When will you have everything ready for the baby?

[Happilymarried155]

Hi,
Currently 23 weeks with my first after a long journey to get here, I also have a low lying placenta which whilst it could move it may not and have been warned about bleeding etc. I'm trying to be super organised as I don't want to be stressed out at any point and with Christmas in the middle I just want to enjoy it all.
I've got most things now or if they haven't been bought I know which I'm getting (ie pushchair etc..) still need to decorate nursery, do hospital bag, wash clothes and there's still lots of bits and pieces I need to get, car seat, bath stuff etc..I'm hoping to be ready by 28-30 weeks. Is that too early? I wanted to enjoy Christmas and as I'm planning on working as close to my due date as possible it seemed wise to be prepared. I'm also in the middle of a degree so have that to do as well!

A couple of family members have made comments that I'm being too organised, buying too soon and I will want stuff to do at the end etc... So was just curios to how prepared others were, especially with there first when you have more time!! X

28wks today with #3 and so far I have bought some nappies (they were on offer).

However we already have a girl and a boy (don't know what this one is) whose clothes I've kept, and I have boobs I know work well, so I reckon we're pretty much ready :)

With DC1 we were disorganised - moved in 3rd tri to a really small place needing work, lots going on, DH had health issues, not much money so couldn't just buy stuff straight away. Washed clothes and built the cot in early labour DC1 arrived earlier than due date (not prem) and I'd been banking on the extra time! Also didn't have enough nappies or formula and was close to holidays so had a job trying to get to shops to get anything. Tried organising stuff a few days postpartum, over exerted, a stitch loosened, and got infected I wouldn't recommend our approach!

Currently 34wks with DC2. Everything was bought or brought out of storage some time during 2nd tri, all washed and dried. Hospital bag mostly packed, including loads of drinks and snacks, toiletries etc, but I need to add some extra clothes (threw in one set for me and one for DC2 just to be covered, but ideally need a few extra bits just in case). Things need putting away as we have a small set of drawers for DC2's stuff which are still empty, but it's just a case of filling as everything is sitting in the cot ready (the cot that was put together a while ago! Yay!). Bottles and everything already in the kitchen, steriliser in place, stocked up on boxes of formula and nappies and baby toiletries like nasal spray and gripe water, which I found very useful at the appropriate ages.

However I have to take it easy now and so things take much longer, so whilst I'm glad I got so much done before there are still those few bits to do and it would be even better if they were already done! I don't think you can be too organised with these things as it makes it so much easier in later pregnancy and the early days with a newborn when you really won't be up to much. Much nicer to just rest and get on with the important things!

I'm 41 weeks and still not completely finished, I don't think you can be. We've had the nursery decorated for months, the baby has had all his clothes washed pressed and sorted for weeks on end and the hospital bag has been sitting in the hallway ready for what seems like a lifetime, but there's always something I seem to need to do.

That could be a little thing like popping an extra pack of nappies into the trolley at the supermarket, remembering to re-pack my hospital bag when I've bought something new, hiring the tens machine, reading baby books etc. It's also been bigger things like getting new kitchen white goods installed, having my cooker and carpets professionally cleaned, having the boiler serviced, cleaning through the house endlessly. The other day I removed all the plinths from my kitchen to clean underneath the kitchen units. I am full on nesting and trying to distract myself from the feeling that my baby is never going to arrive!

I'm 24 weeks and thought we might leave it all until DH is home between Xmas and NY. We won't decorate a nursery, we just need to clear the junk out if the box room and work out where to store the baby's bits. DD's room is as it came with some decals, so we'll do the same again, but the baby won't be in there until it'a 6 months.

I think I'm working on the basis that if the baby's early it won't be home straight away and will be too small for nappies and clothes sorted for a term baby.

I think I may just have my fingers in my ears and be ignoring everything.

I'm with you Pico2 - if the baby is early, then it still won't be coming home til full term probably!

And as someone else said - one trip to Mothercare/Mamas & Papas and another to the 24hr Supermarket and we're done ;)

34 weeks with #2 and #3 and just abut ready. I've now been the same size as I was at full term with #1 for over 6 weeks. I am fucking miserable!

We started around 30 weeks. And had her at 34! We bought premmie clothes when we passed a Mothercare on my drive home from hospital while she was in nicu. She's 12 weeks now and we havent started on a nursery. She will be in with us until at least 6 months and we hope to have moved house by then.

