To-Do List: How To Prepare For Baby's Arrival
I don’t know about you, but it helps me to feel more in control the more organized I am. I feel like I have a better hold on the reins of this crazy ride we’re on, you know, life, and especially when it comes to mom life.
Getting things organized was incredibly helpful for me in making it through the first three months with my sanity.
It’s very easy to feel overwhelmed, which causes stress, which then further adds to the worry of making it through the first 12 weeks. You see where I’m going with this?
You need to establish some control to help you feel more stable, even if that control is an illusion. It will help you mentally and emotionally to believe it, which will also help to promote a healthier pregnancy.
So, let’s get to organizing with my handy pregnancy ‘To-Do’ list!
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Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. The information in this post is for informational purposes and does not constitute medical advice in any way. I am not liable for any damages resulting from using the information in this article. Please consult a doctor for your medical advice.
Creating Your Baby Registry
Your first task is to start your baby registry. This will help you to organize and keep track of all the things you’ll need when your beautiful babe is born.
I’ve created a realistic baby registry that includes all the things that you’ll need (and actually use), with explanations for why I found the items useful.
You may get suggestions for things and acquire things prior to your baby shower which will cause your registry to fluctuate.
You’ll add/remove things from this list as you go throughout your pregnancy. That’s why I’d suggest starting here.
The Spreadsheet
I started getting things from family, friends, and acquaintances early on in my pregnancy. Since the baby shower was still a ways off, I wanted to make sure I was keeping track of things.
Remember, pregnancy-brain is a real thing! Your brain literally goes through a spring cleaning while you are pregnant and dumps information out of your head which it deems not useful to make room for all the information you need to acquire as a mom.
It’s crazy and it’s true. Yet, another reason why I created my FREE template for Organizing Your Fertility Information. This also now includes my Google Sheet template for tracking gifts and who you got them from, planning your gender reveal/baby shower, guest lists, details for sending ‘Thank You’ notes, and more!
The Gender Reveal
You may be waiting to find out your little fetus’s gender on womb eviction day, but if you want to find out earlier, there are multiple ways to do so medically and surprisingly, with a fun/cute-themed party.
Medically, your doctor will run bloodwork around 10-12 weeks into your pregnancy that will be able to tell you the sex, if you would like to know. Those results come about a week or so after the test.
You can also purchase a test that you can take as early as 6 weeks from your local drugstore or even Amazon!
It has you provide a blood sample taken at home by pricking your finger/arm. You then ship the sample in the provided package that includes pre-paid priority mail postage. The sample is tested at their lab for the baby’s sex through the chromosomes in your blood, and you get the results in 2-3 days.
This is the route I chose and used this test. It looks like they now have this newer, more advanced version from another company that’s much easier to use and painless.
I definitely would have used the newer version if I had a do-over. The one I used worked, but was not painless, and took a good amount of effort to get the blood sample that was needed.
Or you can wait for your 20 week ultrasound and find out by seeing the baby sex organs on the screen (that the doctor will point out if you are wanting to know, unless you have a talent for reading ultrasounds with your Grey’s Anatomy M.D. – I have one of these as well ;))
All three options allow you to provide an email address for the results to be sent to your designated person responsible for the gender reveal surprise party/event if you are planning on having one of these.
The Parties
You may have friends/family wanting to throw you a baby shower or a gender reveal party. I think you should be involved as little or as much in these processes as you would like to be.
Maybe you might want to plan these on your own, have no involvement, or not have them at all. It’s your choice and there is no wrong answer.
The Gender Reveal
It’s a fairly new element to the whole pregnancy journey. The parties used to be singular with the baby shower, but it has now become a common custom to have a party to reveal the gender of the baby to friends, family, and especially the ones having the baby.
My cousin automatically claimed throwing the gender reveal party for me. She was states away and requested for one of my boots-on-the-ground friends to coordinate this with her.
