28 things to do in the last 28 days

I am sharing with you a list of 28 things to do in the last 28 days of pregnancy.  I was inspired to write it after finding the few weeks leading up to delivery to be: long, emotional, and in-need-of-distraction-y.  I have shared it with my sister and my cousin, with good response.  Use it if you find yourself in my shoes or give it to someone you know to motivate and encourage them.

The list 

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Find, buy, and watch your favorite kid's movie.  Some day you will get to share it with your little one, why not have it on hand?  The Wal-mart $5.00 bin is a great place to look.

Pick out your pediatrician and call them.  If don't have someone in mind, ask for recommendations from other parents or look them up online.  If you don't know the doctor personally, you can call their office and schedule a time to meet them and ask them some questions.  If you aren't sure what to ask, here is a good list of topics:

http://pregnant.thebump.com/pregnancy/pregnancy-tools/articles/checklist-interviewing-a-pediatrician.aspx

Remember-you are potentially dealing with this person for the next 18 years, make sure you really like them!

Go to http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/pregnancy-survey and take the survey about your pregnancy.  Write down the questions and answers on paper and put it in your baby book.

Practice swaddling.  Watch a youtube video, read a how-to blog post, or ask someone who knows.  

Figure out how to use your stroller.  Also figure out how to use your baby carrier or wrap if you have one.

Pack your hospital bag.  Two things I thought were useful: chapstick for all the huffing and puffing, and pillows from home- the hospital ones were terrible!

Get a stack of thank you cards and stamps.  People love to send gifts and cards when the baby comes.

Double your dinner recipe and freeze half.  Having pre-made food after the baby comes is awesome, because finding the time or energy to cook is hard.  I made simple things like spaghetti, meatballs, and soup and froze them.

Make a family tree for your baby.  

Make a labor or postpartum playlist.  Pick out songs that make you happy and feel calm, just remember to pack your ipod or computer and charger.  

Write out a birth plan.  When trying to process all the possibilities of labor it helps to nail down what is really important to you (even if it changes at the last minute) like specifying who you want in the room, if you want to have pain meds available, if you don't want interns involved, etc.

Make a list of who you want contacted and assign that job to someone.  Decide if you want to call, text, or email your friends and family to let them know the good news.  You can even type up a draft email or text and then you can just fill in the details and hit send!

Start a timer and drive to the hospital, park, and walk to the right floor.  Then you will know what to expect during show time.  While you are there, you can go in and look at the babies in the nursery, and stop for a frosty on the way home.

Buy one post-pregnancy thing for yourself.  Not something that will take several months to get into, but something that you can be happy to put on after the baby comes.  My sister bought me this sweet nightgown that is super soft and pretty, which is nice to wear especially when I feel so un-used to my body being just mine.

Spend extra time loving on your pets.  You will always love them, but it is hard to give them a lot of attention after having a baby.  It takes time to work out a new routine as a family and get back to bonding with your animals, so love them up now.  Also pick up a few toys or treats and keep them stashed away for when you are feeling guilty.

Transition your closet and drawers by pulling out maternity things and putting your old clothes back.  It might take a while to get back into them, but having your old clothes can help you get back to feeling more like yourself.  I can't explain why, but throwing on my old ratty Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt was really comforting.

Watch a movie about having a baby.  I highly recommend Baby Mama, other good choices are Junior, Away We Go, and Juno.  I do not recommend Look Who's Talking-that movie gives me the creeps.

Clean like crazy!  I know you are probably really tired and your house is already clean, but think about it as a clean-pay-it-forward kind of thing.  If you scrub already clean toilets and sinks, the cleanyness will last for a while after the baby comes.

Go buy plenty of pads for yourself (the Always Infinity were definitely worth the extra few dollars), and rubbing alcohol wipes for baby's umbilical cord. 

 Do something with your feet.  They will be up in the air, and well, they might as well look decent.  I know they are hard to reach, but give them a few minutes of attention, or get someone else to do it.

Make sure you have baby medical stuff at home.  It seems babies only need something like that at a really inconvenient time and then someone is going to the 24 hours Walgreens in the dead of night.  Things to check for might be: thermometer, gas drops, baby tylenol, etc.

Put together a few baskets of baby stuff.  We have a changing station in our bedroom, but I find myself changing little man on the couch/floor/pack-n-play quite often, instead of taking him back there every time.  Throw some diapers and what not into a few baskets and stash them in different rooms, especially those that you spend a lot of time in.

 Do something that you won't do for a while after the baby comes, like go to the movies or a small, crowded, baby-unfriendly restaurant.

Find a baby picture of you and your husband.  Throw them into the hospital bag or have them handy when you get home.  It is fun to see what features get passed along.

Check your bills and bank accounts.  I got so distracted when little man was born, that I let one of our accounts get a negative balance.  I just wasn’t thinking about it.  If there is anything you can do, like set up automatic payments or transfers, do it ahead of time.

