Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Counting Down


I've sorted through all our baby clothes and separated them by size. I've sold some of our bulky old furniture to make room for new stuff. I've done most of the nesting projects I had intended to do. I've chosen the stroller and carseat and am on my way to buy them today. I've written and mailed all of the thank you notes from all of my showers. I've even packed my hospital bag.

Baby's head is down and he's starting to drop (which is extremely heavy). He kicks and let's me know he's excited to come out, and then we eat some ice cream. 

As I check items off my to-do list, I realize how close it is. There are only a few things left that I want to do before he arrives. Most of them don't even matter that much. If he comes before I'm finished with it all, that's ok. But what if I finish before he comes? Then I have to wait. And maybe wait a lot. The one good thing about having a freakishly long list is that you always have something to do. When you finish the list, you suddenly have nothing to do!

Here are some questions I have for you:
What brand nursing bra should I buy? How many should I buy? Should I wait until after he's born so I know what size I'll need?
Name something you brought to the hospital that you couldn't have done without, and something you brought that was totally useless.
How many different outfits/onesies for the baby should I have in each size? I'm trying to determine what I should return vs. keep.

9 comments:

  1. Whew! I am not going to tell you something ridiculous like "sleep now!" Because that is annoying and you can not store sleep in a sleep bank for later use. I will say go do something for yourself. Get a haircut. See a movie.
    I wouldn't buy a nursing bra until about a week or so after you have the baby because boobs get huge and you want to make sure you get the right size from the get go. I went from a B cup to a D cup when my milk came in during a nap. I was not ready. Usually tanks are better.

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  2. I was so glad I brought my own (loose) clothes to the hospital. Made me feel like me again and more presentable for visitors. If your nursing, bring your pump. I wish I had because we had latch issues. I had to use a hospital pump and they charged me $250 for 20 minutes worth of pumping because it had to be checked out to me for the day, ridiculous! I agree with the previous poster, tanks with built in bras were way comfier then nursing bras and easier to nurse in. Bonus, it covered my belly while I was nursing so I felt like less of a whale.

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  3. Oh! And keep the clothes in whatever sizes you got. You'll be amazed by how many outfit changes you go through in a day. Mind-blowing!

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  4. I second the tank tops/camis with the built in bra. I have tons of them because they are easier to nurse in and they covered my tummy! I purchased a nursing bra probably 2 weeks after birth for use when we were out and about...but at home I just used the tanks :)

    I also second bringing some comfy clothes. And don't worry about stuffing the diaper bag with diapers, cream and every other newborn care item under the sun because the hospital will have everything you need for baby during your stay.

    Xo, Jessica @ Boys Oh Boys

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  5. There is just no way to know what sizes of clothes you'll need. So many people told me that babies outgrow newborn clothes in a few days so I only had like three outfits and my daughter wore them for six weeks. We were so sick of those outfits. (Yep too cheap to buy more) For my boy I can get by with about 10-12 outfits in each size (they can always wear a size up in an emergency) but he's not a spitty baby so one outfit usually lasts us all day. It all depends on how often you want to do laundry!

    Preparing for a baby is hard. You want to be ready if they come early, but you don't want to be waiting for a super long time either. . .

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    1. Oh and I remember a while ago you mentioned you were on the fence about breastfeeding or bottle feeding. I know how you feel. I've done both and here is my pros list for each! http://probablycrazykimberly.blogspot.com/2013/07/breastfeeding-vs-bottes.html

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  6. I agree that you should just keep all the clothes - you never know how much you'll need of each size. We were the opposite of Kimberly and Libby only wore newborn stuff for like less than a week (she was 9 lb 8 oz!). Plus if you plan on more kids, it's great to store until you need them a second time. Libby is a puker and has been from birth, so some days we would go through 3 or 4 outfits! Babies create A LOT of laundry, and i didnt want to have to do it every other day. I also made the mistake of buying nursing bras before I gave birth and was stuck with I'll-fitting bras for 5 months. I actually had issues with blocked milk ducts because my bras pressed on some spots that caused the blocking. So a good fitting bra (even if its only worn outside the house!) is totally worth it IMO. And the best things I brought to the hospital were comfy clothes that were easy to nurse in so I wasn't stuck in a hospital gown the whole time, our own pillows from home and extra soft blankets. It depends I guess on how long your stay is, but we were there 3 nights and 3 days so those things really mattered to us! We also brought our laptop with some movies to watch when we had some down time while Libby was asleep :) And the useless things I brought were diapers and wipes etc because the hospital has that covered until you go home :)

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  7. And I agree with Breena - go do stuff now you won't be able to once little dude arrives! Jason and I went on a date & movie every week for the last month or so of my pregnancy because we knew it would be a while until we could do it without a babysitter :)

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  8. I spent the money and went to Motherhood Maternity to buy my nursing bras. I had one of the workers help me figure out what size I'd need (I ended up buying ones that I could fit my finger in so I'd room to grow). I would buy at least a couple before baby arrives so you have one when you leave the hospital and one to wear while you're washing the other. You aren't going to want to go to a bra fitting right after baby arrives. Also, go for comfort. There are lots of cute nursing bras, but if they aren't super comfortable you won't want to wear them when you're tired and uncomfortable from the birthing process.

    For me? I was super glad I brought comfy, roomy clothes to go home in. I'm SO glad I didn't bring some cute, form-fitting outfit to go home in like I originally thought I would. I would have been so depressed when those clothes didn't fit "right." What I brought and never used? Games. Someone told me there'd be a long wait once contractions started, but since my water broke the wait was not long at all and, frankly, when I wasn't pushing I was napping (thank goodness for my epidural!!!!!) because pushing is exhausting. I didn't want to think about games.

    It depends on how often you want to do laundry. Keep in mind babies like to blow out their diapers and spit up all over without warning. Plan on baby wearing at least two outfits per day. Some days they'll only need one outfit, but other days they might need three... :-P

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