Get Organized: Pregnancy Checklist for Expectant Mothers
It is always said that becoming a mother is one of the amazing and life-changing things that you will ever go through. However, before you get there, once the pregnancy test gives a positive result indicating that you are pregnant, it kick-starts a period of nine months where you will undergo a number of significant changes as you approach the big day. For most women, the initial excitement as far as pregnancy is concerned is usually followed by anxiety as to what they ought to do as they prepare for both the pregnancy and the arrival of the baby. This usually ends up making pregnancy, a period that should be a magical and special one, a very overwhelming and even stressful one. However, it doesn’t have to be that way since you can prepare beforehand for what is to come. This article will help expectant mothers out there do just that as it will look to highlight what the pregnancy checklist for an expectant woman should contain.
We shall go about things systematically and make this a month by month checklist. Starting us off is the first month, whereby you as the expectant mother are expected to start taking your vitamins as soon as you find out you are pregnant. When choosing prenatal supplements, one should ensure that the one they choose includes: folic acid, iron, essential fatty acids, vitamin D as well as calcium, all of whose benefits are covered in detail over at frontlineer.com. Another thing to do within the first month is ensuring you choose your Ob-Gyn, and set up an appointment. Factors such as insurance coverage, proximity to your home among others are the ones that may dictate your choice of Ob-Gyn. As far as the second month is concerned, having already chosen your Ob-Gyn, you should head over for a checkup, which will involve a physical for you as well as a chance to have an ultrasound taken that will enable you to check the baby’s heartbeat as well as verifying the ball pack as far as the delivery date is concerned. When the second month comes knocking, you should begin to take tests on parameters such as pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, blood tests to determine risks of conditions such as trisomy and downs syndrome as well as human chorionic gonadotropin, hCG, tests. These tests need to be done during this period so that one can know if the baby has any problems beforehand and as such they can bale to prepare themselves.
The fourth month kick-starts the second trimester in earnest, and as such one of the things to get done her, and one that should be on your checklist is a second-trimester screening which will help out in figuring if the fetus has any defects such as spina bifida, Downs syndrome as well as anencephaly. This is a very important screening, and one that should be done without fail. During the fourth month is also when you should enroll in a childbirth-education class, which should help you in learning all you need to know about everything labor and childbirth. This is also the perfect time to share the news at work, with your boss if you have one, and find out details about your maternity leave, as suggested over at frontlineer.com. When week five rolls by, the first thing to do here is get an ultrasound to take a look at your baby, if its organs are developing properly and also find the sex of the baby if you so wish. You can also decide to set up a birth plan at this point, given there are a number of techniques to choose from nowadays. You can even decide to set up the child’s nursery at this juncture, now that you may have known the sex of the child.
At the start of month six, you should include the test for gestational diabetes on your checklist at this point. If you are diagnosed with it, since it may cause the overgrowth of the fetus, you may have to take insulin or oral medication, although other techniques such as exercise and diet-related ones may work. You can decide to tour the hospital at this point to familiarize yourself with the environment there, to avoid anxiety during the big day. The checklist as far as month seven is concerned should involve activities such as buying and installing of a car seat, to ensure you don’t fall foul of the law when you want to drive out of the hospital after giving birth. You should also look for a pediatrician at this point, as per the experts over at frontlineer.com. Your pregnancy checklist should also contain screening for group B strep scheduled for month 8, so that if present you are given medication that will prevent them from being transmitted onto the baby during labor, as they can be lethal to newborns. You should also pack your hospital bag for the due date, then since by now your preparations are complete, you can be able to wait for the big day without undue worry.
The above is what should be your pregnancy checklist as an expectant mother, with more on this topic to be found over at frontlineer.com.
