Dr. Alice Phillips is here with some simple steps to help you prepare for childbirth and the arrival of your baby

So you're having a baby! It's such an exciting time, filled with high expectations. It can also be a time of high anxiety. As a mom and a pediatrician herself, Dr. Alice Phillips is here with some simple steps to help you prepare for childbirth and the arrival of your baby

Meet the speaker

Meet Dr. Phillips

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Transcript

My name is Dr. Alice Phillips, I am a pediatrician at Cook Children's. I have had the pleasure of working for Cook for 25 years now. So, you're expecting your first baby, maybe not your first. And now you want to know what to do.

So step one is, I want to encourage you to be as prepared as you can. I always think that's kind of a funny thing to say. How are you completely prepared for a newborn? There's no way to be completely prepared. But there are definitely some steps that you can take that will make that transition from being pregnant to having a newborn much easier. First, and most important is I think you need to find your pediatrician. It's surprising to me always, how many families don't do this. How they don't do research and figure out who is a good match for their family. So ask your friends, ask your family, who do they trust? Search online to the Cook Children's website for physicians in your region, and then call those offices. Many of the pediatricians will do prenatal consultations where you can actually come into the office, meet the physician, ask them any questions that you have, and get a feel for the layout to see if it's a good match.

Second, it's who can you protect that's going to be in that child's world? Since newborns can't have many of the vaccines that are so important to protect them, you want to have them in a wrapping of protection. That means everyone who's going to be around that infant has had a flu shot, if it's flu season. Everyone who's going to be caring for that baby is protected from whooping cough with an up-to-date Tdap. And that includes dads too. I find that you dads sometimes are a little bit reluctant on that shot thing. So we need moms, dads, grandparents, friends, caretakers, everyone to be protected so that that baby is protected.

Then you want to pack your bag. I remember when I was a mom packing my bag and thinking I needed all of these things, fancy clothes, stuff for the photos, and realizing when I got there, really all I needed to do was take care of the baby. So pack what you think is important. But remember, you're not going to use most of that stuff.

Now the baby's been born, what's going to happen when you're at the hospital. O...