Here is some of what Pregnancy Weekly says about nesting:
This is an uncontrollable urge to clean one's house brought on by a desire to prepare a nest for the new baby, to tie up loose ends of old projects and to organize your world.
Females of the animal kingdom are all equipped with this same need. It is a primal instinct. Just as you see birds making their nests, mothers-to-be do exactly the same thing. The act of nesting puts you in control and gives a sense of accomplishment toward birth. You may become a homebody and want to retreat into the comfort of home and familiar company, like a brooding hen.
Nesting brings about some unique and seemingly irrational behaviors in pregnant women and all of them experience it differently. Women have reported throwing away perfectly good sheets and towels because they felt the strong need to have "brand new, clean" sheets and towels in their home. They have also reported doing things like taking apart the knobs on kitchen cupboards, just so they could disinfect the screws attached to the knobs. Women have discussed taking on cleaning their entire house, armed with a toothbrush. There seems to be no end to the lengths a nesting mother will go to prepare for her upcoming arrival.
This unusual burst of energy is responsible for women ironing anything in the house that couldn't out run them. Being preoccupied with ant killing, squishing them one at a time for weeks on end. Packing and unpacking the labor bag 50 times. Cleaning the kitchen cupboards and organizing everything by size to the point that you make sure the silverware patterns match when it's stacked in the cutlery drawer. Sorting the baby's clothes over and over again is a favorite theme. Taking them out of the drawers and re-folding them, putting them away and doing it over and over again. Nesting will provide interesting stories for years to come. Nesting can be one of the more humorous aspects of pregnancy. One that you and your partner are sure to laugh about in the years to come...if he ever forgives you for sending him off to work and ripping down all the wallpaper in the hall! You may laugh about it now but you probably won't laugh when you're in the middle of it. No one can pull you out of it no matter how silly your behavior may seem. It simply becomes something that you must do!
Here is what I have been doing:
I am daily sorting though everything in the nursery, reorganizing everything, and it still looks like a mess. I have been making lists and plans for where and at what prices we can get the additional items we need.
Late one night after driving home from Springfield we found ants in the kitchen so I swept and mopped the whole kitchen and then sprayed the perimeter with Home Defense. Then I cried because I was tired and my back was hurting.
I randomly decided I needed to organize the dog's bin of toy and supplies, wiping everything down with antibacterial wipes and washing all bags, leashes, bandanas, and cloth toys.
Earlier this week I cleaned out several big pot of dead plants (carrying them down from the deck) and dumped all the dirt into a wheel barrel to use as fill in the side flower bed.
Last night I couldn't sleep at all because I was so wired. My mind wouldn't stop racing, worrying, thinking about if we had gotten the best prices on things we had just bought off our registry or if we had gotten what we really needed. I've been obsessively going through things on Target.com and BabiesRUs.com and reading customer reviews on every baby product and trying to decided what we still need, what is the best video monitor, crib mattress pad, etc. When I couldn't sleep last night I got back on Target.com and was looking up bins and curtains, writing down measurements to try in the morning.
BUT, this morning I took the dogs on a wonderful walk in the park by our house while I listened to Magical Mystery Tour and Abby Road. The weather was perfect, the trees beautiful, and everyone I passed was friendly. I just walked and sang along to my favorite Beatles albums and felt at peace. :)
I just hope I don't implode before she come out. I am also starting to get scared about actually having a baby and about how horrible everyone makes those first few weeks sound. Where's the joy in that?
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