Ways to cope while DH is away

My DH is going to be away for a long period of time - 2 months possibly more, as yet I don't know when he will be back. Its for his job which is professional sport. We have spent long periods of time apart before, the most being 6 weeks when I was pregnant (5 months when we first got together 7 years ago but thats a bit different) and smaller 2 weeks stints when DD was a newborn.

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone has any good tips on how to cope/survive without your DH/DP especially when you have a little one.

I am going to try and keep myself "busy" as everyone keeps telling me I should, although the crap weather may have other ideas. I have a supportive family, but they are all under various stresses at the moment and my IL's drive me bonkers so I will be trying to steer clear of them as much as possible, plus all my friends live overseas and I don't belong to a coffee group.

I dread the downtime when I am home at night and we would normally be cuddled up on the couch or cooking dinner together. I also feel worried about how/if it will affect DD not seeing her Daddy for so long, we have got SKYPE set up and webcams so hopefully that will suffice.

Sorry for the "woe is me" post but I think I just needed to get it out. Any tips or words of wisdom would be much appreciated. TIA

I am going to be watching this as my DP may be going away for three months as he is trying to get into the police.

We have talked about using bestmate on our cells and maybe him getting a laptop or something to take away so we can video chat and he can see the kids. It is a long way off for us and not a definite yet but it sure is a scarey thought!

Do you have family and freinds around who can help?

My DH is in the navy & we've been pretty lucky in that he's mostly been on base since Liam was born. However he is going back to sea from the end of this month so I will be solo-ing it for a while too.

I agree that the key is to keep busy & make plans as much as you can. I find that Liam & I get cabin fever if we don't go out very often.

Skype is a great idea. I'm sure your daughter won't forget her Daddy

Sorry that is probably not much help. I'm not really sure what I do to cope - I just do because I have to!

Hopefully emz will see this post as she'll have some good advice for you.

How to cope? Hmm you just do unfortunately whether you want to or not!

My Dh is in the army, has been away since May. we've done the 6 months stints etc but this has been the hardest time of my life being pregnant and having a sick toddler (Jack has been in and out of hospital) as well as DH having a breakdown and leaving (luckily we're working on things and that doesn't look like it'll be happening).

Anyway... usually I get into crafts etc, like painting (I'm not artistic, but sometimes I trace drawings, paint them up and sell them on TM), come on OhBaby lol, do baking, and also usually make a point of catching up with someone I haven't seen in a while (usually someone different every week - something to look forward to).

If you can use Skype that's awesome. Lucky for your wee one. We talk on the phone so Jack 'talks' to his dad about once a week, but yep its hard if they realise their dad's not there at such a young age (Jack throws a tanty when he sees his father isn't in bed in the morning etc). I guess being the age Heidi is, she won't really know too much of what's going on, which will probably be good for you to cope, hard for your DH though. DH was away for a few stints of 3-4 weeks last year and Jack never really changed his habits/routine too much, it wasn't until this time around that things went haywire. But that was also to do with the fact that I couldn't function let alone be a good mum so I think you should be fine

Um... what else? Pull in all the support around you. Don't ever say no to help or to someone giving you a break from your daughter (you'll probably need one). It's hard not having a sleep in to look forward to, and not having adult conversation. A lot of us forces mummies have gone through it all though so at least you know you're not alone and if you ever want to chat, you know where to find us