Wow! I am feeling very unprepared now. I have 11 weeks left. In 3 weeks time we are having significant building work done on our bedroom, the babys room and the bathroom. The builders have promised to be finished by the time we have 4 weeks left. Only then can we decorate!!!

We moved house when DD was nearly 6 months old, so it really didn't matter that we hadn't done a room for her.

The one thing I regret not doing is having some prepped food in the freezer - if you end up with a limpet baby like mine, it takes some time to master one handed chopping etc.

In fact when I have my second I am going to order some meals from here and I am also going to give pregnant friends gift vouchers from there too.

www.cookfood.net

I'm 36 weeks with DD2. Last time around we finished our renovations upstairs at 30 weeks and I was all done and dusted including decorating the nursery by 32 weeks. This time around, our kitchen extension / renovation isn't due to finish for 2 more weeks but I'm now pretty much ready (got last bits out of the loft to wash last night - bouncer / playmat / toys). Baby is rooming in with us so no nursery to prepare. We are moving our older daughter into the bigger room in the new year and then the baby will have her older sisters room when she is ready to move out of our room. I would do that now but we have my parents coming to stay with us for a month from Australia so they need somewhere to sleep.

Being ready helps me mentally prepare for the baby. If it works for you, then go for it.

I agree, there's no right or wrong time. I'm 29 weeks (due new years' eve) and other than a bit more clearing out I don't see as we really need to get anything ready . We've ordered the Snuzpod and not bothering creating a nursery really, we'll just dismantle the double bed that's in the spare bedroom and put up a cot when the baby moves int there which won't be until mid next year anyway.

The only essential we need to get is the car seat, and I'd quite like to have decided on a newborn-appropriate soft sling. I'll probably buy a few white sleepsuits and my mum has made loads of cardigans and blankets. For everything else there's Amazon Prime and Tesco click and collect. I'd rather wait and see what we need/how big the baby is.

For such a control freak I've surprised myself how spectacularly laid back I've been about this. I'm of the VeryThelma school of thought.

on my first I was really organised and had everything done by about 34 weeks. and then I waited and waited and waited and the buggy mocked me from the corner of the room. I went 2 weeks overdue. I honestly wished I had left more until the end. i was well able for an hour or two in the shops even at 41 weeks with an 11lb baby in my giant bump! get the big things, furniture, buggy etc but leave some of the shopping and washing clothes etc til the end or you'll go mad. worst case scenario if you go early, the shops will still be there and you can send people out for stuff.

for my second I was working til the day I had her (self employed) so used to do a bit every weekend from around 32 weeks and was only fully ready a week before she arrived.

now i'm due on 1st feb and not planning on doing anything til January. I want to enjoy Christmas too, but not with all the baby stuff staring at me and reminding me I still have weeks to go! I will be using Christmas as a distraction and then turn my focus to baby when it really is nearly here.

I'm 22 weeks after 3 MC and have bought nearly all the 'big' things. By big I mean the stuff that costs the most, we bought the pram early because it was from a friend who needed the money to buy a double. Then nothing til this weekend when we got the car seat and base (from a baby show) and a tommee tippee starter kit (half price) just gotta get the crib/cot and a changing unit. I've got quite a few clothing bits etc already, mainly to spread the cost because we have a lot to do in our flat before baby comes, and I want all the baby stuff bought by January in case he comes early.

I'm the same as you ViviPru. Got a few sleepsuits, got a Snuzpod, need to get a carseat, have been given a moby wrap, bought some nappies. I'm 32 weeks. I had no idea I'd be this relaxed about it, but I figure that between Amazon/24 hr Sainsbury up the road it will all be absolutely fiiiine.

Kindred spirit, Tiny . We're undecided on pushchair hence no carseat yet.

It's not like we're even lacking in space, DH rents a shipping container for his business that's half empty currently that we could stash everything in. Perhaps I'm in some kind of denial I'm sure I'm not and am just being pragmatic.

This is my second and I'm predicting about 4 days after he/she is here...

