I can’t believe I’ll be meeting our baby girl as soon as next month! She’s due on Thanksgiving, though I have a feeling she might make her debut in early December. As a school nurse, I’ll be taking around four months of maternity leave (with school breaks added into FMLA). This is my first baby, so I’ve been figuring things out as I go, and prepping for maternity leave has become my main focus!
How I’m Prepping for Maternity Leave
Getting My Finances in Order
Financial planning was one of the first things that my husband and I did while prepping for maternity leave. We knew that it would take time to save and that it was better to be proactive for anticipated expenses (like labor and delivery) rather than reactive. A few of the things that we did to financially prepare were to look into our leave options (FMLA, short-term disability, employer plans), get a quote from our insurance for prenatal and delivery costs, and create a savings goal to help cover baby expenses.
Before going on leave, one thing my husband and I anticipate doing is sitting down to talk about a strict budget since we will be down to one income for almost the entirety of my leave. We have the comfort of our savings as a cushion, but we want it to last and don’t want to have to depend on it to keep us afloat. In case you missed it, I broke down exactly how I’m financially preparing for my maternity leave in this post!
Prepping Our Home
The next big thing that I wanted to tackle when prepping for maternity leave was preparing our home so that we are ready for those first few weeks with a newborn! We will be spending a lot more time at home during those first few weeks, and will be having a lot of guests staying with us since most of our family and friends live in Washington State. I wanted our home to feel as calm, cozy, and functional as possible.
Setting up Baby Spaces
Bedroom
The first thing that we did was start to set up baby spaces. We live in a one-bedroom apartment right now, so our “nursery” is a crib in our bedroom. We are still working on decorating and need to adjust the baby monitor, but we have everything we need to put it together. For the first couple of weeks to months, we have a bassinet that we have set up by the bedside. I am hoping this will make things a lot easier when I need to wake up in the night for feedings.
Changing Station
The next space that we set up for our baby is the changing station. Since we do live in a small apartment for now, we are working with the space we have! We got a changing pad that will likely be set up on the kitchen island during maternity leave for ease of changing and not needing to bend over or get up and down off the floor/bed/couch. I also set up a cart (more on that later) so that we can move our changing supplies and other baby/pumping essentials through the house as needed.
Living Room
The final space that we set up is the living room. First, we put all of our babies’ small toys in a basket to keep in the living room. We also have a BabyBjorn that we can put her in if we need to, so that she is not on the floor or couch. Our bassinet is portable, and we can also move it into the living room during the day as needed. The second space I set up in the living room was a nursing area. We have the Babyletto Kai Rocker, and I added a lamp and side table nearby to make the area functional for feedings and late nights. I have a feeling that I will be spending a lot of time in the rocker, and I wanted a comfortable space for myself.
Organizing Baby Supplies
If I’ve learned anything, babies have a lot of things! Even when you’re trying to keep things minimal, there is a lot of stuff. To organize all of the things we have for our baby, I detagged and washed all of her clothes. I hung up the clothing for the first 6 months in the closet, organized by size, and put the remainder of the clothing in under-the-bed storage. I organized the diapers, wipes, and hygiene essentials in our diaper cart. We also sterilized all of our pacifiers, baby bottles, pump supplies, and teethers.
Deep Cleaning
If you’ve been in your third trimester of pregnancy (or are currently), then you know the nesting is real! My husband and I have been trying to deep clean for weeks (on top of our typical daily/weekly cleaning). Next on our list is renting a carpet cleaner so that we can go over all of our rugs. We have also been rearranging our space to make things more baby-friendly and decluttering to reduce the unnecessary “stuff” we have, which helps alleviate some of my stress from being in a cluttered environment. On top of cleaning our house, I also had my car interior detailed. I haven’t ever had my car detailed, but with having a dog, I wanted to make sure it was a clean space.
Stocking up on Household Essentials
The last thing that I am doing to prepare our home for a new baby is stocking up on snacks and household essentials. My goal is to reduce the number of trips we need to take to the grocery store, so Costco has become our new favorite store over the last few weeks!
Meal Prepping and Freezer Meals
One of the things that I have heard is helpful for new moms is to have ready-to-go meals when coming home from the hospital. I would love not to have to worry about what I am going to make for dinner, but also have healthy meal options and not have to DoorDash. My mother-in-law is coming in early November, so we are going to be meal prepping to prepare at least 2 weeks’ worth of freezer-friendly meals. We are going to try and do a variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner options. We will be prepping by tackling everything in an assembly-line style to save time. The prepped meals will go into labeled freezer bags with the directions for reheating.
Aside from freezer meals, I also want to prep some quick grab-and-go snacks like protein muffins and lactation cookies that are easy to eat one-handed.
Miscellaneous Baby Prep
Other things that we are working on doing as a part of prepping for maternity leave are:
- Packing our hospital bag.
- Registering at the hospital and taking a hospital tour.
- Printing and prefilling our Birth Certificate Form.
- Taking baby/parenting classes: A few of the classes that my husband and I have taken, or are scheduled to take, include Baby Care and Infant CPR, Breastfeeding, Childbirth and Labor Prep, and Natural Childbirth. Our hospital offers the classes for free both online and in person. We decided to do a mixture of both.
- Creating a birth plan.
- Downloading shared baby apps with my husband for tracking feeding/diapers, and contractions.
- Selecting a pediatrician: We found our pediatrician through one of the classes my husband took! We set up an after-hours meeting to see if it was a good fit. We ended up choosing our pediatrician before visiting with others, but many pediatricians offer meet-and-greets so that you can get a good feel for their practice.
- Researching different investing accounts and setting up an account for our baby.
- REST! I am napping so much in these last few weeks. It doesn’t compare to the first-trimester fatigue, but I feel like I need a nap anytime I do anything. Plus, the third-trimester insomnia is hitting me hard some nights.
How I am Prepping for Maternity Leave
Preparing for maternity leave has been a mix of excitement and nerves. I love checking things off my list of things to do and having my house and all of our baby gear organized. It helps knowing that I am setting myself up to rest and focus on bonding with my baby once she is here, rather than working on all the day-to-day of running a home or being surrounded by clutter.
Of course, I know that things are not going to always go as planned, but I feel pretty confident moving into my last few weeks of pregnancy (and into postpartum).
Thanks for reading! If you’re also prepping for maternity leave, I hope this list was helpful for you to plan for your own transition. As always, you can find me on Instagram @maddie_deer here. You can also follow me on my Facebook page to be alerted to any new posts here. If you have any questions or tips for prepping for maternity leave or postpartum, I would love to hear from you in the comments or my DMs! 🙂
