Posted by Jane Highley on March 11, 2012

Top 10: Things To Do in the 3rd Trimester

Currently, I’m 27 weeks with my third child, a boy.  His two sisters are quite excited, although I’m not entirely sure that my soon-to-be middle child understands what’s going on, other than noticing that there is less “lap space” to sit on Mommy for bedtime stories.  I feel huge.  Really huge.  Already.  And based on my past two healthy deliveries, I’m more likely to deliver right around 39 weeks, but of course, this baby could throw me for a loop by arriving much sooner or making me wait way past my due date (which is late May).  So while I still have the energy, clarity, and motivation, I have decided to create and tackle a “must-do” list of tasks for this final (and most challenging) trimester.  Though I only list ten below, don’t ever think even for a nano-second that my list could be so simple and easy.  This is a blog post, not a manuscript for the latest parenting how-to book.  I could easily list more, but I’ll let all of you helpful readers crowd-source more “to-do”s that I probably haven’t considered!  But I’ll be grateful nonetheless for your input.

So what to do between now and my baby’s birth day…

(in no particular order)

1. Make freezer meals.
2. Make arrangements for the girls when it’s finally time to go to the hospital.  (This is a two-pronged task:  what should we do if we need to leave during the day?  Or if we need to go in the middle of the night?)
3. Buy a baby memory book or journal and fill out as much as possible before the due date.  (Sadly, I’ve totally given up on actual scrapbooking.)
4. Register at the hospital.  (I know…I know…I should have done this months ago!)
5. Buy a stuffed animal for baby.   (Each of our girls has her own special animal – “Puppy” and “Lammy” – that they’ve slept with since they were infants, and they are very attached to their respective “birth buddies,” so to speak.  We’d like to continue this little tradition with our boy, but I haven’t the slightest idea what to get.)
6. Paint one wall of the nursery, and transfer the crib into it.
7. Transition our 2-year-old to a toddler bed so that her baby brother has a place to sleep.  (This will be more of a process than a once-and-done task, but hopefully, it will be a smooth transition.)
8. Wash, fold, and sort clothes.  I don’t have much right now because I’m awaiting hand-me-downs and consignment sales, but I’d REALLY like to get this done by Easter.
9. Stockpile a closet full of diapers and wipes.
10. Pack a hospital bag.  (Ironically, this task requires an altogether separate list.  Maybe that’ll be another Top 10 list.)

It’s crowd-source time!  What’s on your to-do list?  (Or, what did I forget?)

10 Comments »

1. Hey Jane, congratulations in advance!

   I recently gave birth (January 2012, at 37 weeks, also a boy). I think you got the important stuff in your list. Can’t really think of anything else right now. My only concern then was number 10.

   Hand-me-downs are great. They grow up so fast. I was lucky since my eldest was a boy too so I had a lot of stuff at hand.

   Comment by Les @ LPN Programs — March 21, 2012 @ 12:57 am

2. Jane, by now you are a mummy for the third time – we hope all went well for you! Thanks for the useful advice, funny how there is always something you overlook until it’s pointed out!

   Comment by Zoe Alexander — July 18, 2012 @ 1:02 pm

3. Jane, looking forward to more helpful news especially regarding having a son. I have a daughter but hope to have a son very soon! Hope all went well – many thanks Zoe x

   Comment by Zoe Alexander — September 19, 2012 @ 2:46 pm

4. Number 11 is buy transitional clothes for you post-pregnancy body, like those from mamaway.co.uk.

   Comment by jenny laski — January 8, 2013 @ 10:40 am

5. Making a lot of freezer meals is a great idea!

   Comment by Jane Jordan — March 15, 2013 @ 7:17 pm

6. I wish I was that organised. I have two beautiful children, but I never made a list. Great idea and excellent advice.

   Comment by Jenn — March 31, 2013 @ 3:37 pm

7. Greetings! Very helpful advice within this post! It’s the little changes which will make the largest changes. Thanks for sharing!

   Comment by cats & dogs — April 7, 2013 @ 6:18 pm

8. I don’t think people, especially men, will ever really understand the full-time job it is to be a mommy. So much to do, right? And that’s even before the baby comes. It really does help to make a list of to-do’s, so good call on that one!

   Comment by Christine@TheOvulationSymptoms — April 26, 2013 @ 5:28 pm

9. Good advice. That list really helps.

   Comment by Katie — May 7, 2013 @ 5:11 pm

10. Great advice! With my first, I didn’t cook meals in advance, and no one who visited me in the first weeks really cooked, so it was very tough. It would be so easy to cook a lot while you have the nesting energy and then freeze everything for when you need it. Thanks!

    Comment by Ileana — May 13, 2013 @ 4:24 am

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