Nesting for Pregnancy

Nesting typically happens towards the end of pregnancy and is defined as the “overwhelming desire to get your home ready for your new baby” according to the American Pregnancy Association¹. Perhaps you’re finishing the nursery, cleaning the house, or simply catching up on laundry. Old wives’ tales believe it to be a sign that labor is about to begin. In either case, let’s just say you’re in that zone. The zone where an unexpected surge of energy meets your determination to master your entire to-do list.

I already know that when I’m pregnant and this stage comes, I will be a forced to be reckoned with. I shall probably apologize to my husband now, because if he gets in my way... haha! How do I know I’ll be a master nester? Well, a big spoiler alert is the fact that I’m nesting before I’m even pregnant.

I'm nesting before pregnancy

I’m in fertility treatments, and I feel like I’m nesting for my first trimester of pregnancy. Now that we are intentionally planning for a baby means that any month, I could get the best news in the world... and also be nauseous, exhausted, and trapped in a cycle of migraines for which I can’t take anything to relieve the pain. It could last a few days or a few weeks. That’s a bit overwhelming, in my opinion!

So, I’m finding myself trying to get organized and caught up on as much of the projects in my career and personal life as possible. As a result, I’ve been incredibly productive and gotten a lot done. It’s a reminder that when we have a strong reason “why” we’re doing something, the energy behind our actions shifts significantly.

I feel motivated

If I was just pushing myself to do “more work,” I wouldn’t be as productive. However, because I know the reason behind this extra push is to make space for pregnancy has me excited to keep going. I have to be careful that I’m not creating unnecessary stress on myself in the process because that doesn’t help the cause of getting pregnant. And let’s be honest, the fertility journey in and of itself is stressful enough.

Instead, I do this planning with the mindset that I’m creating space for when I am pregnant so that I’ll be able to rest with a clear mind knowing that I am caught up – and even a little ahead – with my responsibilities. Of course, I can plan to the very best of my ability and then I can get thrown a curve ball at the eleventh hour, but that’s not something that I could have planned for, so I can’t worry about that.

I'm focusing on my mindset

I can only do what is within my awareness and within my control. Anyone else in a fertility journey finding themselves nesting before you're even pregnant? I suppose it also could be viewed in the context of “acting as if” when wanting to accomplish a goal. You start acting as if that goal is coming to fruition. So, I suppose one could also say, I’m acting as if I know I will be pregnant soon. And if nothing else comes out of this “nesting” experiencing than a mindset focused on a successful outcome of my fertility treatments, then I’m 100% good with that too!