With the fact we have a new baby on the way and his due date coming quickly, there are some things that I had to for sure do before his arrival. This was to make things as easy as possible.

First, we had to make sure we would have people who could be in place to watch our first son Vincent! This was obviously important because we could not just leave him where he was and hope for the best. Due to the fact that I am currently not speaking with my sister (She is anti-vax for various reasons, you can read my stance about that here) and the fact my brother is well, not being very nice either, we had to do a bit of thinking out of the box. My Dad is off work on Wednesdays and Thursdays so if by chance the labour starts on one of those days he can always come over and look after Vincent on those days. My mom is also normally off 2 days a week however she does work during the days and may not be able to just leave work. Therefore we have my friend from elementary school Emily who will be on stand by and will bring her 2 youngest over to take over and watch Vincent if it happens and my Mom is still working and what not. Afterwards we figure if we need to spend time in the hospital like we did with my Son, he had jaundice and needed to be under the tanning lights than we would simply send my partner home and I would stay in the hospital with Felix. That way it would be easier since he also would be able to take some time off work even if it isn’t parental but a few days to help even out before we bring Felix home. Obviously we hope we can just give birth and bring him home!

Next is the little things. This would be finding the bottles we used for Vincent and putting them together, washing the newborn and small 3 month old clothes in special laundry soap also. We know people don’t always use this however with my luck and dry skin we feel this is the best choice. Not to mention the fact we are starting to do formula right off the bat with no breast feeding this makes it easier to just have things prepped and on the counter so when the time comes and we need to start making bottles again we are able to do so without having to look for things last minute either. I also had set up the bassinet in our bedroom and a basket in there that has things like diapers, and wipes, bibs, and receiving blankets. Our son Vincent is currently sleeping in the crib in Felix’s room so we don’t want to have to wake up him in the middle of the night for a change. We want to be able to do everything in the bedroom and near so it makes things really easy for us. Once Vincent goes to his room in his bed (When we make the switch) and the flooring is done it will make things better and we can obviously use his bedroom.

Hospital bags is another thing that is basically included in the 1st one. It can be really challenging because of the fact that hospitals provide different things and or they don’t provide things. This is a new hospital for us since we gave birth to our first son in Quebec. Now we are in Nova Scotia and based on conflicting posts in a Facebook group I am in for expecting Moms in 2021, there seem to be different things with what the hospital provides. I basically am packing the same things that we already had or have packed for Vincent and hoping we don’t need anythings else. Apparently this hospital does have WiFi which our last did not so that will be great to bring our tablet so that my spouse can call his family from there and video chat with them! They wont be able to meet our newest fella till about the spring so this will be a great way for them to meet him even if it is virtually!

Lastly, Christmas! Since we normally decorate so early during the holidays, and I say we but mainly myself, we have to make sure everything is done for that. I recently have gone and bought all of the Christmas gifts for everyone. I will need to go out and get a few last minute ingredients at the supermarket however I am thankful that the bulk of gifts has been bought so I don’t need to be hanging out and walking around needlessly in a mall or something. I did a lot of shopping online and still finished things that needed to be done on a Sunday when there would be less people out and about. It really saves me a lot of stress to not have to think about going out. I mean what if Felix decides to come late, and I am not feeling like myself so we have to go out than.. I was thinking the less I need to go out in this pandemic world with a newborn or even solo the better. As I am sure you have seen before we are very much homebodies and this is a great way for me to just relax and enjoy our new home while still being able to have peace and quiet without going out and bashing my way through crowds.

Other than that, I am still waiting and trying to anxiously wait the arrival of our new baby. I hope the transition from a one child family to 2 goes smoothly but I think it will be a great time none the less. We are very excited even if we are still waiting and waiting for him to show up! Hopefully he decides to make an entrance into the world just like his brother did and it is a few days early, that would be a nice bonus for sure!

Was there anything that you really needed to do before you gave birth to a baby or a loved one did?

Were you part of a birth plan during someone’s special moment?

Let me know in the comments below! Especially if they differ from the ones I mentioned above!