What would a month be without some organizing projects? This month they are blissfully small in scope and I hope offer you some fun. First you’ll need to send out thank-you notes and baby announcements. You’ll probably do a mix of cyber thank you’s and snail mail versions. It can be fun to match the perfect thank you to the personality of the recipient. By now you know that I can be a bit of a pit bull when it comes to avoiding the old “well run dry” syndrome. Ergo, our third week is all about self-care. It simply can’t go by the wayside as new responsibilities and tasks threaten to engulf you. Finally, another area emphasized is sleep. It’s crucial to everyone but especially to a new mom. Your body has been through a trauma. You’ve got to figure out ways to help it heal and sleep is at the top of the list. Grab your resolve and your camera; it’s the first month of your new lives as parents! Let’s savor every moment.

Start Trying to Go to Bed Thirty Minutes Earlier than You’re Used To Most new moms get by on a lot less sleep than they’re used to, and even if your baby starts sleeping through the night early, chances are good you aren’t sleeping as soundly as you once did. It’s tempting to stay up long after the baby falls asleep for “me time,” but adequate sleep is some of the most important time you can invest in yourself. Start moving your bedtime back in five-minute increments until you’re falling asleep a full half-hour earlier than you used to. Sleep is such an important part of everyone’s life that an entire week is devoted to it this month.

This week, you can

HOW YOU’LL FEEL the first week after having a baby is a big question mark. You may feel fantastic and wonder what all the fuss is about. Or you might be sore, tired, overwhelmed, and teary. Either reaction is normal. Many women seem to ride an emotional and hormone-driven high throughout the early weeks of new motherhood (though, watch it—sometimes that high comes crashing down later!). But even if you’re feeling great, you still need to take it easy (which can be easier said than done if you’re a get-up-and-go kind of woman). Your organs are returning to their pre-pregnancy size and shape, your body is healing from birth or possibly surgery, and overdoing it can lead to undesirable conditions like infections and prolapsed organs.

It’s likely that you’re taking some kind of pain medication right now and possibly using heat and ice to soothe cramping and soreness. It can be surprisingly difficult to keep track of it all, and the last thing you want to do is accidentally overdose on Tylenol because you lost track. Try these tips:

If you’re breastfeeding, you may forget which breast you nursed your baby on last. Feeding twice in a row on one side may make you feel “lopsided” and uncomfortable. To help you remember, leave the flap of your nursing bra down on the side you finished on. Then, when Baby’s hungry again, you know to feed her on the other side. If that’s not comfortable, try putting a safety pin on the side that you last fed your baby on.

Medications work best to manage pain when they’re taken ’round the clock. If you wait until you’re experiencing cramping or soreness to pop a pill, it won’t work as well and you may need to take more of it to control discomfort. If you know you’ll be rotating Tylenol every six hours and Motrin every four hours, create a schedule that makes sense and doesn’t wake you up every two hours through the night. (For example, maybe your doctor or midwife would OK a larger dose of Motrin right before bed so that you can wait until morning to repeat.)

Once you’ve set up your medication schedule, you can either keep track of it on a simple hour-by-hour calendar you create in Excel or in a day planner, or set your smart phone’s alarm to alert you when it’s time to take a medication (with a note about which medication to take). After a few days, you should start needing the medications less and less and can slowly wean off of them.

One of the best things you can do to keep uterine cramping at a minimum is to keep your bladder empty. A full bladder presses against your reproductive organs and is not only uncomfortable but can cause you to have heavier postpartum bleeding. But sometimes giving birth actually bruises your urinary tract and you won’t feel the urge to go . . . or you may just get so caught up in your baby that you actually forget to pee. It’s a good idea to set an alarm to remind you to go to the bathroom every couple of hours. Or you can peg bathroom breaks to another frequent task to help you remember: For instance, try going to the bathroom every time you change Baby’s diaper or just before you feed her.

Whenever you go to the bathroom remember to switch out nursing pads, ice packs, and sanitary napkins, and ask your spouse or helper to reheat your rice pack for your belly. This will keep you comfortable and clean (helping to reduce the risk of infection) as well as help you monitor bleeding.