When do you do/buy everything?

[yellowbaglady]

I am 28+1 and just wondering when do I need to do the following:
Buy a pushchair/car seat
Buy the cot (we have a next to me crib which has been gifted to us so need to replace the mattress, but would like the cot set up as it has a big drawer underneath as we are limited on storage)
buy supplies like nappies and wipes (I would like to get a little stock together)
make a birth plan
Pack my hospital bag

We have got lots of clothes etc already but again I am not sure of quantities, how much do we need of each thing?

I just want to be prepared but I am scared of doing things too early and something bad happening. I can't imagine that this thing kicking and wriggling inside of me is going to actually come out and be a baby, I genuinely can't get my head around it. It has been me, dp and our teens for so long that this all feels so surreal but we are all so excited and it feels like a dream.

Congratulations. I understand as I worried but at 28 weeks I think it's ok to start getting ready and it helps you mentally adjust.

Pushchair is worth looking at now. The place I got mine said some companies have long lead times with covid, but don't know current situation. They suggested picking it up 4 weeks before. Don't worry about cot, mine didn't need it til 6 months.

Join boots parenting club. This week they have 16 points for every £1 you spend, it's normally 8 points and they really add up when you're setting up. They also offer you freebies.Also look on Facebook marketplace.

I'm a firm believer that you can't 'jinx' things so bought stuff when we saw a good deal on things- the next to me was a black Friday buy, put it up at about 36 weeks to get used to having it next to the bed 😂. Travel system we bought in the January sales and it sat in the hallway for six months!

Clothes I bought way too many having grossly underestimated the amount we'd get as gifts.

Birth plan and bag you can start thinking about whenever really, I think it's the 34 week midwife appointment where they're meant to run through anything like that with you.

The little essentials, get a stock in (I second boots parenting club, if you play the game you can do quite well out of them!) But don't get toooo much as you might find the cut of a particular brand of nappy doesn't suit your child, or that you hate the smell of a particular product.

Although you can't use most of it straight away I would look into getting your baby medicines in stock (Calpol, snufflebabe, thermometer, metanium would be my essentials for early days but there's some good threads on here) as you'll be glad of it when you need it.

I would pack your hospital bag now OP. I know it sounds weird and the likelihood is that you won’t need it for ages but there is always a small chance that baby could come early or that you need to be admitted for checks/any issues etc. Imagine how stressful it would be if you went into labour early and were worried about baby etc and then you also had to contend with telling DP over the phone everything that you wanted him to bring in and where to find stuff etc!

Whenever you want & can.

With DS1 we bought the cot when I was about 6m pg, woke up one morning and just felt like it.
Added other things as and when, we had car seat sorted around 7m and I had most clothes and hospital bag sorted.

Then with each child I left things as late as possible because I'm a "do it just beforen but likely after the deadline" kinda person naturally.
with my 7th I started packing the hospital bag an hour after first contraction.🤣
he was born in less than 12 hours, 3 days after EDD

I’m just about 30 weeks now and have pretty much everything now.

We started buying smaller bits after a private nipt test and scan at 13 weeks, then bought the bigger bits after the 20 week scan.

We’re in the middle of having an extension done (4th bedroom) so everything is currently either in storage at my partners unit, or at my in laws in their loft lol.

As soon as the extension is done we’ll be putting the cot up and getting the room set up. But the pram etc will stay over at my in laws. Mainly just to save space until we actually need it here.

Buy a pushchair/car seat - research now & check with stores what lead time are - buy car seat by 36 weeks but pushchair not so urgent as you can buy it after birth if necessary
Buy the cot - no rush
buy supplies like nappies and wipes - any time but only get a couple of packs of nappies until you know what size baby arrives at & have checked they don’t have a reaction to any of it 🙈
make a birth plan - any time but by 36 weeks
Pack my hospital bag - by 34 weeks, just in case 👍

It’s good to get a list together at this stage of everything you will need & tick things off & then you know where you are up to so you don’t duplicate or overbuy 😊