All the Pre-Baby Advice I Have to Give

I'm going to be honest here:  I don't have a lot of advice to give.  I mean, who am I to give anyone advice?  Ok, having thrown that disclaimer out there, I'm going to give some anyway. This is the first of a three part blog of all of the advice I have to give (as of now).  Pre-Baby, At-Hospital and At-Home (Post-Having-Baby).  

Here is all of the Pre-Baby Advice I Have to Give 

Of course there are many, MANY items that you will need in order to get your house and life ready for baby.  But, when asked, this is what I share with people because some are the not-so-obvious ones.  Make sure you register for and/or buy the following:
(don't worry, this whole thing isn't just about what to get. Keep reading below too.)

1. You are gonna want a Diaper Genie and refills. Make sure you register for that. So awesome and convenient to not take diapers out to the garbage constantly. You have no clue that there are poopie diapers in the room with you.  There are other brands out there too, but we love our Diaper Genie!
2. If you are thinking you will breastfeed and pump at all, a bottle warmer is a lifesaver (you can't
   
   nuke breast milk and warming on stove, under warm faucet water or nuking water and then placing in that water to warm takes forever). I started pumping right away to build up a stash for after I went back to work. Then I pretty much exclusively went to just pumping and bottle feeding a week or two before I went back to get baby used to it. The bottle warmer we got was around $35 from Target and worth every penny. Four minutes to warm a five ounce bottle that's been in the fridge - heck ya!
3. Hard to know in advance what your baby will like, but Gabriel liked to be swaddled for his first three months. Reminds them of being in the womb and keeps them from constantly waking themselves up with their crazy-hands. Register for or splurge on SwaddleMe blankets (or some other brand that makes a blanket specifically for this purpose) if you think you'll try swaddling him/her. And take the time to read the instructions and/or watch a YouTube video on how to use beforehand. Better to have these and not use than to get home from hospital and struggle with blankets that aren't the right size, etc.  
4. Another if you're going to breastfeed one: bring a nursing bra (a size bigger than you are when preggo) to the hospital. I didn't do that and had my mom running all over town for me twice. I went up a size when preggo then another size when my milk came in after he was born. You may remember the Machine Gun Jubblies blog from December.  Anyway, wait until closer to the end of your pregnancy, THEN go shopping for one and buy a cup size bigger.  Now deflated and then some, but that's a story another blog...
   
5. "The Happiest Baby on the Block" video helped us out. A friend of mine told me about it so I ordered it on Amazon.com. They also offer the version that you can just watch online. There are some great baby soothing techniques that really do work. Not every time, but often! So passing on some good advice I got with this one...
6. A baby food maker.  I know what you're thinking because I had the same thought: I have no desire to make my own baby food. Hello? There's a company called Gerber for that.  I did not register for one, but did receive one as a gift.  I looked the baby food maker (we'll call it a BFM

   

   Jen & Sara with Cook-off trophy.

   for short) right square in the eye and was like "Ya, right!" Then I started thinking I got it as a gift, may as well try once and see. What the heck...WAY EASY!  I use Ziploc Zip'n Steam bags to cook everything so it goes quick.  Baby is now 10 months old and still using the BFM.  Actually on my 2nd BFM because I burned the motor out in the first making "Jen's Homemade Guac Sauce" for a Country Cook-off cooking competition. Totally worth it by the way, because we WON!
   

Plan to take as much maternity leave as possible. Don't base it on how much leave you have built up either.  Screw that. You can always build more up. Take leave without pay even, for a long as you can afford.  Same for you husbands.  If you dads can take 2 or 3 or 4 weeks even.  You should.  Neither of you will regret it.  It is that first bonding time that is so precious.  And you'll never get that time back.  Once it's gone, it's gone.  Plus it is actually law that you can take 12 week under the Family and Medical Leave Act for the birth (or adoption) of a child if your company employes more than 50 people and you've been there for at least 12 months...not that they have to pay you for it. Of course, that would depend on your company's leave policy.  At least plan to take a bunch of maternity leave and you can always go back "early."  Yes, I realize that not all jobs are accommodating and have ways of making your return miserable.  Which I'm guessing is why I have been reading recently that Americans have been taking less and less maternity leave...that is a shame.

DO NOT purposely leave any projects for while you're on maternity leave.  Get EVERYTHING you can think of done BEFORE baby comes.  You will not have time on maternity leave to get projects done nor will you want to.  Use that maternity leave to enjoy your time with baby, not to worry about what needs to get done. You will have enough to get done around the house while being sleep deprived while trying to get cuddle time in while constantly feeding him/her while trying to feed yourself while trying to get a shower in while doing lots of baby laundry while trying to run to Target for another fitted sheet for the crib while trying to get a nap while trying to remember your name while sneaking in more cuddle time while while while while while. 

Make a few healthy meals in your last month of pregnancy and stash them in the freezer. Then you can just pop them in the oven quick-like. I wish I had done this. Luckily we have awesome parents on both sides who brought us meals so we had good eats for a while. But I also wish I had made some myself and had a stash for even longer.  It is nice not to have to worry about feeding yourself when you are a first time parent and worrying about every little thing with your new baby (see last item with the "while while while").

It's OK to not LOVE being pregnant.  It sucks.  There is so much crap going on with your body when you are producing and supporting another life.  Quite honestly, I had a pretty good pregnancy and still didn't like it (can you tell, I'm trying really hard to be nice here about this?).  There are some people who do actually love it and that's great.  But if you aren't one of them, it's OK.  You're going to love your baby and that's all that matters! 

Addition:  Eat lots of sweets and candy when you're pregnant and you're baby will be the sweetest! Ok, I made this one up, but I swear it's true. I ate tons of candy and sweets when pregnant. I LOVE sweets to begin with and this was just amplified when I was pregnant.  And I have the sweetest baby boy in the whole wide world.  Proof, right there!

PLEASE comment here or on Facebook if you have some good Pre-Baby advice to share for current or future preggos and I'll update the blog with a reader addition section!!!