As baby's due date approaches and the throes of the third trimester settle in (read why I'm not complaining about that), the urge to nest is upon me. Organizing the home and postpartum prep are top of mind.

As a working mom who prioritizes slow living and intentional motherhood, and who is banking time off and working right up until labor sets in, I'm nesting with direction and intention to reduce overwhelm. Find out where my attention is during my last weeks of pregnancy, and take some ideas for your own nesting phase, too!

My Third Trimester Nesting Focus as a Slow Living Mama

If you've experienced a third trimester, you know how strong the nesting urge can feel. The desire to prepare everything for your newest family member can put you on a decluttering spree, shopping spree, cooking and baking extravaganza, or some mix of all three.

I certainly have the urge to get rid of half the things in my home, and the energetic support of long summer days to accomplish that, but there are just a few places where I'm focusing that energy instead. I'm being intentional about where my energy goes because as a working mom, my time is genuinely limited and I'd rather spend that nesting energy on impactful activities that truly prepare our family for a newborn. Not to mention, I want as many toddler snuggles as I can get right now!

My focus is on three specific preparation tasks:

1. Preparing the home for baby.

2. Stocking the freezer with postpartum recovery and lactation foods, and ensuring I have the postpartum recovery supplies I need personally.

3. Planning family meals for early postpartum.

There are other tasks that have been on my to do and goals lists that align well with the energy of nesting. An example is going through my clothes to get rid of things I don't wear anymore and develop a list of items I'd love to make or thrift for my perfect wardrobe. The desire is strong on this one, but the justification for how that task is going to support bringing a newborn home is just not there. It'll have to wait until maternity leave!

The other thing I'm avoiding during this nesting phase that marks a stark difference with my first is buying or accumulating things (or at least a lot of things). Back when my first baby was born, we had nothing needed for a baby. There was a need to accept hand-me-downs from family, make a registry, and stock up on literally everything. This time around, we've got it all already!

The things we've brought into our home include a pack of newborn diapers, a pack of size one diapers, and a rolling bassinet that's much larger than the first bassinet we had (my first was a big boy and it didn't last long). Baby clothes, baby blankets, breastfeeding supplies, burp cloths, books, and toys...that's all covered. Any other purchases we make will be for consumable items, like nipple cream, diaper cream, and food to use in the postpartum meal prep.

Maintaining my focus on these three tasks has been a great help in reducing overwhelm around postpartum prep.

Preparing the Home for Baby

This task is a simple organization process. We are reaching back into our closet that houses all things baby and toddler and pulling out the items relevant for a new infant. Those items primarily include clothing, but we'll also grab breastfeeding and milk storage items, newborn toys, and the bouncer and rocker to have on hand.

The other big part of this process has been cleaning out my toddler's dresser and closet to ensure there is space for both his clothes and the new baby's items. They won't be sharing a room in the beginning, but their things will be in my toddler's room. We never put away the bedding and blankets from when he was a baby, so we'll just wash and refold the ones we haven't used recently and make sure they're organized nicely into the closet.

Over in our bedroom, we've reorganized slightly to accommodate space for baby. I'll also be preparing a postpartum recovery basket for myself and an infant supplies caddy that will be housed in this room, so I will decide where I'd like those items to live (and know that it might shift once baby is here and we understand how we're really navigating at home).

In the kitchen, I plan to take everything out of our cabinet that houses baby and toddler feeding items for a quick declutter and reorganization. Items in that cabinet include breast pump supplies, breastmilk storage, toddler snack storage, bibs, and toddler dishes. Since the breastfeeding supplies were tucked away at the top of the cabinet, this little reorganization will help reset that space for easy access to what's important right now.

It can feel like a lot, but breaking this process down by rooms and tasks has helped it feel more manageable.

Postpartum Recovery and Lactation Preparation

This task is all about mama! It really involves two individual tasks: stocking the freezer with postpartum recovery foods and stocking my bathroom and space by the bed with other postpartum recovery tools.

