34 weeks and struggling to cope

[lifeinthesun]

Am 34 weeks and am so nervous that this baby is going to come early as I never seem to get a chance to rest and the baby is very low, head down and am having lots of lots of BH contractions. I have a 2.11 DD and she has so much energy. I find that even though she is at school most of the day with all the housework, dog to walk, cooking etc as well as looking after her before and after school I dont find all that much time to sit down and put my feet up. My DH works long hrs so I cant even rely on him being home to help put DD to bed or cook the supper. Can so much excertion bring on labour? I imagine that I can't be the only pregnant person who never has a minute to rest!!

I don't think the lack of rest will cause labour to start too early, but you do sound like you could do with a bit of rest time!

If she is at school most of the day then you really should be able to spend a few hours of that resting. Ds goes to nursery 2.5 hrs and I manage to spend most of that sleeping. I do tidying, etc while he is around and have some time to play with him too.

You are doing far too much housey stuff if you can't fit a few hours rest into 6 hrs of kid-free time. My house is clean and tidy on a few hours a day. You need to prioritise yourself.

Sod the house work. so long as you're not living in a sty then don't worry if it's a bit untidy. Could you try to cook up some big meals (only takes as long as doing a small portion) of things like bolognase, chilli, curry, sausage casserole etc and freeze portions. then you can just dig something out the freezer to eat, rather than having to cook everyday.

are there any local friendly teenagers who could take the dog for a walk for a few quid?

not sure it could bring on labour, but you certainly do need to rest up! i had a similar situation with my 2nd DD, i was running around all day looking after my lil one, who is 18months older than her sister, my (then) husband was compelteyl useless whether he was in the house or not, and was doing everything from childcare to the cooking and cleaning and just everything. i even ended up driving myself to hospital in established labour lol. but i didnt go into labout till 40+1 and i was running around like a lunatic!!

like others have said, doubt it will bring it on, but you certainly do need to try and find time to rest, even if its only resting whilst the children are at school and do the housework later, theres no rush, whats more important is you getting rest now so that you are better able to cope when the baby is born. stuff the housework, get your hubby to do it when the kids are in bed!

thanks for all the msgs. I do try and rest during the day but the problem is that my DD doesnt't go to bed till 9 so I have 5 solid hrs of running around after her after I get her from school. That is what seems to push me over the edge! I would love her to go to bed earlier but we live in Portugal and here they let kids sleep in school for 2 hrs every afternoon. She is simply just not tired till 9 and so not much I can do!! I do confess I am a complete clean freak and do maybe need to prioritise resting over cleaning. Was really worried would bring on labour but if that isn't the case I feel better already. My DD was only 6lbs 6oz and I want this little one to stay in as long as poss and come out a little bit bigger!!