“Holy HEll! The Baby’s Coming!!”

Labor is imminent. It's going to happen. Sometimes it does become an emergency. But for the vast majority of people, it is a life event. It doesn't need to be like it is in the movies. Hollywood shows labor happening in sheer terror and panic. Everybody's running around grabbing their bags, and all "HOLY HELL, THE BABY'S COMING!" The amniotic fluid starts spewing out of the woman's vagina, the husband is about to pass out, and the woman is screaming in pain immediately. No gradual progression of labor. Just immediately in transition.

Meanwhile...

Their uterus is over there like, "If you don't sit down somewhere!"

I'm here to assure you that it doesn't happen that way. But we've been conditioned to treat labor that way.

also, I've always found it interesting how much preparation we've built around labor.

Teaching people how to pack their whole lives in a labor bag—I get it. Be prepared. But somewhere along the way, we've also started teaching people that labor is something that needs to be overly prepared.

All you need is your vagina on you at all times. And knowledge. That's literally it.

(And before somebody emails me... yes, bring your ID and insurance card if you're going to the hospital.)

My point is this: your body and your knowledge matter far more than whether you remembered your phone charger. Because that baby's going to come whether you have your phone charger or not. The baby is not waiting for you to find your toothbrush, your matching pajamas, or your favorite labor playlist. Those things might make you more comfortable. They're not what makes labor happen.

What Should You Do in Pre-Labor?

Rest.

Rest.

Rest.

As soon as you start thinking, "Uh-oh... things are changing," you're feeling contractions coming and going, you're losing your mucus plug little by little, you're feeling more pressure, and you think labor might be around the corner...

Rest.

This is not the time to think, "Oh my gosh, let me get the kitchen clean. Let me do the laundry. Let me organize the nursery one last time."

No.

This is the time to Netflix and chill. Literally. Binge-watch Marvel movies. Take a shower. Eat. Hydrate. Watch trash TV. Stay away from the news and social media that's posting crazy worldly updates every five minutes. Watch Real Housewives of Atlanta. Watch something stupidly funny.

Pick your wedgies.

Eat.

Sleep.

That is literally what your focus should be in early labor. Because labor is much more like a marathon than a sprint, and you'll be glad you saved your energy for the part that really needs it.