It’s that time! Time to get ready for baby, you probably have a million things in your head that you need to get done still and don’t feel like doing them but you need to momma or you will regret it later. Here is your complete third-trimester to-do-list so you don’t forget anything and can avoid feeling super overwhelmed!
The last part of my pregnancy I was exhausted all the time and had no motivation to get things done, for the most part, all due to the fact that I was working full time and had to be up at 4:30 every morning to go to work. If it wasn’t for my husband helping me on the weekends I wouldn’t have made it.
My point is if you are working like I was or you are feeling the same way ask your spouse, your mom or a good friend to help you get some of the bigger things done. Starting at 28 weeks you have 13 weeks give or take to accomplish these things so spread them out and make it manageable so you don’t feel pressure to get them all done at once.
Third Trimester To-Do-List- You Need To Do These Momma!
These are things you need to get done for yourself and to have a better postpartum recovery, I know you probably don’t feel like it but you won’t regret it later if you do. Honestly, after you have peanut you will not feel up to doing a lot of things and if they weren’t done beforehand they simply won’t get done and you will be wishing you had done them.
Now is when you need to start preparing for your baby, and these things can be done easily if you do them a few at a time so you don’t feel stressed and overwhelmed.
In my third trimester, I felt like a wobbly penguin with swollen feet and ankles, tired of the heartburn and not being able to get comfortable sitting, standing or even trying to sleep at night ugh. My hands hurt due to arthritis I got only during my pregnancy and my shoes no longer fit my feet which made going to work very difficult wearing tight shoes. I’m sure you can relate to this right now lol but you are in the home stretch, very soon you will be able to see your feet and hold your beautiful baby and none of this will matter anymore.
Even though you may feel like the third-trimester symptoms are going to last forever you are almost there momma, I feel ya being pregnant sucks at this point and you probably wish your husband could be pregnant instead lol (like the sea horses) but I’m sure he couldn’t handle it.
For helpful tips on how to make your third trimester easier, you may want to read this article Third Trimester Symptoms and How to Deal With Them
You probably have a lot of things on your mind like what are the early signs of labor and how do I know I am in labor in the first place. These are all normal things every pregnant mom thinks about in the last stages of pregnancy, it’s okay to feel scared and overwhelmed at times but you got this momma.
If you need more information on what the early signs of labor are and also how to know you are in labor these articles may be very helpful to you.
You are on the home stretch to meeting your little one and this also means nothing will be the same as it is now! Babies change everything no matter how many you have so let’s make the most of these final weeks of pregnancy and get to your third trimester to-do-list so you can have a great postpartum recovery!
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Pack Your Hospital Bag & Babies Too!
The first thing to do is get your hospital bag packed and ready to go for the big day, make sure you pack one for daddy too so you all are ready to go. You never know when your baby is going to decide to show up!
If you are not sure what you will need here is a great article with a free printable checklist to help you What To Pack In Hospital Bag For Mom and Baby
It could be in the middle of the night or during the day at some random time so be prepared to go beforehand so you don’t have to scramble and end up missing the things you needed to take with you.
Last time I barely had anything I needed and my mom had to bring me some basic things so with my son I prepared and had things ready to go weeks beforehand and it was so nice! You will be glad that you did this.
Baby Prep
If you haven’t bought all of your baby items now is the time to finish up with your nursery and figure out where you peanut will sleep in your room (you will want baby close for a few months before moving him to the nursery) and also buy a good car seat.
You don’t need to spend a ton of money on baby items (unless they are things like a crib or car seat then I do recommend that you get these new) you can find baby clothes at second-hand stores and garage sales for a great price. You may even be able to borrow some from a friend or sibling who doesn’t need these items right now!
You may have most of your baby items just from your baby shower, so now all you need are the basic things like diapers, wipes, baby bath and lotion, and a baby care kit.
- Wash all baby items: Bottles, pumping items, clothes, sheets, etc
- Buy a breast pump or try out the one you just got to make sure it works, also take some breastfeeding classes Milkology is a great one that I highly recommend you take
- Install your car seat
- Setup babies room and sleeping arrangements in your room
- Make sure you have a good pediatrician picked out (call to make sure they have openings for new patients)
- Talk to your doctor about any routine screening tests they do and any additional tests you would like to run as well
Meal Preparation
This is one of those things I didn’t do before our son arrived and I regretted not doing it. Make sure to do this one on your third trimester checklist it will save you from having your husband cook (unless he is a good cook and wants to but honestly neither of you will want to do any cooking).
You can even get a service that sends you meal plans and shopping lists and then all you have to do is go buy everything, make it and freeze it for later if you want to avoid making your own meals.
Another option is to get meals sent to you through a meal service like Blue Apron but if you are looking to save some money this isn’t a great option!
An easy way to go about doing freezer meals is to double up on recipes when cooking each day and then freezing the extra to be made during your postpartum recovery.
You can also sign up for meals to be brought to your house through your church (if you go to one) and then you don’t have to worry about meals for a month or so.
Deep Cleaning
Now is the time to get all of the deep cleaning done around your house, get behind your refrigerator, scrub baseboards and do the nitty-gritty stuff that hasn’t been done in forever. You don’t have to spend hours doing this but it should be done here and there so your baby has a nice clean environment to come home to.
