With just five weeks to go before my due date, I'm into the home straight with this pregnancy. And I'm frantically trying to get my life in order.

It came as an enormous shock when we had Eve four years ago to discover that small babies take up so much of your time.

For the first few weeks I must have had less than half an hour a day to myself. Eve was reluctant to go more than two hours between feeds and the rest of the time seemed to be spent changing her, soothing her and mopping up after her.

Fortunately, my husband took a month off work. If he hadn't, I doubt I would have had anything to eat and nothing clean to wear.

He proved himself more than able to look after my every post-baby need.

This time he expects to spend three weeks at home with us after the birth. But with the extra demands that Eve puts on us, his domestic chores will be significantly increased.

There are various measures we're planning to take to reduce them. One is that we encourage Eve to get herself dressed and ready in the morning.

At the moment, it only works if we offer all sorts of bribes - something I am reluctant to do as we'll end up with a teenager who'll only flush the toilet if we pay her.

Saying to Eve things like "If you don't get dressed now, you'll be later for nursery" have no effect. Throw in the bounty of a chocolate egg, however, and she'll leap to it.

I've tried reasoning with her and the closest I have got to progress is her reassurance that when the baby arrives, she will dress herself.

Of course, this is no guarantee. I've heard older siblings tend to regress when the newcomer gets all the attention.

In Eve's case, this could result in a return to the daily chase around the house to get her to take off her pyjamas.

Another measure I'm working on is making sure we have plenty of provisions in the house. I seem to remember we had a lot of takeaways during the early weeks with Eve.

If I start buying and baking now, our freezer will be stocked with enough meals to keep an Arctic expedition fed for a month and a ton of home-made scones for all those visitors who'll call round to inspect the baby.

Housework is bound to come lower down the priorities for a while but, in preparation, we've stuffed various bits of dust-collecting clutter into cupboards and are making sure the windows are less opaque.

My husband has also been busy finishing off a few important DIY projects. He has painted the living room a cheerful yellow to help keep the "baby blues" at bay and made a desk for our new home computer so we will now be self-sufficient in home entertainment.

Meanwhile, I've been in the garden planting a few summer flowering plants and tidying up the rockery. The weeds will be a worry to me otherwise.

So, practically, we hope to be sorted. Mentally, I think we'll do fine as well. As with most parents going through it a second time, I don't feel as anxious. I know I can handle eight nappy changes a day.

I know the evening grizzles disappear eventually. And I know that, even though child-rearing feels like a thankless task sometimes, seeing your baby's first smile is worth a thousand sleepless nights ... well, almost.