What to do in your first trimester in your new pregnancy.
It is such an exciting time when you first find out that you are pregnant.
Thinking about picking out names, nursery themes, and Godparents.
While there are a lot of things that you need to do during your pregnancy, there are a handful of very important things that you should do, specifically during your first trimester.
If you haven’t already, check out this post on the 33 things to do when you find out you are pregnant.
There is even a handy checklist that you can download to help keep you organized.
While it is common knowledge that you should do things like make your first doctors appointment and start taking your prenatal vitamins, there are a lot of other things that you might not be thinking about.
Here are nine important things to do in your first trimester that you might not have thought of.
Check Your Supplements
When you first meet with your doctor, they will ask you about the medications or supplements that you are currently taking.
While many herbs are completely safe to continue to take during your pregnancy, others can have harmful side effects and pose major risks to the fetus.
Herbs like Saw Palmetto and passionflower should not be taken orally while pregnant as they can cross the placenta and cause harm to the baby.
The same goes for certain essential oils.
Essential oils like clary sage, cinnamon, and wintergreen (among others) should be avoided during pregnancy as they can cause complications, such as uterine contractions.
You should consult with your doctor about any supplements, herbs, and oils that you are ingesting and using, just to err on the side of caution.
Get Your Pre-Maternity Accessories
Ok, so at some point you are going to have to buy some maternity clothes. But what about that weird transition period between not quite fitting into your normal clothes and not being big enough to properly fit into your maternity clothes.
Luckily there are solutions where you don’t have to live in leggings and oversized shirts, unless you do normally, which will save you from having to buy any new clothes.
These Belly Belt bands help to extend the waistband of your jeans and any other buttoned pants. You can also use these belly band clothing extenders.
These are helpful for when your shirts still fit but are just a little too short. They act as another layer under your shirt and won’t add any extra bulk to your clothing.
Change Your Bra
Let’s face it, your boobs are going to get bigger whether you want them to or not. Maybe you are looking forward to increasing your cup size, maybe you are dreading it knowing the impending back problems they are going to cause. Either way, you are going to need a comfortable bra.
Many women prefer to opt for soft bras without underwire.
These breathable, cotton bras are a great option. They are great for wearing to bed, around the house, and can even be used for nursing.
You won’t have to worry about buying a new bra every time your breast size changes a little bit.
Schedule Your Babymoon
Yes, I know people often go on their babymoon on the third trimester, but it is not too early to schedule it once you know your due date. If you aren’t familiar with a babymoon, it is like a honeymoon before your baby is born.
You can go on a small vacation to relish in the joy of being able to sleep in and get pampered before your little one arrives. One of the goals of your babymoon should be to talk about things OTHER than your impending new arrival. Don’t worry about being parents just yet, focus on enjoying each other.
Start Your Amazon Wish List
It’s inevitable, you will start to think of things that you want to get for your baby, yourself, or the nursery and forget about it by the time you go to write it down. Work on putting together your Amazon wish list as soon as possible.
This way, whenever you think of something your might like for your baby shower, or if there is a potential gift idea for the new daddy to be, you can add it on there right away!
I love Amazon wish lists because you can easily send them to someone or post them on a Facebook group for people to view and buy from. You can also scan items in other stores and add things to your list.
Set Up Your Baby’s College Fund
While 18 years seems like an eternity and you might think you will have plenty of time to save up for college, it will go by quicker than you can say “inflation.” Saving up for your child’s college fund should be built into your family budget plan.
You can easily start your child’s college fund by opening a regular savings and having an automated amount go in every week or month.
You can also open a savings that is made for specifically for educational expenses.
Dave Ramsey suggests opening an ESA, or Education Savings Account. This allows you to save $2,000 a year, per child, tax-free! Depending on the investments within the account, it has the potential to grow significantly more than a standard savings account and has more flexibility than a 529 plan.
Whichever type of educational savings plan you choose, you can technically start the account before your child is born.
This is done by adding yourself as the beneficiary on the account. After your child is born and you have their social security card, you can change the beneficiary on the account to the child.
Make a Will
While dying and leaving behind your child is something no parent ever wants to think about, making a will is something every parent should do. Your will spells out what will happen to your child/children in the event of your death.
- Who will care for them? God parents? Grandparents?
- How will they be provided for? Trust fund? Savings? Life insurance policy?
- Will there be a trust set up for your children? How and who will manage it?
- Who will be the executor of your estate and handle all of these questions?
While these can be hard questions to answer, it is better to be prepared than to not. If there is no plan for your children and no relatives are willing to take your child in the event of your death, they will end up in the foster care system. While there are many amazing foster parents, this does not guarantee that they will be able to even stay within the same city.
Choose someone that you fully trust to be your executor and that you know will always have your child’s best interest in mind.
Increase Your Life Insurance
Life insurance can be a bit confusing. Whole life, term life, which is the best?
Ideally, you should have enough life insurance to cover things like your bills, mortgage, kids activities, and future college expenses.
While single individuals without children don’t need a ton of life insurance, it changes a lot when you have children. When children are involved, you have to consider their futures. While it might sound great to have $100,000 in life insurance for your child to collect on, that will hardly pay for a few years of college these days.
You should have enough life insurance in the event that you and or your spouse pass away to cover your child’s future expenses.
When evaluating how much life insurance you should carry, you should consider your debt, income replacement, and the standards of living of those that survive you.
Personally, if I pass away when my children were young, I would want them to continue life just like they do now.
I would not want them to have to move out of our home, have to go to a different school, or quit any of their extracurricular activities.
Therefore, these are all things my husband and I took into consideration when calculating our life insurance and putting together our will.
Research Life Insurance For Your Child
While as parents we hate to think about our passing and leaving our children behind, the thought of losing a child is even worse.
Having life insurance for your child is not only a way to financially cover a loss, but also start an additional line of savings for your child.
One of the most popular life insurance plans for children is the Gerber Life Grow-Up Plan.
While Gerber offers a wide variety of plans, from term life to college savings plans, the grow-up plan is unique.
According to Gerber, “ is a whole life insurance policy for children that provides financial protection, builds cash value and can guarantee life insurance coverage for a lifetime.” This is important as the coverage also doubles in value when the child turns 18, this helps to give your kids a head start on adulting and having a life insurance policy.
This also allows them to have life insurance for the rest of their lives regardless of any future health conditions.
The benefit of starting a cash value life insurance policy right after they are born is that they can eventually cash out the policy and use it for things like college!
While there are 1,001 different things to think about during your first trimester and throughout your entire pregnancy, these are a few of the things that you might not have thought about but are still important, so make sure to add them to your first trimester checklist!
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