I just posted this link on the post about almond flour, but I think it still applies- healthy cookies!
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-healthy-cookies-recipe.html

Also, what about stocking some frozen bananas and berries in your freezer so you can make smoothies? (when the baby's awake, of course!)

Granola, nuts and dried fruit were great munchy foods for me. Basically, anything that can be eaten with one hand. :)

When I was trying to figure out if my labor was real or false (it was real) I baked a batch of cookies and froze them in a big ziploc. Best move ever. You'll be shocked by how many quick calories you need in the early days of nursing, and turkey chili and bran muffins are not going to cut it. Enjoy the excuse to eat cookies! (Choose a recipe with blackstrap molasses and/or oatmeal, for the nutrients.)

chili, lasagna, coffee cakes and casseroles. skinnytaste.com has some GREAT healthy casseroles that you can cook in advance. also, learn to love your crockpot! Good luck and healthy wishes for you and baby!

I've recently been making Smitten Kitchen's chewy granola bars (http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/thick-chewy-granola-bars/), and they are fantastic. Very easy to put together, and even a small square keeps me satisfyied for awhile (I guess they're pretty calorie-dense). They freeze beautifully, and often I don't even bother to thaw--they're great straight from the freezer.

I've frozen homemade; bread rolls, meatballs, casseroles, vege salads, and more. With our second child, we had mostly everything so instead of more baby things, we asked friends and family to bring a home cooked dish when they visited. It was super! The first two months it was a huge time saver for me and (working) partner as our youngest was a premature baby with very specific and sensitive needs. What we should've also done was buy a slow cooker.

When nursing my fave go-to snacks any time of the day were homemade hearty soup or stews I made in huge batches and froze in one-serving sizes. I'd just throw them in the microwave and they hit the spot. After the adrenaline of the first few weeks with a newborn passed I started to feel like I was running on fumes, having snacks with healthy proteins made a huge difference for me.

Also the pressure cooker has been my best friend -- toss everything in, including dry beans, and bam! done super fast. Lorna Sass's Cooking Under Pressure is a great how-to with lots of easy stews http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Under-Pressure-20th-Anniversary/dp/0061707872/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329923943&sr=8-1. Love Soup knocks it out of the park but the recipes are more time consuming http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Under-Pressure-20th-Anniversary/dp/0061707872/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329923943&sr=8-1.

Oops sorry here is love soup link http://www.amazon.com/Love-Soup-All-New-Vegetarian-Recipes/dp/0393332578/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329924461&sr=1-1

I prepped soups, stews, chili and tuna casserole. They were life savers.

Risotto freezes quite well! - I make a big batch once a month, and use it up gradually over the following weeks.

These mini egg muffins (individual fritattas, basically) at Always Order Dessert are terrific and versatile: http://www.alwaysorderdessert.com/2011/08/mini-egg-muffins-with-zucchini-and.html

Fill them with any combo of veggies and protein you like, and they freeze/reheat quite well. I've made them for a new mom, for my brother at college, etc. Making a batch of them doesn't take very long, and knowing that you or your spouse have a healthy, protein-filled option to grab for breakfast or a snack is reassuring.

Dumplings of various stripes. When I was studying for the bar exam, I was ever so grateful for my stash of East Asian-ish dumplings and pierogies. I used pre-made wrappers for the former and cooked them in a microwave steamer or dropped them into broth with veggies. You need less filling than you think, so it's a great way to use up odds and ends.

The pierogies called for a simple dough that used sour cream as the binder and filled them with mashed potatoes, shredded cheese and sauteed onions. They only take a few minutes from freezer to mouth and you don't have to decide portion sizes ahead of time.

Meatloaf, meatballs, meat spaghetti sauce, quiche, calzones, lasagna and empanadas. Don't forget to stock up on essentials like pasta or other things that are quick to throw together. Muffins were my saviour after late night nursing sessions. This recipe is great because it has protein in it.

CHOCOLATE RICOTTA MUFFINS

2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 to 8 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1 cup sugar
¼ c. unsalted butter, melted
1 cup ricotta
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a muffin tin. Combine dry ingredients. Blend together the sugar and the butter, then add the ricotta, eggs, milk and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix just until blended. DO NOT OVERMIX. Add the chocolate chips. Spoon into prepared muffin tin. Bake in the middle of the oven for to 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place muffins on a rack to cool. Wait at least 30 minutes before serving.

SPINACH CANNELLONI

500g cottage cheese
500g ricotta cheese
1 box frozen spinach
2-3 eggs
1 ½ - 2 c. shredded Italian cheese
¼ - ½ c. parmesan cheese
1 – 2 tsp. garlic salt

28 – 30 pieces oven ready cannelloni shells
1 jar tomato sauce

Combine ingredients and pipe into cannelloni shells. Put a layer of sauce on the bottom of a baking dish and layer the shells on top. Cover with sauce. Bake at 300-325 ºF for 1hr. Top with extra cheese and bake until cheese is melted.

