Nesting: Urban Myth or Tragic Truth

Posted January 3, 2015 by Prairie Wife - 8 comments

Dictionary.Referance.com defines nesting as “The tendency to arrange one’s immediate surroundings, such as a work station, to create a place where one feels secure, comfortable, or in control.”

The Cowboy defines nesting as “When my pregnant wife makes no sense and makes me redo shit that I’ve already redone three times, or that was just fine before we started.”

birds nestingSome people claim that a pregnant woman’s need to “nest” or prepare her house in sometimes extreme ways for a baby, is just a bunch of baloney. That it’s encouraged by society and those around her, rather than a very real primal urge that can’t be ignored. I found numerous online sites that state that while nesting is not always experienced by all pregnant women, it is in fact a real phenomena…and we all know that if the internet says it, it is the truth! Most of the sites claim that nesting usually occurs in the last weeks of pregnancy, and the form it takes varies from individual to individual. Several sites clearly state that while nesting will most likely not harm the mother or baby, it is best to delegate the heavier lifting or more strenuous tasks to others. You can be sure I shared that wise “medical” advice with The Cowboy!

As you can probably gather by The Cowboy’s quote above, nesting in a very real thing here on the Prairie! As you read this post you should know that there is a flurry of activity going on at the Prairie Homestead. For me personally I have two stages of nesting. The first stage occurs around the end of my 5th month of pregnancy. When I am beginning to get large, yet can still move around comfortably. It suddenly occurs to me that we need to repaint, redecorate, or even move rooms around in the house before I become too large and tired to complete the task. When pregnant with Cowboy W I repainted and redecorated our Master Bathroom. With Cowboy C I forced The Cowboy to repaint the kitchen and make a super cool organization wall I saw on Pinterest (to this day he hates Pinterest). With CowBaby5 I moved two of the Cowkids to new rooms.

woman nestingNow that I am 34 weeks pregnant my second stage of nesting has kicked in. In this stage I have an uncontrollable urge to prepare the nursery, pack my diaper bag, and purge every closet in the house. I even mark a day in red on the calendar so The Cowboy can begin to mentally prepare. At this point we have this stage of nesting down to a science. The Cowboy keeps his mouth shut and brings in the correctly labeled containers from storage that I request. In this case “Girl Room” and “0-3 Month Girl Clothes.” He then keeps the Cowkids out of my way until I call for him again and then he removes the newly packed unneeded totes (in this case “Boy Room”), hangs up curtains and pictures, and hauls out trash bags of clothing and items deemed unneeded to be donated to a local Charity.

When it comes time to clean out closets he places a smile on his face as he stands and takes everything off the shelves, hands it to me to sort, and then puts it back. When we are done he then gathers up the sorted piles and removes items to the dump or donates it to the local Charity.

When the day is done I’m exhausted and The Cowboy is completely over it. The Cowkids are little zombies from all their time spent in front of the TV and we are all happy it’s over! But, I simply can’t explain the feeling of peace that over takes me as I finally stretch out on the couch with some ice cream. For me nesting isn’t about passing time, it’s about dotting all those i’s and crossing all those t’s so that the only thing I need to focus on until the baby is born is those last special moments with my Cowkids. I feel empowered and ready for the baby to come. I’m focused and clear on what I need to do to help bring this new blessing home from the hospital and keep everything running smoothly (more or less) here at the Prairie Homestead.

I know it sounds like The Cowboy gets the short end of the stick and I can’t say you’re wrong. Thank goodness he doesn’t read the blog, he’ll never know I feel bad for him! At least rather than making the nesting last weeks (as it was with Cowboy J) we’ve got it down to one day of misery!

Follow us on Instagram (@prairieheels) to see pics of what nesting really looks like on the Prairie Homestead!

What do you think? Is Nesting an urban myth or a tragic truth?

Here are some posts that can help you get ready for your new baby!

What You NEED In Your Nursery

What a New Mom NEEDS for the House and Bathroom

Packing Your Hospital and Diaper Bag

Packing a Baby Bag for Your Car

How to Help a New Mom

What Every New Mom Needs to Hear

5 Things They Never Told You About Labor and Delivery

Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo
Copyright: / 123RF Stock Photo

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8 thoughts on "Nesting: Urban Myth or Tragic Truth"

  1. Pa says:

    “he’ll never know I feel bad for him”

    I’m tellin’.

  2. TallGirlJ says:

    I loved reading this. While I dont have such strong nesting urges I definitely think they are a real thing. I also love how I can feel the Cowboy personality in this post lol

  3. Erica says:

    Lol about the part that he hands you thing with a smile on his face…..And you are absolutely right!! It is about getting ahead so that all you need to do it focus on baby!

  4. Lizzi says:

    Sounds about right! I am super impressed that you have it to such a science that you get it all done in one shot! You go mama! I still stretch it out over weeks, even after all the practice.

    I absolutely think nesting is a natural thing, and maybe those who don’t experience it in a cleaning frenzy get to experience it in different ways. Maybe more a mental preparation than physical. Either way it’s a great excuse to get rid of stuff that is no longer in use.

    1. Prairie Wife says:

      I know, any reason to purge is a good reason right?!

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