Even though you have undoubtedly read many pregnancy books up to this point, I feel like it is my perverse duty to tell about a few details that may get lost in the shuffle as you prepare to welcome your new little bundle of joy.
I know it's terribly cliché, but there are a few things you should do while you still have a chance.
1. Sleep. I know you try and I know it's uncomfortable, but it doesn't compare to how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the couch with a colicky newborn or sleeping on the floor when your child has a bad case of croup or strep throat. Take a nap. Every. Day. I mean it - it won't happen again until you are almost retired.
2. Eat sitting down. No matter how organized you are, you will still have many times where you eat on the run. Take advantage of eating without 85 other things to distract you. Try actually tasting your food.
3. Read a book. Not a pregnancy, toddler or sleep book, but an actual fiction book with chapters and made up people. Yes, I know that sleep books SEEM made up, but they don't count. When you first have a baby, you won't have the time or brain power to read anything even close to adult.
4. Sit in the quiet. Seriously. Turn off the TV, don't answer the phone and just sit on the couch and listen. I know that there isn't anything to listen to and that's the point. Soon, there will be breathing to listen to and later you will have plenty of babbles, squeaks, mumbles, moans, groans and even cries to decipher over the baby monitor. And by the way, baby monitors
5. Take a good look at your husband and yourself. This is the last time in your lives you will ever look rested. Soon, you will join the ranks of the living dead. Look around - all those poor woman with the bags under their eyes are moms. The bigger the bags, the younger the kids.
6. Go to the bathroom by yourself. Close the door when you go. Soon, you will leave the door open to hear what you little one is doing. Shortly after that you will try to go with the door closed, only to have tiny fingers and other accoutrements shoved under the door.
7. Take a nice, long leisurely shower. Go ahead, take your time. It will be the last time you take your time at showering (or anything else for that matter). Welcome to the world of the 3-5 minute shower. It may because your little one is screaming in the infant chair while you shower or it may be because you are so tired that you just want to get done so you can finally get a little bit of sleep. Whatever the reason, you will soon learn that with little ones you will have to decide which is more important that day - shaving or washing your hair, because they will rarely happen during the same shower. Sometimes you may even emerge from the shower with one leg shaved. Hey, I'm just warning you.
Being a mom is by far the toughest thing you will ever do that makes you feel warm and squishy and guilty and incompetent at the same time.