Second the Smitten Kitchen chewy granola bars. I toast all the nuts/oats and then everything goes into one bowl for mixing, super easy and very tasty. Perfect one-handed breakfast or snack.

I'd also make individually frozen dinners: lasagna, a hearty soup, stuffed shells, pot roast with mashed potatoes, whatever you like that is comforting. Cook as normal then portion into good quality containers and freeze. Stock up on frozen veg too. Hopefully you have a big freezer!

Mix up your favorite cookie dough, roll into 1" balls, flatten slightly and freeze on a sheet pan, then transfer to ziplock bag and return to freezer. Whenever you want cookies just pop some balls on a sheet pan and bake.

Also - congrats!

Congratulations!

I made and stocked in my freezer:

1. Chili (Both of my babies were born in the summer so I didn't want a lot of soup, but I can always eat chili!)
2. Lasagna (This Ina via SK recipe is great: http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/10/mushroom-lasagna/. I've added spinach too for some veggie and so I don't have to bother making a salad.)
3. Scones and biscuits - easy to prepare and freeze and then bake as many as you want when you're ready to eat. They go right in the oven frozen - just add a few minutes to the bake time.
4. Cookies - Freeze the little balls of raw dough. Again, you can make as many as you want when you're ready to eat.

Also, my second child is 6 months old. I agree with LASOMNAMBULE. I couldn't get enough calories in the first few weeks. Breastfeeding definitely contributes to that, but I suspect that either way you just need energy to recover and care for your newborn.

Good luck and enjoy your baby!

If you're planning to nurse, any form of cooked oatmeal (not the instant kind though, for whatever reason) is supposed to boost milk production. Oatmeal cookies absolutely count for this!

Stocking up the freezer before baby is a lifesaver!

I would say, though, not to make lasagna. We got four pans of lasagna and some other cheesy / noodle things. Much appreciated, but it was a lot of the same thing.

Others have mentioned soup / stew--definitely yes, along with similar things from other cuisines like dal, curry, etc. I like to make homemade bread but knew that wouldn't happen with a new baby (she's 16 months and I still haven't returned to it), but I did freeze several loaves of dough to bake later.

My mom made some baked oatmeal that could be cut into bars and frozen, and these things really saved our lives during week 1 with baby. (And it turns out the toddler likes them now as well!) Here's a recipe like the one I use, but I use two eggs and real sugar instead of splenda and egg substitute: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Blueberry-Baked-Oatmeal-Recipezaar_1

You can put in extra powdered milk, nut butters, dried fruit, etc. as you'd like and for more nutrition.

I recommend also planning something to make during labor (to keep you occupied) and to have at the hospital. I mixed up choc chip banana bread when I was waiting for labor to start (after my water broke). Put it in the oven just as I had my first real contraction. It was just cool enough to wrap up when we were leaving for the hospital. I yelled at my husband for stopping slice and package it, but was SO grateful in the middle of the night after delivery when I had it to eat. Best "hospital" food ever - Martha Stewart's recipe, substituting Greek yogurt for the sour cream and adding chocolate chips: http://www.marthastewart.com/312772/banana-bread

Congrats and good luck! I am expecting my 2nd in a couple of weeks, so keenly eyeing this post as well!
This time I am making tons of oatcakes - nutrient dense, eat-from-the-freezer, and easy. I add dried cherries to Heidi Swanson's recipe, which is easily doubled (I also cut the maple syrup down a bit so they're not too sweet):
5secondrule.typepad.com/files/heidi-swansons-oat-cakes.pdf

Although soup's not the easiest thing to eat with one hand, it is super easy to put up -- I have a big freezer so I make large batches and freeze them in pint canning jars (NOT regular glass), which can go from freezer to microwave. Try a sausage, white bean & kale soup, nice & hearty, or my fave soup ever, Melissa Clark's Chickpea Vegetable Soup (which I also add kale to):
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/foodwine/2014631393_goodappetite30.html

And lastly, think about cooking a double batch of everything you make between now and then, and freezing the extra portions (again I swear by pint canning jars, they are so easy!). Curries (go ahead and put rice in the bottom), marinated grilled veggies/meats. Also in the early days I couldn't get enough liquid and loved fruit salads and crudites; these are hard to prepare far in advance, but easy to keep a week's worth in the fridge at a time.

