4. Your Partnership
This should be at the top of your preparing for baby checklist. Pre-baby days are great for bonding with your partner. The now-popular term “babymoon” refers to ante-arrival vacation usually involving beaches, mocktails, sleep, and ice cream. You also get to have uninterrupted conversations, although they may all be about the baby.
5. Your Relationships
Go to lunch with your girlfriends or call your favorite cousin. Maybe you can play hooky from work and go get pedicures with your mom. Use the relative free time you have to make good on your friendships so that when your little friend arrives your adult ones won’t feel neglected.
6. Your Work Situation
Pregnancy will prove to be a strategic time during which you will either power up and advance as much as possible or downshift into a part-time arrangement or a telecommuting situation. Either way, you will likely have to prepare for your maternity leave, perhaps train an interim replacement or leave clear instructions, which mean your work load in the pre-baby days will be more than usual.
7. An Exercise Regimen
Take advantage of the fact that while you’re pregnant your baby has no choice but to come with you on your two-mile walk. Exercising throughout pregnancy will make getting back into shape after the arrival much easier, too.
8. Your Sense of Adventure
Go on a really great trip before the baby is born. Dealing with pregnancy “inconveniences” while traveling is a bit of a preview of what it’s like to travel with a kid, so why not try a dry run first?
9. Dinners Out
Going out to an adult restaurant will become a rare luxury, so enjoy it on a more regular basis while you can.
