In the third trimester it feels like there is suddenly so much to do! Finally the arrival of your baby is almost here. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed and a bit stressed so I created this checklist during my first pregnancy to evenly distribute all the tasks I wanted to get done before baby’s arrived. I then added a few more things to this checklist for my second pregnancy because I realised how much I would appreciate being super prepared for when entering the ‘newborn phase’ again. This to-do-list is a mixture of practical, fun, health and fitness things to do to prepare for a wonderful labour and life with a baby. I was preparing for a natural, vaginal water birth so if you are preparing for a scheduled c section some things will not be applicable to you (such as the exercises to encourage baby to get into an optimal position for birth).
Week by Week Pregnancy Checklist
This is a mixture of practical, fun, health and fitness things to do to prepare for labour and your babies arrival.
Week 27
- Get flu vaccination.
Week 28
- Book in for newborn photo shoot.
Week 29
- Get pertussis vaccination.
Week 30
- Apply for maternity pay.
Week 31
- Babymoon getaway.
Week 32
- Make a ‘busy box’ for your have older children. This is basically a box of special activities, books and toys they are only allowed to play with at a special time each day. I am thinking I will get it out for Summer each morning when I am putting baby down for her first nap.
- Book TENS machine.
Week 33
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min and a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds.
- From now onwards start to sit for optimal foetal positioning (upright forward postures with hips higher than knees): on a high fitball, on a chair backwards, keep an upright back by sitting on the front of your sitz bones.
Week 34
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min and a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds.
- Start taking 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal to help strengthen uterus.
- Read Save our Sleep and photocopy routines (I used this book from 8 weeks onwards and found it super useful).
Week 35
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and a psoas stretch.
- Start taking 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg daily to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Install car seat.
Week 36
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and a psoas stretch.
- Each day take 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Eat heaps of leafy greens to get baby’s vitamin k levels up.
- Eat 3 dates a day to help with labour. In a study it was found women who ate 6 dates a day had faster labours.
- Pack bag for birth centre and for your children who will be going to stay with Grandparents when you go into labour.
- Organise birth announcement.
- Place mantras in bathroom and start to repeat.
- Go do final blood test.
- Make a collection of photos to copy for our newborn photo shoot and email to photographer.
- Collect all baby things you are borrowing from friends. It’s so good to borrow all the big bulky things which you will only use for a few months like the baby bath, bouncer, swing, bumbo etc.
Week 37
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and a psoas stretch.
- Take 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg a day to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Eat heaps of leafy greens to get baby’s vitamin k levels up.
- Eat 3 dates a day to help with labour. In a study it was found women who ate 6 dates a day had faster labours.
- Complete baby shopping list.
- Finish and print birth plan. Give a copy to my midwife.
Week 38
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and a psoas stretch.
- Take 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg a day to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Eat heaps of leafy greens to get baby’s vitamin k levels up.
- Eat 3 dates a day to help with labour. In a study it was found women who ate 6 dates a day had faster labours.
- Cook food for freezer: chicken & veg soup, muesli bars, banana bread, granola, lasagne, cottage pie, overnights oats.
- Organise all birthday presents and cards for the month after your baby will be born. It’s nice to not have the stress of taking your newborn baby to the shops in those first few weeks.
- Collect TENS machine.
- Last chiropractor appt this week.
Week 39
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and a psoas stretch.
- Take 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg a day to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Eat heaps of leafy greens to get baby’s vitamin k levels up.
- Eat 3 dates a day to help with labour. In a study it was found women who ate 6 dates a day had faster labours.
- Borrow a bean bag for labour.
- Check fitball is fully inflated.
- Put towels (in case of water breaking) and bucket (in case of throwing up during labour) in car.
- Buy food and drinks for during labour: lollies, iced coffee, icy poles 100% fruit juice, coconut water, fruit juice.
- Prepare frozen lavender oil pads for freezer.
- Suspend gym membership for 10 weeks.
- Prepare and sterilise bottles and expressing pump.
Week 40
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and a psoas stretch.
- Take 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg a day to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Eat heaps of leafy greens to get baby’s vitamin k levels up.
- Eat 3 dates a day to help with labour. In a study it was found women who ate 6 dates a day had faster labours.
- Order a meal delivery service for the 3 weeks after baby is born.
- Have a pamper day – massage, mani, pedi, brow wax and fresh hair.
- Make some lactation cookies.
Week 41
- Complete daily birth preparation exercises: 20 mins walking, kegels 3 x 10 6 sec holds, pelvic tilts 1 min, a forward leaning inversion for 30 seconds, crawling for 10 mins and psoas stretch.
- Take 1 garlic capsule, 1 tbs ACV and 1 serve fermented veg a day to prevent GBS.
- Take 2 400mg raspberry leaf tablets a day with a meal.
- Eat 3 prunes a day to prevent constipation.
- Eat heaps of leafy greens to get baby’s vitamin k levels up.
- Eat 3 dates a day to help with labour. In a study it was found women who ate 6 dates a day had faster labours.
- Collect some colostrum in a syringe.
- Fill in as much as you can in your baby memory book.
Ways to naturally induce labour:
- Nipple stimulation/ expressing milk either with a breast pump or by hand
- Oxytocin releasing activities e.g sex, romantic date
- Apply clary sage oil to inner ankles and belly and diffuse it
- Walks on the beach
- Have a stretch and sweep
- Acupuncture. Needles are pressed into certain pressure points that can encourage the uterus to contract which sets off the start of labor
- Eat pineapple and spicy food
- Be relaxed e.g pray, hot baths
If you would like to know how to do the birth preparation exercises check out spinningbabies.com. I haven’t included the things you need to buy in this list because I’m going to dedicate a whole blog post to that. I hope my pregnancy checklist helps you when creating yours!
Holly xx