They made the whole thing a surprise including the theme and details being off-limits to me (which I did surprisingly well with). They did a phenomenal job.
It was a cute bee theme that included my close friends, as well as my mom and grandma from MN. They also came up with a very fun idea for the reveal (I’m still finding the confetti pieces in my background two years later).
The Baby Shower
This one is the big event before the ‘big event’. It’s where your family and friends shower you with gifts to prep you for baby’s arrival and celebrate you being a freaking warrior about to embark on the battle of motherhood.
You can host this event yourself, but most often friends/family like to have this honor.
Mine was hosted by a few of my friends who even with their extremely hectic lives, still pulled it all off without a hitch.
They also had to deal with a hormonal-micromanaging-mom-to-be. You guessed it. It was me.
You’ll want to pick the theme of your shower.
- This was a great tip by a mom-friend of mine: she said to keep the theme the same as your nursery. That way you can reuse the decor items from the shower for the nursery.
I had chosen the theme of Literary Fiction for my shower/nursery. It included Peter Pan, Narnia, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Harry Potter as inspiration.
I had a pretty specific vision for this party and as we know (I’m a bit of a control freak). I also knew that my friends that were hosting had a lot going on personally and wanted to take the stress of my party off of them.
- Side note:I can be pretty direct in my communications, but I’m not the best at asking for help. Do yourself a favor, when it’s offered, take the help.
- And if you’re anything like me, you’ll need to try to get better at asking for help because you will need it from time to time. Might as well start practicing now.
So, I may have claimed ‘Captain’ on the baby shower, but I couldn’t have done it without those amazing friends (you know who you are, thank you forever).
Preparing The Nursery
This will come together in different parts. You may want to repaint the room, which should be done at least a couple weeks prior to the shower.
You may find furniture that needs to be refurbished (like I did and had an amazing friend master this for me. Thanks, Eddy! She’s a beaut!)
You might get different furniture pieces and cute things you want to decorate with. You’ll get a better idea of how you want the layout to be as you gather these things.
Full-on-organization mode will happen once the shower is over and you have a massive amount of items to fill your nursery/home with.
Perfect! Just in time for your nesting phase!
If you have the funds to furnish your nursery with all new items, by all means, go nuts!
I did not and got a lot of my furniture/decor used, like my dressers for the nursery and my room were from a second-hand furniture store and Facebook Marketplace. My crib was from a friend that donated it to me after her son could no longer use it.
Second-hand usually is almost just as good as new and saves you money!
Preparing Your Home – The Deep Clean
If you have the extra sheckles, find a local cleaning person to come scrub those baseboards and get the cobwebs from the high ceiling corners. Or bribe/guilt a family member/friend/acquaintance.
You’re pregnant! You don’t need to be on your hands and knees or up on ladders.
It will help to appease your nesting-side by having this checked off your list and knowing that you have a clean house to bring baby home to.
Set Up Accounts for Baby
Set up a savings account for your baby. You may have to wait until they are actually born for this one, but it’s a great way to start saving for their future.
I started one for my babe and try to put money in it each month. I don’t have an intention for the money, other than helping him with his journey later on, whatever that may be.
I also set up another account for our “Adventure Fund”. Everyone says to travel before you have kids because you won’t get the chance to after.
I disagree. I plan on traveling with my kid. It will be a special thing we do together. Build memories and see the world.
By the time he was one, he had already been on trips to San Diego, CA, Navarre, FL, and Minnesota twice.
Instead of gifts for his birthdays and holidays, I encourage people to contribute to one of these accounts.
Setting Up for Maternity Leave
You may be planning on waiting for a while before you tell your work that you’re pregnant. When you do, reach out to your HR right away to find out what their Maternity Leave policy is (if they have one) and what your options are.
You’re going to want to plan ahead to make sure you take as much time for you and baby as you can. This is a special time for you and baby to bond and be together.
