For my dear girlfriends who are soon to give birth: trust me, there is nothing you can do you be TOTALLY prepared. And that is fine, because there is a lot that will happen by instinct or trial and error. But there is a lot you can do to be pretty-well prepared. Having failed at pretty-well with my first baby, and hit the mark with my second, might I offer this list:
WHAT TO DO BEFORE YOU HAVE THE BABY, SERIOUSLY.
- Have your house cleaned. Professionally. BY SOMEONE WHO IS NOT YOU. Are you getting me? You should have your feet up, first of all. Second of all, when you bring your tiny little precious bundle of joy into your house, after spending a few days at the gloriously clean
-Go to the movies, for long slow walks with your dog or your baby-daddy, to lunch, for a drink with friends. All of those things, as much as your tired third-trimester ass will allow. It's gonna be a long time before you can do this without preparing as if for battle.
-Read a book or two that have nothing to do with babies or birth. (But also read a book about birth, and one about babies).
-Pack your bag for the hospital (list forthcoming).
-Pack the baby's bag for the hospital (list forthcoming).
-Do NOT pack the baby's daddy's bag for the hospital - in fact, this would probably be a good time to remind the baby's daddy that he is indeed going to be at a hospital, and having a baby, and maybe packing his own bag would help get that message through in a tangible way.
-Figure out good spots to put the baby down once you are home, whether that means setting up the crib or co-sleeper or a sheepskin on the floor.
-Go to Trader Joe's and get a shitload of frozen meals and snacky things. IF I CATCH YOU NOT EATING AFTER YOU HAVE THAT BABY YOU WILL BE IN HUGE TROUBLE WITH ME.
-Go to Target and purchase the following: nursing pads (Lansinoh), nursing tanks, Tucks pads, lady-pads, cheap ugly underwear, anesthetic spray, two packages of diapers (one in newborn and one in size 1), and some wipes.
-Load up the netflix queue with funny/unchallenging/comforting things (for example, I have blown through 6 seasons of HIMYM and 1.5 seasons of Felicity). You will find yourself on the couch a lot. Under a hopefully napping, probably nursing wee one. And you are not going to want to move because OMFG BABY IS SLEEPING (now would also be a good time to establish baby-daddy's role as sandwich and beverage-fetcher).
-Pay any bills in advance that you can. Fill the oil tank, get cat food, etc. Or make sure baby-daddy is prepared to take over all of these errands for at least 3 months.
And...that's it! A totally manageable list, right? A friend called it "preparing for a 3-month coma," which is semi-accurate except for the part where a coma sounds sort of restful.
Any other moms care to add to the list?
Con muchos besos, A
Get a haircut! I stupidly didn't get one before Austin was born and then didn't get one again for another 11 weeks. I got one right before returning back to work. My hair looked terrible in all of the "new baby in the hospital" photos.
ReplyDeleteMake a stack of your early maternity clothes like the demi panel jeans and big shirts. You'll be wearing those for the next 8 weeks until you can get your butt to Target for some fat pants.
The Trader Joe's idea is perfect. I didn't do that before and had to go afterwards because otherwise I wouldn't have eaten.
The sitcoms from Netflix are great. I DVRed Golden Girls - all episodes. Those crazy old broads kept me sane.
Oh good ones, Jen! I also forgot to recommend practicing all of the baby gear: click the carseat into the base in the car, and then into the stroller, etc. There's nothing like forgetting how to get the car seat into the car 10 minutes before your first well-baby visit to send a new mom into total panic crisis meltdown mode.
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