It seems like there are a million things to get done before your new bundle of joy arrives. This checklist is broken down by trimester, and it will guide you with completing the necessary and optional tasks before baby arrives.
First time moms might not know what you don’t know, so this is a great starting point to help you get everything organized. You’ll have a clear line of sight to ensure you check everything off your list and be prepared for your new bundle of joy.
Each trimester has its own challenges, so you do not want to wait until the final trimester—or the last month—to do it all. Procrastinating will only increase your anxiety and stress which is not good for your baby!
I have also a detailed checklist below for working moms who are taking maternity/parental leave. Canadian moms, Employment Insurance information is included!
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First Trimester (conception – 13 weeks)
During your first trimester, likely you are noticing significant changes (physical, mental, emotional) with the news that you are pregnant. About 70% of pregnant women get morning sickness, and some unlucky few will have to endure severe nausea and vomiting known as hyperemesis gravidarum. You will be feel increased fatigue, food cravings and aversions, and so much more.
The to do list in this trimester will be the shortest out of the three, but crucial to complete within this timeframe. You will want to give yourself some grace and let your body adjust to the new changes.
This is often the hardest trimester because you might be keeping this news to yourself and those closest to you. If you’re not sure where to start, go through this list and reach out to me if you need!
If you’re concerned about how the baby is doing, worried about miscarriage or any of the above, know that it is completely normal to be worried. You can continue to use these cheap at home pregnancy tests to test your HCG levels. If you detected earlier on, the line will get darker as your baby grows and your hormones increase.
You can also use this Miscarriage Odds Reassurer website to reassure you with real statistics and numbers!
- Start taking prenatal vitamins and fish oil (if you aren’t already). I highly recommend these prenatal vitamins (get it from Amazon here) because they are one of the few with natural folate vs. man made folic acid for better absorption. There is a once daily option here (get it from Amazon here). This one is my fish oil recommendation (get it from Amazon here).
- Book family doctor/Midwife. Look into different options and find a provider you feel comfortable with. In British Columbia, Canada, you don’t need a referral to seek a midwife. Their services are also fully covered like a family doctor. You can look for highly reviewed midwives in your area/community and call them directly. Popular care providers book up fast, so call them and inquire as soon as you can! Interview a few before you make your decision. If you are with a family doctor, they will likely refer you to an OB if you are higher risk or have specialized needs. A midwife can also refer you to an OB.
- Check with your healthcare provider for a genetic screening. It’s called the Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT). Panorama or Harmony are the two largest ones. It’ll be an out of pocket expense, and not generally covered by extended health. You’ll be able to do this blood test by week 12 of your pregnancy to do genetic screening as well as find out the sex of your baby if you wish! Otherwise you’ll have to wait until week 20 at your detailed ultrasound to *maybe* find out the sex of your baby if he/she is cooperative.
- Contact your dentist for a teeth cleaning. After the first trimester, your gums are likely to get even more sensitive to cleaning and or other procedures. Fluoride wouldn’t be recommended.
- Contact extended benefits at work to find out your benefits, if increase coverage or changes are necessary (hospital room coverage, breast pump coverage), what are covered. Double check with your partner their extended benefits if applicable.
- Check your make-up skincare ingredients with Think Dirty app to ensure it is pregnancy and baby safe – See my post on “6 Best Apps for New Moms You Need to Download”. You can also read about my personal “Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Safe Skincare Routine” on the blog.
- Download pregnancy tracking apps. See my post on my favourite apps and how I’ve used them. I used these apps to jot down my health conditions, keep track of my prenatal vitamin intake, and any updates as my pregnancy progressed.
- Bookmark baby items and watch for sales throughout the months. Biggest sales often happen in the winter at the end of November – December and in the summer July – August. Plan ahead and accordingly with your baby’s due date! I like to use camelcamelcamel to track prices.
- Canadian moms: Sign up for freebies! (BC: London Drugs, Huggies, Pampers, Similac, Enfamil, Nestle).
