Pregnancy:
I wish women were more honest with just how real pregnancy is. I finally figured out that pregnancy is really like a sorority for women. From the outside you think you know what its going to be like, but once you are in, you learn there is all sorts of secret things that no one talks about. It can be the best and worst moments in your life (I had a fairly easy pregnancy, but I have to admit I had some horribly low moments...like throwing up all over the inside of my mom's car the day before mother's day and less than a week before having a baby. Yeah, it happened).
Top pregnancy must haves (for me at least):
- Be Band (target brand) or Bella Band to keep my pants on during the first months of pregnancy. This will actually show up on my post pregnancy mom list too....they are that awesome.
- Comfy maternity jeans and tops. That's pretty much all I lived in my entire pregnancy.
- Sour candies for morning sickness-worked like a charm every time.
- Maalox extra strength mint flavor- the only thing that instantly cured heart burn....Zantac for long term
I researched EVERYTHING. From carseats, to bottles, to vaccines and Doctors, to breastfeeding vs. formula. You can almost never do too much research....Except that whole childbirth prep class stuff. We only took 2 classes, and the big one, I wish I had skipped. We took a class on breastfeeding (totally worth every minute in the class) and one full day childbirth prep class. All the childbirth prep class did was scare the crap out of us and give us more things to worry/think about and figure out what we definitely DO NOT WANT. I wish I had taken a pre-natal yoga class or something similar, just for relaxation and stretching. I was sore and had cramped muscles and I think that would have helped...plus a little excercise before might have been a good thing.
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What I am really glad I did/used:
- I used my copy of Baby Bargains as if it were the baby bible (which it pretty much was) for all the big selections baby related (car seat/stroller/etc.)
- I researched my choices regarding vaccines like crazy (pro and con) and still constantly use "The Vaccine Book" by Dr Sears. I think every expectant parent should read it (no matter their feelings on vaccines) to learn more about what exactly they are giving their children. Before reading it, I didn't know anything about vaccines, and feel so much better about our choices based on the knowledge I now have.
- I researched Doctors and narrowed it down between a pediatrician and my personal family practice Dr (who specialized in infants and childhood development). I chose my family practice Doctor based on her specialty, the fact that I knew her and trusted her already, and after meeting with her determining that her philosophies and my feelings on certain parenting issues are very similar.
- I am so glad we took the breastfeeding class (and that I made F go with me). There are things he has remembered from the class that I forgot and have really helped.
I can't say I had a normal birth, (see the birth story below) so I won't get into specifics. However, I did make a list of a few things I would like/not like if at all possible immediately after having the baby. I never used the actual list, but the prep that went into that list helped me make decisions I was fairly happy with after all was said and done. It included things like wanting an epidural, not wanting internal monitoring if at all possible, who I wanted in the room (and who I did not want in the room), etc. The decision I am most happy about is the fact that I talked to F about the fact that if for some weird reason I had to have a C-Section (did I jinx myself?), I did not want anyone except him to hold the baby until I got to actually hold him. As far as I know my wishes were respected and while everyone got to see him before me (or at least that I remember, since I don't remember anything until being in the recovery room) and take pictures, F and I were the first ones to hold him.
Hospital bag list (what I actually used):
- My pillow from home (this was a lifesaver)
- boppy pillow
- camera
- headband
- basic basic toiletries (never used the little bit of makeup I brought or any hair products)
- lightweight robe
- sweats to wear home from the hospital
- flip flops
- slippers
- socks
- 2 sized outfits to wear home (the 0-3 months was WAAY too big since he was 2 weeks early, glad I had the newborn ones as back ups)
- long sleeved baby shirts (we went through a few hospital ones and they were super stretched out on him after a few hours)
- a few different baby hats. The hospital ones aren't very cute and they don't stay on very well. My favorite hat was his black beanie with a white guitar on it.
- blanket to take him home with
The first few months were NOTHING like I expected. That whole "sleep when the baby sleeps" thing is a joke. What works for one baby does not work for another...and no one prepares you for a colicky baby with reflux. We went through gripe water, gas drops, colic calm, etc...we ended up using gas drops and occasionally colic calm when he is extremely fussy. All that baby crap that people say you don't need...well some of it you actually do. And the other things that they SWEAR you will use...you won't.
Top baby items 0-3 months:
- Aden + Anais swaddling blankets. OMG, I am in love with this company. I want blankets like this in my size. They are super thin huge muslin blankets that are the best swaddling blankets EVER that just get softer every time you wash them. Frankie managed to break free of all those specialized fancy swaddling blankets, these were big enough that I could actually swaddle him well and tight enough because they had a little stretch to them. These are my new baby shower gift for EVERYONE. Best part is, they aren't just for swaddling, we use them for a regular blanket, to cover the car seat, and even as a nursing cover in a pinch (they are that huge).
