🗓️ The major milestones of expectant and new fatherhood

What to keep handy

• Your own calendar, loaded with all the medical appointments (don't just rely on your partner's phone).
• A dedicated folder (physical or digital) with essential paperwork: pregnancy certificates, birth records, employer notices.
• A go-to contacts list: hospital/maternity unit, midwife, family doctor, health insurance.

Step by step

1. 1. During pregnancy

   Choose a maternity provider, ask about classes, plan transport and review leave eligibility and notice requirements early. A packed bag by week 36 is a planning suggestion, not a legal deadline.

2. 2. After birth

   Use Statistics Canada’s Baby Names Observatory for popularity. Register with the province/territory of birth and check its naming, surname and parentage rules. Health coverage and benefit applications are separate; do not import a French acknowledgement-of-paternity procedure or a nationwide registration deadline.

3. 3. Follow-up

   Book newborn and postpartum care before discharge using the local schedule; do not assume the first infant visit is at one month or all first vaccinations are at two months.

4. 4. Leave

   EI parental benefits and employment-protected leave are different systems. Standard and extended benefits have different payment rates and sharing rules; check Service Canada before choosing. Quebec residents generally use QPIP, not EI maternity/parental benefits. Employment leave is governed by the applicable provincial, territorial or federal employment law.

Same topic

• 🎒 Packing the diaper bag for an outing
• 🚗 Installing a car seat correctly
• 🌍 Out and about with baby: handling the outside world
• 🎁 The baby registry