- Sign up for registries for completion discounts, coupons and extended return periods. Most registries require you to have one set up for a couple of months, so you CANNOT do this last minute. You need to add certain amount of items, or make a few small purchases to be qualified. Read each registry’s fine print. Popular registries (most are linked to MyRegistry): Babies R Us, Chapters Indigo, Amazon Baby Registry, West Coast Kids, Snuggle Bugz, BuyBuy Baby, Walmart).
- Start taking belly selfies. I took mine every 4 weeks starting week 8 using my Instax Mini polaroid camera. You can also opt to get the Instax Smartphone Printer and print directly from your phone!
Second Trimester (14 – 26 weeks)
In your second trimester, you will be entering the “honeymoon phase” of your pregnancy.
With more energy and feeling more yourself, you want to get the most brain consuming and physically consuming tasks out of the way.
It is also crucial to start thinking about stocking baby items as soon as you can as sales are happening and items are in stock. Out of stock is worse than buying at a higher price. Unfortunately, more often than not, popular items will be out of reach when you need them the most.
My best advice during this time is to NOT procrastinate and think you’ll get things done before baby comes. Once you reach your third trimester, it’s a whole different ballgame in terms of your energy levels and your physical tolerance.
You can take a sneak peek into the third trimester list and check some of those off if you’re up for it!
- Register online with Best Beginnings Public Health Program for moms in B.C. This is a program organized by Fraser Health. It’ll make your registration at the hospital easier and you can sign up for additional information during your pregnancy and beyond.
- Look into day care and wait lists (get on at least 3 waitlists!) – in B.C. lower mainland, waitlists on average are 12 months or longer. Trust me, you do NOT want to wait until baby is here to do this. See my post on “Choosing & Preparing for Daycare” and download your Daycare Research Bundle!
- Start building systems and habits that will help you save time as a mom. See my post on “Working Mom Hacks to Save Time“.
- Set expectations for yourself and your partner for birth, post partum, and becoming parents. See my post on “Am I Ready to be a Mom?“.
- Arrange for childcare alternatives (family members, on call nanny, drop in childcare, etc).
- Arrange for postpartum care (lactation consultant, postpartum doula, nanny, etc).
- Look into buying season appropriate maternity clothes. You don’t need many, but you will want to be comfortable when you “pop” in your second trimester. If you don’t want to buy maternity specific clothes, look for looser clothing that can be work postpartum. Many maternity clothes are also postpartum friendly!
- Get a belly belt. As your belly pops out, it will be harder on your back. When you’re standing or walking for long periods of time, I highly recommend one similar to this one. It truly makes a huge difference especially as your near the end of your second trimester all the way through to birth!
- Get a sleeping aid. I’ve tried the traditional C shaped pregnancy pillow, but I’m not a fan. It’s too bulky and made me more sore in the morning. I highly HIGHLY recommend this Babymoov Dream Belt. It made a WORLD of a difference. I only discovered this during my second pregnancy and I wish I found it sooner. They also have the in-between leg pillow, but you can really use any pillow for this purpose.
- Start buying wireless/nursing bras (if you haven’t already). Once you start, you’ll never go back to wearing wired bras. I bought these affordable ones from Amazon, and they’ve held up really well and are very comfortable. They come with extenders so as you grow and ribs expand, you have lots of wiggle room. You’ll be surprised at how much your boobs will grow once you start nursing, so if it fits snug during pregnancy, order a size up to have it for nursing.
- Sign up for a prenatal/newborn care class to do in the third trimester with your birthing partner.
- Read (or listen) parenting books to prepare for your new life stage. See my post on “12 Best Books for New Parents Actually Worth Reading“. You can sign up for a 30 day Audible free trial here and get up to 2 free audiobooks!
- Book newborn shoot (usually done at 2 weeks after birth, you want to inquire as early as possible for popular photo studios). I booked this studio for both of my daughters’ sessions**get $30 credit towards your package if you mention a referral by Jenny from Time Value of Mommy**
- Book maternity shoot (usually done during week 30 – 35). Check out the same studio for maternity shoot options**get $30 credit towards your package if you mention a referral by Jenny from Time Value of Mommy**
- Think about organizing your baby shower (usually done in the third trimester).
