So you’re pregnant, and you’ve told your family and friends. Now you think to yourself - what do I do next?
Aside from ‘cooking’ the baby for 9 months, you have to nurture yourself in between! Well, you don’t HAVE to, but I recommend it. I had a fairly smooth pregnancy excluding some external factors trying to stress me out; but I just put strong boundaries in place and that settled it.
Which I highly recommend - strong boundaries. Go into your protective parent mode now - start that practice now! If it does not serve you and your baby, you may have to implement boundaries, or find a compromise that works.
Back to the logistics; Here are some tasks that helped me keep sane and in control of what I could control:
1. Make your bookmarks folder
This will help you keep organized throughout your journey. I saved everything from
potential schools, places to buy baby clothes, articles, everything baby related for the future.
EX: I loved me some PatPat.com Shout out to my bestie Jamillia for sending me my first mommy & baby outfit which led me to the site. The first 3 years of my child’s life were heavily subsidized by them lol.
2. If possible, find a midwife, doula, pediatrician, birth center/hospital, post partum doula now/early. Establishing or at least beginning to think about how you want to do birth and
postpartum will help take the stress out of parts of this journey. Plus, it takes time to find all of these people, build relationships and rapport with them. I know it looks like a lot of people but, you really need a team you can trust and that has YOUR interest, as well as your best interest (I believe those are two different things) at heart.
3. Make a baby registry
I am happy to share my registry for anyone who wants to view it for inspiration. I made sure to stick to the basics; however after my educator friends saw it and highly recommended - outright demanded - that I add color and toys lol. They explained the benefits of the colors, sounds, and how I can incorporate it into teaching my child early on these foundational pieces. I must say, it worked!
4. Establish community virtually and in person
Not everyone has parents, elders, family, friends who are parents, or people in general that they can trust and count on for advice. Finding like-minded people who you can do parenthood with can be profound. That is how I came to create this page! I received so many calls and references from friends of friends who wanted me to connect with another friend (or stranger lol). It became this community that I hold near and dear to me heart that I am sharing with you.
5. Begin looking at schools
So many schools have waiting lists. I know- unbelievable! It is like the hunger games out there, be strong. I chose lovely church based schools which were more affordable and had shared similar/same values that I had. They were accredited and knowledge based with some play - which is what I preferred.
6. Refer back to the virtual communities
When I tell you Facebook groups saved me!! I go back to my parent facebook groups and message boards, and use the heck out those search bars lol. As a matter of fact, that is how I found our nanny for my first child. It was such a blessing, we had a wonderful partnership for the first 2 years of my child’s life. I still send her pictures of “her baby”.
For my seasoned parents, what were some things you highly recommend to get started on this journey? Message me!
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