Prepping for Baby, Part III-The Mom-to-Be

I've talked about preparing your pets and your home for the new baby in your life. Now it's time to talk about the big one, maybe even literally, with that huge bump you might be carrying around...YOURSELF!

Moms-to-be have so many things to worry about. "Will I be a good mom?", "Are we prepared financially", "Can I really live off of two hours of sleep a night". Well the latter question gets answered by your body in the months leading up to birth with restless legs, backaches and all kinds of fun things that prevent you from having a full night's sleep. But, I'm a glass-half-full kinda girl, so "Thank you, body" for preparing me for motherhood.

Here are I few things I did or wish I did in preparation of motherhood:

Don't drive yourself crazy-things will come naturally. You will be a great mom. You will learn things slowly, but eventually you'll know what to do. You need this pre-baby time to relax and enjoy free time.

But, Learn the basics-I've said it before that pre-Landon, I had never changed a diaper. That's one of those skills you can't mother without. So I was resourceful...I got a doll, initially for training Bailey, and I took one of the sample diapers I received in a Buy Buy Baby gift bag. So that's how I practiced diapering a baby. Learning how to swaddle is also a good thing to master before it's  time to do it at the hospital. Also, be sure to know that babies eat every 2-3 hours. This is something I didn't know until after Landon was born. Boy, that was a shock!

The creepy doll with the original practice diaper

"Mom, I'm way cuter than this thing. What were you thinking?"

Learn the signs of labor-I had a scheduled induction, but I had actually already gone into the early stages of labor before I even went into the hospital. I took a birthing class, but I think I was so set on making it to the scheduled induction that I ignored my contractions, pretending they were just cramps. Don't do what I did.

Have a birthing plan, but be prepared to throw it out the window-Go to the hospital knowing how you would prefer to have a baby. But if you are in too much pain or things are not going medically correct, be comfortable in changing the plans. I was one of the lucky ones that had an amazing experience. Besides the awful first hour or two of being on Pitocin, which makes contractions come harder and more intense than normal labor, once I had the epidural I was on Cloud 9. When it came time to push, I was laughing so hard that the nurses had to tell me to get serious.

So moms-to-be, yes, prepare for having a baby, but don't go crazy. Unexpected things make life interesting!