It’s easy for some to forget that becoming a parent means taking on, quite bravely, a lifetime of tough decisions. From where we live to how often we work to what we eat and more, the choices we make affect our families in little and large ways, to be sure.

And I don’t mean to overwhelm you, but before the baby is even born, there are plenty of important decisions to be made. Preparation is key, right?

As a child’s guardian, it’s up to you to decide many important medical questions for them. Who will their pediatrician be? (Who will your obstetrician be, who will look out for the well-being of the baby before she’s even born?) Have you contemplated, yet, where the baby will be born? How about who will be there, and how about those vaccines you keep hearing so much about?

For parents of little boys (if they even know they’re having a boy — there’s another question to be decided…), circumcision is up for debate. Should junior’s reproductive organs be left as nature intended, or should they be altered forever in his early hours or days?

What will this baby be called? From family considerations to cultural trends, you could make yourself dizzy (or maybe have a lot of fun) figuring out the perfect — first and middle and last — name.

What changes will need to be made to your home, lifestyle, and car? Is it time to ditch your single-lady ride in favor of something larger, or maybe safer?

Don’t worry; you’ll get there. You’ll figure it all out one way or another. And to help you get in decision-making mode, here are 15 important considerations.

15 Sweating Hoodies

Whether due to religious beliefs and customs, common medical opinion, or the old standby “well, everyone else is doing it…” it became rather common during the last couple of generations to circumcise baby boys, often as soon as they made their grand entrance into the world.

This removal of the foreskin is now thought by many to be an unnecessary and perhaps even harmful procedure.

I’ve heard of people having strong opinions both ways, to be sure. One that seems to come up a lot is that parents don’t think boys will adequately cleanse themselves with that extra layer of skin in the way. Don’t we learn to cleanse all the parts of our bodies on our own pretty well from a pretty young age, though? And do they even really need quite so much washing as we tend to give them?

The other big consideration that I often hear is that parents want junior to look just like daddy.

Well, it’s up to you, moms (and dads), and you only get one shot.

14 Of X’s And Y’s

Finding out the gender can be such an exciting moment, one that moms and dads, alike, dream of from the time they know they are pregnant, or even the time they realize that they hope to become pregnant some day. Who is that little person tagging along beside them in their mind’s eye? Is it a little girl or a little boy?

Of course today's society is beginning, slowly, to understand perhaps more than ever that gender isn’t as simple as this or that, and it’s much more nuanced than which reproductive organs happen to be present or not. But still, gender can become quite a focus indeed.

We see celebrities and average families, alike, throwing extravagant “gender reveal” parties. Maybe either pink or blue balloons billow out of a box when it’s opened, or maybe guests bite into cupcakes to reveal the telltale color of gender-connotating icing.

Sometimes, of course, parents choose not to know at all — not until the baby is actually there in their arms, that is. They sometimes want to focus simply on the baby arriving healthily and happily, and consider gender to be of secondary importance. Or perhaps they want to save it — to have one last grand surprise.

13 What’s In A Name?

What a huge part of a person’s identity. And, my, how the trends change throughout time when it comes to picking a name for a child.

There are family traditions to take into account sometimes. Will your family produce a John, Michael, or Mark the IV? There’s wanting to be unique, because after all, one class only needs so many Jennifers. But not too unique because heaven forbid other children have anything to use to single out your little one as “weird.”

Silly or serious, important or not, we can certainly put a lot of thought into choosing the perfect name. And although I have read of parents going with a wild name, changing their minds later, and assigning the child a new one, it’s normally considered (for practical reasons) to be another sort of one-shot deal.

This is your chance to select what is often the first thing people will learn about your child, sometimes before even seeing their smiling face.

How gender-specific will it be, how old-school, or how modern… ?

12 Parent’s Best Pal

Before the baby is arrived after that really rather magical journey of labor and birth, a mom and dad will need to figure out who will be the one to make sure everything is normal and the baby is healthy when she’s born. Parents often try to select a pediatrician that they will then stay with throughout the years, forming a relationship and understanding and allowing the doctor to know the kid’s personality and history intimately, and the child to come to know the situation as familiar and comfortable.

You will often be able to schedule free sessions with prospective pediatricians to interview them. You may have come across a list of good questions to ask in your pregnancy book or online. Philosophies about antibiotics, circumcision, vaccination, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, sleep-training, and behavior may all be interesting topics to bring up during your discussion.

If you find someone with which you feel comfortable and feel comfortable taking advice from during times of stress, you’ll have one more star player on your child-raising team down the line.

