Congratulations mom-to-be! You just had some early pregnancy symptoms, saw those two pink lines on your pregnancy test and realized your life is about to drastically change… now what?
Finding out that you are pregnant can bring up such a mix of emotions: from excitement, love, joy, disbelief, worry and often some fear or anxiety. So, if you are feeling a bit overwhelmed and wondering what it is that you should start doing once you find out that you are expecting, here a list of 6 ideas of things that you should action as soon as possible.
1. Tell your Partner
Or someone – it doesn’t necessarily have to be a partner!
Usually, finding out that you are pregnant is a great deal of joy for couples that have been trying to have a baby, so telling your partner might be the best way to share the excitement that you probably can’t contain anymore. But, even if you don’t have a partner to share the news with, you don’t want to keep this as a secret on your own.
Talking to someone can be a great way to work through your emotions, especially if you are feeling a bit anxious or scared. Waiting to tell anyone about your pregnancy until it’s considered ‘safe’ at 12 weeks is a very long time otherwise.
2. Call your Doctor
Also give your doctor (or midwife if you already have one in mind) a call as soon as possible. They will go through everything with you, including booking all the appointments you need, prescribe prenatal vitamins or give you an estimate due date.
This step is particularly important to action quickly if you think your pregnancy might be high-risk. This could be the case if you have diabetes, for example, or if you are over 40 or with any medical conditions.
3. Adjust your Diet
It’s never too early to start making sure that both you are your baby are happy and healthy, and this definitely starts with your diet. While pregnant, there are certain foods that are good for you and baby, and other foods/drinks that you should avoid.
For a start, decrease your caffeine intake – no more extra coffees throughout the day! Studies have shown that drinking more than 1-2 cups of coffee a day during pregnancy can have negative effects on baby.
You should also avoid things like unpasteurized milk or deli meats. While foods such as legumes, fruits, vegetables or cooked lean meats are all good choices.
4. Come up with pregnancy announcements
Coming up with pregnancy announcements, whether to your family, friends, or for social media, is probably the funniest part of getting pregnant. There are heaps of ideas online, particularly for pregnancy announcement on social media, and some of them are incredibly hilarious.
Come up with a list of all the people you need to tell the news to and start brainstorming some ideas.
5. Start educating yourself
This one is extremely important and probably deserved the first spot on this list, but here it is. Once you find out you are pregnant, really start learning as much as you can about pregnancy, childbirth, and then about caring for a baby.
The whole thing about ‘maternal instinct’ and ‘you are born to do this – you’ll know exactly what to do’ is total nonsense. The whole motherhood experience, from pregnancy to postpartum and beyond, is amazing, but is no walk in the park either, and you don’t want to get to it unprepared.
There are lots of antenatal and birthing classes that you can take, either in person or online. And, if you wish to breastfeed, there are lots of breastfeeding classes available as well.
6. Download a pregnancy app
One of the best ways to be in tune with your pregnancy and baby is to keep track of everything that your body is going through and of baby’s progress. Fortunately, there are lots of apps that can help with that.
Some apps will even help with keeping track of doctors’ appointments, coming up with birth preferences, preparing for baby’s arrival, and might include a contraction timer for when you are in labor.
