For Expecting Parents
Supporting your through pregnancy
and preparing for what's ahead
Preparing for baby
The weeks and months before a baby arrives can feel like a strange in-between.
You are not yet a parent in the way the world will see you. But something has already shifted. You are already changed.
This space is for that season — the anticipation, the anxiety, the questions you don't know how to ask yet. For first-time parents and those who've done it before. For those carrying their own baby and those carrying one for someone else.
However your baby is coming — you belong here.
Related Reading
Expectation vs Reality
The emotional side
Antenatal anxiety, identity shift, the gap between expectation and reality, being excited and terrified at the same time. For first timers and those doing it again who know what's coming
Preparing practically
Birth preparation, hospital bag guide, birth plans, what to actually expect in those final weeks. Light and calm — not a checklist dump.
Partners & Support
How to support someone through pregnancy, what they might not say out loud, practical ways to help. Mirrors the partner section already in the hub.
Surrogates & Families
A gentle, specific section acknowledging this unique and often invisible experience. Resources, emotional support, what's different and what's the same.
Before They Arrive
Practical checklists, thoughtful gift ideas and helpful resources to support you in the weeks and months before baby arrives.
What comes next
Thoughtful guides for pregnancy, postpartum preparation and the first weeks with your baby.
Preparing for postpartum
Most people prepare for birth. Fewer prepare for what comes after. This guide walks you through what postpartum actually is, how to set up your space, what genuinely helps, feeding support, recovery expectations and how to recognise when you need more support.
First 6 weeks
The first six weeks are unlike anything you can fully prepare for — but knowing what's ahead helps. From feeding realities and the emotional side, to what helped me most and what I would change — the honest guide to those early weeks.
Early motherhood
This guide is for the feelings that don't have a neat name. Why this season can feel so intense, the emotions nobody warns you about, holding both the love and the hardness at once, understanding the mental load — and things that can genuinely help, including the REST framework.
It's okay if it doesn't feel the way your expected
Pregnancy can be one of the most extraordinary seasons of your life. The first flutter of movement. A name you keep trying on quietly. The strange, overwhelming love for someone you haven't met yet.
And it can also be a time of anxiety, exhaustion, grief, identity confusion and quiet fear — sometimes all in the same afternoon.
Both things are true. And both are allowed.
The guides above — Preparing for Postpartum, The First 6 Weeks, and Early Motherhood — are there for when you want to feel ready. This section is for the rest of it.
What's worth knowing
Antenatal anxiety and depression affect around 1 in 5 mummas in Australia — and 1 in 10 dads and partners
Feeling overwhelmed doesn't mean you won't be a good parent — it often means you already care deeply
The identity shift of becoming a parent — matrescence — begins long before birth
It's okay to not love every moment of pregnancy
You don't have to perform happiness to be doing this well
Find the joy where you can
Pregnancy doesn't have to feel magical every day to be worth marking. And if you're in a hard stretch, sometimes a small, intentional moment of joy is the most radical thing you can do.
Some ideas — take what feels right, leave the rest:
- Take the bump photos — even if you don't feel like it. Future you will want them
- Keep a journal — not to document every symptom, but to capture the thoughts you don't want to lose
- Plan something to look forward to — a baby shower, a babymoon, a long lunch with someone who makes you feel like yourself
- Make the playlist — for the labour room, for the nursery, for the late night feeds that are coming
- Buy the thing — the tiny outfit, the book you want to read to them, the comfy pj's.
- Tell someone something you're excited about — saying it out loud makes it real
- Rest without guilt — growing a human is enough for one day
Resources
PANDA — panda.org.au
Confidential support for anxiety and depression during pregnancy — you don't have to wait until things feel serious. Free national helpline available Monday to Saturday.
COPE — Centre of Perinatal Excellence — cope.org.au
Australia's peak body in perinatal mental health, with evidence-based resources for expectant parents and a directory to find specialist support near you.
Gidget Foundation — gidgetfoundation.org.au
Free telehealth psychological support for expecting and new parents experiencing perinatal depression and anxiety — no referral needed.
Calm preparation — not overwhelm
There is no shortage of lists, guides and opinions about what you need before a baby arrives. Most of it adds noise rather than clarity.
The truth is, preparation doesn't have to mean doing everything. It means doing the things that will actually matter — and letting the rest go.
Know your birth preferences — not a rigid plan, but a considered conversation with your care team about what matters to you. Things can change. Having thought about it still helps.
Pack your bag with intention — not anxiety. Our free Hospital Bag Guide covers vaginal birth and caesarean, your support person's essentials, and the days that follow. It's the guide we wish we'd had.
Rest where you can — genuinely, not as a productivity hack. Your body is doing something extraordinary, and it deserves to be treated that way.
Ask for help before you need it — the people who love you want to show up. They just need to know how.
Trust that you are more ready than you feel — nobody feels completely ready. That's not a sign you've missed something. It's just what this is.
Download the free Honey & Sage Hospital Bag Guide →
30+ pages covering everything for mumma, baby, your support person and the days that follow.