I'm 32 weeks and have everything ready! I feel better knowing that it's all done. Now I can relax! I would say no it's not to early! It will be better for yourself then you can relax when your nearer the birth

Last time we started buying stuff at about 20 weeks but as I was also planning our wedding baby stuff wasn't a high priority. We had the pram (at my mums) cloth nappies and a few changes of clothes at ours and everything else that we'd bothered to buy (crib, crib sheets, bottle feeding stuff, breast pump, baby bath, toys) was half way across the country. Was quite shocked to go for a scan at 36 weeks and be told I was going to have to stay in because they were inducing me. DD spent first night at home sleeping in the Moses basket style bit from the travel system!

This time round we're planning to have everything sorted in time for 36 weeks just in case, we're due mid April, so I might be induced mid March, starting my holiday mid February, hope to have everything organised by the end of January so I can spend the time I'm off before baby comes relaxing with DD

Last time I was so well organised. Nursery set up & completely decorated, pushchair & car seat etc bought, all before 30 weeks.

This time, I haven't really had to buy much - still got all DS's white babygro's so have topped up with a bit of pink (girl this time ) & will be re-using all the nursery furniture, car seats, pushchairs, toys etc.

However....... am now 32+5 and still haven't really got anything ready.

We are about to start some major building work so in the meantime baby's room is packed floor to ceiling with all of our bedroom furniture etc as well as all of her stuff. There's work to do in her room too but it can't be started until all of our stuff is out of there, so we're kind of stuck until the build is finished.

I'm already feeling the urge to nest & its incredibly frustrating as I can't. I'm hoping beyond hope she doesn't decide to arrive early!

The work is unlikely to be complete before she's here so we will probably end up having to sleep downstairs on the sofa for the first few weeks of her life, so she can be in the same room as us. Then as well as looking after a 4 year old & a new baby, we'll have to try & get both new bedrooms decorated & ready for use. Its not really how I'd planned to do things, if I could do it all again I'd have got the work started much sooner!

OP - I would say ignore what family members/other say about being too organised & if it feels right to do things now then do it! You have no idea how you will feel towards the end, its surprising how quickly you get tired once you get to 30 weeks+. Good luck!

With DC1 I think we were all done by about 35 weeks. I'm now 30 weeks with DC2 and haven't done anything really! I'm having a really rough pregnancy and have a toddler to contend with so its hard to find the energy. It doesn't help that our house is tiny, so I'm putting off bulky purchases as long as possible.

My husband and I lived separately when we found out that I was expecting our first child. She was not planned and he went into denial. At 32 weeks pregnant I gave him the ultimatum and said that he had to decide what we were doing. I moved into his house at 33 weeks pregnant having only bought a baby bath, changing mat and bathing box.
We started buying everything and luckily she was two weeks overdue because at 39 weeks we were just getting the nursery carpet laid!
Was rather a stressful time but now, ten years, another two children and a wedding later, all is well.

Oh- one word of advice - do not buy the most luxurious, expensive CREAM carpet that you can find for the nursery! Total waste of money :-)

Can't put off planning forever I suppose! Ultimately guess there's no right time and depends on your existing supplies, space, time, etc. I've got ages as only 16wks after 2 mmcs. But only intending to buy the minimum beforehand just decide which pushchair etc to get & send DH to buy in the last week or so. Don't want to be too negative but known 3 women lose it at 7 & 8 months so want to minimise risk of extra heartache if that happened here & we'd stocked up too early. Carpet in our nursery's already speckled anyway :)

I think you should do whatever makes you feel safe, secure and relaxed. It also depends on your parenting choices and personal preferences and situation.

For me (I'm expecting baby number 3 in Feb) I like to be organised early because that's just the way I am and I have PGP which it makes it difficult to do much at once. I have learned from my last two babies that 'stuff' does not make you organised or make life easier, in fact in makes life a lot harder. Babies and new mums need simplicity and space! So my prep is to declutter and get the house reasonably clean and tidy and easy enough to maintain. To fill up the freezer and store cupboard with easy food and create a weekly shopping list so I can just have Asda deliver once a week. I will be hoarding books and DVDs though, babies feed for HOURS every day, all day and it is boring!

Really it is true when people say "they only need your bottom drawer" in terms of stuff. I find the real helpful prep is in reducing stress, reducing how much I need to do on a daily basis and getting really knowledgeable so you can make informed choices (about labour, birth, feeding etc) even when you are too tired to think.