Wardrobe & workout:
When I was pregnant (January-October), I invested in one really good pair of Jessica Simpson maternity jeans and another pair of her jean shorts. They looked super cute in a normal way, and you can re-wear without too much notice. I also bought two or three pairs of maternity leggings... some of my regular ones made it through most of my pregnancy, but the maternity ones just felt sooo much better. And then I could use like half of my dresses over them, which greatly upped my wardrobe. It was kind of crazy how many dresses fit; as long as the waist band fit, the bottom just went over my belly and looked pretty cute. Basically, don't doubt them without trying them on! Bra-wise I didn't need new ones too badly until the end, and then once I had her I really really really needed some non-underwire easy-access bras. They're called "sleeping bras" or something, but are really just for ALL THE TIME. I mean, where are you going? Nowhere. And if you do go somewhere in the first two months, you need access, and these do just fine. I would avoid the clippy bra ones, they are not as easy to use, and while they look good/similar to a regular bra, I'd much more recommend getting a few dark colored bras like these:
My life basically went on as usual. I worked out but toned it way down (still did Crossfit / weightlifting, but not all the moves and definitely not going for PRs or anything), though it was tough to find good blogs about it. Here are a few #CrossfitPregnant blogs:
So basically, I made my wardrobe stretch as much as possible with a few key pregnancy items:
1 jeans, 1 jean shorts, 1 sweatpants, 1 casual shorts, 1 nice capri, a few tank tops, a few tshirts,
one pretty shirt, and one dress (I went to a wedding!). The best idea is to save it and pass it on to a friend, which my friend did for me. I used her collection, added to it, and will return the favor!
Registry & Books to Read Before
>100% recommend reading Expecting Better by Emily Oster.
Economists are the coolest people. Oster earned her undergrad AND Ph.D. at Harvard and taught at Booth and Brown (current?). She has gone through the experience and did the research for us-- she doesn't give recommendations so much as data that she's culled for longitudinal research with significant norm size. Love it. Didn't need anything else. She's coming out with a parenting one next year called cribsheet that I CANNOT WAIT TO GET.
The Registry
For our registry, I made one after receiving a bunch of hand-me-downs from friends who were done having kids. Then I had friends who'd recently had babies look it over and tell me what we were missing or what we really probably wouldn't use. My coworkers also threw me a "book shower" which was fantastic! They coordinated, too! The best other things to have:
The big ones:
>a swing. Thank god for that swing.
>an infant carseat. Did you know infants have to have their own carseat? And then you'll need ANOTHER ONE in like a few months? Jesus. Buy one that uses the same base (the part you keep strapped into the car) so you can at least have the bonus base to share with your partner or caretaker if you have one.
>a kid carseat.
>a crib.
>reusable diapers (see separate post on this)
>crib mattress
>a pack-and-play that has a bassinet setting (our daughter sleeps in this next to us still)
>a play gym thing
>a monitor-- perhaps one with an app? We got iBaby.
>If you're into it, perhaps a subscription to a developmentally leveled box of the month like Love Every. :)
Medium stuff:
>a bottle warmer (we don't use it much, but when we need it, it makes a difference! We have a cheap one)
>a cozy carseat cover
>a baby back-pack thing
>a cute carseat shade/cover
>water resistant crib mattress cover
>a mobile
>a happy nightlight for you/her during those late night feeding frenzies
>cute decorations?
>Breast-friend cushions (or something like it) for feeding. I have two that were given to me and I keep one upstairs and one downstairs.
>crib sheets
>bottles! so far we just use the smaller 4-6 ounce ones, and since I'm mostly breastfeeding, we really have like 4-6 of them in rotation. We like Dr. Brown's with the anti-colic thing.
>a drying rack for her stuff. The grass one is actually pretty handy with all the little fiddly bits.
>bandannas for her spit up/drool! These save SO MANY OUTFITS.
>a bottle brush is nice.
>Diaper Genie (OR you can just use a $3 HomeDepot orange pail to soak your reusable diapers like we do!)
