It is very important to keep yourself busy during pregnancy. Firstly, it will stop you from overthinking everything and worrying about everything. Worrying is completely normal but it is not exactly a great thing. Having a full-time job certainly helps keep you busy during your pregnancy but this is not the case for many new mothers. There are quite a few things that you can do to stay productive and active during pregnancy. Keeping yourself busy improves your mental wellness and lets you focus on the big picture instead of worrying about every little thing.
#1 Pamper Yourself When You Can
Pregnancy goes by sooner than you realize. It is only after that that you reminisce about everything that you had and all the fun that you had being pampered by everyone else and having a lot of time for yourself. Do not deprive yourself of this and make full use of all your time alone. Go ahead and indulge in that long bath, followed by a lovely massage or magazine binge- you deserve all the pampering you get. Also, take a nap whenever you can. You are going to miss this little luxury for sure.
#2 Make Space for Your Baby
We are all guilty of buying things that we don’t really need and storing them away for an imaginary future where we will use all those things dedicatedly. It is time to get down to it and start decluttering. Throw away everything that you don’t need or better yet donate them. Take your time to organize different things around the house and create spaces for your baby. You are going to be accommodating a whole new person in the house. Do everything that you have to do to welcome them home.
#3 Babyproofing
Parents tend to put this off until the very last minute because nobody really thinks about just how small the gap is between the arrival of the baby and when they start crawling everywhere. This is not something you truly appreciate until it happens to you. It is important to get the baby-proofing done before the baby is out in the world. For one, you will have the time and ability to re-check everything and buy everything that you need to do this. On the other hand, once the baby is home, you will really have no time to focus on this anyway. Baby proofing is quintessential and not something that should be treated as optional.
#4 Watch that TV
If you have any TV show that you want to binge on and you have been waiting to do so, now is the best time to do it. Forget what everyone is telling you about TV spoiling your intelligence and whatnot. Get moderate amounts of popcorn, some nice smoothing, and settle in. Do not binge late into the night and make sure that you get plenty of sleep. But binging on TV shows will help you reduce stress greatly and there is also the fact that you will just not have enough time to do so anytime in the near future after your baby arrives. Get your bucket list of TV shows to complete and dedicate yourself to it – enjoy!
#5 Gardening
Connecting with nature can be very therapeutic. An excellent way to do so without too much physical exertion is to indulge in light gardening. Plant some summer flowers and watch them grow – this will bring you a lot of positivity and great vibes to your home. You can also try growing different herbs. Do not dig up any soil or do any heavy work. Make sure that the gardening that you do is light and refreshing.
#6 Spend Time With Your Pets
This is not something that you want to hear but you and your dog will not be as close as you were once your baby arrives. This is not just us saying it, this is every mother out there who was once a proud dog mom (still are) but they just prioritize differently now. Your puppy and cats deserve all your attention and love during this period. They will miss the attention and being the center of your focus soon but now is the time to bond with them and connect with them like you have never done before.
#7 Spend Time with Family and Friends
This is just as important as connecting with your partner and spending a lot of romantic time together before the baby comes. Arrange friend dates with your girls and spend time gossiping and chitchats. If you have children in the house, spend some time with them and talk to them. Let them understand that they are still extremely special and the arrival of the new baby does not change the dynamics between you and them in any way. Talk to them about their responsibilities and how you would like them to be involved in everything.
Other than taking care of your health and focusing on maintaining a healthy pregnancy, there is nothing that you must do but all these things are nice ways of keeping you occupied during this period. Read, talk, walk, dance, and laugh a lot- you’ll get by.