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How prepared are you?

2K views 39 replies 25 participants last post by  Lady Lilya 
#1 ·
I was lurking in the Feburary DDC and wow some of those mamas have already gotten ALOT done to prepare for their LO...

I haven't done a thing; and don't plan on it until January probably...I'm just happy to still be pregnant (previous loss) and don't want to get too ahead of myself...

What have you done and what is on your to-do lists before baby comes?
 
#2 ·
ummmmm.... pretty much nothing. A friend gave me some newborn clothes, and I have some clothes & dipes left over from DD, so I feel like I'm pretty much set. But yeah... we haven't even started talking about names yet!
 
#3 ·
Not planning to really start until January. This is our second (with two losses in between) and I am also being cautious. We just got our five year old daughter into the bigger of the two rooms (and focused on all that). A friend just gave us some of her old baby boy clothes and I have all the gender neutral stuff left from DD. I also just bought some Gro-Via hybrid diapers on sale from our cloth diaper WAHM in town. They were on sale.

January is when I will start pulling down what we have and figuring out what we need.
 
#4 ·
I posted the extent of my prep in the "Crafty" thread. I think I have enough clothing for the first months, especially if we end up with boy/girl twins. I have a ton of onesies and gowns. We have to make some major purchases, like new car seats, a new crib mattress, and other odds and ends to make life with twins a little more manageable, but we have to wait until after the holidays to do that. I usually don't pull out clothes and start washing things until around 36 weeks. I'll probably start a little earlier, since I may end up birthing closer to my due date and not so far over like I typically do. I have a list of things I need to make the babies, too.
 
#5 ·
We have all our nursery furniture and our co-sleeper. We have a bit of clothes, but nothing substantial enough to last even a week. I have some diapers, but not enough for a newborn. No car seat, no stroller. I originally thought we had a nice head start, but time is flying by!
 
#6 ·
I have one NB size diaper cover, and some gender neutral onsies in bigger sizes from DD, we also did all DD's bigger stuff gender neutral, so we have a Moby, Stroller, Infant carseat, bouncer, and high chair, though DD is still using the high-chair, stroller, and Moby. I also have diaper bags since we're still using them. I have a friend who has a bunch of clothes to hand down from her liittle boy, who is 5 months, and she may hand down her packnplay too, so after that I need diapers, more cloth wipes, a few clothing odds and ends, a baby bathtub, and a ring sling. but my friend is insisting on giving me a baby shower, so I probably won't buy anything until after that.
 
#7 ·
DH went to the basement the other night and brought up our newborn and 0-3 month cloths, washed and dried them, and did the same for our diapers. I still have to go through them to make sure that they are in good shape, but it looks like I will need to get some more clothes. The small diapers looked okay at first glance. I had given him until I was 30w to bring them up. I didn't expect him to wash them for me though.

He also brought up our co-sleeper, but we won't set that up until I'm 34w. Same time frame for the car seat. We had to buy a new one and I happened to find the one we wanted on sale for over 30% off, so I had to grab it.
 
#8 ·
I've done almost nothing. No diapers, no gear except one Moby wrap, only a few items of clothing, and we haven't cleaned or rearranged or tossed stuff to make space for baby things. We've got to get the cradle from my parents and get diapers and some more clothes, but other than that and some odds and ends from Amazon, I'm not planning to do much. We don't have a nursery or much room for anything big.
 
#11 ·
I'm starting to get nervous about the car seat. We will have all three kids jammed into the backseat of my 2001 RAV4, and so we're going to need to find a really narrow one. We were planning on getting a third Sunshine radian Kids carseat for the baby, but the guy said that even though they're rated for 5 lbs. up, they don't have enough support for a newborn.

We gave away all our baby stuff except for the 0-3 clothes, (DS was in 3-6 mo clothes at 1.5 months).

