5 Ways I'm Making Room for Baby Girl
In this short stretch between being REALLY pregnant and meeting your daughter, I go from denial to preparing as best I can and back again pretty much every day. That’s a totally normal and healthy reaction, right?
Since my schedule with this baby is technically more flexible than it was with her brother, I’ve been fitting in a lot of self-care, which has helped me feel like I’m doing my best to prepare myself mentally and physically for what’s next. So, what have I been doing?
Changing My Client Load: One of the things that scared me the most when I first found out I was pregnant was how dependent my business was on me to be ON 24/7. There was a time last summer that I was pacing back and forth on a marina dock in Canada trying to find a couple bars of cell signal to post a series of Instagram stories for my biggest client. I knew with two babies, I would go absolutely insane if I had to continue on that kind of schedule. I started my business to be able to do work when I could and to have something to post every.single.day, multiple times a day, for just one client wasn’t sustainable or fair to them, or to my family. I couldn’t keep sitting at Christmas dinner posting about giveaways and responding to emails. It just wasn’t worth it. So, at the end of March, I ended my contract, and while I really miss the bloggers I was working with on the daily, the flexibility I’ve always wanted has allowed me to focus more on preparing my body for what’s coming. Which leads me to…
Taking Care of Myself: I used to head to the coffee shop to get a few hours of work in while ODP is at school. I still do that sometimes, but now that I have a little more flexibility in my ODP-free mornings, I’ve been doing things for ME. I’ve made regular appointments with a new acupuncturist, have been scheduling time in the mid-morning with my aesthetician, getting midwife-prescribed massages, and generally been trying to feel less guilty about taking care of myself. In the evenings, I’ve been taking baths and sitting with a face mask before reading whatever book of the week I’m on. It has been SO nice.
Getting Smart about Triggers and Stressors: Like most recovering workaholic perfectionists, I can sometimes say yes to things I end up resenting. I’ve been trying to do less of that. It can be awkward upfront to set the boundary, but everyone is better off in the long run. For example, agreeing to host my well-intentioned but very consuming grandparents for dinner, but not for two days overnight.
Paying Attention to My Body: We now have an outdoor basketball hoop, which is very exciting for Raz and ODP. Because of years of practice in my grandparents’ driveway and a fair amount of natural talent, I am an excellent shooter. But, after one short stint of shooting around our backyard, I had a hard time even walking up the stairs back inside. It is frustrating, but I have to listen to that. So, for now, I have benched myself and instead of practicing jump shots around the court, I film cute videos of my dudes. Sometimes I work on my shots with just a flick of the wrist, but I’m mostly taking it easy. That has applied to our walks, too. I walk much slower than I’d like to, but thankfully ODP maintains a pretty chill pace and we get to stop and smell the flowers even more along the way. Giving myself breaks has become increasingly important.
Nesting: This part is always fun. I loooooove creating space for this little person and putting together a zen space for us to all be together. Getting her little clothes put away has been fun, too. We’ve had so many sweet moments of preparation that make our calm before the sleepless newborn storm feel especially joyful.
Here are some of the things I’ve been collecting for her:
I’m really interested to see how the next few weeks unfold and haven’t yet let myself believe we’re going to meet her soon. But it’s happening and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.
