prepared
I clicked over to Trish's blog, the way I do pretty much every day, looked at the baby-ticker-thing and realized that tomorrow will be (gulp) 33 weeks. Now, if this were a less, I dunno, fraught pregnancy, I probably would have gone out and bought some adorable infant-related stuff. As it is, I haven't gotten anything. Not one thing.*
But I didn't get anything for Cole before he arrived either and, although I had to run out of the hospital to pick up a car seat and some clothes and he slept in a laundry basket for the first few nights at home, it seemed to work out just fine.
So, when people ask me what they need to do to get ready for a new baby, I tell them "Nothing. Absolutely nothing." Though, as usual, your mileage may vary.
*Okay. I'll confess. I got two things. Namely, two little pink outfits that I bought right after the 20-week ultrasound and left with Trish. But they're not in my house, so they don't really count, right?
26 comments:
You know, I learned the same from Bella: You need nothing. A car seat and some form of diapers. Everything else is gravy, and can come later and can certainly be ordered with a few clicks on the computer.
I'm doing the exact same fucking thing. I have nothing. I'm going to get exactly nothing. And if this works out, there's a store between my house and the hospital that conveniently sells carseats and diapers and we'll work it out from there.
Totally with you on this one.
What do you need, really? A couple of sleepers, a crapload (haha) of diapers, and some sort of designated sleeping location? Everything else can be brought by visitors! Oh, and the carseat, but don't you already have one of those from Cole? Besides, you never know how big the baby is going to be, so you don't know what size diapers or sleepers will fit them. But, 33 weeks?!? How exciting!
Ack, that means I am 33 weeks too, though I am being induced at 37 weeks. Holy crap. (Is it bad to check Trish's counter, because I cannot bear to put my own up?)
You know, I have a ton of little girl clothes that could be mailed very easily, if you would appreciate that sort of thing.
xo
I did pretty much nothing too. Although truth be told, in that final week when I was still on bedrest and knew I'd be induced, some sort of super-nesting syndrome kicked in to override the vow to do nothing...and still all that got me was some diapers and some baskets to organize clothing in. Excited for you...in that reserved cautious kind of way.
33 weeks... ok.. as ezra's mom said - excited for you in a very cautious way. yep, i'm with you and got nothing for either child prior... it's simply not necessary.
Well, for some people, tradition states it's bad luck to have baby stuff in the house prior to the arrival of the baby, no?
Yeah, wee babies don't need much. A place to sleep (laundry basket or drawer), diapers (folded up t-shirts or tea towels in a pinch), something to keep them warm (blankets or towels to swaddle initially), a carseat to get them home if they're going via car, and a way to feed them. I assume that you have most of the infant stuff from Cole.
And I'll tell you something that most moms of infant girls may not know (or pretend not to know) - the babies really won't know or care if you dress them all in blue for a week or 6 months. Nothing that you buy or otherwise accumulate needs to be pink! Everyone is going to ask anyway even if you dress her all in blue or pink in my experience. If you like pink, well, there will be plenty of time to accumulate and as for clothes, since there is soooo much cute stuff out there, people will give you bags of hand-me-downs if you're at all inclined that way and let it be known that you're open. I've bought my girl about $40 of clothes and she's 10 months old. If you like to buy new stuff, you can buy a week's worth of baby clothes in about 15 minutes if that at any well stocked babies R hell or target.
Oh, plus leggings, I loves me some leggings. Baby legs, check them out. Prevents cold little calves when pant legs hitch up when baby is carried. Great when you get to potty training stage, too.
Actually I find the car seat thing funny as it even applies to people that don't have a car. But I guess in this sense I live in a different world.
(and: things outside your house don't count)
Pink? You???
I'm having a hard time picturing that :)
Thanks so much for the message you typed on my blog. It was really helpful to me. With love, Alice
Jen: It's true, I'm kind of cheating in the sense that I already some baby stuff left over from Cole. Though probably not quite as much as you might expect, as a lot of it was borrowed from friends and was given back to them once Cole outgrew it.
With Cole, I really did have absolutely nothing ready in advance. And it was fine.
@The Nanny: and I *love* pink. In fact, long, long ago, when Gray was a baby, I dressed him in pink once in a while and just smiled and nodded when strangers would tell me what a beautiful little girl he was.
and they are the cutest little pink outfits ever :)
Since you love pink, if you have friends with girls just ask if you can borrow clothes. Seriously. Everyone with a girl a year or two older than mine was happy to give me loads of clothes.
Ooh, actually there is one thing you do need to have before you take her home or they frown at you at the hospital. A name. You don't have to have that in your home so you're safe.
I'm so excited for you! Yippee! Have you narrowed down the names?
-e
I love that photograph.
33 weeks!!! woooooo!
Pink. Love it.
What does it feel like to soon by the Mom to a daughter?
I just want to know if I can move into that room? It looks like it’s filled with stories. Complete vintage, charm.
I finally sorted the baby clothes last weekend. I have bags and bags of pink - shame I am an ocean away. The white and blue stuff has just gone into the dryer. Assorted sizes from tiny to regular 7lber just in case. Other than that and the old baby car seat I have nothing.
i too have a hard time picturing you as a pink lover. but you frequently challenge my preconceptions. :)
i found in some ways that the more i had, for the baby, the more confused i was.
Our second baby, conceived via IVF years after our first, had nothing waiting for her on arrival. I'm not sure what was going on there psychologically: the anticipation was always there, but the prep wasn't (mostly by my husband). I realized that babies just need their parent(s) - and food and a diaper change.
With Skyler we got almost everything from friends and relatives. I still get stuff from friends and relatives. The carseat was important one though as the NICU would not let us leave until they had inspected our carseat and he had passed a carseat test, and we had to take a class on how to safely use the carseat. /Sigh. I don't suppose it's like that if you don't have a baby in the NICU for months though. Really I have no idea what it's like to have a "take home" baby that you get to bring with you after a day or two. I imagine it must be nice. Anyway I digress. Make sure you have that name handy, and a carseat if you're driving! The rest can wait.
For everyone who asked: here's the current front runner for a first name. If you absolutely can't stand it, just try to *pretend* that you think it's a pretty name.
@azaera: I realize it's not at all the same thing, but we had to do that same kind of carseat class, test and inspection. The nurses told me that they didn't approve of the brand I'd gotten (I think it was a Graco) and that I needed to get a new one as soon as possible.
(whispers) Hooray for 33 weeks!
I'd agree that you really don't need anything for a new baby. There's just this whole baby-industrial complex that tries to convince parents-to-be otherwise. (similar to the wedding-industrial complex)
Also, I don't think of myself as particularly girly, but I'll admit I've come around to more girly clothes for my daughter (dresses even). But I still put her into her brother's old cargo pants, too.
Niobe: it is very pretty!
Yay for having top picks! It's a lovely name although I'm generally not much for Welsh names. I like it - it's a little different, not too common yet not Kr8tiv. If we had chosen that name for our daughter, I'd probably have used Brownie as a nickname. I know that's probably not to your tastes, though. Regardless, your frontrunner is a good, solid, lovely name.
Post a Comment