The Most Important Document of Your Baby

After giving birth, you get tired, exhausted, and at the same time you get happy, excited, and may even be so overwhelmed! All your attention is on your baby - you get visitors, you try to squeeze in some rest time, you watch your baby sleep for x number of hours, you nurse, you cuddle with your baby, and the next thing you know, it's already time to go home! It is so easy to get lost in the moment (who wouldn't, right?) that you might forget the most important document you need to file - your baby's birth certificate!

As soon as you give birth, please make sure to file it! They say it may take weeks but really, it varies. The important thing is, you get it done right away! All the other documents (SSS, Philhealth, BIR, etc) depend on it.

You'd think I would be an expert especially after 3 baby boys; I guess, all that epidural has kicked in some memory loss. ;) I only remembered about it when we were getting ready to go home. Since we filed it late, it took around 2 weeks before we received it. That caused a lot of delays in applying for my baby as my dependent. So believe me when I say, get it done right away. :)

Here are instructions from Makati Med's Birth Certificate Form:

For Normal Delivery, the minimum stay in the hospital is 2 days. But your OB may advise otherwise. As soon as you get some rest, ask a companion to help you fill out and submit the form. :)

Oh, and one more thing. In case you are not married, here are the additional requirements that the father has to bring and present:

This is for the back part which is the Acknowledgement of Paternity. You only need 1 from any of the above proofs mentioned. 

I cannot stress enough how important it is to get this done right away. Again, processing time varies. Sometimes it may even just take a few days. You'll never know. :) So please remember: give birth, rest, submit the birth certificate! ^___^

Let me know how long it took before you got the birth certificate, ok?