"5 Essential Steps for Couples Trying to Start a Family"

Found the love of your life? Decided it's time to settle down? What comes next? BABY! Starting a family is the most exciting, rewarding yet stressful, and nerve-racking times to go through in life. When you have found the love of your life, it is hard not to imagine bringing a mini version of them into this world to love as much as you love them.

Getting pregnant brings a huge wave of emotions. You see two lines on a stick or the word "pregnant" and the feelings that overcome you are indescribable. What comes next is a whirlwind of feelings that no-one can truly prepare you for. But here are 5 tips that helped me and my friends when planning on starting our families.

Relax

I know I know sounds cliche but stressing brings nothing but that....STRESS. When you put too much pressure on yourself and your partner, it takes the fun away from it all. I know easier said than done, but instead of stressing about it happening, just enjoy the process ;)

Track Ovulation

I never understood why high school health teachers always made getting pregnant sound SO easy. Did you know you only have like an 11% chance of getting pregnant without trying every month? 11%?! With that being said, if you and you partner are ready to try, then give yourself the greatest possibility and start tracking your ovulation every month. Give yourself the best chance by knowing when its that time!

Keep it Private

Honestly, it's no one's business to know when you and your partner are ready. Of course it is an exciting time and you want to shout it from the roof tops, but that can also add some stress and pressure to you. Get advice from people you trust but keep the circle small. It can get quite annoying to get those "so did it happen" or "are you pregnant yet texts. An easy response to tell people when they ask is "we're ready whenever it happens!"

Get Your Finances in Order

The best thing I was ever told was "if you're waiting for the day that you have the money to afford a baby, you'll never have kids." Now don't take that literally...it's just to say that yes babies are expensive but you make it work. Just maybe some changes have to be made. To relieve all financial stress when your baby comes, make a budget. Of course before you have the baby, you won't know the monthly expenses but it is helpful to have everything else in order. And leave yourself some money that will be just for the baby. Don't forget, your baby shower will give you a lot of relief for the first few months with baby.

Get Connected With Your Partner

This last one seems like a no-brainer but you would be surprised the things that come up when having a baby. Getting on the same page as your partner before the baby comes is probably the most important step in preparing to start a family. Parenting, sleep habits, family boundaries, financial discussions and so much more are things that couples overlook to talk about nursery, names and furniture. It seems like everything else would just be common sense, but it's important to have those harder conversations before baby is born. Where do you want your baby going to school, public or private? Are you interested in gentle parenting? Do you want visitors coming after you give birth? How will you handle newborn exhaustion? What support do you need from your partner emotionally? There isn't a handbook on parenting, and there is no right or wrong way. But it does bring a lot to a relationship, and if you and your partner are aligned morally, everything else will fall into place.

Trust in the process and know that there are so many avenues to go down to start a family. When the time is right it will happen. And I promise it will make any journey you go through worth it. Good luck mommas!