Etsy actually has a bunch of labor clothes and alternative hospital gowns! Great range in styles, materials, and prices. I hope that link works. If not, go to etsy and explore! Some of the gowns even have slits that allow for fetal monitor band access, etc.
Etsy is a great idea! I also found these at Walmart : http://www.walmart.com/ip/FAST-TRACK-Dream-Cafe-Maternity-Print-Nursing-Sleep-Gown/22834277
I posted this on y May DDC to do thread too...
My list, for now. Trying not to go too crazy.
I've accomplished my first 2 weeks goals! Feels good! 11 weeks to go?! Holy cow!!! Now I'm panicked again!
We have so much left to do before baby comes.
KITCHEN
*Finish priming and painting the last corner Should be done this weekend. I'm typing this out here in order to hold us to this goal! So yell at me if I come back and say we didn't get to it!
*Figure out how to make our own wall-mounted fold-down kitchen table. Done!
*Build or buy a full-wall shelving unit for the corner. This is going to happen when my parents arrive, so just a week or two before my due date. Hope baby doesn't come early!
*Replace a bookshelf When my parents come
LIVING ROOM
*Steam clean the carpets AGAIN Putting this off til we finish the next bullet point
*Buy a nice area rug that will hide toddler/baby spills and messes. We've been searching, but have yet to find something we like at the right price. Still searching
*Research, Find, and Buy a Queen-sized leather sleeper sofa Half done! We've got some leather swatch samples and a catalog on the way
BEDROOM
*Sell our queen bed frame and upgrade to a King. We've decided just to replace the crappy Queen mattress and make do with that. The upgrade would have been really expensive, because we have nice-ish bedroom set and would want to replace the bed frame with the matching king frame. The whole project would have been around $1,500. We should be able to get a nice Queen mattress for about $400-500, and we won't have to buy all new sheet sets. Probably won't happen til late April or early May.
*Paint the entire room. Late April, probably
*Go through the closet and try to figure out how to eek out some more storage somewhere. Ongoing process. I've made moderate progress this weekend
BATHROOM
*Touch up the paint here and there, this room is mostly done. This weekend!
EVERYWHERE
*Deep Spring cleaning. Probably tackle this next weekend
BABY RELATED
*We have no newborn clothes, so we have to buy those and wash them Done!
*Maybe get another sling or carrier. I've been periodically checking craigs list, still nothing
*Get a breast pump (free from insurance!) and bottles/storage pumps for when I start back at work. I'm only part-time, so I shouldn't need much. Just found out that WIC will only provide a pump if I'm working 35-40 hours a week, so I've got to look into other avenues for this! Ugh.
*Get a bouncy seat and maybe a swing off craigslist Still looking. I'm going to a local baby-gear consignment shop next week, hopefully I get lucky!
And something that wasn't on my original list:
*Make and type up a Birth Plan!
*Buy the birth pool package (we have to buy our own and bring it to the hospital with us! I think we also have to set it up when the time comes, not sure who will be responsible for cleaning it up, but I have a feeling that will also be on us.
*Pack hospital bag.
Finally got a chance to work all day (most of the day) in the garden! Yay! Planted carrots, lettuce (more to come), peas (sugar snap and bush), radishes, and turnips. Cleaned out some beds, planned the (majority of) rest of the garden. The other day I planted tomatoes, bell peppers, and melons in the house to start. Still need to start my squashes and cucumbers and hot peppers in the house, but I don't have all my seeds just yet. Soon! It felt so good to get a good jump on the garden.
