Must Do's Before Your Baby Arrives...

As a first time Daddy to be, your head can be filled with huge lists of things to do before your baby arrives. Material and practical items are obviously important in their own way... but preparing to actually be a Dad takes some getting used to. Here are a few things that I recommend doing, without fail before he/she arrives;

Listen to the heart beat and attend ultrasound scan appointments.

Certainly for me, until I heard and saw my son through the wonderful eyes that technology can now provide for us, the pregnancy just didn’t seem real enough. Seeing your child on a black and white ultrasound monitor wriggling and bouncing around is an amazing, surreal experience that should not be missed under any circumstances. My favourite of the two though is hearing the heartbeat. Fortunately I get to hear it at every doctor or midwife appointment and every single listening experience seems to pause time and melt my heart. I helped create that. That heartbeat is in some way connected to mine, and more so to his mothers. Incredible.

 (A device used to listed to the fetal heartbeat the old fashioned way)

Name the baby – even if it’s just a temporary nickname.

Giving the growing, developing cutie that’s making my wife’s belly expand a name is like bringing a story to life. It makes it so much easier to connect with them and believe that the baby you won’t see in the flesh for a while is still a real, living person.

Read to the bump.

It is important to talk to the belly, and start forming that relationship and bond as soon as possible. It’s also proven that a baby can hear external voices from as early as 16 weeks into the pregnancy. This means that when I talk to my unborn son, he can hear my voice specifically. I want him to get used to that voice and recognise it from the moment he is born. Being eye to belly button and expected to have a conversation is one the most awkward things I have done, and that’s why I find reading that much easier. I don’t have to think about what to say. Getting into the habit of reading to your child at bedtime before he is even born, can only leave you in good stead for the future too, surely?

(This is the book I've relied on so far)

There are a whole list of other things you need to do before the arrival of a newborn, but these are a few that may sometimes get overlooked but in my eyes are very important. Do you have anything that you would add that perhaps wouldn’t be found on every other generic list? Tweet me at @costyy2k linking the webpage in your tweet, or comment in the guestbook.