Teresa Bailey, a Doula and Lactation Consultant in Pittsburgh

If you have ever watched Wimbledon, you know what it is like. If you were going to play on center court, you would have a date and a time for the match. You would of course, be in peak condition and very ready to play at that time. But it often rains, and the match is postponed. You still need to play that match and you still need to be in peak condition, whenever the match is played.

That is just how your birth is. You have a due date, but that is not in any way a promise of when your baby will be born. You need to be ready whenever it happens, just like with a Wimbledon match. How do you stay ready (especially when your due date passes and everyone who knows your date will start watching you like a pot which isn’t boiling)?

To keep Wimbledon ready, you need to do four things: Make sure you are well rested, eat regularly, drink regularly (don’t get dehydrated) and wash regularly. In other words, try to go about your normal life and not allow the excitement of the big day to throw you off your game. The last thing that you need when the big day comes is to be overly tired, overly hungry and cranky. Birth is a big event. You need to be at your peak — whenever it occurs.