- Add items to your registry. Check out my registry item recommendations in these posts:: “Newborn Baby Essentials: 0-3 months edition“, “Complete Baby Bath & Grooming Guide“, “Preparing Your Baby’s First Health Care Kit“, “Baby’s First Library: Birth to 12 Months Old“.
- Use SizeCast to buy baby clothes in advance. This will not only help you save money when you buy during sales, but also know which sizes for the different clothing brands to buy and for what weather season. Very useful to not buy the wrong size/type of outfit for your baby. Check out my favourite baby clothes boutiques in my post here.
- Order and assemble any large furniture for the nursery. Popular items may be out of stock for months, so order in advance.
- Start stocking your nursery – DIAPERS! (diapers and wipes go on sale frequently but never when you need them. My favourite is the Pampers Pure line, and I have it set to come very 3 weeks on the Amazon diaper subscription for 20% off).
- Understand your options for birth, start considering a birth plan to visualize how you want to give birth.
- Tell your employer when you feel comfortable/showing. You are under no obligation to tell your employer until 2 weeks prior to leave in Canada.
- Think about wrapping things up for work with a clear mind, pending files, things needed to be completed or passed on, who will be your out of office contact. Detailed list below.
Third Trimester (27 – 40 weeks)
By your third trimester, you will start to feel like a whale (at least I did!). I was waddling, having lower back aches, round ligament pains and I didn’t want to do anything by the last month except to get this baby out!
You do not want to be assembling furniture or doing anything too intense during this time because you will feel the fatigue coming back.
This trimester is about finalizing and adding the cherry on top of all the pre-work you’ve done in your second trimester.
- Wash and put away all baby clothes. Fully prepare newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months items. I labelled my drawers and got drawer dividers to keep them separate. It made sleep deprived changing much easier and quicker.
- Wash and sanitize baby items (pacifiers, bottles, teething toys, toys). I wasn’t a fan of the Baby Brezza sterilizer that I got as a gift because it doesn’t ever fully dry the bottles and it leaks! So I got a UV sterilizer and dryer box that’s way more multifunctional and can sterilize more than just bottles.
- Set up diaper station(s) with diapers, wipes, diaper rash cream, multipurpose ointment, diaper pail. I highly recommend the Munchkin Step Diaper Pail. It truly seals IN the sticky diaper smell, it’s large, and it’s a STEP diaper pail unlike the Ubbi.
- Set up a breastfeeding moms kit. I took Sunflower Lecithin supplements to prevent clogged ducts, and Fenugreek + Blessed Thistle supplement to increase my milk supply. I had disposable nursing pads in this kit, and a milk collector to save the let down into these milk storage bags. Make sure you have a great water bottle on hand to keep hydrated!
- Prepare a healthcare kit in case baby gets sick. See my post on “Preparing Your Baby’s First Health Care Kit“. Stock up! Baby Tylenol and Baby Advil have been out of stock for months as I’m writing this post, and it’s truly devastating when there are so many viruses going around.
- Review how to use any baby gadgets you’ve purchased. For example, learn how to open/close the stroller. Practice and make it muscle memory.
- Finalize your baby registry before your baby shower/due date. Most registries require you to have all of the items for purchase at least 4-8 weeks before your due date or baby shower date to get the completion discount. Don’t miss out! The discount applies to everything you’ve added to the list. Check out my registry item recommendations in these posts: “Newborn Baby Essentials: 0-3 months edition“, “Complete Baby Bath & Grooming Guide“, “Preparing Your Baby’s First Health Care Kit“, “Baby’s First Library: Birth to 12 Months Old“.
- Trial drive to birth hospital/location, understand the route to get there, the parking situation, and which entrance to get to admissions. Prepare by reading my post on “Hospital Admission for Labor and Delivery Process”
- Pack hospital bags and go over where items are with your birth partner – See my post on “Packing Your Hospital Bag Items: The Ultimate Hospital Birth Checklist”
- Put car seat into car and know how it functions – hospital will ask you to bring it in to the room, watch you put your newborn in, and adjust it properly. They will NOT let you leave until baby is secure and safe. I would not recommend starting with a convertible car seat if you could get a newborn basket car seat for this reason.
- Complete the prenatal/newborn care class.
