20 Things All Couples Should Do Before Getting Pregnant.  The headline popped up in my twitter feed the other day and I got excited.  I thought maybe it would be a realistic look at how life changes after baby and how you should prepare yourself for that change.  But, sadly, it wasn’t.  It was mostly stupid shit like take prenatal vitamins and cut back on caffeine.  Thanks, genius.  Granted, there was some good advice: eat out at all the restaurants you’ve been wanting to try and stock up on sleep.  But really?  That doesn’t cut it.

So here’s my list of the things you should actually do before you even think about having kids.

1. Do all the awesome travel that you’ve been dying to do. Because let me tell you: travel with a baby/toddler isn’t the same.  Sure, there are enjoyable aspects of it.  I mean, a few anyways.  But it’s definitely not relaxing, it’s not romantic, and you’re not going to be spending hours over an amazing meal and fantastic wine.  You’ll be leaving the obligatory “kid” tip as you hurry out of the restaurant and try not to think about the chaos you just left behind at your table.

But more importantly, most of your trips after a kid will be to see family.  Which makes sense because, you know, unlike before you had kids when you were the main attraction, people actually want to see your baby.  Which leaves you little time for real vacations.  And anyways, you’re probably going to at least hesitate before taking your kid to some exotic destination.  And you certainly couldn’t go hike the Inca Trail or climb Mount Kilimanjaro with baby in tow.

NOT a baby friendly vacation

So make a list of all the travel you want to do and cross off as many things as you can before you get pregnant. Continue reading »