Baby Planner
| When | Date | Task |
|---|
A pregnancy comes with a standard schedule - roughly a dozen provider visits, two landmark ultrasounds, a vaccine and a glucose test, all keyed to weeks of gestation - yet most parents meet each milestone the week it happens, in a pamphlet, after it has passed. The dates were always computable; nobody had computed them against your actual due date.
Bottom line: the planner above anchors on week 40 - the due date - and works backward, so every visit, scan and window lands on a named day on your real calendar. The rhythm the rows follow is the standard uncomplicated-pregnancy schedule: monthly visits through week 28, every two weeks from 28 to 36, weekly from 36 until birth, and the two big ultrasounds bracketing the middle.
The honest part: the due date is a midpoint, not an appointment - most babies arrive in the two-week window around it, which is why the last rows plan readiness (bag packed, route timed, pediatrician confirmed) instead of promising events. Anything medical belongs to your provider; this planner only dates the calendar you both work from.
How to use
- Set your due date - from your provider or the due-date calculator if you only know the last period (Naegele's rule: LMP plus 280 days) - and every row re-dates instantly.
- Book against the two long-lead rows first: the week-12 screening window closes early and quietly, and the week-20 anatomy scan books out at busy hospitals.
- Revisit at each visit: the timeline is the agenda - ask what the visit checks at that week, and let the next row date the next decision.
Frequently asked questions
What is the standard prenatal visit schedule?
For an uncomplicated pregnancy, the classic rhythm is monthly visits through week 28, every two weeks from week 28 to 36, then weekly until the baby arrives - the schedule MedlinePlus publishes as the prenatal-care standard. High-risk pregnancies run denser; your provider sets the real cadence and this planner just puts its landmarks on your calendar.
When are the two big ultrasounds?
The first-trimester screening scan runs in a window that closes around week 13, and the anatomy scan lands around week 20 - the long one that checks organs, placenta position and growth, where many parents also learn the sex. Both book out, which is why the planner puts their rows 196 and 140 days ahead of the due date.
How is the due date calculated?
By Naegele's rule: 280 days from the first day of the last menstrual period - forty weeks of gestation, counted from a period rather than conception because the period is the date people actually know. An early ultrasound can move it; the planner takes whatever date you and your provider settle on.
When should prenatal classes and the hospital bag happen?
Classes and tours around week 32 - early enough to reschedule, late enough to count. The bag packed by week 36, when visits go weekly and the baby usually settles head-down. The final rows are deliberately boring: the plan for the last two weeks is readiness, not events, because the arrival window is two weeks wide and no calendar narrows it.