“I thought I had my baby checklist ticked off. But I forgot one really important thing.”

Mums, you do not want to forget about this…

I am pregnant with my third child and you know what I’ve learnt since my first? That no matter how organised you are, you’re always going to forget something. You just need to make sure that what you do forget isn’t something that might cost you a lot of money later.

In 2011 I was the same as every other expectant mother: filled with hope, excitement, anticipation and nerves. But despite this, I felt I was organised.

I looked after my pregnant self. I did aqua aerobics and antenatal classes. I never missed a doctor’s appointment and I kept tabs on my baby’s development via daily inbox updates from various websites (because you can never have too much information, right?). I thought I’d read it all.

When I thought of my baby, I skipped right past the birth part (that’s minor, isn’t it?) and instead pictured myself holding my little bundle all dressed in blue. I scoured the baby shops online and dragged anyone I could find to any baby-related sales on weekends.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this is an advertorial for Bupa.

I don’t think I even made it to the 20-week mark before I purchased all those big ticket items like cots, prams and change tables. I wanted to feel settled and ready, and I did. Until I realised that in my excitement to be a super-prepared mum, I had glossed over some pretty significant details that I needed to go through first.

One thing I didn’t give adequate attention to was my health insurance cover. I assumed I needed to update my cover to suit my changing family but I wasn’t aware that I needed to do this 12 months before my baby was born. (Make sure you check with your own health fund to determine whether this is the situation for you – most require you to serve a waiting period of 12 months before you go to hospital for birth). Luckily for me, my current cover included pregnancy. I am sure that others have discovered this fact too late.

It did get me thinking though – wouldn’t it be great if there was place that held this kind of information rather than waiting for someone to tell you, or trawling through endless online forums hoping you’re doing the right thing?

Luckily, Bupa have come to the rescue of expectant mothers (and those thinking of starting a family).

The Bupa Beginnings Guide is a new, online, interactive guide available to everyone (not just Bupa members) which does just that. It contains clear information on health care such as birthing choices (do you go public, private, or public as a private patient?), options for your pre- and post-natal care as well as the all-important costs associated with these scenarios. If you are a Bupa member, you can also login and view personalised information according your level of cover and see if you will need to serve any waiting periods.

Something that I found particularly confusing (and continued to up until I actually had a look at the Bupa Beginnings Guide) was the idea of who pays for what when it comes to the potentially confusing world of Medicare, private health insurance and your wallet.

When you access the guide, you’ll see that this information is laid out for you in clear, concise and easy-to-follow language so that you shouldn’t have any surprises when it comes to your changing family budget.

So if you’re a mum-to-be, enjoy that time, and knock yourself out when it comes to buying cots, onesies and teddy bears. But just make sure you don’t forget the other important stuff amid all that excitement.