So I’ve got a week off with baby due on the 7th.

Aside from a few DIY jobs, I’m footloose and fancy free. so far planning on riding plenty and getting a bit of fresh air.

But what will I be wishing I had done once bundle ofjoy has arrived?

had a horrendous feeling of fear earlier today – did anyone else get that?

Lie ins
Local rides with phone signal
Lie ins
Meals out (though this continues with baby, just interrupted)
Lie ins
And at the end of the week, curry, nookie and pineapple to see if you can stretch the vacation to three weeks

And yes, fear is normal!

All normal.
Spend some time with your partner – changes ahead…….
Sleep. Ride. Go to the cinema and for a meal.
Subscribe to Mumsnet…..

Chill out, spend time with wife. Stock up on DVD box sets. Make alarmingly hot curry and prepare for an emotional and very special day. Plenty time to ride in the future. Wife needs looking after at this point. Don’t forget to pack snacks in the bag for you. You’ll get blimmin hungry.

Good luck mines 11months old tommorow wouldn’t change him for the world

Sleep, sleep, and then sleep again.

yup, sleep is high on the agenda!

thinking of taking the dog out for his first outing with a mountain bike tomorrow…..

good advice – got some films to watch this week. wolf on wall street, walter mitty and 12 years a slave. none of which the wife wants to watch!

need to get the bag packed for the big day, and get some films downloaded….

Plenty time to ride in the future

????????!!!!!!!! 😯

Sleep, sleep, and then sleep again.

And then perhaps take a short nap.

M0rk has it.

Well life’s basically over for a year or 2, so spend the time kissing it goodbye! Once they get to about a year or so old, they stop being such a pain, and start being a bit more interesting! Personally love kids, but no so keen on babies! (I’ve got a 3week old and a 3 yr old so do have some experience!)

A great topic…

As a father of a 6 month old I can easily relate to your post.

For sure your life will change…but you will still get plenty of time to ride your bike – you just have to make time and when you have the time you make the BEST use of that time.

What would I do a few weeks before ?

Get out and just relax – its your wife who needs your support.

Have some lie ins and lazy days, a nice pootle on the bike and some more lie ins. It ain’t that bad but lie ins are a valued commodity once the kids arrive.

Oh and basically your life aint over as some would have you believe ?

Just enriched – enjoy

14 month old here. Spend time with your mates – riding bikes, drinking, whatever. You’ll see precious little of them for the next year. Not that there’s anything wrong with getting to know your kid for a year 🙂

Take it easy and don’t fall off your bike!

Take your selves out for a nice meal. Go the the cinema for the last time. Wake yourself up early one day. Make breakfast in bed for the two of you. Run some batteries flat in a device that doesn’t make a noise, just for the hell of it. Wear the same t-shirt all week – marvel at how clean it remains. Drink a cup of tea without it going cold. Listen to music you like. Snuggle up on the sofa and fall asleep watching some noisy, violent sweary junk. The expendables is probably ideal. Just generally chill out and prepare for the most amazing journey you’ve ever been on.

Get some ear plugs, give up drinking alcohol as it makes you more tired and be aware of how confused and useless you can be when suffering from sleep deprivation. Enjoy the ride 8)

I have a three week old here, born new years day (he’s actually asleep on me as I type)
I wish I could go back in time and tell the niave me to get all the sleep I could.
Sleep deprivation is a form of torture don’t you know!

Save the week for when the babys born.

I’ve just arrived back from a nice little 2 hour drive in an attempt to settle mini-chojin and give Mrs Chojin a rest. He’s been feeding/crying nonstop since 6pm.

Weary? Me?

Typing with a 13 week old sleeping in my arms. There’s nothing I miss about before. I sleep less but it’s cool. I still ride plenty but have discovered different parts of the day to ride in. Not the coolest advice but use this time to support your wife any way you can, it is hard for them at the moment and you are about to find a respect for her that you won’t have had for anyone else before in your life. Life isn’t over, that’s rubbish, it’s an amazing time coming up, good luck!

I’m riding as much as ever. I’m telling people I can only ride in the margins of the days but I have had some of the best ever rides in the last few weeks. Sunrises at 1000m and sunsets on the beach. Amazing. I put a bunch of photos and some thoughts on my web if you want proof! The margins of the day

Plenty of lie ins with the missus.
Get some rides in
Diy jobs that are urgent.

The next 18 months are going to be hard. Good luck and hope everything goes well for the new arrival.

get rediculouly drunk at least once more as drunk in charge of babies is just not going to happen, the plus side is if you get drunk, you get the lie in next morning as an added bonus!

She not ‘nesting’? Lucky beggar, last time I had to build an extension, this time redecorating most of the house. Sleep a lot, ride bike alot. Repeat.

Lie ins
Local rides with phone signal
Lie ins
Meals out (though this continues with baby, just interrupted)
Lie ins
And at the end of the week, curry, nookie and pineapple to see if you can stretch the vacation to three weeks

And yes, fear is normal!

