"Taking the Labor Out of Your Delivery..."

Mommies-to-Be: Are You Busy Bees?

Are you stressing about pulling together your nursery? No time to figure out what baby products are the best for your registry? Need help planning a top-notch baby shower? Too overwhelmed to interview or narrow down your childcare options and pediatricians? Obsessing over birth announcements or thank you cards?

Worry not. Stress not. Hire a baby planner!

Wait a minute. What? How did my working mother of four ever survive this harsh, overwhelming world we live in that requires women to do all of those things during a 9-month period, give birth to a 6-10 pound baby, only to have it suck the milk out of you, and then the world expects you to like...raise the child and repeat the process! (How was that for sarcasm?)

Lucky for us, entrepreneurial GenX-ers have thought of it all.

The Baby Planners aka Baby Concierge according to their trademarked tagline "take the labor out of your delivery." Sounds good to me! But upon closer look, they are just talking about all of the little things that actually happen before the heavy breathing and pain. I understand that for some, it's those little things in which some mothers-to-be delight, but I love capitalism. There is obviously a market for this and I say to each his own! There is even a National Baby Planner Association. Check it out and find a local baby planner near you.

While I probably won't use a baby planner, I think it is a great idea and wonderful resource for working parents who need them--or any parent that just wants to use one.

While feel I almost anyone with the interest and talent could become a baby planner. Doulas on the other hand, are in a different league.

Doula (prenatal and postpartum) packages are another service many hospitals offer. Postpartum this person would come home with you let you stay in bed and recover while they take care of baby, grocery shopping, cooking dinner, laundry, thank you notes, etc. They also help teach you breastfeeding and more. My hospital combines postpartum doula packages with massage therapists! I know. It almost sounds too good to be true.

My rule is do what makes (and keeps) you happy.