Pregnant, But Organised

If you are pregnant , you are no doubt thinking about the day that your baby will be born. Or, if you are anything like me, you are not only thinking about that first day with your new baby , but how my first week and so on will go! I will admit that I am very fortunate. I have two children already, and they are ages 10 and 8, and are fairly self-reliant. If Mum can't make tend to the household duties, they can help. However, with all that said, the mum in me still wants things to go smoothly, especially that first week after the baby arrives.

Starting with the first month of my pregnancy , I began to prepare for our big arrival, and I would like to share my tips with you.

~FEEDING THE CLAN THAT FIRST WEEK: As the woman/wife/mother of the house, I am the one who does 99% of the cooking in my home. I also know that in my personal situation, I will be having a scheduled caesarean section, and I will have some extra down time, compared to if I gave birth vaginally. I decided very early in my pregnancy, that I would prepare meals that could be frozen ahead of time, so that during the first week -- and maybe even the second week -- no one in my home would have to cook much.

This idea has proven to be quite easy for me to do. During my first and second trimester, I began to search the internet, my cookbooks, and our everyday favourite dinners for recipes that would freeze well. I even joined an email list that would help me in my quest to freeze meals for the family. I kept a list of the type of meals that I wanted to make so that during my last trimester, I could prepare one or two of these meals each week.

I am currently 31 weeks into my pregnancy, and I have the following in my freezer: Mexican Lasagne, Twice Baked Potatoes (side dish), Turkey Noodle Soup, Ham and Potatoes Casserole, Spanish Rice (side dish), and an Italian Lasagne. I also found that in the case of our family favourites, Mexican Lasagne and my Italian Lasagne, it worked well to plan it for dinner, but also to make an extra pan of the meal to freeze. My kitchen only got dirty once, but I now had two dinners out of my efforts!

~HELP FROM LOVED ONES : If you are lucky enough to have a support system nearby, great! During your pregnancy, and shortly after the baby