>a cool-looking backpack baby bag
>a humidifier
>room-darkening curtains
>reusable diapers (again, see other post for recs/hard lessons learned)
>a diaper sprayer for reusables
Smaller stuff:
>to go with your breast pump, it's been clutch to have extra shields/connectors and valves/membranes. I have like 12 extra valve/membranes from maymom, and I bought six extra shield/connectors (the personalfit ones work for me. figure out your size first. I don't know that I "figured mine out" so much as realized that one size worked/fit fine and just decided to get more of that one. This is super important because doing extra dishes every single damn day is not something anyone needs, with or without a baby.
>reusable boob pads--I like Bamboobies or you can get a set of six not as concealable organic bamboo ones from Bed, Bath, & Beyond for like $6.
>one or two size small sleepsacks; a medium one. I don't know yet if she'll need or use a large one.
>a cute breast feeding scarf
>it's been really really nice to have like 4 baby size chompies (pacifiers) and things to clip them to her. I stash them all over.
>at least 6 burp cloths.
>changing pad + we have three changing pad covers. The best one is the water-resistant (read: pee-resistant) one.
>additive free detergent (you do not need Dreft or whatever unless you want the baby smell. That's an invention. We use Seventh Generation.)
>All the wipes. Please try the Seventh Generation ones (or other more conscious ones) because this is a major environmental bummer. There are reusable ones, but I'm not there yet. Maybe you will be?
>giant tupperware containers to store different size clothing in
>Nose-Frida (way way way better than the bulb sucker things, and v necessary)
>rash creams
>breast milk storage bags & an organizer
>microwavable sterilizer bags--you won't have to do this forever and each bag is usable 20 times!
>hand-sanitizer
>Gripe water (absolutely murders hiccups!) and gas relief-- there's something doctors call "the storm" for like weeks 6-8ish. It's a real gas storm. :(
>a safety kit with a butt digital thermometer. Don't waste money on the head scanning one. It's only caused us mega stress that dissolves when I use the real butt one.
>a laundry basket for her
>safe dish detergent, like Dapple or green choice
Please no...
***FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR BABY, ask people to NOT buy you clothing. You'll still get THE MOST clothing. Like, you will have to do laundry only once a month. Or at worst, all she really needs are like six pajamas to rotate for the first few months, maybe one cute outfit for if she goes out. And fuck shoes. Warm little slipper-booties, sure, those are great. Socks, I guess. But fuck shoes. And blankets. For the love of god, babies are not supposed to sleep with blankets (says conventional contemporary doctor wisdom that seems to make sense), so I have twelve hand-made blankets we don't use.
We also never swaddled her (think baby-burrito) outside the hospital. Some kids like it I think? But this means we have like ten "receiving blankets" we will never use.
Finally, wrapping and gift bags. Just buy some name cards for people and ask them to skip the wrap or gift bags. We asked people not to wrap and now I have a thousand baby-girl-specific gift bags. I'd be specific about both. Then you don't have to do the stupid "watch me unwrap and pretend to overreact to everything I ASKED for". I'd also recommend having people pre-address their thank you cards for you (awesome friend idea)... then you pick one out like a raffle and that person gets a gift. Saves so much time!
Post-lifestyle
Things that'll make your body feel better after:
>Bamboobies nipple balm. It helps and you don't have to wash it off before you breastfeed.
>Frida-let -- angled and way better than the bottles the hospital gives
>ice packs to sit on
>Tucks witch hazel wipes or Earth Mama witch hazel perineal spray. Or you can DIY.
>lots of button down / easy access shirts and loose clothing
>hot showers. good for direct heat on hard boobs and indirect heat for wounded vags.
>hemorrhoidal ice pack pads that are awesome and generic brand ones aren't too expensive.
I made some pad-sicles with witch hazel and stuck them in the freezer. They kind of worked for a few minutes, but not well and wouldn't recommend.
I have been watching a ton of Great British Baking Show and whatever else on my phone quietly while she sleep-eats. Save those binges! You can also read, but I am normally an avid reader and somehow haven't done much of it so far.
Okay. That's all I have the brain power for for now, but I feel so much better! :) Good luck, you're doing GREAT! :D