I am done with my diaper search! Oh so good. I asked DP if we could buy them on this paycheck and he laughed that I want them so early. I just want to be done with it! And I kind of want to play with them and diaper something. DP and I joked about me asking random people with babies if I could change their diapers and put my organic cotton diapers on their kid 
Still so much to do inside, but with the sun shining it's hard to think about. I still have time to do deep cleaning, right?! Yes, yes I do. One day at a time 
LOL RaeRae! I have been playing with mine as well! I have two boys so no dolls to try them on...I am going to have to resort to one sons stuffed horse to diaper ;-)
I have baby's room totally done and all prefold diapers prepped. Need to baby clothes and other diapers eventually, but will leave it till closer to my due date so I have something to do those last weeks, lol! Still need to go in and buy the ring sling I ordered, but am waiting on some birthday money :) My baby shower is April 27th and then my work is throwing me and another preggo coworker a shower in May, so I am looking forward to those. My preggo cousin is having her shower the first weekend in April and then I am throwing a friend a shower in May, so there are lots of things to plan! I love that :) That is all between trying to finish grad school...will finish up right around baby time! And we also have a FULL schedule of baseball for two boys.
Oh, and I ordered and am washing all of my new mama cloth. I am going to start wearing a pantyliner as I keep getting a yeast infection...I think it's because I have so much discharge (sorry for the TMI) and then it just sits there so close! So I will be trying my cloth soon.
RaeRae, where do you live? I'm in northern IL and itching to start my garden. I'm a novice, but it feels too early to plant although yesterday was a beautiful day! It's supposed to snow today. I know lettuce and onions and things can handle cold. Do you think it's too early here?
Where do you keep the plants you start inside? I've thought about it, but usually my cats would get into them. Now our last cat is at my dad's house (indefinately?) I wonder if I can keep my kids out of them. I think the older ones would like doing it.
I've been working on my CD stash too. I have 11 BumGenius 3.0s that need the velcro tabs repaired. Some people say it's no big deal, others say it's a big pain. About half of those diapers are girly colors that I would probably rarely use on our baby boy. I'm toying with the idea of selling the diapers back to cottonbabies.com for $3 each and buying 6 new BG4.0s for $104. I'd end up with the same amount of usable diapers (but brand new) for a net of $60. Might not be worth the effort to fix the others.
I did already buy 5 new pocket diapers in boy prints through a group buy that was priced really well. I can't remember the brand-one I haven't tried before-and I haven't received them yet.
Originally Posted by BabySmurf
Okay, i have been trying to separate out in my mind what needs to be done before the baby gets here and which projects are really just the spring/summer projects that can be done as the season goes on. It's starting to be a little more spring like out (despite the fact that we keep getting snow!!!) so spring fever is starting to kick in.
12.) (This weekend) We are regrouting and recaulking the bathroom, repainting the bathroom ceiling. Making the attic accessible (DH threw a bunch of stuff up there so I can't get to most of DS's baby stuff). Accomplished :)
11.) DH has to work, so I will be doing little odds and ends. The dresser and changing table should be in by then, so putting that together and washing the clothes we have and putting them away. Getting stuff down from the attic, like the crib, car seat, boppy pillow, etc and washing/cleaning it. Accomplished
10.) Hitting up a massive consignment sale to pick up the last of the baby clothes/stuff we need. Accomplished!
9.) Easter (Yard Work)
8.) LLL Conference. (Passing on this, but I am hosting a meeting at my house with between 20 and 30 people, so I will need to get ready for that, including finishing the downstairs bathroom....well DH will. And cleaning up the area).
7.) Start cleaning/organizing/Listing for helpers. Plan garden
6.) Last weekend away as a family of 3. Passing on this to save money and work on other stuff - Set up crib and do any last adjustments that need to be done for DS so that there won't be a lot of change before baby comes.
5.) Get together "Big Brother" kit, buy the last of things if not already done (nursing pads, post partum wear, water sling, baskets/bins for storage, etc). (this brings me to 36 weeks).
Make sure I have hospital bags ready and birth plan done. (add on).
4, 3, 2, 1). Nitty gritty cleaning, organizing, any yard work that needs to be done. Any other odds and ends that need to be done (putting anything together that needs it, installing car seat, etc). Really I just want this time to focus on relaxing and spending quality time with DS and DH (although DH will be working a ton at this point). I really want to have everything "done" by 38 weeks.