Make sure to clean out the refrigerator and under your sinks as well, this can get really gross after a while so it needs to be done. If you do these things all the time anyway then you are way ahead of the game and I think you are amazing!!
Honestly, it’s hard to get to everything all the time so these things needed to be done when I was pregnant, I spread them out and did a few things each day and a lot of cleaning and organizing on the weekends from work. My husband helped out a ton and sometimes I just needed a nap lol.
If you have the money to get a carpet cleaning service you can have them come in and deep clean all your carpets and also get someone to clean out your air ducts as well! Don’t forget to change out your air filter on your furnace as well.
You can also borrow or rent a carpet steamer for a reasonable rate and have your husband do all your carpets.
Clean Out The Clutter and Organize
Get the clutter out of the house and organize things in every room, I know this sounds like a huge task and it is but you can get this done by doing one closet and one room at a time. A pointer is to start with the less cluttered room and go from there leading up to the one you really don’t want to tackle but need to.
If you haven’t used an item in over a year, give it to someone else or donate it so that someone else can use it. This is what I like to follow when organizing things and it works really well because you don’t miss it at all after it is gone.
Keynote: Don’t get rid of any clothing of yours right now because you may end up wearing it after the baby at some point. I know you may be saying “I will never fit into that”, you really don’t know this for a fact so wait for a few months on this one before getting rid of clothes.
Take Time For Self Care
Yuck, I hate the word self-care and have refused to use it until now but there really is no easier way to say it! Take time for yourself and go get a fresh haircut that is easy to manage with a baby and it will make you feel better to have a fresh look especially after having a baby.
Spend time watching a movie or reading a favorite book or even going out with friends for a little bit, later on, it will be harder to do these things so you need to spend some time taking care of yourself and no one else. This is the only time it is about you and you deserve it, momma.
Quality Time With Family
You need to spend time with your family and children if you have other kids and do something fun together. Go out to eat and spend these last few weeks doing things that you all love to do also your other children will appreciate the time they get with mom before your new baby takes a ton of your time.
Do something with your kids one on one so they know how much you still love them and are there for them even with the new baby. Sometimes children feel replaced or jealous of all the attention the baby is getting. Reassure them that they will be able to help with the new baby and are still very special to you.
Go on a date with just your husband! Yes, it will be super hard to do this after giving birth so you need to take time for this on your third trimester to-do-list because your husband needs this more than you know.
Sometimes in pregnancy men feel left behind and excluded in the whole process, they don’t know what they need to do at this time to help, let him know how much he means to you and if there is something that you want him to help you with.
Tell him how amazing he is and how much you appreciate him, make him a part of these last few weeks by sharing things about how you feel and what you are going to need help with after giving birth.
Bring him to your appointments especially now when you go every week to the doctor, encourage him to ask the doctor any questions about the birth process or anything else he may be wondering about.
For more on what happens at doctor visits this article will help, Everything You Need To Know About Doctor Visits During Pregnancy
Make Arrangements For Other Children
When the time comes to give birth you will want a solid plan on who will watch your other children, be sure to have this set in stone beforehand or you will be scrambling to figure it out last minute or taking them with you.
I recommend doing this right away in week 36 because you never know when the baby is going to decide to show up! I had my daughter a month early and if there were other children this would have been a big problem for me.
Do Some Postpartum Preparation
This is very important, you don’t want to have to send your husband out to get hemorrhoid cream or numbing spray because you forgot to get some earlier lol. To avoid this get everything put together beforehand.
Here is a list of items you will need to get:
- Postpartum pads
- Numbing spray– Your lady parts are going to need this
- Healing spray
- Peri Bottle- Most hospitals will give you one but these are super cheap to buy
- Hemorrhoid Cream
- Epsom Salts- for a sitz bath
- Lavender Oil- for a sitz bath
- Tylenol and Motrin
- Belly Wrap– This is a must in order to heal right
I have more items listed here What To Pack in Your Hospital Bag for Mom and Baby
You can order all these items off Amazon and not have to step foot in the store if you want, this also makes it easy to reorder items as well!
Preparing For Labor
This is something you can do at home or go to the hospital and take a class, personally, I didn’t do either. I probably should have but really didn’t feel like doing it and I was okay without it (probably would have needed it if I didn’t need an emergency c section) but honestly I don’t recommend following in my footsteps when it comes to this.
There are tons of online classes that teach you what positions work best for labor and how to breathe so if you opt to not go to the hospital then do one of these instead.
I have heard this one to be very good from many different mom’s so I recommend you try it as well: Online Birth Class
Final Thoughts on Third Trimester To-Do-List
Your third trimester is one of the hardest because you are so uncomfortable at this point and it only seems to get worse, take this to-do-list and work on it a little bit at a time, don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by how much you have to do.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to have your hospital bag packed and ready to go before your last month of pregnancy, not to be negative but babies have a mind of their own and sometimes our plan isn’t what actually happens so be prepared just encase.
Another thing is to get all your postpartum essential together a few months before so that you have time to get anything you may have missed and will be adequately prepared for all that happens in the postpartum period.
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Related Third Trimester to-do-list articles
Making A Birth Plan That Works
Bleeding After Childbirth | What You Should Know