Operation Baby Prep!

We're 2-6 weeks away from meeting this sweet little one and I'm in full nesting mode.

36th week!

Some Friends came over yesterday and we had fun crafting a banner for baby Ziggy. He won't have his own room at this point, but I wanted to do some thing that we could put in his room down the line, and just some thing to do to celebrate a new baby.

They also helped me puttogether 6 batches of biscuit mixes and 3 batches of banana muffin mix!!!!

This will save so much time and mess and energy after he arrives!

Which leads to other preparations...

The menu planning worked so well to get us through the first trimester I've decided to give it another go for after baby is born. It was a little more fun this time because I didn't have to worry about keeping things on the bland side or worrying about smells wafting through the house making me miserable!
 After having two unexpected rough births and subsequent long and hard recoveries (and starting back into real life too soon). I learned with my last baby to take it easy the first week. Full bed rest that first week made a world of difference in my overall feeling of well being and my recovery time. Even after my rough births, I tend to feel really good the first week, flying high on adrenaline and the thrill of not being big and pregnant any more. The joy of snuggling that fresh new squish. I'm done with the waiting and ready to dive back in to LIFE!
It's HARD to stay in bed, but seriously it made a world of difference last time and I'm hopeful it will help this time as well. I am trying to set every thing up so that I can literally stay horizontal in bed with my baby that entire first week.

My personal postpartum rules (and recommendation of my MW) are...

• WEEK #1: IN the bed, up only 5 minutes at a time to use the bathroom or take a quick shower (or do some gentle stretches once a day). Rest restores the body. No stairs. It's one intense, some times monotonous week in bed. ONE. If you need company ask friends to come hang out with you in your room. I spent most of my first week in bed with Pip staring at her, it was heavenly. If you can set things up to do this (as I am with meal plans and Hubby Joy and my Mom being around to take care of the big kids), revel in it. It's amazing and you will not get down time like that ever again (or until you have another baby ;)! And? It helps your body recovery on every physical level. Rest is a gift and it is worth it. Nursing baby and taking care of baby is the only thing you need to worry about in week 1. I plan to have snacks in my room and Hubby Joy will bring the meals I've planed out up to me after he's fed the kids.
• Week #2: ON the bed the second week. Limit stairs (hard in my home). Camp out on the couch. I don't have to stay indoors or in bed, but I need to be limiting time on my feet and care of other children. I need to be laying down in bed for at least 3 hours in the afternoon resting. Stay reclined at least half the day and limit time on feet carefully! No cleaning.
• Week #3: more freedom. Take it Easy, for every hour I am up I need to take an hour to rest. Shoot for 2 hours laying in bed with baby every afternoon. When I have a chance to rest, do it. No cleaning! But cooking easy meals is fine...Short outings are fine if you have a way to sit down and rest and there isn't a lot of time on your feet involved.
• Week #4 through #6: return to light Mom duty. When there is a chance to rest, DO it! You don't need to sleep, just lay down with baby. Get quiet when you need it. Close your eyes and take deep cleansing breaths to get more energy.  Baby's first year isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. The better you treat your body the easier your adrenal glands and lymphatic system (helps your liver function and cortisol levels, quality of sleep and so much more!)  recover and deal with the interrupted sleep you'll likely be dealing with for many many weeks and months to come!

Pretty much the goal the first 6 weeks is to have the house run as smoothly as possible with me curled up with the baby as much as possible. My goal is to see how much I can stay off my feet. NOT how much I can get done. NOT how fast I can get back to normal. NOT to feel bad about doing this for myself. I'm worth it and so is my new precious baby, you only get to do this once with each kiddo, it's worth it!