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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Pre-baby goals to help me get through post baby life

I've been feeling very overwhelmed with life as of late. Being pregnant and mostly useless a lot of the time can do that to a person. Yesterday evening I had a TERRIBLE bout of nausea; which I was hoping I'd be through by now at 33 weeks pregnant. While I was commiserating, I realized that I need to try and set some good habits again BEFORE I have the baby. Since I  have struggled with anxiety and depression in the past I felt very impressed that I need to be proactive about staying positive now, to avoid post partum depression later. So I've thought about it and these are the things I am going to implement- one week at a time- before the baby is born. I have 7 weeks left, so I picked 7 goals- one to add for each week, starting with:

  • Pray daily. It seems so simple- to ask God for help- yet it is something that I struggle to stay consistent with. 
  • Exercise daily. This one also is difficult for me. It was difficult BEFORE I got pregnant and now, being swollen, having nerve damage in my groin, and hands that are useless, I feel like this will be the most challenging. I am going to look up some pregnancy gentle yoga and try to do 10 minutes a day.
  • Study scriptures daily. Focusing on spiritual things helps me keep clarity on what is most important in a day; rather than filling it with things that are less important. 
  • Clean at least one room per day. We just bought a house in July that is WAY bigger than anything I've ever owned. It's our house we plan on growing into. However, it can be overwhelming to keep it clean, organized, and clutterless. I do know about myself, however, that I get very down on myself if my house isn't clean.
  • Get outside every day. This one seems simple enough, but when I'm feeling super down, and tired from pregnancy, I find it difficult just to go outside for a bit. I literally spend days just shacked up in my house. I KNOW that being outside makes me feel better, if not just for the fresh air.
  • Spend time doing something I love doing daily. I just started a new cross-stitch. It's a Christmas themed one. It's beautiful. I love playing the piano but I can't play for longer than 15-20 minutes or my carpal tunnel acts up. But I have other things I can do. Like visit my sister, or my Grandma, or my mom. Scrapbook, read a book. Yea, there are a lot of things. 
  • Constructive play with Adam daily. I know, I know, what kind of mother has to remind herself to play with her kid?? Well, the thing is, I do play with him a lot, but I don't often give myself credit for doing it. Getting down on the floor, to play cars with Adam is quite painful these days, but I know that there are lots of things I can do where we are interacting and he feels that he gets my full attention. Mostly, this goal is important to remember AFTER the baby is born, as I know I will be adjusting to the demands of a newborn and I want to be sure that Adam is not ignored in those first few weeks.
So I started today. Made myself a cute little postcard to look at in the morning. Stuck it on my mirror. Start your day with prayer! Followed by my favourite scripture: Alma 37:37 Hope this all helps me in the long run and that post partum I can stay positive.
My "cute little postcard" :)
  

2 comments:

  1. The getting outside everyday will help with some of the post partum. Having post partum after Felicity made me really nervous that I would have it again with Gage, but being aware of how I'm feeling and working against it really made me aware of what I was doing that was positive or negative in helping battle the depression. I'm really worried with this pregnancy as well because this baby is being born in the winter, which means I can't go outside because it's -30 most of the time and my husband is gone 80% of the time and I've battled depression off and on all year long, before I was pregnant. I'll pray for you if you pray for me. Love you Simone!

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  2. You are in my prayers always. <3 We can help each other try to fight against the depression. Love you

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