teh afternoons.

Had naps.

It was heaven.

good luck

i dragged my elephantine self round brent cross up to my due date and beyond panicking i hadnt got enough stuff for the baby

what an idiot i was. should have watched films drank tea and read books!

brilliant, keep them coming.
hadn't thought of the cinema. that's tomorrow afternoon sorted.
pagwatch - ha ha, yes, the right place with all those fluffy towels, and the reclining chairs might have come in useful too

Go to the cinema/ theatre/ comedy clubs.

I miss these

Is it your first?

Have fun leaving the house whenever you wish on the spur of the moment or deciding that minute to go out for dinner and come back as late as you wish -without babysitters, baby bags, prams etc.

Eat out in the most un-childfriendly cafes possible - spiral staircases, sharp edged tables etc.

Read lots of books. Watch films you've always wanted to see from start to finish, napping as and when required.

Spend time with your partner without discussing exactly how many feeds/poos etc the baby has had that day and whether thats okay.

I got so bored I cleaned the INSIDE of the washing machine.

Tried to clean out the freezer, dropped packet of frozen peas all over kitchen floor, spent next half an hour weeping trying to pick them up.

I say screw the housework, eat cake and watch TV instead.

No one will care if your freezer is clean.

sleep, cinema, walks, read, clean, prepare nursery and made lots of meals which I just bunged in freezer in preparation for those first newborn weeks

chill, chill, chill

i got hair done, went for ante-natal massage, got nails and feet done, got lady bits waxed and spent a lot of time meeting friends for coffee inbetween being addicted to salt and vinegar snack-a-jacks while watching deal or no deal!!

definitely prepare freezer meals/pasta sauces/soups/stews/lasagne etc for afterwards. you won't have the energy to cook and will be starving, especially if you breastfeed!

Meet friends for lunch,
shop for those last minute things,
get any last minute bits done to the house; they won't be done for the next six months

browse mumsnet

yes to most of these: sleep, read, nap on sofa, long lie ins, watch dvds, enjoy adult conversations, hang out on the loserweb, bake and eat delicious foodz. To which I would add, enjoy doing things that require two hands

Once I discovered Mumsnet, I found I no longer had any problems with what to do with myself on maternity leave!

Obviously I'm going to reiterate sleep, reading etc. On my due date I started watching American Pie - The wedding - laughed and my waters broke. So perhaps be a little careful about what films you watch - especially at the cinema! At home I don't suppose it matters! I would suggest you don't order a wardrobe from e-bay that will be delivered the day after you give birth - especially if h isn't going to be around. Other that these things read books and relax. Don't forget your pelvic floor exercises!!!

visited friends. Shopped loads. Had pedicures and facials. Got new boiler installed and things finished on the house. Put cot together. Got blind put in baby's room. Got everything ready for baby. Washed all the baby bedding (sad I know!) Enjoy!

As twee as it sounds, I painted lots of canvas pics for DS's nursery. I bought lots of cheap canavses from Au Naturale, some cheap acrylic paint and painted 8 different ones of brightly coloured animals in various poses, it was great, so relaxing (if you like that sort a thing) and rewarding. Now DS is 11 months and I show them the pics and he is vaguely interested LOL. Made the nursery pretty cool though!

aaaaaaah - i wish i could go back and appreciate my maternity leave all over again. it was bliss - i bumbled round shops, ate what i wanted when i wanted, read books, MN-ed, bought christmas presents (i was off in late november last year), made nice meals for DH for a few romatic dinners, napped all afternoon...

it was like living in a parallel universe, with nobody expecting anything of me, and felt amazing after working late right up until the day i left work. wandering around very very pregnant is also quite fun, i found. everyone is so nice to you. enjoy it and do exactly what you want and answer to nobody, i say