We've still got our co-sleeper and pack n play and swing. We live in an apt. and go to a laundromat, so we'll use disposable diapers. I just get sad thinking about all of our nice stuff we gave away - Bumbo seat, etc., and my ERGO, that I loved. I just gave it to someone. Now there's no way we can afford to replace it. I suppose I'll start looking on craigslist in January. I gave my Maya Wraps and Bjorn to my cousin, who is returning them. I also gave her all the pjs up to 9 months, sleep sacks, robeez, Snuzzler, and other stuff, but I guess she's keeping those for their next baby or she got rid of them.

I've had a rough pregnancy and still have previa, had a prior loss, but I've never been prepared for a baby. Why start now? At least I have an idea of what we'll need this time. I'm hoping that we'll get hand-me-downs from friends.
 
#13 ·
we need to get a carseat and i would like to get a new mattress for the crib as we are going to be putting beside our bed as a cosleeper.... ( even if it's for one on the other kids... the queen bed just isn't bigenough for 5)

i have diapers and some clothes form my boys and my wish bag if we have a girl.... not stressed but wont do anything till january or febuaray... no where to put baby stuff right now.. not worried, it'll get done... i want to get rid of more boxes from when we moved in 7 months ago... so i want to do that but that about it
 
#14 ·
We have pretty much everything (or we know that it's coming). A friend just gave us a load of girl clothes/dipes/gear and we'll be getting her infant seat soon. We'll need to get a convertable carseat....but we have time. We just need to get everything organized. DS has just moved into DD's room, but so far he's only sleeping in there...all of his clothes, etc are in the room with the crib. In turn, all the baby "stuff" that friends have given us is in our garage. Ideally, I'd like to get the baby stuff into the baby room & DS's stuff into his new room...but to do that, we need to set up the new loft bed we have (also in the garage). And the carpets should probably be cleaned too (housebreaking puppy....ew). I should also pull the breastpump out and see if I need new parts.
 
#15 ·
I have slowly started to get a few big things that we need so we don't have to all buy at the same time.

We have:

slings (a K'tan, 2 mei teis)

cloths diapers( a friend lend them to me. they are newborn fb's. )

neutral newborn clothes

a few girl newborn clothes( I gave away alot of girl clothes)

carseat

strollers(one made for only infant carseats and one for later on)

What we still need:

a place to put baby aka a playpen or crib (I haven't decided and I know this little one will do like his/her sisters and co-sleep p/t)

clothes wipes

nursing bras(coming..)

boy clothes( i have a friend with lots of boy clothes that i can probably get from her)

We still need to decide where we are going to put the baby. I'm trying to figure out with who, dd3 or with me or in it's own bed. If it's with me, then i don't have to move the girls at all. If it's with dd3, just need to move a few things in her room and then put in the playpen or crib. If alone, then I have to move the 3 girls in the biggest room in the house and then move us in the second biggest room and then put the baby in the smallest. This also means we need to paint all the rooms as the smallest in purple, the second is soft yellow and the biggest is in blue. None of the color matches. lol If we have a girl, the smallest room can stay purple. So that will be decided later.

I'm thinking of just putting the baby in my room and call it quits. It will be easier too. lol

I will wash everything from clothes to cloth diapers in January or closer to edd.
 
#16 ·
I have gotten most of the supplies for the home birth.

I've had some people offer me girl clothes, but I don't have any of it in my possession yet.

A friend gave me her newborn car seat.

I already have slings and a mei tai.

We all co-sleep in a huge bed, but I will set up the Pack N Play just in case she likes her own space.

I still need to get:

*swing (I wish I had one sooner last time...i planned to be low-device, but ended up with a high needs baby)

*Miracle Blankets (the only thing that i could get to stay on DS)

*a big Kleen Kanteen for while nursing (so I can fill it up, and DS can carry it to me wherever I am)

*pump parts kit

*diapers (gonna start with sposies until the baby is big enough to use the cloth dipes I already have)

*changing table pad and cover (the one from DS is in horrible shape)

*breast pads (I really used them a lot in the beginning with DS)

*donated milk (in case of emergencies...with DS we had to use some formula for a few days because we couldn't get milk fast enough)

*Adiri Natural Nurser bottle (again in case of emergencies...because it is most like my breasts, and didn't confuse DS at all)
 
#17 ·
I haven't really done anything. I have not felt the urge to do so yet. We have clothes in the attic and diapers, ect. We co-sleep, share a room, ect. so nothing really to get ready there. Last time it was my first and I had way more money so I was buying stuff all the time! Hopefully when we get stuff down we have what we need.
 
