So there's a chance I may be pregnant in the next month or two...

[Smokering]

We suddenly did a volte-face on our "TTA until March" plan, and are planning Operation Auxiliary Pig, like, now. So. If you realised there was a chance you could be pregnant within the next three months - possibly the next three weeks - what would you do before that happened?

We don't have a car or much money, and DD still breastfeeds/cosleeps, so sadly we can't leave her with relatives and disappear for a romantic weekend away. I'm not into commercial hair dyes, caffeinated drinks, alcohol, dodgy seafood or any of those things you're supposed to avoid during pregnancy... nor do I do extreme sports. I'm pretty boring, really. DD's 2.5, if that makes a difference.

So far I've got:

-Stocking the freezer with meals so when morning sickness hits my DH, DD and flatmate have something to eat (and me too, if I can stomach it)
-Getting a head start on making maternity clothes, so I don't have to attempt it while in my first trimester
-Taking folic acid and upping my nutrition, vaguely-Traditional-Foods style
-Enjoying sleeping on my tummy
-Practicing squatting, stretching etc
-Reading up on the Bradley Diet (had pre-e last time), Hypnobabies, and general pregnancy stuff I might have forgotten

Anything else? Activities I should do now with DD? Things I'll regret not doing when I only had one child? I remember after DD was born, thinking "MAN, I wasted so much valuable time before I had her!", and I'll probably feel the same way after the new baby.

I'm excited to start TTC, but I'm also not a fan of pregnancy and birth, so I'd rather not hear "Enjoy your relatively youthful body before the baby shreds it into a pulpy unattractive hemmorhoidal mass"... for instance. Adorable newborn knitting patterns for relative beginners, on the other hand, yes.

[limabean]

Wow, you're prepared! I can't recall ever doing anything (besides taking folic acid) before TTC. Are you generally very ill throughout the entire pregnancy?

[Contrariety]

Start doing kegels now!

[Attached2Elijah]

Wow, I feel like a slacker... I'm actively TTC and I'm not doing anything but taking a multivitamin, lol.

[AbbieB]

You've got a great list going. Especially sleeping on your stomach!

I would deep clean, especially hard to reach places. No way that's getting done once pregnancy fatigue sets in.

Also, read anything you might be wanting to read. If you are like me, all ability to concentrate will be gone for awhile.

See a chiropractor to make sure everything is aligned.

Declutter. Especially your closet. By the time you are back to your regular size you know you won't want to wear half of what you have now.

Check out http://www.spinningbabies.com/.

Stock up on Lansinoh for when the tender nipples hit and nursing becomes a little uncomfortable.

Consider night weaning. It's nice to not have to tandem nurse 2 at night.

Consider sleeping arrangements with the new baby and move toward that BEFORE it can be seen as happening because of the new baby.

[homemademom]

Streamline your laundry by packing up the summer stuff and getting the fall stuff out. I just got through my first tri and I'm just NOW catching up on the mountains of laundry.

I agree with Abbie, clean the hard to reach places now.

Get some games, books, movies (if you want) to entertain your dd while you lie in bed feeling like crap

I think your freezer meal idea is fabulous.

[phathui5]

Get any house things that you want done done now, before you start puking.

You have some great ideas already. I love that you're looking at nutrition now, before you're actually pregnant.

[Smokering]

Ooh, some things I hadn't thought of! (Why am I not surprised that deep cleaning didn't enter my head...)

Are you generally very ill throughout the entire pregnancy?

I don't know that I'd say very ill... I was nauseated for the first trimester (didn't actually vomit much, but felt like it most of the time), had baddish heartburn in the second and third trimesters, had REALLY bad pelvic girdle pain in the late second trimester (it eased off a bit by the third tri)... and then got pre-eclampsia just before the due date. So I wasn't completely incapacitated, but I was never one of those tra-la-la life-goes-on ooh-I-forgot-I'm-pregnant women either. And my midwife said pelvic girdle pain usually gets worse with subsequent pregnancies, so... yeah. I don't want to rely on feeling good, put it that way.

I bought some fabric to make a maternity/nursing top and nightie today. It's exciting!

[anudi01]

start doing yoga...NOW...

having had 3 kids, yoga (and chiro care/massage) where the best things I did for myself during pregnancy. I had the pelvic pain too, but yoga and chiro care reduced it. Also, start doing some core exercises to stabilize that entire area now before you start putting stress on it. I think my recovery, and overall physical state of being now was/is much better because of it.

