Pre-prepping

Without birth control... Ha!

I was not born Type A, but my husband was.  To make our marriage work, I slowly became more and more Type A, and the order and routine of it all made me happy.  (I still find myself wondering how random piles of stuff appear throughout my house, though!)  Ryan and I were married for eight years and 30 years old before we decided to grow our little family.  I had plenty of time to go all crazy Type A on the pre-prepping phase!  When I signed my final teaching contract, I couldn’t help but start planning!  You never know which month the pee stick will read positive… Will it take one month?  The usual three?  A year or two?  I occupied my mind and time with pre-prepping.  Here is a list of things that I learned from my mother hens during that time that might help you with your pre-prepping time.

1. Pinterest!  Those of us who got married before the invention of Pinterest lament how creative and organized we could have been.  Here’s your chance to dream!  (Might want to make those boards secret for now.  It’s surprising how quickly word spreads!)  Some fun boards to create: Future Girl Nursery, Future Boy Nursery, Bump Outfits, Fit Pregnancy, Newborn Photography, Labor and Delivery, Caring for Newborn Baby, etc.
2. Get a pre-conception check-up.  This helped me try an OB-Gyn office I was thinking of using.  Plus, the doctor helped me come up with my list of things to do… start prenatal vitamins, get off my prescription med, get off birth control pills and wait a few months before trying.  (My husband later showed me a new medical article stating that waiting after birth control pills is probably not necessary.)
3. Discuss logistics.  Pay off debt Dave Ramsey style.  Find out about work leave.  (One friend found out too late that Christmas break counted as part of her maternity leave.)  Think about your deductible and the timing there.   
4.  Prenatal vitamins.  Start at least a few months before “trying”.  (Gummies rock!)  In case I was to get morning sickness, I took my vitamin with dinner.  Set a “Vitamin Alarm” to go off on your phone so you make a habit of it.  When pregnancy brain kicks in, the vitamin alarm will keep you from skipping.
5. Get off caffeine.  (You don’t want your sweet little pookie to be born with caffeine headaches!!!)  This took some effort but saved us a bunch of money!  Sometimes I was only able to roll out of bed because I promised myself a cinnamon latte!  Here’s my totally Type A method:

1.       Switch from medium size coffees to small.  Two weeks.

2.       Switch to decaf every day but Friday.  Two weeks.

3.       Switch to decaf tea every day except small decaf latte on Friday.  (Constant Comment is my favorite and sold as decaf at World Market!)  I put the mug of water in the microwave and the tea bag and spoon in the Tervis Tumbler next to a banana the night before so I had no excuse!  Two weeks.

4.       Switch from decaf tea to watered-down cranberry juice. Two weeks.

5.       Switch to all water except for a small decaf latte on Fridays.