As first-time parents, there are so many questions and so much anticipation as you enter the third trimester of pregnancy. For us, the process of getting to the hospital and the actual stay at the hospital were top of mind. The 5-Time Saving, Pre-Birth Hospital Planning Tips detailed out here calmed our nerves pre-birth and made everything easier once we arrived at the hospital so we could focus on meeting sweet baby Hudson for the very first time.
Schedule a Visit
Hospitals want you to feel comfortable and they offer tours to help you understand the get to know where you’ll be staying and what you can expect. It’s a fabulous (and free) service!
We scheduled a visit to the Women’s Center of our hospital, which is a campus-like facility. The tour talked us through where to register once we arrived, what we needed to bring with us, what a delivery room looked like as well as a recovery room. Additionally, they provided information on what to share with our visitors – where they could wait during labor and how to visit us in our room. This was much-needed information to pass along to family and friends! The whole tour took about an hour and helped us to wrap our heads around the experience. After the tour, I can recall a literal feeling of my nerves claiming down.
Pre-Register at the Hospital
If you’re not already aware, I’m here to tell you that when you’re in labor and you arrive at the hospital you will not immediately be whisked off to your delivery room like in the movies. You still need to check in, fill out paperwork, and then are brought to your delivery room. However, you can pre-register with the hospital which means providing your insurance, personal, and medical history information upfront. You can also disclose what you will be arriving at the hospital for (i.e., labor and delivery) and the approximate date so the hospital is expecting you.
This process took me 15 minutes online and was very simple. I went into labor very early in the morning and upon arrival at the hospital (thanks to pre-registration) I was in a labor and delivery room getting hooked up to all the good stuff within 10 minutes.
A Well-Packed Hospital Bag
Everything I read online when I googled, “what to pack in a hospital bag” was a combination of “the hospital will have everything you need” and “bring things that will make you comfortable.” I landed somewhere right in the middle. I kept our bag really organized by using packing cubes – one for me, one for the baby, one for my husband, and one for toiletries – and packed enough things for a 3-night stay (in case I had a c-section). I packed the bag by week 37 so everything would be ready to go should we go into labor early and kept it by the door to our bedroom.
Pre-approval by Insurance
Similar to the hospital pre-registration, you can also get everything pre-approved by your insurance. After all, you do know labor and delivery will happen at some point!
Using our online insurance services, I submitted my claim for labor and delivery at the start of my third trimester to give it plenty of time to process. During the review and ultimately claim approval process, I was able to communicate back and forth with insurance via text message and email until the claim was fully approved. Upon walking into the hospital, our claim for my delivery, even the worst-case scenario (a c-section) was pre-approved which meant that post-delivery and upon arriving home the hospital bills rolled in and I didn’t have to spend time answering a million questions or battling confusion over what was or wasn’t covered. Instead, I spent my days cuddling with Hudson, as it should be.
Printed Documentation for Proceeding with Maternity Leave, Insurance, and Work Notifications
One thing (among many) that was a shock to me (and quite frankly still is) was the simple fact that immediately after having a baby (and I mean pretty immediately) you’re required to call your employer, insurance, and short-term disability provider to tell them that you indeed did have your baby so that your benefits kick in for both you and the baby, who will need insurance to see the pediatrician. Interesting, yes?
Please believe me when I say that after having a baby there is no way you’re going to be coherent enough to remember or search through email to find the contact info. I took the time to document these numbers, key personnel, and steps to follow including sign-in and passwords, and printed them out to include in our hospital bag. Having this printed out and highlighting exactly who I needed to call for what and for whom was perfect. It ended up taking me just a few minutes and was completely stress-free.
With absolute certainty, there will be multiple things to stress out about or that will cause you to stress from the time you get pregnant to the time you go into labor and finally get to meet the sweet face of your little one. The hospital stuff and your stay at the hospital don’t need to be added to that list! Take some time to do a little prep work and make things easier on yourself with these 5 Time Saving, Pre-Birth Hospital Planning Tips.
