During each of my pregnancies, I have focused on various “projects” and this time is no exception. Over the last five years, my ideas and priorities have evolved. When I was expecting my oldest child I spent a lot of time reading scientific literature on giving birth as well as researching products we needed like cloth diapers and sources for natural fiber clothing. With my second, I prioritized exercising, specifically those promoted by Spinning Babies, The Body Ready Method, and other similar sources in an effort to avoid the challenges I had during my daughter’s birth (it worked!). So, what am I doing this time?
For the most part, this has been the most relaxing of all of my pregnancies so far. I know what to expect, I already have a birth plan (my strategy in my second pregnancy worked excellently) and trusted midwives to hire, so it doesn’t feel like I have a whole lot to “figure out.” At least not compared to the first two times. In other ways it has been more difficult, however. As a mom who works full-time outside of the home I am constrained on time and have not been able to sleep enough while at the same time ensuring my family has high quality, nutritious food to eat. Additionally, the many daycare illnesses my kids bring home are relentless, meaning that I spent the majority of the last several months with some form of illness. I have not enjoyed that to say the least.
So…what AM I focusing on this time?
Planning
Working on setting my kids up for a smooth transition to the new normal. I want to have a solid routine that everyone knows so that we all do what is necessary without having to think about it too much. I don’t want to have to use any extra brain power when running short on sleep (and hands).
Craft supplies and activities
Acquiring craft supplies and preparing activities to pull out the closet quickly. A few of my favorites are Stockmar modeling wax, stencils, watercolor colored pencils, tissue paper, and mini chalk boards. My children love these activities, they can do them somewhat independently, and most importantly they are not very messy!
Organizing
Sorting through closets, setting aside items we no longer need and can pass on to someone else, and just generally decluttering. Ever since buying and moving into our house (we went from a 30 m2 apartment in Helsinki to a 150 m2 house) we have acquired more and more stuff. In order to retain my sanity after this baby arrives, I know we need to have fewer objects circulating to be tripped upon. In particular, I have implemented a strict toy rotation, keeping only a few toys out at once. As an additional benefit, I have found my kids play better when there are only a couple of things out.
Sleep
Currently, my 21 month-old is still nursing throughout the night. That absolutely needs to be phased out before this baby is born as I cannot be nursing two children at night. I have been employing the method recommended by Dr. Jay Gordan, gradually lengthening the amount of time we go before allowing him to nurse. He is not exactly excited about this, and none of us are sleeping very much currently, but I know it will get better. Additionally, since most night the entire family ends up sleeping in one bed, I am working on figuring out a workable family bed situation. We currently have a 180 cm wide bed, and my husband is always getting pushed off of the edge by the kids in between us. I am planning to add a 90 cm wide bed to the side of our current bed for a total width of 270 cm. This just so happens to be the exact width of our bedroom, so our bed will extend from wall to wall with no sides for anyone to fall off of. I can’t wait!
Food preparation
Whenever I make a large batch of food like soup or meatballs, I try to save at least one meals’ worth extra for pulling out the freezer in the early postpartum days. In my first pregnancy I did a lot of meal preparation for this purpose, and it worked out excellently. This time, I don’t have much time to dedicate to making full meals just for the freezer, but the method of saving leftovers is much more approachable and has still allowed me to build up a supply of easy, nutritious meals.
I hope that at least some of these things will help to make our transition to being a family of five just a bit easier.
