Quote:
Originally Posted by sapphire_chan 
Make your house spotless now.
Go around your house holding a glass pitcher nearly full of water and evaluate how readily you can do your routines. (yes, I'm serious)
Repeat with a sack of potatoes tucked into a sling.
Adjust anything that seems at all difficult now, because what's annoying now will be hair-pulling horrible when the baby's there.
carseat get a convertible seat and get it installed in your car, but see if any friends and relatives have a non-expired infant seat available in case you have a tiny little one.
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You've gotten a lot of great advice. I will try not to add to all of the lists, as I know it can be overwhelming. THIS is the best advice I would give you as well. When I came home with my baby, the house was pretty clean, but I could NOT DEAL with clutter. I wanted clean surfaces (tables, shelves, etc) to put down the bouncy seat with baby in it, and most importantly, to have towels handy. Burpcloths were too small. My baby projectile vomited a lot. I had stacks of dishcloths or receiving blankets in baskets next to every seat in the house: on the nightstand, in 2 locations in the living room, and next to the rocker in the nursery. When you are seated with baby it is SUCH a pain to have to get up and go searching for a cloth to wipe up messes.
You NEED right away:
**Somewhere to set the baby (bouncy seat is great and compact) Is this a true necessity? Probably not, but a huge huge help. My baby liked to sit up a bit and didn't want to just be set down flat on the floor.
**One Baby carrier (start with a ring sling--it's more adjustable than a pouch. I started with a ring sling and a stretchy wrap). You can borrow from friends and see what you would like to grow into.
**Car Seat - I used the bucket style carrier, just because I also had a snap n go stroller and use this for airplane travel so I can bring my carseat with me on planes without having to check it and bring an extra stroller. If you travel by plane more than once a year, this is a huge help.
**Somewhere for baby to sleep -- even if you are cosleeping, there may be a situation where you don't want to have baby in bed with you. It is nice to have a backup option. If you don't want to spring for a crib yet, a pack n play with bassinet or one of those snuggly boxes you can put in bed with you would work fine
**Lots of towels/rags/cloths. At least 20.
**Large swaddle blanket. - If you can't get a huge one (approx 3' x 3') you can use two smaller ones: fold a receiving blanket in half lengthwise and lay it on a flat surface, horizontally. Lay baby on it so that it crosses behind baby's shoulders. Take each end and bring it up over baby's arms while baby's arms are down at his sides, and then tuck the end under the body. This will keep the arms down. Then, take another receiving blanket and swaddle as normal.
**Baby nail clipper - baby's nails are looong and grow fast!
**Thermometer
**Nasal Aspirator (if you have a hospital birth you usually get to take one home with you)
**Nursing pads - Lansinoh or medela are best to start off with as they are contoured and hold a lot.
**Gel pads for your nipples - I used these in the hospital and during my first week when my nipples were sore. I had soothies brand and stored them in the fridge. I couldn't have lived without these!
You Need within 2-4 weeks, but wait to buy for now:
**Pump - I am happy with a hand me down medela pump in style. I use a hand pump on occasion (like on car trips or to pump off an overactive letdown) but it is tiring. You don't need this right away because you probably won't pump for a few weeks.
**Bottles - You don't need to stock up because you won't be introducing a bottle for the first few weeks, and you don't know what baby will like. I bought one of each of maybe 5 different styles... baby ended up only taking the Gerber Nuk. But I'm glad I tried a few different ones.
**Stroller - you don't need this, but might want one. I veto the travel system too. If you are using a bucket style car seat, the snap n go is great, since baby can't really fit into a stroller yet (unless it's bassinet style).
**High chair/booster seat - we just did a booster seat since we have extra dining chairs we rarely use so it doesn't take up extra space. You don't need this for 6 months or so, until you introduce solids, but at that time you will want a place for baby to sit up.
That's really it as far as necessity. A lot of other people have suggested some great add ons, but you don't need to have it all ready for the newborn.
and as they get older, I've heard of people putting the 6-9 year old in the PnP with all their small parts so the toddler doesn't bug/trip over/step on/ roll a car/ball/truck/whatever into the project.
