8 Top Tips for Preparing for Birth

Jennifer Bright
Mon, 18 Oct 2021 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

You're in the homestretch! By the end of the last trimester, most moms-to-be are ready to have their babies — now!

By now, you know which hospital or birth center you'll deliver at. Perhaps you've even taken a tour or a class there. If not, it's a great idea to take a dry run to see exactly the best way to go. Locate and practice an alternate route, or even two. Find out where you're supposed to park and which entrance you should use. Sometimes the door you're supposed to use differs depending on the time of day.

If you have other children, you've probably already been prepping them for the arrival of their new baby brother or sister. If you have pets, it's a good idea to prepare them, too.
Updated: Tue Oct 19, 2021

You're in the homestretch! By the end of the last trimester, most moms-to-be are ready to have their babies — now!

By now, you know which hospital or birth center you'll deliver at. Perhaps you've even taken a tour or a class there. If not, it's a great idea to take a dry run to see exactly the best way to go. Locate and practice an alternate route, or even two. Find out where you're supposed to park and which entrance you should use. Sometimes the door you're supposed to use differs depending on the time of day.

If you have other children, you've probably already been prepping them for the arrival of their new baby brother or sister. If you have pets, it's a good idea to prepare them, too.

If you haven't done so already, install your baby's car seat. You'll need both the car-seat manual and your car's manual. This isn't always an easy process, so it's helpful to get it out of the way now.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with how to use your baby's car seat. If you have an infant carrier seat with a base that remains in the car, practice getting the carrier into and out of the base. Learn how to strap the baby into the seat and how to get her out. Most of all, learn how to use the seat safely, so that you'll be able to buckle her into it correctly every time — starting with her trip home from the hospital.

Have you packed your birth bag? Packing your birth bag is unlike packing for any other trip. You're going to the hospital pregnant, but you'll be coming home a mom. Grab your favorite bag, and put it in a convenient place. The odds are good that you're going to be adding things to the bag and pulling them back out a lot in the next few weeks as your excitement — and nerves — grow.

Here's what our Mommy M.D.s — doctors who are also mothers — do to get ready for their own babies' births.

"When I was in the hospital having my first baby, my husband took the baby's hat and some clothes home for our dogs to sniff," says Kristie McNealy, M.D., a mom of four and a health care consultant in Salt Lake City. "That was all the preparation they got — or seemed to need."

"One of the best presents I got at my baby shower was a pair of baby gates," says Rallie McAllister, M.D., M.P.H., mom of three, co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to Your Baby's First Year," nationally recognized health expert and family physician in Lexington, Kentucky. "I didn't think I'd need them until my son started walking, but as it turned out, I used them the day we came home from the hospital. They were perfect for keeping my curious, overly enthusiastic Boston terrier in the kitchen or out of the nursery when I needed some alone time with the baby. My dog never tried to harm the baby, but she was determined to try to lick his face whenever she got the chance!"

"Install your baby's car seat ASAP," McAllister continues. "My second child came a few weeks early, and although my husband and I had bought a car seat, we hadn't even taken it out of the box when I started having labor pains. It had been over a decade since our first child was a toddler, so our skills were definitely a little rusty! My husband installed the car seat in the hospital parking lot in the middle of a snowstorm while the baby and I were inside. We both agreed it would have been a lot easier if we had been better prepared for our son's early arrival. We had enough to do without worrying about the car seat."

"I put together a birth plan of how I hoped my birth would go," says Sonia Ng, M.D., a mom to two sons, a pediatrician and a sedation attending physician at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Pediatric Care and the University Medical Center at Princeton, and the Pediatric Imaging Center in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. "I made it like an algorithm tree to communicate what I wanted to happen in different circumstances. For example, it said if X happens, then do Y, and then if Y happens, then do Z. Luckily, I did not have to follow the plan because there were no complications."

"It's fine to create a birth plan, but at the end of the day, you can't control pregnancy and birth," says Ellen Kruger, M.D., a mom of two and an OB-GYN in an academic and clinical practice in New Orleans with Ochsner Health System. "You can have a vision, but be prepared to ditch it. You just never know how these things are going to go. With my first delivery, I had an epidural and forceps. With my second, I had no medication, and I didn't even get an IV. I'm glad I didn't go into my first delivery hoping for a natural birth, and I'm glad I didn't go into my second asking for an epidural. It's best to remain flexible."

"I found it invaluable to bring my own underwear, pajamas, shampoo and soap to the hospital," says Michelle Paley, M.D., physician assistant, a mom of a daughter and a son and a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in private practice in Miami Beach, Florida. "I also brought my nursing pillow."

"I packed my bag around a week or so before I went into labor," says Amy J. Derick, M.D., a mom of two sons and a dermatologist in private practice at Derick Dermatology in Barrington, Illinois. "I packed reading materials, outfits for the baby and my Boppy nursing pillow to help me breastfeed. I also took my computer because the hospital had wireless internet. I was actually able to use my computer because the baby slept a lot!"

"You have to pack your bag long before week 36!" says Aline T. Tanios, M.D., a mom of four children and a pediatric hospitalist at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis. "I packed mine at 20 weeks. We see many premature babies here, and I wanted to be prepared. I needed to be ready, which was one more way to decrease the stress and preparation for the 'big day.' When you go into labor, it's not the time to run around your house trying to pack your bags. You'll be far too worried about your health and the health of your baby at that point."

"While my sanity was still intact at 20 weeks, I started to pack my bag," Tanios adds. "Every few weeks, I reviewed what was in there and added to it as necessary. I kept two lists: what I had packed for myself and what I had packed for my baby. For myself, I packed body lotion, perfume, a mirror, a book (not that I had the chance to open it), my cellphone and charger, slippers, an outfit to go home in and a list of people I wanted to call. For my baby, I packed diapers, a going-home outfit, receiving blankets, the car seat and presents from the new baby brother or sister for my older children. Also, don't forget your phone!"

Jennifer Bright is a mom of four sons, co-founder and CEO of family- and veteran- owned custom publisher Momosa Publishing, co-founder of the Mommy MD Guides team of 150+ mommy M.D.s, and co-author of "The Mommy MD Guide to the Toddler Years." She lives in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. To find out more about Jennifer Bright and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.