Pregnancy: What to Do Prior to a Child's Arrival

Pregnancy: Critical Tasks Prior to Child's Arrival - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. I am Ingrid Johnson, the Baby Parenting Coach. Before your child arrives, lining up really excellent support for yourself, however that looks for you, is critical. When you are – when you have become a parent is not the time that you are going to be able to make calls and have in-depth conversations trying to understand who best supports you. So whether it is having someone come in to give you a break for a few hours so you can take a shower or do something that relaxes and refreshes you, or whatever it looks like for you, make those plans and have those strategies in place before your baby is born. It is really crucial. Another important thing you can do, before you have a baby, is spend some time understanding what works for releasing your own stress levels. Almost all of the challenges we have with very young children and older ones too, the challenges are most intense when we are not able to manage our own stress levels well. So, understand your own triggers, understand what works to soothe you, what works to relax and release, and really get good at that because you will have it to draw on and it will be a valuable tool and resource that is at your fingertips. It is really helpful if you have your basic baby care things in place and set up, but I strongly encourage you not to go out and go overboard buying every carrier, every stroller, every interesting thing you have seen for babies because here again, it is a unique situation, something that your friend really loves and works really well for her may not be what you like at all. So rather than purchase all that stuff ahead of time, you know, my recommendation is to start with the basics and then when you see what your babys' temperament is like, whether your baby likes to be carried on you, what kinds of things work for your baby that you can add all those wonderful things to your baby. Another important thing, I think we can all benefit from parenting young children, is to remember that you really do set the tone always. So as much as they pick up from you, young children and babies, they reflect it back to you, and you actually have a tremendous amount of power, which is not referred to in those terms in a lot of parenting information. You set the tone. That means if everyone is having a really stressed out morning, your baby is going to pick up on that and your baby is also going to respond in that way. Rather than taking five minutes, calming everything and everybody down, and of course first of all, and most of all, yourself.