You will need a car seat in order to bring your baby home from the hospital. As obstetricians we are no experts on this so look here.
Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin from the penis. It is a relatively safe procedure with very low incidence of complications, bleeding or infection. The choice to circumcise your baby is very individual. It is heavily influenced by social, religious and cultural preferences. There is not enough evidence of benefit to recommend this routinely, here is more information. If you have a boy, this is a question you will be asked and need to decide about.
The blood that sits in the umbilical cord and placenta of the baby after the baby is born and the cord is cut is a very valuable resource. The cells from this blood is very special because it can be used for stem cell transplants for people with serious diseases. Because they are “younger” cells they don’t need to match as exactly so they can be matched to a recipient more easily. You can choose to keep this resource in one of two ways. You can choose to bank the cord blood for you and your family. You would do this through a private cord blood banking company. Be aware, that you are banking the blood for use by your family, not your baby. If your baby develops a disease, his own blood would not be used because of the concern for the disease being in the blood. There are many of these around if you look. This will cost money for both initial collection and maintenance, around $2500 initially and about $100/yr. You can also choose to donate the cord blood if this is available at your hospital.
If you have an employer, you will like need to fill out family leave documents at some point in your pregnancy. Some of that paperwork needs to filled out by your providers office. Please get that to your provider by 32 weeks to give my office staff time to get it done.
Hepatitis B is a viral infection that is transmitted by blood or sexual contact. The virus infects the liver and the severity of the disease ranges from no symptoms and chronic to acute and life threatening. Hepatitis B can not be cured once it is contracted. The good news is that there is a vaccine for this virus. This is the only vaccine that we offer babies out of the starting gate. Eventually your child will need to be vaccinated but when to start the vaccination series (there are 3 shots) is up to you. It is recommended to start the vaccination at birth. This starts the immunity protection for the baby so that if they are exposed early in life to the virus they will have some protection. Some parents choose to start the series later. You will be asked about this when you are admitted to the maternity center for delivery. You will sign a consent for or against your baby getting the vaccine right away, so it is good to know what this is. Here is some more in depth information, Hepatitis B vaccine and general hepatitis information.
You will need to choose a pediatrician by the time you come in for labor. As an OB, once your provider cuts the cord your provider doesn’t have much knowledge in baby medical care. Your provider would recommend that you ask the people who live near you with children who they see and if they are happy with the office. You can then cross reference your insurance and the pediatricians website to see who fits with you. As rule, you don’t need to do anything ahead of time, give the name of your chosen pediatrician when you come into the hospital for delivery.
You must register with the hospital so that there is an account set up for you when you deliver. Ask your provider how to do this for your hospital
Birth control is extremely important to consider after child birth. For more information, see the Post Partum section. But to get a head start on researching go to bedsider.org