| What To Expect While Waiting
The big day is arriving—your due date! You may grow anxious and excited as the date approaches, but don’t be surprised if your baby doesn’t arrived when scheduled. In fact, only 4% of babies are born on their due date, and most are born up to four days late. So instead of worrying, put your feet up and relax while you can!
Should You Carry A Jar of Pickles?
You may be worried about your amniotic fluid, or ‘water,’ breaking in public. There’s an old joke that says one should carry a jar of pickles with them, and if their water breaks they can open the jar and blame it on the pickles. You can relax, as a mere 8-10% of women experience their ‘water breaking’ outside of active labor.
If your water does break outside of active labor, there’s no need to be embarrassed or panic, as whomever you’re with will be worried about having to deliver a baby! Make sure you note the time and the color of the fluid and call your doctor with the information. Your doctor will probably want you to come in to the hospital to be induced if you’re not already in labor
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What to Do While Waiting?
You’re probably wondering what to do now, since you’re obviously going to be pregnant forever. You can relax, though. At some point, your baby will be born, just not right at this moment. So what can you do to pass the time until labor begins?
If this is your first baby, you probably have visions of happily nursing your little one, serving your partner a home-cooked meal using a recipe you’ve been dying to try, and entertaining friends as they ooh and ah over your baby. Unfortunately, having a newborn baby means sleepless nights, a shower by noon if you’re lucky and take-out for dinner if you’re really ambitious—canned soup if you’re not. You’ll want to do as much as possible to prepare so you can enjoy your baby instead of worrying about other things.
Stock Up
Now is the time to go through your supplies and make sure you have enough of everything. For the baby, make sure you have first aid supplies, medicines like Tylenol in the event of that fist fever or cold, diapers (you can buy a package or two a size bigger if you’re worried about having too many of one size,) wipes, bottles and a thermometer.
For the home, make sure you have the necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, frozen veggies, bottled water, pain reliever for those labor aches and pains, breast pads for leaks and sanitary napkins (not tampons.)
Cook In Advance
If you’re restless now, go ahead and prepare a few meals and freeze them. After the baby arrives, you’ll be able to put a nutritious dinner on the table without too much effort (which will be heavenly in a few weeks!) Some meals that freeze well are quiches (add ham and veggies for a breakfast quiche), lasagna, Shepard’s Pie, meatloaf and casseroles. Soups can be made ahead of time and frozen in containers, as can home-made spaghetti sauce and meatballs for a quick, nutritious meal with a home-cooked feel.
If you don’t own one, invest in a crock pot. Once the baby is born you can add your veggies and meat to the crock pot in the morning, turn it on and dinner is no longer a problem!
Rest!
Though you’re probably on pins and needles waiting, this is a good time to get some rest and relax. You’re going to have to go through labor, which could last up to twenty hours, give or take. After that, you’ll bring your baby home and the around the clock care begins. Having a new baby means getting your sleep when you can, so rest up now! |
