Third Trimester To Do List

I wish there was a list or a blog out there that I could have read to know what exactly I needed to do in order to get ready for Baby C and maternity leave. I don’t mean nesting, registering or reading motherhood books. I mean registering for the hospital, signing up for classes, calling your works’ service center to find out and set up Maternity Leave and determining if your insurance provides you with a breast pump.

As I enter into my third trimester I am finding that there is SO much more to do than just the glamorous stuff like registering for your baby shower or getting your baby’s nursery ready. And the truth is, this stuff is SO important for an easy transition into motherhood!

So what I’ve decided to do was share with you how I am getting prepared and how I am ensuring a smooth transition into motherhood. Throughout the blog I will recap everything I have scheduled/ done so you can easily follow along and follow suite if you wish!

Before this last month, I ignored all signs in my doctors office that said sign up for classes at your local hospital. I wasn’t ignoring them because I didn’t want to go, I simply didn’t think I was close enough to giving birth to take any classes. While, you can take classes any time throughout your pregnancy, I wanted to wait until I was in my third trimester to do so. Simply because we all know how pregnancy brains work.. they don’t! There were 2 “classes” I knew I wanted: Nursing Your Newborn & The Hospital Tour. At my last visit my OBGYN handed us a folder with hospital information, hospital registration and class information. I called the hospital where we will be delivering and was able to set up both the Nursing Your Newborn class and The Hospital tour, this was way easier than I expected!! My OBGYN also began offering 1 on 1 consultations with the Lactation Specialist that will be on site at our hospital (this is something I would ask your doctor if they offer or even call the hospital to see if they offer it). This consultation will only last a half hour and is NOT mandatory, however I wanted to be as prepared as possible, and with my track record I know I was going to have a lot of questions! So I scheduled our 1 on 1 and will be sure to up date you on how that goes!

So far I have planned:

1 on 1 with Lactation Specialist
Nursing Your Newborn Class
Hospital Tour

The next thing I am doing is filling out the Hospital Registration form. This is SUPER important so that when you get to the hospital to actually deliver you do NOT have to fill out any paperwork! They will already have it on file. Your OBGYN will give you this form to fill out along with an envelope to send to your hospital

The not so fun part is determining your maternity leave. This WILL vary with every company, but I will share the steps in which I am taking to research and put together the best plan.

The first thing I did was talk to my HR Manager. She advised me to call Sedgwick, this is the company Cintas uses for any type of leave of absence. Once I called I got the “Oh well we just do what Cintas tells us”. From my experience (which is legit NONE) that phrase doesn’t scare me, I’m going to ask my 100 questions, I will repeat questions I do not understand and I’ll keep you on the phone until I feel our conversation has sufficiently answered all my questions. HA! I don’t mean to sound crazy, but this is my career, my baby and my family we are talking about here so I will ask any and all questions.

The types of questions I asked were how long is my paid leave, how long is my unpaid leave, can I apply for more, when do I have to submit my request, how long do I have to fill out the paperwork, do I have to give an exact day for the start of my leave. Again, this will vary for everyone so ask any and all questions! What I finally found out after a very long conversation was this: I am allowed 6 weeks paid maternity leave through Cintas(my pay will be 60% of my earnings over the last 3 months), 6 weeks unpaid maternity leave through FMLA (Baby Bonding Time) and then Cintas offers an extra 4 weeks leave (unpaid, but job secured). I also have 4 weeks PTO, so I decided the best route, financially, for Christian, myself and Baby C was this: 2 weeks PTO starting about a week before baby is born, right into my 6 weeks paid maternity leave and then utilize my 6 weeks unpaid (Baby Bonding Time). I will not be taking the extra 4 weeks of unpaid, but job secured, leave unless I absolutely need it. Remember, since this all is determined by Baby C’s arrival it is important to stay in contact with the company that is providing you with the leave of absence.

Now, how to do all of that! Call the company in which your leave of absence will be through, file a claim and fill out all paperwork that is sent to you. This paperwork is VERY important as your claim for leave CAN be denied. I, of course, asked what would be the reason for denying maternity leave, and she said incomplete or late paperwork. This paperwork is time sensitive and needs to be completed within 20 days of the day it is sent to you. You will need your doctor to fill out a good portion of it and I was told to be the one to collect the paperwork my doctor fills out and send it myself. She said a lot of times the doctor will forget to send it and that is a huge reason for a claim being denied. Once you have sent in all your paperwork they will notify you as to if your claim was approved or not. Once your claim is approved you will be assigned a Claim Specialist (I think that’s what they are called) and she/he will be your point of contact with ANY questions going forward, letting them know when you give birth and anything related to your leave.

Let’s recap, so far we have planned:

1 on 1 with Lactation Specialist
Nursing Your Newborn Class
Hospital Tour
Hospital Registration Form
Research/look into your company’s Maternity Plan
Apply for Maternity Leave

Now for the To Do List. First, I need order my breast pump through our insurance. I have the Ovia App where I follow along as my baby progresses. It shows you the size of your baby, tells you how baby is developing and how mom is feeling! I added some screenshots of the app below.

It also allows you to fill in all of your insurance info and sends out for your pump making it super easy. Once you fill out all of your insurance information it will show you what pumps your insurance company offers. I tried to send out for it about a month ago, but you are supposed to wait until the month before your due date to order it. I’ll be ordering mine next month (jeez that’s crazy)! And I have decided on the Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump from Medela.

Next on the To Do List is meet with pediatricians in our area to determine the right one for us and our little babe. What I recommend, and am planning on doing, is putting together a list of questions to ask each pediatrician in order to make sure they will be on the same page as you and treat your baby the way you want them to be treated. First and foremost it is super important to be on the same page with your significant other. Put the list of questions together and then make sure you both agree on what you feel the answers should be. I reached out to my family and closest friends as to who they use for their pediatrician as a place to start when deciding who to go to. But remember, this is YOUR baby. You WILL make the right decision!

Lastly, for now, on our To Do List is change our Insurance Plan! Once that little babe comes she will need insurance. I plan on calling our insurance company and asking them when they recommend we change it over.

I am STILL learning just how much there is to get done before baby arrives and I am hoping that by sharing this info it helps out other new moms! I am, by no means, an expert, all I can do is share my experiences and what I am doing. My To Do List will lengthen and I will keep you guys updated on that! In the meantime if there’s anything my veteran moms know I’ve missed or have some advice, please feel free to comment below! Chances are other moms/ moms-to-be would like to hear your input as well!!