11 Family Affair

Moms and dads clearly don’t always share the same last name these days. There are hyphenations for her or for both, his original name and her original name both kept, and even creative hybrids of both of their surnames combined into one fancy new one. And that’s just when a couple is married, which of course not all couples having children together are.

So what, oh what, will junior’s last name be? Will his moniker be the same as his dad’s? Does it make more sense for this family situation to keep the same last name as mom?

Although for some families choosing a last name for a child is as simple as writing in mom and dad’s shared last name on the birth certificate form, unique situations, combinations, and cultural influences may all make the process more than a little complicated. Maybe the best you can do is sit down with your partner or family early on in the game to discuss it.

10 Game Changer

Finances can be such a complicated consideration when it comes to having children that they prohibit couples from even wanting to try to reproduce. And maybe that’s smart, because the last thing you need, if you ask any seasoned parent, is another source of stress in the family.

And this brings us to a big decision for many women, indeed: whether or not to quit their jobs and become stay-at-home moms. There’s also the option (possibly) of reducing their hours at the office, switching to working a different job with different hours but still outside of the home, or changing to a job done completely from home. Yep, with a little creativity and a lot of determination, women navigate all sorts of paths that they hope will be the best choice for them.

Our careers, especially where I live here in the States, can tend to become such huge points of pride, such massive parts of our identities. And then there’s childcare and its associated costs.

A tough choice, indeed...

9 The Main Event

It’s probably not a good idea to leave some of these important decisions to the last minute, because then you’ll miss your chance to get what you want. Deciding who you would like to attend the actual birth may be one of the big ones.

If you’re like me, the choice will be clear. You may know without much thought at all that you want only your partner in attendance. Or perhaps it’s a circle of supportive women to guide you through that you instinctively know you will feel comfortable with.

For others, though, deciding who to invite into the birthing room can require quite a bit of thought and consideration, especially if there are certain friends or family members putting on the pressure to be included.

Really, though, it’s not up to them. It’s up to you, momma, to create the birth experience you want to the best of your ability. Discussing your plans ahead of time with those close to you (who may or may not expect to be included) might help things to go even more smoothly.

8 Doula Do Or Don’t

Many women choose nowadays to have their husband be their primary support person during labor. They might choose instead, or in addition to their husband or partner, to have their mom, sister, or some other close relative or friend there to help them out.

And on top of this, some women hire another support person, one who has some experience with the process, emotions, and physical processes of labor and birth. This professional helper is known as a “doula.”

A doula is not a medical professional. She is there to help coach a woman through the entire process. She may consult with a woman during pregnancy, childbirth, or after the birth. She might especially be of help for women hoping to achieve an all-natural birth. She can likely provide information and guidance.

Is a doula right for you? Talking to one or to someone you know who has used one may be a good first step to finding out. There may be cost considerations for you, as well, though sometimes doulas are willing to work with the budget that a woman has.

7 Location, Location, Location

Having options — what a beautiful thing! Where you give birth might be very important to you. The location will help to set the labor and delivery scene, to be sure.

A hospital is of course common. It’s likely covered by a woman’s health insurance. Any medical care that she or the baby ends up wanting or needing is right there, ready to go. But there are always doctors and nurses around, probably telling you the way they think you should do things. They’ll be monitoring your and your baby’s vital signs around the clock. This can make it hard for some to get any rest during and after labor and can lead to what some consider to be the “over-medicalization” of labor and birth.

Where else might you choose? Well, that probably depends somewhat on where you live. Some areas have birth centers offering a supported place to give birth, perhaps with the option to birth in a tub. It’s not a hospital, and perhaps a midwife or more than one attends the birth.

Hey, maybe a home birth is just the thing. Birthing tubs can even be rented just for the occasion.

Whatever works!

6 What About Wheels?

Here’s one more reason that it is probably not wise to wait until the last minute to install your car seat: It may not even fit!

The cars of single life and life as a couple tend to be of course smaller and harder to load things (and children) in and out of than the cars we tend to require once we have families. In preparing to welcome a baby, you will probably have to consider whether or not you need a new (or different) car.

It was technically possible to load our infant car seat behind the forward-leaning front seat of our two-door coupe, under the seat belt, and hoist it into it’s base. But as I recall, this created some pretty extreme leg-room issues up front. We quickly had to switch to a sedan.

