Are You Ready For Your Baby?
Congratulations! This checklist will help you stay on course as you get closer to the big day.
1st Trimester
- Announce the upcoming event to family and friends
- Stop smoking, drinking alcohol and using street drugs
- Schedule your first prenatal visit with physician/midwife
- Discuss any medications you have been taking with your doctor
- Contact your insurance company to see if you need a pre-certification/authorization number
- Start a pregnancy diary and a photo album of you and your expanding shape each month
- Make sure to take prenatal vitamins with folic acid
- Start drinking lots of fluids, particularly water
- Begin reading about pregnancy
2nd Trimester
- Pre-register at the hospital either in person or online
- Bring or send a copy of your insurance card
- Check with your employer about maternity and family leave benefits
- Register and attend prenatal classes
- Start thinking about baby names since you'll need to fill out the birth certificate in the hospital
- Start reading and singing to your baby
- Clean the house, update fire extinguishers and test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
- Choose a doctor for your baby and schedule an introductory meeting by using our online physician finder.
3rd Trimester
- Register and tour the hospital's Birth Center where you will give birth
- If you are considering a tubal ligation, discuss this with your obstetrician around week 30
- Make arrangements with your obstetrician or pediatrician for circumcision, if that is your choice
- Discuss an advance medical directive with your physician and family members
- Shop for baby care items
- Prepare to breastfeed by taking a class and gathering supplies
- Begin to think about child-care plans, if returning to work
- Start gathering items to pack for the hospital
- Make plans about how you will get to the hospital, night and day and take a practice trip
- Learn to use the infant car seat (by law, you must have a car seat for discharge)
- If you have other children, prepare them for the birth or consider a Big Brother, Big Sister class
- Prepare and freeze some meals
- Double check that you have needed supplies for baby and mom
For more information, contact the Maternity Center at St. Joseph’s Hospital - North at (813) 443-7000.