I don't know if you're planning to breastfeed or not--that has some impact on how much food/snacks you'll want. I personally wouldn't get too hung up on low cal stuff. Focus on good quality, nutritious foods to give you energy. If you're breastfeeding you need a lot of extra calories, especially at first. You might also want to not go overboard with making things with beans and cruciferous veggies. Some babies have trouble with them (it goes through the milk), so you'd be pretty sad if you had a freezer full of stuff you couldn't really eat! Hopefully your baby won't have a problem though. I actually used simple meals like sloppy joes (bulked up with beans and veg), bolognese sauce, turkey meatballs, etc as snacks sometimes. I'd heat up a small amount of sloppy joe or sauce, slather it on a piece of whole grain toast, and have a filling satisfying snack. Pair with a bagged salad or some frozen veggie and you have a 10 minute meal instead. I also ate a TON of my homemade trail mix of cashews, dried cherries, and M&Ms. I can still remember how awesome it would taste when I'd wake up for nighttime nursing and be ravenous. I also kept sandwich fixings on hand. A half turkey sandwich would really hit the spot any time of the day. Smaller portions of leftover frozen meals would be good too. For instance, if you made a stir fry tonight, just put a little rice and stir fry in a container and pop it in the freezer. Pull it out the day before you want to eat it and you have a quick mini-meal you can warm up any time.

I'm SO happy that I made and froze food prior to the arrival of my baby a couple of weeks ago. I made two pans of lasagna, made a double batch of mac and cheese (with ham) one night and froze half, and made up a big bag of enchiladas. A note of warning though: I didn't realize how long it would take to cook the lasagna and mac & cheese when they're frozen! So yes--they're easy meals, but you do have to plan a couple of hours in advance (unless you freeze them in individual portions).

Some friends prepared other good freezer meals for us: wild rice salad with butternut squash and mushrooms, beef stew, and red lentil chili. The latter, in particular, was nice because (as the friend pointed out), you can put it in a coffee mug and drink it. Very convenient when there's a baby occupying your other arm. Also, it's pretty good at any temperature.

I'd definitely second the idea of granola bars, especially if you can eat them straight out of the freezer. There were a few days that the baby's feeding schedule meant that I couldn't eat anything that didn't involve reaching into a jar or unwrapping something.

Oh, and if you do make cookies, don't forget to save some of the dough to eat after the baby's here! (I was so excited to make cookies after he was born; some of the dough even made it into the oven.)

Forgot to return to your question about baking specifically! Muffins and cookies are always great treats and you can make them as healthy or unhealthy as you want. Savory muffins would be nice too--I've seen pancake and sausage muffins, cornbread muffins with sloppy joe mix in the center, etc. Handheld meals like empanadas or calzones are good too--you can heat them up relatively quickly and eat them with one hand. If you're into bread baking, I always feel happy when I know I have a few loaves in the freezer. Sweet treat breads like cinnamon or raisin are nice for when you want a little something sweet but don't want to go overboard, and regular white or whole wheat loaves are perfect for when you just can't get out to the store but still want to be able to make sandwiches, pair with some pasta sauce, etc. Finally, some slice and bake crackers might be fun too. You could bake some off and pull out cheese and homemade crackers any time you wanted a snack, or for all the guests who stop by to see the baby--you'd look like super mom. :) I have seen recipes but never made them myself so I don't have one to recommend. Maybe someone else would?

Don't forget to freeze some grapes and bananas...prepare some pot roast, slice then freeze, and pulled pork is great too, in single serve portions...thaw and reheat in the micro...

I just had a baby and we are loving the stuff I froze. I did little calzones, burritos, spanikopita and some muffins. So handy right now!

Breakfast burritos! They are fantastic any time of the day.

I like to make a decadent quiche and deliver to new mama with a bottle of sparkling wine or cider. Quiche is great for any meal of the day and sparkling wine is festive and celebratory!

Congratulations! I had no idea what I would need before having my first, and I have to say that muffins of all kinds were the absolute best. I made and froze dozens, and then microwaved them 20 seconds from frozen. Now that my second is due in late July, I'm already thinking about that. I also have recently been introduced to chocolate-covered frozen banana and kiwi, which I'll make when it gets closer to time.
My favorite muffins recipes all come from the same source (if she tracks the clicks to her blog, she probably thinks I am stalking her) - Enlightened Cooking. You can search her site for Superfood Zucchini Pecan muffins (I prefer more spice than what she calls for here, but that's just personal preference), Bowl of Oatmeal muffins (I like to do batches of these with different dried fruits for variety), and Vanilla Raspberry Vegan muffins (I also do these with different berries, and don't always make them vegan).

I made a lot of quiches, as well, of which I grew tired awfully fast. And I found that if anybody brought a dish over, it usually had pasta, so I was glad I didn't make a lot of pasta.

Make a huge batch of (broth based) soup and freeze it in muffin tins, and pop the soupsicles out to store in the freezer. That way when you're on the run you can just grab as many soup pucks as you need for a quick lunch!