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Ready, Set, Mother
Making Changes and Choices
By Teri Brown
Motherhood is a physically demanding job, but there are things you can do to help prepare for those challenges.
Dr. Kevin Leman, author of more than a dozen parenting books including The New Birth Order Book (Revell, 1998) and First-Time Mom (Tyndale, 2004), believes it is important for mothers to be at their physical best before Baby comes.
"Mothers who eat well and exercise before the baby comes are more physically and emotionally able to withstand the demands that motherhood makes on the body," says Dr. Leman.
Susan Stern Calenda from New York, N.Y., believes that exercise better prepared her, both physically and emotionally, for motherhood. "I worked out a lot," says Calenda. "Doing yoga and swimming helped me not only prepare physically, but mentally. Yoga strengthened my back and legs. It also helped relax me."
Getting ready for the physical challenges of motherhood with yoga wasn't the only way Calenda prepared for her new role. Calenda was a working for a midtown public relations firm before deciding to have a baby. Wanting to stay at home with her child, she opened her own public relations business out of her home.
"I can do it from home while watching my baby grow," says Calenda. "I also have hired help four days a week to care for the baby and have an intern for work come in to assist me."
Another exercise in logistics that needs to be considered is your work schedule and your husband's work schedule. How long can you take off work? Who will care for your child when you do go back to work? Do you really want to go back to work? And if you don't, can you afford to stay home with your baby for an extended period of time?
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