Tuesday, April 14, 2009
What to do when?
I am feeling like I have no idea what to do first and when for planning for our baby's arrival. It feels like planning a wedding but without that book that says 8 months before you do this, 6 months before you do that, 5 months before... and so forth. Is there a book like that for this? When do we sign up for birth classes? I don't even know where they are! What books must I be reading? When do we register? Which car seat do we choose? Wash the baby clothes? What all needs to be done? What am I missing? I am feeling clueless today, not knowing where to start.
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7 comments:
First, calm down! There are a lot of website that give you checklists just like when you were planning for a wedding. The first thing everyone will say when you tell them you're pregnant is "have you figured out daycare?" You may want to start researching that because if you decide to go with a big center, they will have a long wait list. As for classes, you probably want to take them starting toward the end of the second trimester or beginning of third trimester. If you take them too early, you may just forget everything. As for books, in the beginning we mostly just read about the pregnancy. Toward the end of the second trimester we started reading about birthing and baby care, but again, if you read it too early, you'll probably just forget everything. Your baby shower is likely after 30 weeks or so, so you just need to be registered sometime before then. The rest you'll figure out as you go. Good luck!
I agree, it can be overwhelming. But isn't it a nice feeling too? For a good pregnancy book, I highly recommend the Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth as a start. Sign up for some of the baby websites. They'll send you checklists and updates. And the public library is good for other pregnancy and child rearing books. Just read everything with a grain of salt and take what knowledge you find.
Everyone's timeline differs. As for us, we didn't start to accumulate ANY baby stuff until after 20 weeks. We didn't take classes until the 3rd trimester. But many people start these things earlier.
I'd say the things to think about or look into now are: health care providers for birth mom, leave/time off plans, legal paperwork, day care or other arrangements for after the return to work. These things often take the longest to plan out so it's best to get started early.
Good luck!
I liked Your Pregnancy Week by Week.
I took my birthing class through a research project at FSU called Baby Prep. It was free and you just had to take a bunch of questionnaires about anxiety. Heidi Chavers was the instructor.
We are taking a weekend-birthclass here in Germany. It's Friday and Saturday in August. We already registered for that because otherwise all the "cool" classed will be full. Well, that is how it is here.
We decided to do the babys room by the end of July.
About the car seat...we will buy a Maxi Cosi with the Car Seat Base (called Iso-Fix here in Germany to attach it to the car frame).
Any yeah, daycare...I agree with that. Here you have to start looking when you are like 20 weeks pregnant and register your kid. That is insance, I know. But otherwise the "cool" daycares are full, too.
You will figure it all out. Don't worry. Everything will be fine.
Do you know what you will have yet ??
Nesting already :)
I don't know that you are stressing out as much as overly excited. It's fun getting everything ready.
Talk to your midwife and the hospital. They will know where and when the birthing classes are. I don't think you need to start them until you are closer to your due date.
As far as registering. Go to Target or babies r us or wherever you are going to go whenever you want. HOWEVER. later when you are antsy and need something to do....you will have already done this. It's lots of fun. :)
(I also recommend going with someone who has had more than one kid. They can be a big help when it comes to needs and wants)
All you really need is a carseat and something to bring the baby home in. Everything else can wait.
I suggest the carseat stroller combo.
go online....look at them...read reviews....google reviews. Ultimately I think they are all very similar and made to last so you can't really go wrong.
(I say, buy the one that matches your cars upholstery:)
I teach childbirth classes and when you start really depends on the type of class. Are you doing Bradley? Lamaze? HypnoBirthing/HypnoBabies? I teach HypnoBirthing and recommend starting that at 24 weeks b/c it requires some practice each evening. But if you're doing something else, you probably don't need to start as early.
Carseats--you should check out Consumer Reports. Lots of info there.
Register whenever you want! I like to plan ahead and I registered before conception but I'm crazy like that.
Washing baby clothes--when you feel your nesting instincts kicking in, that's a great time to wash them :)
It can be so overwhelming when you start to think of EVERYTHING you need to do. Try to relax and enjoy all those tasks. Just do one thing at a time. It will get done.
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