While witnessing your changing body during pregnancy is exciting, pregnancy can also be stressful and scary. An optimum, healthy lifestyle requires healthy eating habits, physical activity several times a week, and regular doctor visits—among many other recommendations. If you’re pregnant and placing, it can be even more stressful—-whether it is an unplanned pregnancy or otherwise. This is because of the number of difficult decisions you and your partner will need to make—not only concerning your life, but the life of your child.

While pregnant and considering placement, ample planning is required. Preparing for the labor and delivery while sorting through potential parents will take most, if not all, of your time. For some parents, they chose to take care of all the adoption details before the baby is born. Some prefer to wait until after the chaos of the birth is over and calmed. There isn’t one right way to do the planning. It all depends on your situation, and what you feel is right. Don’t let anyone make you feel guilty about your decision. Ultimately, it is you and your partner who need to decide what the next step is and how you can progress from there.

You may feel alone when exploring adoption, but you’re not. Those you can list in your supportive ranks are your family, friends, adoption professionals, legal representatives, counselors, therapists, community members, and support groups. There is always someone available to help you; you just have to know where to look.

Through the subsequent pages, you’ll find more information about adoption and breastfeeding, creating an adoption birth plan, how to make medical decisions (circumcision and vaccinations), rooming in after delivery, and many other topics. These will help you better understand your options and what you should expect if you are pregnant and placing, or deciding to place while parenting.