Get a good water bottle.  If they let you drink during labor, it is nice to have your own bottle and watch how much you drink.  After the baby comes, you will have to drink a lot of fluids and breastfeeding can make you feel really thirsty.  Splurge for something fun.

Bake something.  You will have a lifetime of making birthday cakes and holiday cookies ahead of you.   Start sharpening your skills and enjoy some tasty treats.

Take a picture of your belly in a way that you can recreate it with your baby once they arrive.  Wrapping your hands around the bottom and holding it up, lay the baby’s coming home outfit on your belly, etc… then just substitute a baby for the belly for an after picture.

Take a bath.   Doctors recommend you don’t take one for a long while after the baby is born, since your body is trying to rid itself of un-useful material and don’t want to risk infection.  Make it a good long one and bring a book.

Supply and Demand: The Economics of Breastfeeding in a Modern Civilization

I am not talking about economics like dollars and cents, because in the endless battle of breast vs. bottle, people often make the case that breastfeeding is fiscally responsible, stating that it is free, but anyone who has ever tried it knows that it is not.  It means long hours, hard work, and if returning to work, a several hundred dollar pump.

I am talking about economics as in the cause and effect of production and consumption.

Starting with supply.  Everyone is jealous of everyone else.  I do not make enough milk to exclusively breastfeed my son.  On an average week day, I spend 2-3 hours a day hooked to a pump and 2-3 hours nursing my kid (sometimes doing both at the same time).  All that, and I still need to supplement with one or two formula bottles a day to get by.  My friend (and reader of this blog) has 700 ounces of frozen milk in her freezer but has fought the battle of the plugged duct nearly a dozen times.  I have another friend who visited several lactation consultants, purchased a high quality pump and supplies, sought help in support groups, had mastitis, and never was able to produce more than an ounce at a time.  So basically, low-supply mommas wish they had more.  Over-supply mommas wish they had less.  No-supply mommas wish they had some.   If there is a mom out there who had just the right amount, for the right amount of time, without any issues-please respond, so I can send you a gold medal.

The concept of supply was heavy on my mind over the recent holiday.  At 4 am the day before Christmas, I got sick.  Not from partying hard but from the cursed 24-hour-clean-you-out-I-don't-care-that-it-is-a-holiday-and-that-you-traveled-550-miles-with-a-baby-and-a-dog-to-be-here-to-celebrate-flu.  For the entire day I was sweating (but freezing), in the bathroom, or asleep.  These kind of flus do not care that another human being is depending on you in order to survive.  My husband made up bottles of formula, and I managed to nurse a few times, and we got through it.  Then nightfall came.  I passed out hard after the days festivities, and found myself 14 hours without pumping or nursing.  (The baby was fed bottles-no worries).  Swollen and sore, I hooked up the pump and watched as little more than three ounces appeared.  14 hours and three ounces!  My eyes welled up with tears, fearing that this was it.  I was all dried up.  Like the a grape in the sun.  Wrinkled, deflated, and not nearly as good.  Seriously, who likes raisins more than grapes?

I felt sick, tired, sad, and useless.  It was not a good day.  I pushed through the majority of a 2-liter of ginger ale and some orange gatorade, and kept trying to nurse my son.  He had several formula bottles and some how seemed content.  The next day things were pretty much back to normal.  I couldn't believe it.  Crazy supply laws.

Which leads to demand.  And boy-howdy is there a demand.   Sometimes as often as 12 times a day during those first few weeks.  The demand comes at all hours of the night.  The demand can be for more than is present.  The demand shows no mercy.

Demand is good, though.  It keeps up supply.  And as any high school graduate can tell you,  "as demand goes up, it will drive up the value".  Breastmilk is gold.  It is hard to understand it becoming more valuable, but as a grown woman who recently dropped a four ounce bottle of milk on the floor and cried real tears over it, I am telling you that this rule is true.  I may have been extra emotional because while rinsing out the towel I was using to clean it up, my dog licked a large amount of it from the floor.

Oh, demand.  I mentioned before that it can come at any time.  I recently found myself caving to the demand in the most unusual way.  My husband, baby, dog, and I were on our way back from said 550 mile trip last week, when our little man decided he was done with the whole car riding experience.  Our normal nine hour trek, was quickly evolving into a ten, ten and a half, eleven...hour drive.  I sat in the back seat singing, playing, and talking to little man and that worked for a while, then it was back to the crying.  He would stop as soon as we pulled over and he got out of the seat, but at this point we just had to get home.  Demanding that he either get out or get boob, I surrendered my modesty and leaned up over the car seat.  For 40 miles, there I was half dressed, unseatbelted, "hanging out" in the car seat.  It was the most I ever felt like a cow.  I did not like it.  But that is the thing about demand.  It must be met.  At ANY cost.