How to Prepare for Baby The Moment You find Out

So you got two blue lines on your pregnancy test!

Now, what happens?

You probably found articles and pins about what you need to do asap.

How do you even prepare for a baby, when you are barely wrapping your head around the idea that you are going to be a parent!

The magic moments begin soon after you get that positive test.

For some they start getting morning sickness that may not seem like a magic moment but it lets you know, you are still pregnant and things are progressing.

For others they get no symptoms and still progress perfectly fine.

How To Begin Preparing For A New Baby In The First Trimester

The first trimester is sometimes an emotional roller coaster.

From finding out you’re pregnant to looking for OB care or setting up meetings with midwives.

Doing something new is always a little scary. Here are some things to start doing that will prepare you for baby during this time

Buy high quality prenatal vitamins
Schedule a visit with an OBGYN
Verify where you will house baby’s items
Start organizing and figuring out where everything will go

1. Prenatal Vitamins

You may be wondering why you need to buy prenatal vitamins if your OB might prescribe some for you.

Many OB’s don’t make an appointment well into the 10th week of pregnancy. If you find out before grabbing these vitamins will help you start this pregnancy on the right foot.

2. Your First OB visit

Your doctor will do a few basic things like verify your pregnancy, draw blood, perform a papsmear, take your blood pressure and verify your weight.

In every visit afterwards they’ll take your blood pressure, check your weight and have you pee in a cup. As annoying as doing these things every month in the first two trimesters – they are critical to take care of your body and baby to make sure everything is going as planned.

3. Designated Baby Items

Will you have a nursery in your home for baby? Will you turn your bedroom into a shared nursery? What about all the gifts you’ll receive from the baby shower.

Start to verify where you will house these items and start organizing and planning spaces accordingly.

How to Financially Prepare for Baby

You may be wondering how you’ll afford a new baby. It is very common to feel overwhelmed and a little anxious about the expense of a newborn.

One of the best ways to prepare right away is knowing where you stand in work, with your insurance and with your bank account.

Look at your bank account
Where can you cut costs in other areas
Start making your own lunch for work
Understand your deductible
Verify what your insurance will pay for
Talk to HR to figure out how maternity leave works for you

4. Your Bank Account

I like doing this regularly. You should go through your bank account and see how much money is coming in and how much is going out.

Do you have a little wiggle room in the money coming in or are you breaking even or possibly in the red?

5. Cutting Costs

End that gym membership that you never use, stop those magazine subscriptions that you never read. It is also time to look at all the monthly charges you have – cable, Netflix, Hulu. You don’t need all those options.

Call your cell phone provider see if you can cut costs. Ask them questions like: how can I lower my bill, is there anything I can remove from my plan that I don’t use, do they have any offers that can lower your bill right now.

6. Making Your Own Food

And no I don’t mean starting a garden and making food from scratch (although that can really help with food costs).

You can easily start by taking your dinner left overs to work. Super simple and can easily save you $300 a month.

7. Insurance & Deductibles

Make sure you understand what your insurance deductible is and pay attention to when you have to meet it by. Most insurance companies re-start the deductible payment every January 1st of a new year. So if you’re baby is born in the first month of the year, you may have to pay your deductible all over again.

Make sure you ask your insurance if the Doctor you choose is in network to save some extra money. You can also ask for a free breast pump. Which is now mandatory for all insurance companies to provide to expecting mothers in the U.S.

8. HR for the Pregnant Working Mom

Once you’re comfortable telling work you are pregnant make sure you schedule a visit to HR. The sooner you do this the easier everything will be when it comes time to have a baby.

Make sure you ask them how long they provide off for expecting mothers, if they have any services you can get for free

**my previous employer gave every expecting mother a gift basket and a free dental cleaning** You just never know until you ask.

Preparing Your Relationship For A Newborn

This may seem a little strange if you’re pregnant with your first because your relationship is going to change once you become parents. Your body – yes of course changes but the biggest change will come from within. Your mind is going to change and so will your relationship.

Preparing your relationship now is a total must!

Go on date right now before baby arrives
Take a baby moon if you can
Talk about what roles you will each do when baby arrives:
Take an online prenatal class

9. Date Night Ideas For Pregnant Couples

Right now that it is just the two of you, go and enjoy it. You may not be able to go on one-on-one dates for some time.

Try eating at your favorite restaurants a few times, going to the drive in, or even reading together side-by-side. Ahh you’ll miss the small stuff..

This includes taking a baby moon. My all time favorite place to go to while I was pregnant was Disneyland.

10. The ‘Parenting Role’s’ Talk

A lot of people do not have this talk and somewhere after baby is born their relationship starts to suffer and they start to resent each other for things that they could be communicating about. Here are a few ideas you can add to your parenting role talk BEFORE baby arrives:

Will your partner take paternity leave
What about use up vacation + sick days to get extended leave
Are you going to be the one waking up at night for each feeding?
Do you expect your partner to watch the baby while you do things like: sleep, eat, take a full shower
Are you going to be okay if your partner ‘parents’ different than you (e.g: they swaddle differently, they yell more, they don’t hold them the way you do)

I know these things may seem like no big deal but after birth when your hormones are even crazier than during pregnancy – having answers to these questions can save your relationship.

1. Online Prenatal & Birthing Course

You can also do a physical course if your hospital offers one but I learned that the free course your local hospital offers doesn’t do you justice.

Taking an online prenatal course can really help both of you understand the process of birth, life postpartum and so much more.

The KOPA Birth Class for Natural Birth is an amazing and supportive online birthing class. For many newly pregnant moms, the thought of giving birth is very fearful.

But KOPA gives you the right tools to help you alleviate that fear and give you the confidence that you can do this naturally mama!

Now that you have all these amazing tips in your arsenal I know you can start preparing your first trimester, your budget and your relationship easily for baby!