Good Luck!

[InMediasRes]

Go horseback riding.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by Smokering

-Taking folic acid and upping my nutrition, vaguely-Traditional-Foods style

Can I suggest a supp with folate instead of folic acid? You're not in the US, right? [eta: I always forget to check before I hit Reply, so yeah, I don't know what's available in NZ] I don't know anything about supplement availability outside the US, but there are several brands in the US with real folate, so they've got to be available elsewhere, I'd think.

Check out the cell salts / tissue salts thread in Health & Healing. Cell salts are the coolest thing I've found this year, read the thread, but they should be excellent before and during pregnancy. I've seen really nice health things in myself and my DD due to them, and they're cheap and easy.

[Smokering]

OK, my search-fu is weak tonight - I can't find the thread I read ages ago on the merits of folate vs folic acid, or the tissue salts/cell salts thread!

I just got plain folic acid, because that's what the supermarket had; I also looked up a chart of the most folate-dense foods. I don't eat bought cereal or bread (I'm not even 100% sure NZ puts folic acid in those things: probably, but it's been a long time since I looked at a packet), and I hear dietary folate is only 50% as bioavailable as folic acid (which seems strange to me, but OK) - so given the chart, and the 400mg RDA (which seems to be the lower estimate), I'm thinking it'd take me 800mg of dietary folate to get that. And I'm not sure I can consume that many chickpeas and leafy greens. I do try to eat leafy greens every day, and I put a lentil meal and a chickpea meal in this week's meal plan... so my current strategy is to take the folic acid tablets and add as much dietary folate as I reasonably can. Is that bad? Is folic acid actually considered to be harmful, or just not as good, or...?

I happen to have a bottle of tissue salts, which I bought for reasons vaguely related to DD's teeth. They contain... lemme check... Cal Flour, Cal Phos, Cal Sulph, Ferr Phos, Kali Mur, Kali Phos, Kali Sulhh, Mag Phos, Nat Mur, Nat Phos, Nat Sulph and silica. Does that sound like what you're talking about? (And ha! I just saw in the fine print that they're homeopathic. The woman at the health food store distinctly told me they were not homeopathic. I don't "do" homeopathics, but I guess if I've already bought them I may as well give them a go. I've only taken a few here and there, not several half an hour apart as the bottle recommends, because I get distracted.) Do you have a link to that thread? What are they supposed to do for pregnancy - just prevent fatigue (which is what mine say they're for)?

anudi01: Tell me more about yoga? I know absolutely nothing about it: I tend to avoid mentions of exercise. (I'm not totally unfit; we don't have a car so I walk everywhere: but that's about the extent of my deliberate motion.) Can it be done at home, learned via YouTube, or otherwise not involve money or classes?

[wookie]

Um, smokering, I don't have any suggestions as to your OP but I'm in stitches at the way you write your posts! Can I be your friend?

Oh, also, dust

[Smokering]

LOL! Sure. I might eat you in my third trimester, though.

Let's see, here's my list thus far.

Things To Do Before Pregnancy Symptoms Set In
-Defrost the freezer
-Categorise the food in the freezer
-Bake/cook things to put in the freezer in order to have something to categorise. Cornbread, sweet things for Bible study and singing group, sourdough bread, meat meals, etc.
-Make curry, because I probably won't want to eat it when I'm pregnant
-Get rid of the weeds in the driveway
-Transfer the pile of dirt in the driveway to the garden bed
-Buy some more garden mix and plant veggies for summer
-Go to dentist for a clean and polish (maybe? Is that toxic, assuming I don't need fillings?)
-Buy fabric to make a few maternity shirts from patterns I've found online, and borrow SIL's maternity shirt pattern
-Buy yarn to start knitting baby things (Spotlight has a sale on, yay!)
-Take cell salts
-Kegel studiously
-Possibly do yoga
-Eat folate-rich foods, eggs, liver and possibly B6 or B12 or whichever one's supposed to help with morning sickness (look it up)
-Reorganise the pantry (she says dubiously, thinking it'll probably take a few more babies for that to happen)

I'm not sure about the horseback riding. Might be fun, but I might also end up with a broken leg or something, never having done it before. Skydiving is more tempting, but it's expensive.

