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Preparing for Postpartum Life

The Joys and Challenges of Life After Delivery

By Dorothy Nelson

The day your baby is born, life changes. It changes you, the way you think about life and how you organize your time. We all are aware of these changes, yet until we experience them, it's hard to know how they will affect us. Your emotions of love, pride and protection for your newborn baby will lead your decisions. So now is a good time to think practically about how to manage the changes ahead. There are several things you can do before and after your baby is born to make the postpartum experience easier and more enjoyable.

One element that can be challenging to manage initially is time. For many reasons, most of us experience time constraints after the birth of a baby. Your baby's feeding schedule and the number of times he naps and needs to be changed are variables that cause our priorities to change. Once you become a mother, you tend to become a lot more flexible, as you recognize the course of your days are somewhat unpredictable. The trick to having a joyful postpartum experience is to anticipate the changes and to set goals to manage them.

Before having your child, it is helpful for you and your spouse to look at how you spend your time. That is, how much time do you spend with each other socializing, working and by yourselves? Observing how you organize your time before Baby will allow you to discuss areas where sacrifices may have to be made once Baby is born. For example, the amount of time you work may not change after Baby is born, so you may need to be prepared to cut back on socializing or on time for yourself.

This exercise can also be helpful in opening discussions regarding you and your partner's priorities when it comes to spending time. If you decide you wish to continue to have some time alone together (which is recommended!), you can plan ahead for ways you can continue to share this time once the baby has arrived. Having a relative or neighbor watch your infant for a few hours while you enjoy dinner out once a week could be a goal you set for yourselves as a couple.

Want to see more?

• Marriage Postpartum: Working Through the Rough Spots
• A Prepared Pregnancy: Five Steps Toward Sanity-Saving Storage
• How to Cope With the Stress of New Parenthood
• Talk about it!

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