Easy (not exhausting) ways to get fit for delivery

Stand with your back against a wall, arms out, palms facing forward. Take a deep breath, exhale, and slowly raise your arms until you feel resistance. Hold for 15 seconds. If you can’t keep your hands on the wall, lower your arms until you can. Hold the position, then try to stretch up.

Sit on the edge of a stable chair. Put a resistance band (or a bathrobe tie) under one foot; grab each end. Take a breath, then exhale, slowly leaning back until you feel your abs contract. Hold for five counts. Return to starting position; repeat 10 times. Switch feet.

Stand with your feet wider apart than your shoulders, arms straight out to the sides, palms facing up. Take a breath, exhale, and bend to the right. Keep your knees straight; don’t twist your body. Slide your right arm down your right leg as you bend. Hold your leg or ankle a few seconds. Repeat on left side.

This pose is perfect if your muscles feel tight, which is common in late pregnancy. Slowly get down on hands and knees on a soft surface. Inhale deeply. Exhale and pull in your abdominal muscles, tailbone, and butt. Pressing down on your hands, lift your back toward the ceiling so that your spine rounds. Return to starting position. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Slowly get down on hands and knees on a soft surface. Hands should be under your shoulders, knees under your hips. Extend one arm until it’s level with your shoulder. Extend the opposite leg until it’s level with your hip. Hold for five seconds, then switch sides. Build up to 5 reps on each side.

Slowly get down on hands and knees on a soft surface. Hands should be under your shoulders, knees under your hips. Extend one arm until it’s level with your shoulder. Extend the opposite leg until it’s level with your hip. Hold for five seconds, then switch sides. Build up to 5 reps on each slide.

Puddle jump.

Go ahead — get wet. See who can make the biggest splash, jump across the widest puddle, and be the first to fill up her boots.

Create a “tie-dye” craft.

Do the first part indoors: Grab some coffee filters and have the kids color them with markers (not washable ones), and lay them on a cookie sheet. Then put them outside in the rain and watch the colors run. Bring them inside, and after they dry, the kids can make flowers: Pinch each filter in the middle and twist, then wrap a green pipe cleaner around to make a stem.

Take your kids on a “rescue the worms” walk.

(You don’t have to touch ’em!) Stroll around the neighborhood and let your kids pick them up off the sidewalk and toss them back into the grass. When you’re home, go to Yucky.discovery.com and search for cool info on earthworms.

Do a rainy-day Monet.

Head outside with some sidewalk chalk. When it’s wet, it works almost like paint!

Have a splash.

Take a bunch of bath toys outdoors — boats, buckets, cups — and play in a puddle, or find a “stream” at the edge of the street (if you live on a safe one) and race a boat against a lightweight ball.

Make a rain catcher.

If you just want to stay inside, have your child decorate a two-liter soda bottle, and measure and mark half-inches with a Sharpie. Then you cut off the top and put it outside a window where you can see it from inside. Set some fun goals: “When it gets to half an inch, we’ll play a board game. When it gets to an inch, we’ll make cookies…” etc.!

There was a time when toasting baby’s arrival with a stiff drink and a cigar was as near as fathers got to being involved in their partner’s pregnancy. Thankfully times have changed and dads-to-be are encouraged to be as involved as possible with their baby’s arrival into the world. Having said this, the prospect of becoming a father can still be incredibly daunting, especially as dads-to-be are often left to get on with things while expectant mothers are showered with attention and support.

Having a baby is just as life-changing an experience for a new dad as it is for a new mum and while you can’t have the baby for your partner, being as involved as possible with her pregnancy can really help you to adjust to this new chapter of your life. We share our top tips for a dad-to-be….

Get educated – Reading up on pregnancy will give you a much better idea of what to expect in terms of how your partner is feeling and how your baby is developing. Knowing how many weeks old your baby is and what this means can really give you a sense of involvement even though you’re not experiencing the pregnancy yourself.

See the doctor – Providing your partner is willing it’s great idea to go to as many doctor and hospital appointments with her as possible. Hearing your baby’s heartbeat for the first time or seeing him or her on an ultrasound is an experience not to be missed.

Take classes -Taking antenatal classes with your partner will help you learn how to support her during pregnancy, at the birth and once your baby arrives. After you’ve learnt how, practicing breathing exercises and birth positions together is something that will really help both of you to prepare for the big day.