You also have to balance that out with what your financial situation is and what your benefits at work are.
Does your company offer paid maternity leave and how much? What about FMLA or Short-Term Disability(STD)?
How much time can you afford to take off and still pay your bills?
My company offered 1 month of paid maternity leave and then I had 8 weeks of STD because I was having a c-section (technically 7 weeks because it takes a week to process the claim once baby is born) that paid about 60% of my salary.
Side note: 6 weeks is typically the standard STD coverage for a vaginal birth (5 weeks with the first week to process the claim).
My work also let me use my sick days to try and make me as whole as possible during this time period.
Figure out what your options are, and I would suggest doing so as early as you are able or just plan to set money aside to be safe.
The Hospital
Prepping for the hospital helps you to be ready when it’s go time. Unless you have a scheduled c-section (and even then) you never know when you’ll go into labor.
Hospital Bag:
Make sure to pack your hospital bag (if you’re not sure what you’ll need to pack, check out this post) at least a few weeks in advance of your due date.
Car Seat:
Don’t forget to install the car seat base in the car you’ll be taking home from the hospital. You’ll want to make sure it’s installed correctly, so follow the instructions the car seat comes with.
If you don’t have those or you aren’t sure it’s right, there are places you can bring your car to have this checked out, like a fire station. Maybe you’ll want to have them check it even if you are sure…just for the eye candy! And the reassurance.
Paperwork:
You’ll have paperwork that your OB will give you that you’ll need to bring to the hospital. Don’t forget this. Have it already packed up in your hospital bag or with those hospital-prepped things. This includes your Pediatrician’s information.
Speaking of paperwork, don’t forget your birth plan and hospital rules for visitors. Your birth plan lays out how you would like for your birth to go (remember this should be approached as a general guide but don’t get too invested in case things need to be adjusted).
You’ll want to have rules for your visitors. People get excited about babies and sometimes forget the do’s and don’ts. Post it on the door, so your nurse and everyone else will be aware of what they need to know before entering.
You might want to create a will. You don’t have to hire a lawyer, or at least you shouldn’t have to. I found a free template online that had easy fill-in areas.
I downloaded, printed it up, and had it notarized. I wanted to make sure my baby was covered and my wishes were directed just in case anything happened to me during the delivery.
Pickup Person:
You’ll need to have someone lined up to pick you and baby up from the hospital and bring you home. I highly suggest lining this up way in advance and having a couple of backups, just in case.
Meal Prep
That sweet little bundle of joy that you bring home is going to take up pretty much all of your time, sleep, and energy. You’re not going to have time to cook, let alone the bandwidth to put any sort of meal together.
Do yourself a favor and meal prep prior to baby’s debut to the world. Especially if you’re going to be breastfeeding.
Not only will you need quick, easy food items to shove in your mouth, but breastfeeding burns an abundant amount of calories. You will need to replenish your body with nourishing foods to keep your milk supply and energy up.
Check out my Meal Prep Pinterest board which has a variety of pins for preparing several different kinds of meals. Some are healthy and others not so much.
I like to balance things out. Lol.
Sign Up Sheet
It can be overwhelming when you get home with your newborn and everyone wants to come visit and meet the new little bean. Especially at the same damn time.
Let’s not, shall we?
There’s an easy solution. Create a signup sheet.
There is a really great website called Give InKind that lets you set up a whole schedule and offers different options for your friends and family to visit and support you and baby. They can sign up to come see you and babe, babysit, bring food, care for your pets, do housework, give monetary gifts, etc.
It’s really great for providing your loved ones with ways to support you and makes coordinating visits so much easier. We used it for my friend who had her baby last year.
Prepping for baby can feel like a lot and it is, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, but if you break it up into pieces like this, it won’t be so overwhelming.
Cheers, Warriors!
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and found it entertaining, educational, inspiring—hopefully, all three. Please be sure to leave any comments or questions you have in the Comments section below.
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