#18 ·
I have a carseat we can bring her home in, but I don't honestly know if I'm going to be able to fit all 3 in my car with the current carseats. We have a crib but need a mattress. We have a whole nb diaper stash and a few clothes, but still definitely need clothes. We have several slings/carriers and I still have a pump but need new bottles and nipples for when I go back to work. I still have the little dorm fridge to put in my classroom for milk storage though!
 
#19 ·
Nothing yet, though we did move into a bigger place so we'll have room for her...I am a little nervous to do much too early...I did buy a few baby girl clothes & blankets in Oct...I'll try to be ready by 36 weeks, at least with a car seat, bassinet, dipes, clothes...bouncy seat, swing, crib etc. may need to wait. Oh yeah and I'll need a new sling my old one is worn out. A nursing pillow would be nice too. And I'd like to have the sling & nursing pillow at the beginning. I really don't have anything left over from my older kids it was all given away. Except my breast pump & ugh I hate pumping! I guess 36 weeks for me is the second week of Feb. Ok, I am going to work on this post holidays!
 
#20 ·
I don't have much yet. I bought a sling for DD and I have made a list I feel pretty good about, but we haven't bought much. We are having a shower, but I am a little worried that people are not going to understand about cloth diapers, so I am trying to make sure there are other options on our list, just in case.

We are debating buying a minivan... we have an 11yo, 9yo, this one, and are hoping for 2 more so I know it will get used. Since that is a major purchase for us we aren't planning on much else.
 
#21 ·
This is baby #5. We have everything we need, except for an infant carseat. We have a convertible Britax Marathon, but I need a little infant seat for the first couple months. That's it. Everything else is here, just needs to be washed.
 
#22 ·
Well Im due April 2nd but have gone a few days early with my other 2.. so probably a March baby. I washed and put in drawers all the newborn and winterish 0-3 month stuff. The carseat is in the basement. We are borrowing a crib from my SIL as our 13 month old will still be in ours when the baby arrives.

Will probably set up the crib around 35ish weeks. Need to wash blankets and bring up bouncy seat and carseat as it gets closer. Also have to gather home birth supplies. We might be moving though if our house sells so I don't want to do to much just yet but I am the wicked prepared type so I can't leave stuff to the last min- it will drive me nuts!!!

Ohh I have all the cloth diaper supplies as well. Not that much left to do!
 
#23 ·
I just got a box of boy clothes from DH's cousin. I am also expecting more from another friend, I think I will end up set for clothes for a while. I think I might wait until after the holidays to do washing and sorting. I don't remember what detergents are OK though. I know my mom and others used dreft, but Seventh Generation unsented should be good, shouldn't it?
 
#24 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by turtlewomyn View Post

I just got a box of boy clothes from DH's cousin. I am also expecting more from another friend, I think I will end up set for clothes for a while. I think I might wait until after the holidays to do washing and sorting. I don't remember what detergents are OK though. I know my mom and others used dreft, but Seventh Generation unsented should be good, shouldn't it?
According to this list, 7th Gen shouldn't be used. Sorry!

ETA: Now, I found this other list and it has different information than the one given above. Weird...
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Virginia884 View Post

We have all our nursery furniture and our co-sleeper. We have a bit of clothes, but nothing substantial enough to last even a week. I have some diapers, but not enough for a newborn. No car seat, no stroller. I originally thought we had a nice head start, but time is flying by!
I suppose I spoke too soon, as this weekend I bought some new NB fitteds and some used covers. I have a nice start on the Kissaluvs (8 new ones and more on the registry) and all the covers I need (I'm almost feeling like 8 XS is too many!). I also got a travel wetbag and some wipes. We bought a stroller online as a blank friday sale (new 2011 City Mini for $190!) and a few more bits of clothes.

I also sewed some crib sheets (so so so easy) and DH hung drapes in the nursery. We are getting there!!!
 
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