10 Things To Do Before The Baby Arrives

After you have your baby you will need to rest a lot. You might be one of those who bounces back super quick, but you could be one whose recovery takes a bit longer. 

It took me a good while to get back to normal after having my first baby. The lack of sleep was REALLY hard on me and I felt like I could barely function. I also struggled with some PPD (post-partum depression). 

With my second baby, I bounced back quicker than with my first, but I still needed time to rest and help.

Here are some things I did or wish I did before my baby arrived.

Make Freezer Meals

Around the time my first born was 3 months old is when I finally started to cook dinner again. Up until then our church family brought us meals every other night for a month. My husband would cook or get us take out. It was a true blessing!

If you don’t have a church or family near you, it might be a good idea to plan ahead and make some freezer meals. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest and online. 

There is an excellent podcast by Jami Balmet called the Homemaking Foundations Podcast. In episode 006, she talks about freezer cooking and gives her listeners lots of tips and advice. If you have a chance, go check her out on Itunes or Spotify. 

Here is another great website on freezer meals.

https://onceamonthmeals.com/

Another idea is to stock up on meat in your freezer for your husband to grill something for you! 

Stock Up On Essentials

Diapers and wipes. I didn’t realize how much diapers and wipes were needed! With my second pregnancy, I asked people to only get me wipes and diapers for my baby shower. 

Don’t forget to stock up on non-baby essentials like toilet paper and such too! Buying in bulk is probably a great idea because you may not want to leave the house for awhile.

Make A Contact List 

It’s a good idea to have a list of people you can contact if you need something. I have a history of having really fast labors (under 2 hrs), so I made sure to create a list of people to come over to watch my toddler if I went into labor while my husband was at work.

I put down people who could be available during the night and day. Once contractions start for me, I literally don’t have much time to get to the hospital.

Clean Your Home

Sure, you might nest hardcore before the baby arrives, but if you are working full-time up until baby arrives, it might be hard to get a good deep clean in. 

Amazon and your local cleaning services might be a great option for you. Check out Facebook and Yelp for cleaning companies. There even might be a family member who is willing to clean for you for free 😉 My mom came and helped me clean quite a bit before the baby arrived and that was really nice and helpful!

Pack Your Hospital Bags

Write out a packing list for yourself so you don’t forget those last minute items! I always have my bags packed and ready to go around 37 weeks pregnant.

Check out my post on 7 Things You Are Forgetting To Pack In Your Hospital Bag.

Write Out A Birth Plan

My MIL (Mother-in-law) showed me her birth plan and I am so glad I wrote one out. You can include certain things like epidural requests and so on. I think it will also be helpful to show your husband so he knows your wishes during the midst of labor. 

Take Classes

About a month before my due date, my husband and I took a labor and delivery class at the hospital. To this day, I am SO glad I took this. I used the same booklet I got from the class to refresh my memory when I was getting near my due date with my second. 

Another thing I highly recommend is to take a breast feeding class. I wish I did this. I thought that because breast feeding was natural that it would just naturally happen. It was way harder than I expected! 

Lip tie and tongue tie babies seem to be more common these days. If you don’t know what that is I highly recommend you look into this before having your baby.

Breastfeeding was hard, but I stuck with it and  breastfed my first up until she turned 1. I am also still breastfeeding my second currently. 

Read Books and Blogs

Get as much knowledge as you can, but please use your discernment. Just because something is in a book or a blog does not mean it is accurate or right for you.

Find A Mentor

My MIL has 7 children so she is one of my mentors as far as anything baby or child related. She has been a true blessing!

I am also very lucky to know a lactation consultant personally as well. Whenever I had a breastfeeding question I could text her. She also would text me to check in on me and that was a huge blessing to me.

Get Snacks & Netflix

Sleepless nights and feeding the baby in the middle of the night is exhausting. Instead of dreading the baby waking up in the middle of the night, I prepared things to look forward to. 

I got plenty of grab and go snacks and a water bottle ready for when I got up to feed the baby. We also got Netflix and I saved every movie and TV show I wanted to watch on my list. I’m pretty sure I watched 3 seasons of TV shows and a few movies (LOL).

Babies eat a long time and around the clock at first so don’t forget to take care of yourself! I know it’s hard to ask for help (I really do), but ask for help! You may be surprised by how many people would love to help you.

If you have had a baby before, what were some things you did to prepare for baby’s arrival?