What to Do on Your Due Date

In the last weeks leading up to your due date, it's common to feel more tired, more sore, and generally more uncomfortable. Of course, you may also feel great! Emotionally, this time is filled with feelings of excitement and worry, happiness and anxiousness. Most people spend their days consumed with thoughts of labor -- namely, when it will begin and if that last twinge or contraction is the signal it's time! Many also realize the fleeting time of pregnancy and take the chance to soak up the final moments. 

While your due date is just an estimate -- not an expiration date -- you may feel disappointed when you arrive at the date with no sign of labor. In addition to all of the physical experiences common in the last weeks and days of pregnancy, enduring this time becomes primarily a mind game. Help yourself out by planning a celebration for your due date. Then, take it a step further by planning additional mini celebrations for each day thereafter -- yes, I said each day since most first-time parents are pregnant for an average of 41 weeks, not 40. 

Due Date and Post Due Date Celebration Ideas

• Pedicure
• Prenatal massage
• Facial
• Lunch or dinner date
• Movie out or in
• Shopping with a friend (walking is good for labor prep!)
• Treat yourself to an item on your wishlist
• (Early) night out with good friends
• Day trip to your favorite spot or somewhere new
• Write a gratitude letter to your body and your baby
• Buy a cake (or pie or souffle--whatever your heart desires)
• Gift yourself flowers or a new plant
• Get your hair done 
• Celebrate yourself on social media -- ask followers for words of encouragement
• Purchase a special piece of jewelry or artwork to commemorate this time
• Plant a tree in your yard - its future growth will be a beautiful reminder

When planning your due date and post due date celebrations, be sure to make them official by putting them on your calendar, inviting whoever may be included. Treating yourself, even in tiny ways, will give you other things to look forward to and take your mind off of the incessant question of, "When will I go into labor??" And if your celebratory due date events have to get cancelled due to labor - even better!

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