[joanna0707]

about cell salts
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ight=cell+salt

[ollyoxenfree]

Love your list and admire your preparedness!!

The only thing I would add is some activities with your little one. Are there special things he likes to do that might be difficult or uncomfortable once you are pregnant?

I'm thinking amusement park outings, camping (you are in the Southern Hemisphere and coming into spring, correct?), trekking, etc. You could build a store of good times and memories that you can look back on together once it's a little more difficult for you to get around.

Good luck with TTC.

[Pavlovs]

I would do none of it, actually. I found that when I was TTC (took over a year both times) the more I tried to hyper-manage things (temping every day, checking mucus, etc etc etc) it was keeping me from getting pregnant. I found that just knowing when I was O'ing and making sure I DTD at the right times was enough for a quick conception.

[lonegirl]

Originally Posted by Pavlovs

I would do none of it, actually. I found that when I was TTC (took over a year both times) the more I tried to hyper-manage things (temping every day, checking mucus, etc etc etc) it was keeping me from getting pregnant. I found that just knowing when I was O'ing and making sure I DTD at the right times was enough for a quick conception.

I was thinking the same. WE started ttc in April....from the point we have decided to ttc I suddenly have only had 1 true cycle. My cycles disappeared and now I am scheduled for a pelvic u/s and just had a ton of bloodwork to figure out what is going on.
The second I find out I finally am pregnant the planning will start

[Norasmomma]

I'll say be prepared for your pregnancy to be NOTHING like your last. It's crazy how different they can be. DD's easy as pie, DS's fraught with nausea, I turned veg*n for 3 months, had a tear and bleed in my placenta. The list goes on, I am thankful to never be pregnant again after his.

I'm with the others, I *thought* I'd be pg instantly with DS-DD was a first time shot It took months, and while only 3, the OPKs, the testing, etc made me really depressed-in fact I was soooooo convinced that I wasn't pg with DS that I wasn't going to even test. It made it much less enjoyable.

[StephandOwen]

I have to say I think this thread is cute and my dp would love it I think we finally decided that, as long as nothing major happens between now and then, we will start TTC in late December/January (honeymoon baby... we're getting married 1/1/11). However, that's not good enough for him. He has a list a mile long that he wants me to get done before then, and the list grows every day. And his list isn't things like "clean the bathroom" or anything like that- I'd do those in an instant. His list is more micromanaging to make sure I and any future baby are healthy and taken care of. So he's read that fish helps baby's brain development. I don't eat fish.... but this is something he is very very insistent on. So the last few weeks we've been experimenting with fish trying to find something I like so I can eat it during pregnancy. I have started taking Flintstone vitamins every day (I can't swallow the big horse pill prenatals). I will be doing a "preconceptual appointment" with the OB I will be using should I get pregnant. The doctor will need to clear me for pregnancy as well as explain all the risks (a few years ago my last dr did and u/s in a search for a missing IUD and said I had a double uterus, but didn't explain any more). I KNOW I can carry a pregnancy (I had my son, with no complications during pregnancy until he was induced at 39 weeks, without even knowing I had this double uterus). But dp is insistent that we get as much info as possible, including possible risks. If we do get pregnant this will likely be dp's only biological child (I don't think we'll have more than 1 more) so I'll grin and bear it for most of this stuff and do it because it will make dp happy and more comfortable with the idea of having a baby.

Oh, dp is also doing stuff around the house "just in case" we get pregnant. He's HUGE into planning so everything has to be done before we even start TTC We ended up moving ds's computer out of the computer room and into the dining room (this was because he needed more supervision on the computer, not pregnancy related). But once we did that dp decided that he could move his computer out of the computer room and into our bedroom in a corner (so he'll need to buy a new desk). In order to make it fit he had to buy a new tv that can be mounted on the wall so he can get rid of the tv we currently have in there, as well as the tv stand. So this weekend we'll be setting up our new tv and as soon as we find a computer desk we like we'll move his computer into our room. Then the computer room will be a future nursery. The only thing we're stuck on is the bookshelf in there..... we have no idea where we'll put it. I tried to explain to dp that we'll have 9 months after getting a positive test to clear out that room and get it ready but he wants it ready NOW. LOL! He is cute I'm just waiting for future MIL to see what we're doing and scratch her head wondering why we just cleared out our computer room