How do you handle looking after young children when you're very heavily pg?

[MrsFabuloso]

I'm just over 2 weeks from my due date- 37w and 4days to be precise. I have issues with my pelvis and back as well as reflux at night which is making it terribly difficult to sleep. I am averaging maybe 5hrs of broken sleep on a good night. Last night was not one of those and I'm totally over myself.
I have two young children to look after on my own through the day while DH is working and while I know they're being really good and are only little (2 and 3) they are driving me insane with their demands and questions and fights. Even them just talking to me normally about everyday stuff, their voices are grating on my nerves. They're so demanding everything is I want..., mummy get..., where is my...., mummy mummy mummy....I just want to be left alone. I have already asked them both to stop talking or to give me space this morning so many times. But they just follow me where ever I go. I can't escape them and I'm going nuts these last few days. It's going to end in a mummy meltdown of mega proportions.
On top of all of that is the normal anxieties and worries of being heavily pg.
DH is working. He will be until Friday. I have 4more days to try to cope and not permanently scar my children for life. How can I cope? With my last pg, I had the opportunity to go to my mums house or to put DD into childcare for a day here and there. But now we have moved out to the sticks. I have no family, and childcare is closed for the chrissy/new years period. I need to pack and prepare for going away to Sydney to my mums next Monday where I will be giving birth (no maternity hospital where we live) sometime in the next few weeks.

[Aligater]

I had that last year but I had my mum I found going for a short daily walk (I had spd) was good for sanity or is there a safe park lacaly (even a school one) that you can let them have a run round and you can sit and supervise but kind of zone out for awhile

[black_rose]

It's hard, i have been through it twice now while I'm meant to be on bed rest. Be honest with the eldest and explain you need to rest, ask them to help play with the 2 yo, let them climb up onto the couch to hug you don't lift them yourself. Turn on abc2 and let them watch it, a few days won't hurt and it may save your sanity. When they nap rest too, it's more important than anything else.

[MrsFabuloso]

I am trying to rest as much as I can. But there are things that need doing. They are being good and watching sooooo much tv it's not funny. I'm lucky they have the attention span for it! They are doing well entertaining themselves. DD is great going to get food and stuff like yogurts or fruit from the fridge too. They come a sit on my legs 9cause there's no room anywhere else on the couch, lol!) and give me hugs alot when I'm laying down. Kinda makes me feel really rotten though. The weather is way too hot to do much outside, 35++degrees most days until 6pm or so usually, for the next week at least which isn't abnormal out here. So no outdoor stuff, well not too much. I let them out into their paddle pool a few times a day and sit at the door and fold clothes or prepare dinner and simple things like that. We hang clothes out early in the morning and they ride thier bikes. Walking for me just exaserbates my hips and back, so I try not to go out for too long, plus I just don't cope with the kids at the moment, I have a very short temper right now and low tolerance for anything at all. But I'm just over it all. I'm trying to suck it up and just get on with it, but I am sooo tired, and today and last night, I've been getting a few breath-taking BH I can only imagine as my pre labour ramps up I will be getting even less tolerant of anything. It's my natural reaction to retreat when I go into labour and this is just the begining. I will be getting less able to cope with anything but me soon. I just hope it's not before DH finishes working.

[sasha]

Mine are similar age to yours and I'm sure I'll be feeling the same way in a few weeks' time! But I have daycare and S will be going to kindy at the end of January, plus M is here... if I didn't have those, I would be going insane just like you! The 'Mummy-Mummy-Mummy' drives me crazy too... especially T, who will often send up a huge scream if I need to do something without her!

The heat is also annoying. Are you in town? If you don't have to worry too much about neighbours then I would let them into the garden early - out of respect for our neighbours I try to keep mine inside until about 7.45 (which can be hard when they wake around 5!) I get them to help me water the garden which keeps us all cool and they can run off some energy. Sometimes when I find I just need to sit down for a while, I get them to play with playdough, or I put a couple of towels on the kitchen floor and give them some mixing bowls half-filled with water, and they 'wash up' plastic cups and ladels and wooden spoons (ie the stuff is already clean).

Anyway, I know all of this doesn't really help when all you want is some time on your own... there are days when I feel like I'm so grumpy and short tempered, and I really feel as if I've failed them as a parent - but I'm putting it all into context and I reckon it will all even out I'm sure you're not going to scar them for life - just think, when they go through puberty they'll get their own back LOL

[Arimeh]

It is hard - I've been there!!! Before DD2 was born it was really really hard to keep them entertained. They did watch a lot of tv and they also danced to a lot of music. Plus if I just got the camera out they would play silly buggers in front of that for a while, and that was something I could do from the couch

To be honest, I can't remember how I got through it (and I didn't have a lot of support either and DS wasn't in daycare at that stage either) but obviously I survived.... maybe I've just blacked it out.. ROFL

[MrsFabuloso]

Bec, generally we go out to hang the washing out at about 8ish. They will play out there for about half hour-an hour, but wont really stay out there without me with them. As soon as I come in they come in not long after. Then I let them out into their little pool once it's a bit warmer, about 10ish, which is when I fold clothes or do stuff I can do while watching them. But honestly I just don't wnat to do any of that stuff. It needs doing which is why it gets done, but I just want to flake out on the lounge and not move! I put on the bubble machine which keeps them occupied for a while, or they draw and I will snooze on the lounge. But I always expect to get up and see the walls with a mural on it or something, so I kinda don't really relax properly. Playdough and water play is so much energy for me to do, lol!! All of that cleaning up.....They play in their pool outside with containers and stuff anyway!

Mel, I thought of you when I was writing this post. I so don't know how you got through it all with A and M so little and with bad SPD. My two are big enough now to be able to roam and play without me (not that they do that alot!).
I think it's likely I will be blocking this out of my memory banks too, lol!

[sasha]

Playdough and water play is so much energy for me to do, lol!! All of that cleaning up.....

I hear you ... they'll often ask if they can do drawing or painting or something and I just cringe because I know how messy it's going to be (and that there will inevitably be fighting!) T is getting her 2 y-o molars right now and so she's sleeping quite poorly... most nights only sleeps solidly from 12-5am. I put ABC Kids on and try to nap on the couch for about 10-20 minutes. Somehow that just helps to recharge a bit. They're both generally good about leaving Mummy alone because I'm resting. Saying that, today they were climbing all over me and wanting cuddles and attention and I ended up being more irritable than I would have if I'd not tried to sleep!

Hope the rest of the week goes well for you!