I’ve had two big changes since my last post partum journey. First, I’m more aware of the physical preparation I need for birth. Second, I’m in charge of so much more in our household, so “maternity leave” preparation looks a little different.
I’ve been feeling great about my physical preparation with:
- Pelvic floor PT monthly throughout pregnancy
- Daily movement based on PT recommendations and my own personal desire to move my body! I’ve kept up pickleball, yoga, lifting and specific prenatal programming.
- Twice monthly massage starting in my second trimester
Physically, I feel ready to give birth and heal from birth. Now, the much bigger piece of the pie: getting my house ready. Here’s what I’ve worked on:
- I realized early on I want home care and not baby care for this third time around. I hired a house helper for an extra 6 hours each week, and she’s been amazing at helping me keep things organized, keep the sheets changed, and generally get our home ready for the chaos of a new baby. She’ll be here post partum as well, and I think this is far more helpful than having someone to come hold my baby and give her a bottle. In my experience, every time someone else watches a nursing baby, it’s adding multiple hours of work to a mother’s plate (sharing the ever-changing schedule details? pumping? washing the pumps and bottles? no thanks!).
- My family needs meals on hand for when I’m unable to cook. My list has included:
- A dozen each of frozen homemade protein pancakes, protein waffles, palacinki, protein bagels
- 2 lasagnas
- 2 trays of mac n cheese
- As much frozen homemade pizza as we could muster (each time we made pizzas we doubled our batch)
- 4 family size servings of chili
- 4 jars of our favorite pasta sauce
- about a dozen frozen homemade biscuits
- a dozen frozen egg sandwiches on homemade English muffins
- Frozen ham n cheese, turkey n cheese sammies on homemade rolls
- I’d imagine 40 frozen muffins 🙂
- Frozen cottage cheese “cookie dough” bites
- Frozen cherry peanut butter bark
- A month’s worth of homemade granola
- Frozen yogurt popsicles
- I need meals on hand for my own recovery. This has been the fun part! We’ve prepped:
- 3 dozen lactation cookies
- a dozen ojas balls
- oatmeal for my first week
- congee for my first week
- bone broth for a month
- sweet potato nettle stew
- stewed fruits
- carrot soup
- chia puddings
- cashew balls
- stuffed dates
- multiple types of tea
- latte mixes
- shakes
- I’ll try to get all the recipes linked in the coming weeks while I await baby’s arrival!