- Review and finalize birth plan. Send it to your healthcare provider and review it together at least 2 weeks before your due date. It may not go according to plan, but you want to know what to expect and what your options are.
- Review and finalize important documents. – See my post on “Hospital Admission for Labor and Delivery Process”.
- Arrange for pet care if applicable.
- Arrange for child care if you have an older child. You will be staying overnight for at least 1 night at the hospital. If you have a c-section, you’ll likely be at the hospital for 2 nights.
- Stock up on commonly used household products. Switch to non-toxic and baby friendly products. You don’t want to run to the store when you are recovering in postpartum. Tip: sign up for Amazon Family subscription for commonly used household products to save time, AND you can get bundle discounts on things like 20% savings on diapers subscriptions! Click here for a 30 day free trial.
- Clean out your fridge and freezer and start thinking about/preparing postpartum meals.
- Clean your carpets/rugs and do a safety check.
- Buy an external hard-drive and clear out storage on your phone. You want to have enough room for all of the photos and videos you will be taking of your new bundle of joy!
- Try not to go anywhere 2 weeks before your due date to prevent getting sick. Consider keeping older kids at home as well during this time to help them ease into this life change and prevent them from getting sick outside.
- Think about what you want as your first post-partum celebration meal! With so many restrictions on what to eat during pregnancy, indulge yourself in a little celebration after 9 long months!
Working Moms Taking Maternity Leave
For Canadian working moms, check out Employee Insurance (EI) for maternity and parental benefits.
You can elect to take 18 months with your employer, and still select 12 months standard parental leave for EI. This gives you the flexibility of receiving the full EI benefit (assuming you take the full 12 months), and the option for you to return to work before the 18 months without compromising on the benefit rate.
Extended parental leave has the same total benefit amount, stretched out to 18 months instead of 12 months. Meaning same amount of TOTAL pay, no matter which option you take.
I personally took the 12 months standard parental leave for EI and elected 18 months with my employer. But I chose to return to work at 14 months and I was able to do this because I kept my communication open with my manager.
- Call your extended health benefits and update your coverage if necessary. Ask about: private hospital room at the hospital you are delivering, breast pump coverage and lactation consultant or registered nurse coverage.
- Check with your company and your extended health coverage company on how long you have to add your newborn as a dependent onto your benefits plan after birth (usually 30-60 days.
- Let clients (if applicable) and colleagues know you are going on maternity leave, tell them your LAST WORKING DAY and set expectations that you will NOT have access to communicate thereafter.
- Have important contact numbers on hand: your manager’s contact, HR number, extended benefits number.
- Note important information down to prepare for when you return: employee number, username, passwords, to do first week when you come back (access, frequently used internal numbers, IT number), where you stored your files (as you will likely need to return your laptop and gear). Tip for important documents: you can store it by emailing it to yourself as a secondary backup plan.
- Complete your maternity/parental leave request with work a month ahead, send it to your manager to have on hand so you do not have to fill it out in case your baby comes early
- Write your “Out of Office” message and have it ready a month before leave. Depending on your position, you should have your delegate’s contact information and your manager’s contact information (in case your delegate goes on vacation) and your tentative return date in this message.
- Review process of return options with your manager: gradual return options, when to request access back (usually takes a few days or even up to weeks to get full access), and also what happens if you cannot find childcare.
- Call HR to complete any necessary forms to request salary top up on top of EI from work for maternity leave and parental leave if applicable. Generally you’ll need to get EI approval first, then send the approval letter to your company with a form and they will begin their top up for you.
- Look into applying for EI as soon as you stop working. You won’t be able to do so before you go on leave. If you apply for more than 4 weeks after your last day of work, you may lose benefits.
This post was a complete to do list before baby arrives. This comprehensive pregnancy checklist will guide new parents on when and what to complete each trimester before their newborn arrives.
Working moms have so much on their plates already, so make sure you double check the list and prepare in advance! There will be MANY MORE tasks to complete when the baby does arrive, so you want to keep organized and calm during this new life event.
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I would encourage you to work on each item as recommended during the specific trimester, and personalize it by adding your own additional to-dos. What have you added to your list?
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