All +1

Do get some riding in, but try not to bollox yourself, and get some rest in too there’s no guarantees on what time she’ll go into labour or whether or not it’s going to be a quick delivery or 8 hours of exhaustion (Mostly for her, but you’ll potentially end up pretty knackered), think of it like preparing for an endurance event where the scale of the task hasn’t yet been defined for you… you may piss it, you might not..

Oh and don’t worry about a bit of fear, that soon translates into becoming quite useful and organised when labour commences.

Oh and good luck!

Jimbo, one thing you should do is ignore the doom mongers! It’s awesome.

Yep, all good advice!

The Pineapple and nookie things are old wives tales. Unless you are thinking of feeding her a whole plantation of pineapples and then inviting a whole rugby team round “for a go”.

Curry makes no difference either.

However feel free to keep the above info to yourself as everyone likes sex and curry.

Plus buy some lights if you don’t have some already. Being able to ride any time helps a lot.

Save the week for when the babys born.

Unless you have some super-urgent DIY to do before babber appears, this is probably the best advice.

One thing I will add, though – You may find yourself doing more DIY in the period after the arrival.

If you catch my drift…..

The dry 40 they call it here! One of the reasons I have taken the opportunity to grow a stupid big beard 🙂

I remember this feeling well. Had just finished converting the attic to a bedroom. Had a registry office wedding booked. Had two full weeks to relax and prepare for the baby. And the little beggar arrived a fortnight early – cue mayhem, a hastily brought forward wedding with the bride actually in labour, and no fortnight of relaxing and getting some cycling in.

Whatever you have planned, get to it NOW.

As a father of a 4 yr old, a 3 yr old and a new baby 10 weeks away, I feel reasonably well qualified to comment.

RUN THE F*** AWAY NOW!

😉

Nah, it’s fine. Life changes, but how it changes is up to you. The first few weeks & months can be hard, but it settles down (honest) – get into a routine and stick to it, it really helps. But whatever you do, take the time to enjoy it and get involved – take baby out for a walk by yourself & leave mum at home for an hour to relax, try to help with the feeds etc etc.

Oh, and your riding time doesn’t have to diminish, but you will need to plan more!

Good luck 🙂

1 year old snoring away on my lap right now. Pineapple, curry etc. might not move things along but moving house does. Our eldest was born within 24 hrs of moving house 2 and a half years ago. Must’ve been getting the Mrs to shift all those boxes. The few days they spent in hospital gave time to sort such fripperies as a cooker, fridge…

Good luck. Having kids is the hardest job you’ll ever love.

Do the jobs, do a few rides fairly close to home with the phone easily to hand, sleep, enjoy some loud music and prepare for life to improve 10 fold. If you don’t shed a tear when jnr arrives, you’re some sort of wierd robot. And get ready to realise your missus is so much harder than you.

As above, why are you holidaying now when you could have extended pat leave to 3 weeks or was it not an option?

Whatever you decide to do, crack on with it brother.

It’s due in 3 weeks – like a bus or a train that’s according to the timetable which as you know doesn’t always work out. I was already one week into fatherhood three weeks before the due date of my first.

Did your heart rate just jump by 50%? 😉

get as much riding in now as you can….your opportunity for this will decrease as soon as the little one arrives.
as for sleep….get as much you can now as again there will be little chance of that happening once the little one arrives.

you’re bound to have moments of fear especially if this is your first…that happens to all parents at some point, but worry not as it will disappear once the baby is born.
it happened to me twice and i’m sure it will happen again before our number 3 arrives in May.

good luck and hope all goes well.

Ours was due at the end of September so I kept 3 weeks clear from guiding but had a week booked leaving on the 12th of October. Finally ours decided to come out on the night of the 12th! Little bugger, as late as her mother always is. They´ll come when they come 🙂

One thing i would add, is that if you are any good as cook, do some batch cooking chilli, spag bol, shepherds pies anything that you can grab from freezer and cook easily once little ‘un arrives, they are amazing, but you’ll both be tired and it is nice to eat some home cooked food.

Mines due today 😯

Isofix base ready in car, Hospital bag also in there.

Turbo trainer in the workshop will be the only riding I’ll see for a while. (Sadly poor phone signal near me so not risking a ride)

One thing i would add, is that if you are any good as cook, do some batch cooking chilli, spag bol, shepherds pies anything that you can grab from freezer and cook easily once little ‘un arrives, they are amazing, but you’ll both be tired and it is nice to eat some home cooked food.

Good idea! i’ll be on with that right away.

You’ll have no time for anything for the next couple of years. Any odd jobs that need doing, get them done now.

As for riding, get a decent setup sorted for the turbo or a good set of lights for late night rides. Try and get on it whenever you can as it’s easy for the weeks and months to slip by in a haze of tiredness and the relentless monotony of new baby routine.

Three weeks to go here, but it’s the second one so we think we’re a bit better prepared (though suspect we’re kidding ourselves.)

do some batch cooking

Good advice. And if you’re not then cookfood.net is worth a look 🙂