Your second trimester is often the “sweet spot” of pregnancy. You are beyond the nausea of the first trimester, and it isn’t as taxing as it might bein your 3rd trimester. SO, what can you do NOW to feel more organized as you head into the end zone of pregnancy.
Before we get started, I’d love to join you for the rest of your pregnancy, giving you some of my best tips and tricks for your pregnancy, labor, birth and life after baby!
What You Need
Now is an awesome time to figure out what you need for this baby.
Yes, you really just need some diapers and a car seat — but most families want more than that.
I have a few posts you can read/listen to about what you truly need for that new baby:
- What You NEED for a new baby?
- What you REALLY Need For a New Baby with Bonnie Wiscombe from Outnumbered The Podcast
- Pregnancy Freebies: Free baby stuff for new moms
- Things you NEED for Your Newborn with Valerie Trumbower from New Parents Academy
BUT it’s going to be different for every family. Some people want a monitor, some don’t…
I think it can help to get the BASICS down and then stock up from there.
Basics include:
- Car Seat
- Onsies or PJ’s
- A few blankets (many people like the swaddle the baby so something that can allow that helps many families).
- A safe place for them to sleep (playpen, bassinet or crib)
Beyond there you can consider things like a carrier, a swing, a monitor….
Just making a list of what you want to get can help a lot. Then you can work to make a registry if you want with someone like BabyList.
What You Need Done
Beyond the physical items, there may be things you need done.
Things like:
- Getting the nursery ready
- Putting up the crib/sleep space
- Where baby’s items will go
- Putting up drapes in their sleep space
Again, this is going to vary a LOT child to child. We never had a nursery. With our first baby we just didn’t have the cash, but on the other ones, they shared with a sibling so we just did what we could.
Just start making a list of what you think would be helpful to have done.
I actually have some pages in my baby planner with both the things you’ll need and some things to consider doing in my pregnancy planner:
Get Prepared for Testing
Your second trimester is also sort of a sweet spot in prenatal care. You’ll likely need to schedule your anatomy ultrasound (where people often find-out the gender), you’ll also get some testing as you head into your third trimester including your blood glucose test.
Sometimes it just helps to know that those things are on the horizon. Sometimes they take some time from work, or from life in general.
Here are a few posts that might help you out:
- The Pregnancy Glucose Test For Gestational Diabetes
- Avoid Failing The Glucose Test During Pregnancy
- What To Eat Before Your Pregnancy Glucose Test
- Routine Ultrasounds in Labor with Marybeth from SonoEyesUltrasound
- Ultrasound Testing with Marybeth from SonoEyes
I just think people like to know what to expect moving forward, and those posts will give you some idea of what they’ll be like.
Get Prepared for Birth
Now is also the time to pick out your prenatal class. I would recommend finding someone you think “matches” what you need. I recommend The Online Prenatal Class for Couples. There is also a free chapter you can check out from it right here.
Make sure you’re looking for a class that includes:
- Possible interventions like inductions or C-sections
- Is taught by a true expert in ALL the areas (pregnancy, birth and postpartum)
- Doesn’t include a bunch of fluff or opinions you don’t need.
So many people think that reading articles (like this one 👋) is going to be enough to get you prepared for birth.
BUT as a birth worker who’s seen thousands of birth I can tell you that knowing ALL of it from the beginning to the end from an expert is really going to prepare you better.
Also, the “end” should be the first few months postpartum because that catches people off-guard and definitely doesn’t need to. This class does cover all of that too!
Great Communication with Your Provider
Now is the time to build a rapport with your provider. You’re going to start with asking the simple questions now so that you can build into bigger questions as you get further into pregnancy and they may have harder recommendations based off you and your needs.
Now is also a GREAT time to talk with your provider about your birth plan too! Grab my birth plan cheat sheets (and video) right here:
I think people sometimes don’t prioritize that relationship with their provider until they’re further into pregnancy but working on communication now is SO important so it can be easy as you get into the “bigger” stuff!
Ok, so those are the five. There’s plenty more to talk about — but those 5 are things I think it’s important to be thinking about.
Hopefully it gave you some things to think about too!
pregnant woman typing on a laptopI get that. Sometimes it just feel so huge and hard to prepare for — but I have to say it can be easy! The Online Prenatal Class for Couples is really the EASY way to get prepared for birth. I’ve cut out all the fluff and just kept what’s important for you to know!
So, my BEST advice is to not just be overwhelmed by all of it — just take it a step at a time, find the easy ways to do things and enjoy these last few months before baby is here!
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