Getting ready for a baby to join the family means making some adjustments to your life. In no way does this mean you have to become frumpy, boring, and out of touch. You can still have friends, do activities, look good, and live a full life with a baby, but it takes some adjustment. The first thing you should do is lower your expectations of yourself. No one is a perfect mother, no matter how hard she tries, how much help she has, or how well she copes. And no one spits out a baby and moves on with life as if it never happened. A baby creates change. You will need to adjust to your new life, and it will take time. You need to alter your mindset so that you are patient with yourself, your family members, and with the baby as well.

This is a good time to reassess some of the things in your life. If you have a gym membership now that you rarely use, you might find that after the baby comes you'll have even less time. Alternately, you might find that working out to get your body back in shape becomes a priority. If you have season tickets to a local sports team or theater, you might find that is something you will want to cut out once the baby comes, or you might feel that keeping some scheduled adult time is very important to you. A baby might also mean you will need to reconsider your living arrangements. A move might be in order to gain some space, or you might find you want to move to a more suburban area.