I can’t believe I have already reached the third trimester with baby #2! This pregnancy has been pretty familiar physically but emotionally and mentally I have felt a lot different. I feel like I can take on the challenge of labor and birth with much less anxiety this time around. Even though the labor is sure to be very different with the second baby I’ve been though it before. I trust my mommy instant more and worry less. It’s been really fun to just sit back and enjoy the experience! I am very much a “planner” though, and now that I only have about 11 weeks to go I’m starting to think about my Third Trimester To Do List before the big day.
- Finish the nursery redo. I don’t have much more to finish! We moved all of B.B.’s personal things to her room and changed the colors to blush pink, black and white with gold accents. I just need to finish some little details, hang the wall art and figure out the dresser. I’ll wait until November to freshen up any baby clothes because I want them to be freshly laundered at the very end.
- Make busy bags for nursing. I really don’t know what to expect our nursing sessions to look like with an active, curious almost 2 year old in the mix but I know that I should expect it to be challenging. I don’t want B.B. to feel ignored or bored so I plan to prepare several busy bags for her to have only while I’m breastfeeding the baby. It sounds like a great plan to sit down for a special activity and snack while I’m feeding the baby. I’ll definitely show you what I come up with!
- Start going to yoga regularly. I haven’t been to prenatal yoga once during this pregnancy! I really want to start, but my husband’s work schedule has been tricky this summer. It’s important for me to have time to relax and connect with my body and the baby. Prenatal yoga was so helpful during my first labor. I was able to breathe through contractions with no pain medicine for about 12 hours, and once I started pushing I had so much flexibility. The midwife called me Yoga Mama! Haha! Can’t wait to start going again. It’s also a great place to meet mommy friends so I’m excited for that!
- Organize a few closets. I will not be organizing my kitchen closet anytime soon after the birth! I don’t need to go crazy but a little tidying in some areas will make things go a lot smoother once I’m juggling two. I need to tackle my kitchen closet, kitchen craft zone and set up an area for my diaper bag and heading out the door items.
- Plan B.B.’s activities and birthday party. Next week B.B. will start going to Tot School! I am so excited for her! She will only go once per week for a few hours. I think she will love the group setting and learning from her teachers! Having these few free hours per week will give me time to book my midwife appointments, run errands, or spend one on one time with the baby. I think having B.B. in the routine of going to school for a few months will make November less chaotic for her. We are also planning on keeping up with some very familiar activities so she can have consistency in her routine. Keeping her schedule predictable will help her feel important and it will keep her engaged in her learning and socializing with friends. We will be throwing a birthday party a few short weeks after the baby arrives! We will keep it small and simple this year and it will be a piece of cake if I get it done ahead of time. I love party planning, and luckily my mom does too. It will be great to have some help preparing for a special 2 year old party. We have decided to go with a Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood theme.
- Think of a name! We are soooooo stuck on a name. It’s been rough this time around because we don’t want the girls to have matching names, and I’m ultra sensitive to using a top 20 name. We have read many books and made several lists, then we threw the list away and started over. We both decided it would be fun to name the baby before she was born, but now we can’t find the right name. I’m not stressing about it but just trying to feel the baby’s personality and see if any names draw me in. I can’t wait to find the perfect name! My favorite website and book has been Baby Name Wizard and I’ve also found a few apps that have been fun and helpful when I have an idea I want to look into, Nametrix and Nymbler.
- Attend Labor Relaxation class. As second time parents we don’t need to attend childbirth classes that are so fresh on our minds. We are going to a relaxation class in a few weeks that is just a couple of hours long. I think it will be easy and fun to dedicate an evening to talking about our birth plan and how we can work together as a team. I don’t think we’ll write a birth plan this time, it will be pretty much the same as last time and we can edit and print it out if the midwives want us to. Click here to see my birth plan for Baby #1. The way I wrote by birth plan was based off of ideas in Natural Hospital Birth: The Best of Both Worlds by Cynthia Gabriel. I also took these ideas from our childbirth class: to write in a positive tone (“we want…” “please use…” instead of “don’t do this”) keep it to one page, only include what is very important, have it done by 36 weeks.
Outline:
1. Intro Statement- Suck up! Ex: “Thank you for the excellent care and for including us in decision making during our first childbirth experience.”
2. First stage of labor plans
3. Second stage (birth) and third stage (placenta delivery) plans
4. C-section plans
5. Baby plans after birth (first bath, cord cutting, meds, eye ointment, bonding, nursing info, etc.) - Continue stocking the freezer. I’m always freezer cooking so I don’t have to start this task, I just need to keep up with it! Right now I have probably 3 weeks worth of precooked dinners in our chest freezer. I’m just going to keep up with my stock and I’ll probably add more snacks for keeping up with middle of the night snacking while breastfeeding.
- Pack bags. I can’t remember when I packed last time but I think it was maybe as early as 32 weeks! I’ll probably pack around the same time this go around, definitely by 35 weeks. This was my list last time.
- Shop for baby’s birthday. I’m starting to keep an eye out for cute, cozy lounge outfits for the the hospital and first few weeks after birth. I just ordered the softest, coziest footie PJs on the Earth for the baby to wear home! They are Kickee Pants, a brand made from bamboo and known for softness. I need to find a matching hat and I think I might get a coordinating dress for B.B. but we will see. I also hope to help B.B choose a birthday present to give to her baby sissy, and a gift for the big sister “from the baby”. I’ve seen some really fun ideas! Can’t wait to make special memories and prepare for our new daughter to arrive.
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