What To Do When Preparing To Become A Mother

Whether you’re planning to become a mother or are surprised to find out that in fewer than nine months, you’re going to be a mother, the nine months is a time of preparation and planning. There is a lot to prepare for and if this is your first baby, you’re already aware that absolutely everything is about to change. There are many factors to consider when planning for motherhood. Everything from health to finances to your job are all factors that will be impacted.

Your Health

Now is the time to take stellar care of your health. If you’re not yet pregnant, you should consider taking vitamins and and supplements. Of course you know that you need to quit smoking, drinking and use of recreational drugs as well as minimizing your junk food intake. You should also minimize your exposure to any chemicals whether it’s at work or around the house.

Beyond getting yourself in good physical shape for a pregnancy, if you’re planning pregnancy ahead, fathers should also take good care of their health. A healthy man has healthier sperm and healthy parents can have a better chance of conceiving a healthy baby.

Various hobbies you have may or may not be suitable for a pregnant person so take the time to learn about the best way to manage your health. You might be pleasantly surprised at some of the things you’ll still be allowed to do and also surprised at some of the things that are not recommended.

Your Doctor’s Appointments

At about 12 weeks, you’ll start having monthly visits with your doctor where your doctor will check for a heartbeat, measure your belly and weigh you. This is a great time to talk about any questions you may have.

Closer to the end of the pregnancy, doctor visits will happen more often and throughout the pregnancy you’ll have other tests as well including: blood tests, blood / glucose tests, ultrasound pictures done and you may have other tests or screening done depending on results from tests and depending on your preference and status of whether your pregnancy is high risk or not.

Are You Considering Your Work Commitments

When planning to become a mother, you’ll want to decide whether or not you’ll work straight up to the end of your pregnancy. This is something you’ll consider based on several factors including the safety of your job. Many women who work in jobs that are difficult to do while pregnant will talk to their employers about modified duties during the third trimester. If you are concerned your job may put your pregnancy at risk, talk to your doctor.

After the baby is born, will you return to work? Many countries have regulations that offer paid maternity leave. Most women take advantage of this time as much as possible. After maternity leave is up, you’ll need to arrange child care if you’re not going to stay home with your baby.

Child Care

Some women opt for public daycare and others opt for in-home daycare options. There are women who have family who they can utilize for child care as well. Child care is a personal decision so you should carefully consider your options while you’re pregnant. It can be expensive to have someone care for a young baby but you may not have a choice depending on your job, your finances and personal preference. It may take you time to come to a conclusion as this is an important decision that depends on many varying factors.

Your Home

When you are planning for motherhood, your home may need to change. Perhaps you’ll need a bigger home. You’ll definitely need lots of stuff! You’ll need to consider baby proofing as well.

Baby proofing might not need to happen straight away as your child won’t be mobile for quite some time but it’s important to consider things such as appliances, heat sources, sharp corners, toxic chemicals and sharp objects.

Your Family

If you have another child or other children, the dynamics of the family will change when you give birth to another baby. The same can be true of pets and other family members. Planning for a new baby will involve changes throughout the home and you might have to consider changing how the house is laid out and how many pets you have in the house.

Single Parenting and the Child Care Problem

One of the first things you think about when you are a single parent by choice (divorce, unmarried) or natural circumstances (death of a spouse), is who will care for my child or children? Single parenting and the problem of child care is one of the biggest issues.

There are a number of options and each has its pros and cons. Do your homework and based on your work routine, budget and the temperament of your child, choose a child care option that works with single parenting, not against it.

In-Home Nanny

Pros: You do not need to bundle up your kid at 6AM and leave him at day care. He does not need to catch the viral flu from other kids at day care and he can play in familiar surroundings and not have his bath or nap time disturbed.

Cons: If the nanny is a ‘bad person’, as a single parent, you don’t have any one keeping an eye on her. Unless your child is old enough to express any signs of abuse or neglect, you may want to thoroughly check references. Investing in a spy cam or web cam whereby you can monitor the person monitoring your child, is risky, and can lead to legal complications.

Day Care Center

Yes, day cares can be plagued with ill, cranky children, but many have strict rules of keeping sick children home. Regardless of whether you are a single parent or not, you have to be thorough about checking cleanliness, safety precautions and the atmosphere of day care centers because older premises can have problems of their own.

The advantages are that there is more than one caregiver, so there is a sense of security as compared to one nanny at home who could neglect a child. Yet, high turnover at day care centers may make it difficult for your child to adjust to a new person ever so often.

Home Day Care

On single parenting websites, one sees a lot swap child care with one another and work around their schedules so as to reduce or eliminate child care costs. Of course there are advantages with leaving your child with a familiar fiend or neighbor, but if she is running a home day care, and there are other kids in the picture, it is important she be licensed in your state, meet safety standards and have CPR certification.

Relatives

If you are so lucky as to have grandma or some other close relative care for your child - that can be an ideal situation provided the caregiver is in good health and again knows some emergency protocol.

For more information on single parenting visit our ‘Single Parenting Guide‘