To be absolutely stupid with excitement?!

[Thisnamechanger]

I come from a tiny family. The last baby in our family was me, 31 years ago.

Today is SILs due date. My wonderful DM died shortly after their wedding in 2016 and this feels like the first good thing to happen to our family since.

Help me out MN! I'm child free and I'm not sure I've ever ever held a baby on my life but I'm STUPIDLY excited about becoming and Auntie!!

Have text SIL and DBro and said I totally understand they may want days or weeks alone with DNorN before inviting visitors but that I've kept the diary clear for potential visits in January.

AM. so. EXCITED.

What shall I bring baby? And more importantly SIL?? Any idea for a nice present for a new Mum??

Arrrrrggghhhh!

These are all amazing ideas, I’m just posting to say this is the nicest post I’ve seen on MN in some time!!!!
I think you will be the best auntie!!!

What would have been really helpful is for someone to say to me that it was ok if I was struggling and to acknowledge that it could be very difficult

Very very good to know! Thank you.

A travel mug. Especially if she’s breastfeeding.

There is nothing like a new baby in the family. It’s a very special time.
Hope the birth goes well and enjoy the wonderful squishy cuddles

@Thisnamechanger can I suggest a good travel mug to allow SIL a chance to have a hot drink now and again! MN loves contigo ones and I love a bodum one :)

I once took a new mum 4 bottle of the posh ‘fat’ coke, 4 J2O’s, a giant slab of galaxy, and a tin of homemade fudge. She said it was hands down best pressie! And often raided it for the middle of the night feeds to keep herself awake and full!

No worries OP. I may be slightly over-invested in your lovely thread .

Oh me too eatmycheese !!

We don't yet know if DBaby has our genetic family condition or not (is 50% chance) or of it's wee heart hole is healed yet so praying baby arrives safe and sound!

Sorry I'm so thick!! What's the travel mug for??

There is a Nick Sharratt book called Smart Aunties which I got my nephew when he was born.

Ah you sound so excited, it's so lovely! I remember when DSis was expecting my brilliant nieces - they are still just so wonderful, love them so much!!
Anyway, what I really appreciated when my DD was born was proper food/meals we could just heat up, visitors who didn't expect anything from me - they would get their own tea etc, or would call first in case we needed milk etc.
Cuddles with the baby so I could have a shower, or just easy visitors that didn't expect conversation or effort, & were happy just sitting with us.

Nick Sharratt
Is that the Jacqueline Wilson illustrator?

You just sound so lovely and excited :)

Do you live close to them? If you could sometimes take a bag of dirty laundry away from them when you leave their house and give it back to them all clean and folded a couple of days later then they would be SO thankful I bet. Simple things like that are the best gift :)

A goodly sized cheque in baby’s name More use long term in a savings account than any amount of baby clothes and plastic tat

You could buy the baby book, for your brother, that looks like a car mechanic book. Hanes?
Offer to come stay with your brother if your sister in law wants to do something grown up with her side of the family...

The travel mug is because you make a drink and never get to drink it while it is still warm. Also easier to manage while feeding (whether breast or bottle). You can make a drink and it will still be warm later which is brilliant when you are up for hours in the night.

Aww op you’ve really made me smile! You sound wonderful and no matter what gift you get I think your db, dsil and forthcoming baby have the gift of you being in their lives

My Dd is ten weeks old and a friend visited today who hadn't yet been. They brought various bits but he had gone out and bought as many newspapers as he could on the day she was born and put them in a sealed bag for when she's older. I cried at how thoughtful he had been.

I also agree re grobags. Fantastic things. A bath thermometer was another useful one I hadn't thought of. Scratch mitts same.

A copy of your favourite childhood book.?

I wasn't overly bothered about me. Things like making me a cuppa or asking if I was ok meant a lot.

You will be a wonderful aunty.

I wish I did chiki but it's about 2 hours drive so won't be able to pop round for the day to day stuff. Am hoping to get the Monopoly on less frequent yet very thoughtful gifts! And frequent overnight babysitting offer obviously.

Nice hand cream - I found the constant hand washing ruined the skin on my hands.

I was given a CD that was fantastic It was called Sound Asleep for Babies. It has soothing classical music that helped to lull the kids to sleep. The best thing about it though was that it didn't have gaps between the tracks, they just ran into each other. When I tried other CDs I found the babies woke up between the tracks.

This is absolutely lovely.

PJs or dressing gown is a nice gift.

CHEEKY WIPES! Even just for wiping baby's face and sticky hands they are a life saver. We just store them dry and use them as baby's own flannel so he has a new one clean and ready every day for his bath too ☺

Ask them what they need!

People with new babies often get deluged with new baby gifts like teethers (Sophie La Giraffe etc!) and tiny babygrows. Things in bigger sizes are useful. Also, asking is helpful -- especially when they are just out of hospital and may need things to be bought/fetched as they didn't realise they would need them.

Really nice ready meals would possibly be a really nice treat -- Cook are just the best for frozen stuff, although M&S/Waitrose would also have some nice things.

If she plans to breastfeed, I would 100% consider giving her a session with a really good lactation consultant (IBCLC accredited) as this can be a huge help. Or even just a list of all of the local breastfeeding groups and drop-ins, plus the free helpline numbers for La Leche League etc.

The absolutely nicest thing that anyone gave me was a voucher for a pedicure and the promise of taking my baby for a stroll in the park at a convenient time, whenever I felt ready to use it! (I kind of just felt like nesting for the first 12 weeks so I really appreciated that I could choose the timing and book it myself rather than having to go out of the house early on when I didn't really feel like doing anything other than snuggle the baby yet!).

You sound lovely. Your excitement and caring will make the biggest different.

I have a spare day tomorrow so might start assembling a SIL care box to post or take over.

So!
Hand cream
PJs
Chocs
Mini prosecco bottle
Travel mug
Slipper socks
Newspaper from day baby is born (assuming nothing terrible happens!)
Massage voucher?