Make plans – Talking names, nurseries and childcare with your partner will not only earn you brownie points but will also mean you get a say in whether you’re going to be dad to a Jessica or a Jesobella, a working, or stay at home parent and pacing a baby pink or luminous yellow room at 4 in the morning.

Be supportive – Especially in the early months you may be the only person your partner can talk to about how wretched/tired/gaseous she’s feeling. Difficult as it may be try your best to be supportive even if she’s turned into a hormonal monster – remember you only have to hear about it, she’s the one experiencing it. Sympathy and a back rub will go a long way!

Get ready for the birth – While no birth can be planned down to the last detail, discussing your partners wishes and putting them on paper is a very good idea. Figure out how involved she wants you to be, what kind of pain relief she wants, where she wants to give birth and any other special requirements she may have. When she goes into labour you’re going to have to be assertive for her and being prepared with a birth plan makes this a whole lot easier.

Bond with your baby – Your baby will develop the ability to hear in utero from about 5 months and will learn to recognise your own and your partner’s voices. If you feel comfortable doing so it can be great to talk to your partner’s bump as this provides a great opportunity to bond with your baby before birth. If this isn’t for you, sitting with your hands on your partner’s tummy while you watch TV or chill out means that you’re more likely to feel your baby’s much anticipated kicks.

Clean up your act – Chances are that your partner gave up smoking, drinking and as much junk food as possible when she found out she was expecting. Why not take this opportunity to get healthy too? Cutting down on drinking, smoking and takeaways will save some much needed cash and put your body in a better position to deal with the lack of sleep you’re going to be getting once your baby arrives.

Get shopping – While cutesy baby outfits may not be your thing, the latest baby gadgets might. Choosing car seats, baby monitors and buggies will get you involved in preparing for your baby’s arrival and can actually be surprisingly entertaining.

Visit the hospital – Its a really good idea to visit the hosptial and maternity ward where your partner is due to give birth before the big day. This not only lets you plan the route, figure out where to park and know how much change you’ll need to hand but will also give you the opportunity to view the facilities available and get a good idea of what your partner will need to make herself feel comfortable. As your partner approaches full term its a good idea to keep enough petrol in the car to make it to the hospital and the car seat on board at the ready.

As the BBC’s Masterchef returns for another series, a study of 2,000 people’s cooking habits reveals men are more enthusiastic in the kitchen, with their partners admitting they get ‘no enjoyment’ from the process at all.

Around 44 per cent of men say they enjoy cooking and the vast majority said they can conjur up a decent meal, and it seems their partners agree, with only 12 per cent of women admitting their man’s cooking is ‘poor’.

However, although the women surveyed rate their cooking – three quarters insist their food is good and just three per cent say their cooking skills are ‘poor’ – two thirds say they consider cooking nothing more than a chore.

And of the women surveyed in the study by Ross Burgers, one in six don’t ever cook at home because they don’t know how.

The real cooking enthusiasts were revealed to be men aged 55 and over, with half saying they ‘love spending time in the kitchen’, and eight in ten rating their food as good or very good.

York came out as the cooking capital of Britain, with six out of ten residents actively enjoying cooking and eight out of ten rating their food as ‘very good’. In comparison, Liverpool has the least confident cooks, with one in ten of them confessing their food is poor.

After a long day at work, it can be a challenge to cook a quick, tasty and nutritious meal from an easily sourced selection of ingredients. Canned Food UK’s new online search tool, ‘yesyoucancan.com’, has the answer.

Part of a wider awareness campaign, the site hosts over 350 recipes, videos and information tools on cooking with canned foods. Easily navigated via a simple, fun and dynamic search tool, yesyoucancan.com can be accessed on smartphones, tablets, notebooks and personal computers.

Users can simply select ‘Starters / Mains / Desserts’ and a choice of additional filters such as ‘Low-calorie’, ’Super-fast’ and ‘Vegetarian’ to find their perfect recipe in seconds. You can also search by ingredient such as ‘Canned Fish’ or Canned Fruit’ to quickly match recipes to your favourite ingredient.

Some recipes even include a step-by-step ‘Video Demo’ with celebrity chef James Martin so, if cooking isn’t a strong point, this will definitely help develop those culinary skills!

Canned foods are nutritious and healthy and, alongside fresh, frozen and chilled, can provide you with a balanced, healthy diet, including some of your 5-A-DAY. With an ever-widening array of products, canned foods are ideal to fit in with today’s busy lifestyles; perfect to use on their own, as a snack, a side dish or as ingredients in a family recipe.