Related Reading
Preparing for Life with Baby — The Things You Don't Prepare For but Need To
Supporting someone through pregnancy
The person you love is going through something that is happening entirely inside their body. That can feel isolating — for both of you.
Pregnancy asks a lot of the people closest to it. Not just of the person carrying the baby, but of everyone in their orbit — partners navigating their own quiet fears, friends unsure what to say, family members holding back opinions they weren't asked for, or leaning in harder than anyone needs right now.
Being a good support person during pregnancy doesn't mean having the right words or knowing what to do. It means staying present when things feel uncertain, and being willing to learn as you go.
If you're a partner
You are not a bystander in this. Your experience of this season — the excitement, the fear, the feeling of being on the outside of something enormous — is real and worth acknowledging.
You don't need to have the answers. What matters is showing up consistently, asking what's needed rather than assuming, and understanding that their experience of pregnancy may be completely different to what either of you expected.
Some gentle ways to show up:
- Ask, don't assume — "what do you need from me right now?" will always land better than guessing
- Learn about antenatal anxiety so you can recognise it if it appears — in them, or in yourself
- Take on the invisible load — appointments, research, preparation, the things that pile up quietly
- Be patient with the emotional shifts — they are real, and they are not personal
- Look after yourself too — your mental health in this season matters, and a depleted partner cannot pour from an empty cup
If you're a friend or family member
Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is make it easy to ask for help — and stop waiting to be asked.
Show up with food, not advice. Send a message that doesn't require a reply. Remember that the hard days don't always look hard from the outside. Ask how they're really going, and mean it.
What to hold back:
- Birth stories that didn't end well
- Opinions about their choices — feeding, birth, names, all of it
- The phrase "sleep when the baby sleeps"
- Comparisons to your own experience
What to offer instead:
- Practical, specific help ("I'm dropping dinner Thursday — does 6pm work?")
- A genuinely non-judgmental ear
- Presence without expectation
Resources
PANDA — panda.org.au
Confidential support for partners and support people navigating pregnancy and early parenthood — you don't have to be the one who is pregnant to need support. Free national helpline available Monday to Saturday.
SMS4Dads — sms4dads.com.au
Free, research-based text message support specifically for dads and partners during pregnancy and the early days — practical, honest and delivered straight to your phone.
COPE — Centre of Perinatal Excellence — cope.org.au
Whether you're a partner, friend, or family member, COPE provides guidance and support to help you care for your loved one and yourself through every stage of parenthood.
An extraordinary act of love
Surrogacy is one of the most profound acts of love — and one of the most invisible experiences in the parenting world.
Whether you are a surrogate carrying for someone you love, or an intended parent waiting for the baby you have longed for, this season comes with its own particular weight. Its own particular beauty.
The resources and conversations that exist for pregnancy rarely acknowledge your experience specifically. We want to.
Your experience is not an exception. You belong in every conversation about becoming a parent.
What this journey can feel like
For surrogates:
- Carrying a baby with deep love and intention — and navigating the emotional complexity that comes with it
- Experiencing the same antenatal anxiety, physical changes, and emotional waves as any expectant person
- Holding joy for your intended parents while also tending to your own inner world
- Preparing for a birth and postpartum that looks different to what others around you may understand
For intended parents:
- The hope, grief, and fear that rarely has a name in mainstream parenting spaces
- Trusting someone else with something that feels impossibly precious
- Preparing to welcome your baby while feeling removed from the physical experience of pregnancy
- Navigating questions from others that feel clumsy, even when well-meaning
Both deserve support that sees them fully.
Things worth knowing
Surrogates may benefit from the same postpartum support as any birthing person — emotionally and physically
Intended parents can experience a unique form of perinatal anxiety and adjustment, even without carrying the pregnancy
The relationship between surrogates and intended parents is its own kind of intimacy — and worth tending to
All Australian states and territories allow altruistic surrogacy, but commercial surrogacy is prohibited — and it's important to seek independent advice from lawyers and counsellors who specialise in surrogacy
Australian Surrogacy Resources
Surrogacy Australia
Community, education, and support for surrogates and intended parents, with inbuilt counselling, mentoring, and a free matching service for surrogates.
Australian Surrogacy Community
Peer support and connection for surrogates and intended parents, with separate spaces for each — many teams find each other here.
Growing Families
Independent guidance for intended parents navigating surrogacy and egg donation, with consultations and events.
Sarah Jefford — Surrogacy Lawyer
A surrogate and surrogacy lawyer with a comprehensive website and free handbook covering the legal side of the Australian process.
Surrogacy.gov.au
Authoritative, state-by-state information on Australian surrogacy laws and human rights considerations.
Conversations Podcast
Real stories from surrogates and intended parents who have navigated Australian altruistic surrogacy — honest listening for wherever you are in the journey.
Before the birth, before the first night, before you know what you're doing — you are already someone who is showing up for their baby. The fact that you're here, reading this, preparing and thinking and caring — that already means something.
However this season feels for you — overwhelming, exciting, terrifying, quiet, or all of it at once — you don't have to carry it alone.
The hub is here whenever you need it. We'll be here too.
With love,
Kate x