And thank goodness we were able to do this because when baby number two came along, there’s no way we could have managed to get two car seats back there, one for a toddler and one for a baby. Even in our sedan, it’s somewhat of a tight squeeze.

Yep, families require bigger cars. Do you absolutely need to size on up to a minivan or huge SUV? Absolutely not. But you will probably want to take a close look at how everything’s going to function and fit.

5 Dedicated Deliverer

Maybe you already have an OB/Gyn that you love, the doctor you see at least yearly for checkups on your reproductive health, for assistance with birth control, and for the ever-important breast exam.

But if you don’t love the one you’re seeing, it’s time to switch.

Many women realize that it’s time to shop around, so to speak, once they start makin’ babies. Your best bet may be getting a recommendation from a friend, though everyone ends up preferring something different in a doctor.

An important factor to consider is that some doctors work within a group of providers and whoever is working that night is the one you get. If this is the case where you go, it’s probably a good idea to try all of them out, so that when the big day comes, at least it’s a familiar face entering when the baby’s about to be born.

I think what’s most important is that you feel comfortable talking to this person and asking them questions along the way during your prenatal care.

4 Form And Function

A lot of time and effort will surely go into feeding your baby, no matter how you end up doing it. Will you breastfeed? You’ll probably at least give it a good try, right?

Will you bottle feed? How often? What are your and your doctor’s thoughts on formula?

A big one to consider ahead of time is (through your insurance company, most likely) obtaining and having at the ready a breast pump.

With my first baby, I planned to exclusively breastfeed, and I did end up doing that — well into her toddlerhood, in fact. But I was naive about something. When insurance company / medical supplier blunders made it so that I didn’t have an electric pump once I got home from the hospital after the baby was born, I didn’t think it would really matter. Little did I know a pump at that time can be absolutely crucial to stimulate milk production and relieve engorgement. Lesson learned.

3 Snoozy Doozy

I’ve encountered many people with many strong opinions about co-sleeping — where the baby sleeps in a family bed with the parents.

I believe the official recommendation at this time, and what many a doctor will tell you, is no, don’t do it. But do people end up doing it? Oh, yes, yes they do. Sometimes they plan to because they think it will work best for them, perhaps allowing them to more easily carry out night feedings with minimal disturbance to sleep. Perhaps they feel the closeness and attachment formed fits well with the type of parenting they hope to pursue. I think sometimes it’s a case of being exhausted and making the decision to co-sleep because they don’t know what the heck else to do.

Those against it often cite safety — there’s a big risk to the baby (suffocation, injury).

I don’t really understand how you could expect to get any amount of quality sleep with a baby in your bed all night long.

Maybe a bedside bassinet for the early days is just the thing. Or perhaps a special co-sleeper contraption that allows baby to more safely be in the family bed is right for you. Decisions, decisions...

2 Hey, Roomie

The cliche scene is the expectant mother standing in the perfectly decorated nursery, crib assembled and bed sheet in place, perfect decorations on the wall, and folding that last teeny tiny onesie before putting it carefully into baby’s little dresser drawer. But even if this sweet scene somewhat resembles your reality, is that where the new baby will actually sleep?

Deciding whether the baby will sleep in your room or theirs in the early weeks and months, at least, is one more thing to contemplate as you prepare to bring that bundle home. Will a bassinet or Pack ’n Play (portable crib) by the bedside be best? There are many nighttime feedings and perhaps also diaper changes to be considered.

How close is the baby’s nursery to yours — and do you even have a designated nursery?

On top of this, what you plan for may not be what actually ends up working best. In case you hadn’t heard, babies’ sleep can be somewhat unpredictable.

1 Powerful Protection

For me and many, many others, this decision has already been made. If the question is to vaccinate or not to vaccinate, the answer is, “Well, duh.”

Heck yeah we want to protect our precious baby from life-threatening diseases — and all she has to do is get a few pokes that she won’t even remember? Sounds good.

And it’s not that we’re being selfish. It’s not just our child’s best interests that we have in mind. By keeping our children up to date on their vaccinations (which will be administered on a schedule determined by the pediatrician based on a baby’s age), we’re helping to prevent the spread of horrible diseases as well.

Do parents sometimes “hear” or read something that scares them into thinking vaccines are dangerous, or that they won’t do any good? They must, because there are people out there who don’t get them, and who refuse, also, to have them given to their children.

Health insurance will provide these important protections to your child’s health for free. So of all the decisions covered in this list, after talking to your child’s doctor, you may see that this one’s really pretty easy.

Sources: Parents.com, YouTube.com