When you reach a certain
point in your pregnancy,
around six months, you start
the process known as “nesting.”
Nesting is the stage in a
woman’s pregnancy when
she tries to prepare her home
and her life for the arrival of
her new baby.
When you live with a nesting
woman, your house is
usually the cleanest it will
ever be.
This can be a difficult time
for any pregnant woman, but
it is especially difficult if you
have just moved.
I have reached my sixth
month of pregnancy, and I
am starting to nest.
Unfortunately, I also just
moved two weeks ago.
There are boxes and bags of
random junk all around my
new apartment, and it looks
to me like squatters live in my
house instead of soon-to-be
parents.
Everywhere I look I see
piles of junk. It is maddening!
Every day when I leave for
work I leave my husband a
list of “honey-do.s”
The things that make the
list are the things I expect him
to get done before I get home.
I also give him verbal instructions,
just in case he runs out
of things to do.
For the most part he is
doing very well with my lists,
but it is still not enough to
quell the raging nester inside
of me. Every time I walk in
the door from work I wish I
had left more on his list.
It has been hard on him
since I entered this nesting
stage. Between school and
work, there is not a whole lot
of time for me to help him out
with unpacking and cleaning,
but I still want it done.
I just want everything in its
place before the baby gets
here. The quicker we get
everything sorted and put
away the easier it will be to
see what we need to baby
proof.
We will also need to make
sure that we have a place for
all of our new baby stuff,
which we don’t even have
yet.
I am not sure if all women
feel this way when they are
about to have their first child,
but I feel like I need an extra
few months to prepare.
Our son’s nursery is still
full of boxes that don’t belong
there and his crib is in a pile
on the floor. Our dining room
table is in a garage in Reading
and our shower curtain is
held up by string.
I have gone from “relax, we
have plenty of time” to “holy
crap, we are running out of
time.”
I have about three months
to right up my home before
my son arrives, and about
five months after that to make
sure that the whole house is
baby proofed.
Oh yeah, and in those eight
months I have to hold down
my full-time job, complete
my school work, graduate
from college, give birth and
then try to recover while
adjusting to my new role as
mommy the food maker.
It just doesn’t seem like
nearly enough time to make it
all happen.