For food prep just for me, I'm mainly focused on the first two weeks. I love to cook and bake, so as my energy starts to come back and I'm on maternity leave, it will become easier for me to create lactation snacks or recovery meals as needed. Before that time comes, I want easy access to nourishing meals and snacks that require little to no effort.

My recovery meal prep focus is on warm, nutrient-dense, easy to digest foods that can support my energy and nutrient needs during early postpartum. These meals will be in the freezer and either my mom or another family member will have guidance about what to take out to ensure they are ready to go when we come home. I will also determine which foods I want to bring to the hospital and ensure those are stocked in the front of the freezer for easy grab and go.

My lactation snacks will primarily include muffins and cookies with ingredients known to support milk supply. I also loved having energy balls as snacks during late-night nursing sessions with my first, so I'll be bookmarking several flavors of those as well, likely for myself or a family member to make postpartum. I also plan to blend some supportive herbal teas and ensure I have bone broth on hand whenever I just want a warm cup of cozy.

Other than food, postpartum recovery items include pads or postpartum underwear, a sitz bath with epsom salts and herbs, perineal soothing spray, a refillable water bottle, a heating mat, nipple cream, wool socks, and other similar items that support comfort. I own most of these items already, so the preparation task is primarily about taking them out and organizing them into my postpartum recovery basket that I'll keep bedside for at least the first few weeks or in an easy to grab spot in the bathroom. These may feel mundane, but having comfort and recovery items on hand makes the postpartum recovery process so much easier.

My favorite spaces on the internet for postpartum recovery prep have been Megan Limon, who is a postpartum doula and has many postpartum prep guides available on her site (I am using the Heal, Nourish, Cocoon Postpartum Guide; the Postpartum Checklist Bundle, and the Heal, Nourish, Cocoon Postpartum Recipe Book), and The Food Doula, who has made several recipes from her cookbook available on her site.

Meal Preparation for the Family

One mistake I made in preparing for my last postpartum recovery time was making a lot of nourishing snacks and meals for myself but forgetting to make standard family meals that my husband could easily grab and heat up for himself, too - whoops!

Now that we also have a toddler, knowing which meals will be easiest to throw together will be critical in those early postpartum stages. We are fortunate to live on a small livestock farm, but one of the drawbacks is that our freezers are stocked full to the brim with the beef cow we most recently butchered. There's genuinely no room for frozen prepped meals beyond the few I've made myself for my earliest postpartum days.

Instead, I am exploring and bookmarking recipes that we all enjoy to help eliminate decision fatigue when it's time to make something in real time. Because my mom will be staying with us for the first couple of weeks and we also have family who live nearby, we have a strong support network that will be able to bring us ingredients and cooked meals based on our preferences during that time.

The final consideration in this focus area is basic pantry and refrigerator stocking. I'm putting together a list of the items we always have on hand so we can easily review and restock as needed. This step is particularly important for the items my toddler constantly reaches toward, like bread, peanut butter, fruit, milk, and more. Up until baby comes, we're living our lives pretty normally; we'll keep the kitchen stocked as we always do, but be sure to have that list available so family can easily support us with what we really need.

More Ways to Ease the Overwhelm

• The online yoga studio for busy, working moms seeking a slower way of life offers monthly pre-recorded yoga and meditation you can use to sink into a slower pace, plus a slow down framework where you can restructure your most overwhelming challenges into peaceful, rhythmic routines that support you and your family.

• Two-minute Reset Meditations for Routine Calm Days includes ten completely free two-minute meditations for you to capture a moment of calm right now, without spending an hour at the yoga studio or taking paid leave.

• The Mama Naturalist on my website and Substack is a space where I share both conceptual and practical guidance on slowing down, connecting to nature, and living seasonally.

• Mindful Moms Digest offers exclusive yoga and meditation classes, nature stories from a wildlife biologist (me!), and free, supportive resources including links back to every blog post for busy, working moms journeying toward a slower, more seasonal way of life.

• Cultivate Calm Mornings is a structured series of three yoga workshops that supports you in transforming your morning routine from chaotic to calm.