10 Thing to do While Waiting for Baby to Come

As my due date was yesterday, I've been prepared to have this baby for about a week!  Now, I'm on to that "waiting stage" where it could be any time.  Today, I decided to put together a list of fun (or necessary) things to do while waiting for your baby to arrive.  This list is in no particular order of importance.  It's just in the order that I thought of things.  I hope you enjoy them!  

1.  Watch a Movie: Watching a movie is a great way to make time pass quickly.  I don't watch a lot of movies because I usually end up having to stop them halfway through for one reason or another and that gets annoying, but today, I watched Parent Trap and really enjoyed it!  Made me forget about waiting for the baby for a while.  

2.  Crochet: I've been working on a baby blanket for a friend for a while now.  I really should have it finished before the baby comes, so that's one other great thing to do while waiting!  You could crochet (or knit) something for your baby, yourself, or someone else.  Unfortunately, H doesn't let me crochet because she LOVES crocheted blankets and things and wants to hug whatever I'm working on.  This is something I can do while she's napping or in bed for the night though.

3.  Walk!  We all know that walking is great for preparing your body for labor and not only that, it's just great for you in general!  If you're bored and looking for something to do, take a walk.  Walk at a park, around the block, or if it is too cold or rainy, walk at the mall or even just at Walmart.  I've been trying to walk at least once a week since being pregnant and more like twice a week here at the end.  Find someone to walk with who you can talk to and enjoy being around.  Then, make it a point to walk on a regular basis with them.  Another perk to walking is that if you get in the habit now and continue after the baby is born (after a few weeks of recovery), you'll lose that baby weight a lot quicker!

4.  Read a Book: The Scriptures, a novel, a devotional, a classic, a parenting guide...these are all great options for things to read while you're waiting.  My best advice is to find something you can get lost in.  Especially if you're so close to the end it's driving you crazy!  Right now, I'm reading Emma on my Kindle.  It was recommended my my sister-in-law and I can't say I was crazy about it at first, but I'm really enjoying it now.  Another great book I'd recommend (although you won't need the information until about six months in) is Super Baby Food.  It's a great book about making your own baby foods and the benefits that come from it.  I'd recommend buying a copy so you can mark it, tab the pages, make copies to hang on your refridgerator, and have for reference.  I didn't buy a copy with H, but ended up keeping the library's copy until it was long overdue.  I'll be buying a copy this time around.

5.  Clean Something: This is probably coming naturally along with the nesting that you experience at the end.  But make sure you're not just rearranging furniture, but actually making an impact on your house.  When baby arrives, there won't be much time for cleaning so make sure your kitchen is clean and organized.  Clean your bathtub if you plan to labor at home and sit in the tub.  Clean your room because you should plan to stay there for a good deal of the time when you first get home.  (It's a comfortable, quiet place to sit and nurse your baby and you should be resting!)  And vacuum.  The motion could help bring on labor!  Just make sure you're using cleaners that are safe for both you and baby.

6.  Decorate the Baby's Room: If you haven't done this already, do it now.  You want baby's room to be ready when you bring her home.  My favorite decorations for H's room are the ones I made myself.  I haven't been so diligent in making M's decorations (mostly because I have a one year old running me ragged), but she's got a few things.  I love the name on the wall made of wooden letters.  I bought them for both girls at Hobby Lobby and painted them.  I think it just adds a nice personalized touch.  They're pretty inexpensive (especially if you can get them on sale) and you can decorate them to match the other decor in the room.  Even if you decide to just do initials instead of the whole name, it can be just as beautiful.

7.  Pamper Yourself: Get a pedicure.  Get your hair cut and styled.  Color your hair.  Do your nails.  Take a long bath.  You're about to go through the hardest thing you've done in your whole life.  I believe you should prepare not only through exercise, but also through mental relaxation and a great way to relax is through pampering.  Plus, you won't have time for pampering for quite a while after the baby comes.  So, if this is your first, take a day (or just half) of work (housework or otherwise) and do some pampering.  If you already have kids, leave them with grandma or dad and spend some time on your own.  A good nap may be just the pampering you need!  The picture below is of a foot spa.  I'd love to have one of these, but will just have to settle for the bathtub for now.

8.  Bake: I've been telling Brian I would make him an apple pie for several weeks now.  I even bought the apples!  Now, I just need to do it.  I plan to make two.  One to eat now and one to freeze for later.  I love the apple pies I've made in the past and baking of any kind can be a good thing to keep you busy and help stock your freezer and fridge for when the baby arrives.  Another thing I've been meaning to bake are lactation cookies.  These are supposed to help your milk supply and be really good for you along with being very tasty!  I would like to have a big batch of these to munch on while nursing.  And an added bonus: if I call them lactation cookies, maybe Brian will stay out of them!

9.  Blog!  If you're an avid blogger, now is the time to write several blog posts and set them up to post while you're on "maternity leave".  I'm not quite that big of a blogger, but as you can see, I do enjoy blogging.  This is a great way to take up some time and help me keep my mind off of self-induction techniques!   

10. Brush up on your Camera Skills: You're going to be taking lots of pictures of your little newborn soon and you don't want to have forgotten how to use your camera.  Get out the manual, look up some sites online, or even just make sure the battery is charged!  Whatever you need to do to prepare, do it now.  You don't want to be searching for the perfect setting while your baby is happy only to find that by the time your settings are right, your baby is ready to eat or sleep or poop.  If your camera has a programmable mode, it might even be a good idea to turn down the lights in your house, set up a doll, and take some pictures until you've got it just right.  Then program that into your camera so you're ready at a moment's notice!  If you don't have a nice camera, I'd recommend getting one.  Yes, the photographer has to be well informed to take good pictures, but a good camera can make a world of difference.  I love my Canon 40D and would recommend it to anyone.  There are cheaper cameras out there and there are more expensive cameras out there.  I'd say if you're just taking pictures of your kids, you don't need to go more expensive and could even go cheaper.  I just don't know what to recommend that is cheaper.  :)