- Fisher Price Rock 'n Play sleeper. If you have a baby with reflux or gas, this is a lifesaver. Not to mention the fact that it is really portable and folds flat and weighs almost nothing. FANTASTIC!
- Fisher Price Sea Horse- this put him to sleep instantly when we first got it and we can take it anywhere. Better than a glow worm because it plays for 5 minutes. The only thing better than this is the Homemedics lullaby noise machine that plays 3 different lullabies, 3 different white noises, and has 3 different projection disks, has a timer and plugs into the wall. Now we can put him down almost wide awake and he will put himself to sleep
- A good play gym- this has kept him busy for many hours and he loves the musical frog and kicking the rattle toy.
- Fisher Price My little Lamb swing- He still prefers to nap here instead of his bed.
- Sleepers with zippers, because those little snaps will be your nemesis at 3am (if they have hand covers attached its a bonus!)
- Mittens to keep them from scratching themselves
- Our favorite pacifiers were the gumdrop pacifiers that were similar to soothies (only the soothies hit Frankie's nose and left a red mark). He has now outgrown the gumdrop pacifiers and moved onto the MAM pacifiers that he loves (and I love because I can get them anywhere)
- a good infant bathtub. We liked ours (not total love) which was the Summer Infant fold away tub (convenient, but Frankie has already started getting too big for it)
- 2-3 baby towels and a lot more wash cloths (we used 2 wash cloths every bath...we have a boy and didn't want to get sprayed)
- 10-15 burp cloths (or more) we use them for EVERYTHING and go through them like crazy
- a few changing pad covers and lots of water proof pads
- Ergo Carrier and Moby Carrier....He loved the Ergo at first, and then once he decided he liked seeing everything going on preferred to be facing out in the Moby. We now use both.
- Infant car seat with a Snap N Go Stroller. Didn't want to buy a full size stroller until we know what we wanted. I was 100% sure I wanted the Chicco Keyfit car seat, but did not like the travel system strollers.
- Car mirror- nothing more reassuring than looking back and seeing a happy baby back there.
- a few toys to hang from the car seat that make noise or light up (Frankie's faves are the ones that play music that you can pull)
- a good diaper bag with lots of pockets (still haven't found exactly what I am looking for)
- disposable changing pad covers (for those extremely messy diaper changes)
- some sort of portable garbage bags (for wet clothes, messy diapers, etc). For awhile we used dog poop bags (they worked great!) and now we have the arm and hammer dispenser that hangs off the diaper bag (now they are scented dog poop bags)
- Bouncy chair (everyone tells me this was a must have, but he really didn't like it until a few weeks ago)
- Dr Browns bottles (we only have 3 8oz bottles since he is breastfed and only uses them while I am at work). These are the bottles we found to be the best since we originally had the Tommee Tippee bottles and they caused him a ton of gas and the nipple on the bottle would always collapse. Not to mention he would lose a good ounce of milk because of that....not happy about that!
- a good bottle brush that has a good nipple cleaner (Dr Brown's brush is great, but we use the Tommee Tippee nipple cleaner and a regular brush)
- Some sort of steam sterilizer bags. We have a microwave sterilizer, but don't ever use it. We just use the microwave bags because they are so convenient.
- Gas drops- love the target brand. They are the exact same as Mylicon, only lots cheaper and twice the size
- Gripe Water early on was great, then started losing its effectiveness
- dye free infant Tylenol (we use the generic Target Up and Up brand and he likes it pretty well)
- a good digital thermometer with a very quick read. We use the Vick's digital flexible thermometer. Gives a read in just a few seconds and tells you if the temp is normal, low grade fever, or full on fever by color. Not to mention when you turn it on it tells you the last temperature taken (important if you are trying to remember what it was and if a fever has gone down)
- thermometer covers
- lots of diapers. My favorite early on were Pampers Swaddlers Sensitives (they have the pee stripe!). Once he started getting bigger with more blow outs, we switched to Huggies Little Snugglers with the leak lock on them (an extra flap so nothing comes up the back). We switch back and forth.*Note* We had a problem with the regular swaddlers with Dry Max. The Swaddlers Sensitives now contain Dry Max after size 2, so after size 2 we will be switching to pampers baby dry.
- We like the pampers wipes (the huggies rip apart when you try and pull them out), but put them in a huggies box (the pampers box dries out the wipes). For wipes on the go, we use Target Up and Up unscented wipes. We have also used Costco's Kirkland wipes and just bought a huge case, but haven't opened them yet at home.
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