OR: Why you should have baby stuff prepared beforehand
There’s a reason it’s a girl scout motto.
When at 36 weeks you think “maybe I should get that car seat installed”- do it! Otherwise it will be in the trunk as you drive home from the hospital with baby in hand. And you might find yourself scurrying to get it in the car 1 hour before your first pediatrician appointment, at which point simple directions take a long time to decipher because you are sleep deprived and your 5 day old was crying all night.
When you sketch out a solution for where to put the baby, because you decided you don’t want a nursery– move that furniture! Other wise you might find yourself coming home to an un-built crib and no where to put down the baby until your friend comes over to help you move furniture.
When you think about cleaning for the visitors that will inevitable descend upon you- clean! And then don’t let it get re-cluttered because you might find yourself scurrying out of the house with a dirty bathroom of amniotic fluid and a living room in disarray since you took out stuff to “organize”. Then the morning after you come home from the hospital, you will find yourself mopping before running to the airport to pick up said visitors.
When the doctor says “it looks like he’s going to be pretty small”- go buy newborn clothes! Otherwise, you might find yourself going to Walmart to get some jammies within hours of coming home from the hospital, because 0-3 is just too big.
And by the way, getting phone numbers of cleaning ladies is not enough, because trying to “train” a new employee with a 2 week old around is hard! And knowing where to get a diaper sprayer (aka bidet) is not the same as buying and installing one! And anything else you are thinking of doing- do it now, because later it will take much much longer to get done. And if you’re reading this you can’t say you haven’t been warned.