During this time I will also be feeding my freezer. The projects we need to get done for the summer are to paint our house and fix our fence...DH thinks that he will fix the fence (himself) during his 1 and a half to two week paternity leave 
. We also have a lot of odds and ends to do in our downstairs such as caulking and painting trim in our laundry area, finishing up the downstairs bathroom, finishing the playroom (which is where I plan on sticking FIL when he comes to stay with us this summer - we need furniture). We need to redo the landscaping on our house too. (We bought a foreclosure two years ago and have been working on the inside, but the previous owners were avid gardeners (apparently) and the yard hasn't been properly cared for for the two years we have been here or the two years the house was vacant before we moved in. We've barely kept up on maintenance stuff, so we desperately need to simplify. Plus, I have no idea what all of the neighbors were talking about when the said that the previous owners had great gardens...what is here just doesn't make sense at ALL!! The yard looks so yucky!).
This all sounds good and well - we will see what happens!! We have been in the house for 2 years now and are so just itching to make it more of a "home"...but it's SO expensive to do!
I hope every one is doing well with their items!!
jr'smom- I'm outside of Seattle, so we have a pretty early season here. Now is the time for planting cold weather things, like lettuce and peas (probably even could do this in your area as long as you can get to the dirt under the snow!). I would wait on other cold weather crops, like carrots and beets, until it stops snowing just a tad. But is that even possible? Haha, I haven't lived in snow in such a long time that I don't remember what we did for spring planting!! Pacific Northwest has a super short growing season since we have next to no summer, but very mellow spring and fall (no snow, at all, period.....kind of miss it!). So we get lots of time for cold weather stuff (kale, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, other greens, carrots, beets....those sorts of things!).
As for planting inside, you will surely want to start tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, melons, peppers indoors. Usually 4-8 weeks before your last frost date (you can find the average date for your area online). I usually keep starts in the window, but this year I have some lights set up for everything to live under. I am slightly nervous about the hardening off process (when I first bring them outside) as they will be so spoiled with the lights. By the time I plant them all outside it will still most likely be overcast and rainy here. Keeping kids and cats (and my dog!) out of the plants is always a pain, but I water them with a spray bottle which comes in handy when you find little fingers and paws digging through the dirt 
JNajla - I contacted our insurance and they sure do cover a pump...a hand pump. What a CROCK!!! I was so angry for how much we pay and they don't cover an electric one :(
I contacted our insurance and they sure do cover a pump...a hand pump
BUMMER! Mine covers an electric pump- I'm not sure why it varies so much per insurer.... that really stinks. Sorry.
My insurance gives me a free manual single pump to keep and then I can rent a double electric for free. I thought I heard somewhere that there is a shortage because so many people are wanting them all of a sudden because it's free, but I haven't been able to find where I read that. I hope it all works out.
JNajla- I am getting close to that as well. This morning I woke up and said to DP "I need about 10 big boxes, because I am just going to start getting rid of stuff!" I started, but didn't get terribly far because the sun was shining and I couldn't stay inside all day. So I went out and tried to accomplish pulling up last year's corn bed so I can replant it with sunflowers and poppies, but I got fed up with weeds quickly and moved onto nettle picking. My nesting is kicking in, but so is my baby mind that will not sit still nor in one place for very long!! Yep, one day at a time, small steps here and there.
I just contacted my insurance re: a breast pump and I am thrilled. Our insurance is otherwise less than stellar, but they will cover 100% the purchase of a double electric pump. Of course, its only one brand and I have to jump through an obstacle of hoops to get it, but nothing is too demanding. Does anyone have any experience w/ the Ameda Purely Yours breast pump?
As amlikam noted, I do need my Ob's Rx for a breast pump. I also cannot purchase it from any retailer, but rather a specific medical equipment retailer. They bill insurance directly so I have to supply them all sorts of documentation. Aside from that, though, this should be doable and well worth the several hundred $$ in savings.
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