Getting ready for Baby

[AshleyCali2Uk]

How many weeks were you when you decided to pack your hospital bag, wash baby's clothes and put them away, set up the baby's nursery/sleeping area out the swings and baby items together and deep clean the house?
I'm 29w4days and unsure about when to get started.

Congratulations op. I started at 30 weeks. I'm now 37+2 weeks. Always good to pack beforehand as you never know what will happen. Good luck woth everything x

@jadey1991 omg any day now! Then you finally get to meet human you have been making ! Congratulations!! I hope everything goes smoothly and just how you imagined it to be. Thank you 😊

We've built the cot and assembled the big items (chest of drawers) in case there was anything missing or broken in the delivery and we could sort out a replacement in time. I'm 25 weeks and will pack my hospital bag around 34-35 weeks I think.

Bag was 6 weeks before, Moses basket was put together a month before, clothes were washed and put away and the basket dressed a couple of days before (planned C-section). Deep cleaning the house.. I guess I started decluttering when I got pregnant but the proper top to bottom spotless clean was maybe 2-3 weeks before baby. Same time as I was filling my freezer with lasagne and stew 🤣

26 weeks and I don't think I packed a bag until 37 weeks for the other two. Will probably do the same. It doesn't take long to shove stuff in a bag if you know what you're taking. Bring lots of food though!

pack your hospital bag
About 35 weeks. Only took 10 minutes. Most of the stuff they told us at NCT to take were totally unnecessary. Bag with DC2 was much lighter.

wash baby's clothes and put them away
Never washed them for DC2. Or not new ones anyway. Sorted them and put into drawers from whenever they were given to us or bought.

set up the baby's nursery/sleeping area
Nursery was a dumping ground for loads of stuff till after DC1 arrived. Sleeping area was just putting crib down the side of the bed. Maybe from.about 38 weeks?

put the swings and baby items together
Didn't have a lot to put together. Again whenever we were given/bought it. Put car seat in car as soon as we brought it to save finding storage space inside

and deep clean the house?
Never did this!

I did all those things when I went on mat leave from 35 weeks with DS, which worked out really well as he was born at 41 weeks so plenty of time. I'm currently 28 weeks and plan to do everything much earlier (around 30ish weeks) this time as I've got a few things going on in this pregnancy that might mean an earlier birth and don't want to be caught out 😅

@fitforflight sounds like a good idea getting some big things out of the way sooner than later.

@MarleyandMarleyWoo see I'm having a planned CS too however they have planned it a week after I'm due so about 42 weeks bc theirs no availability sooner so most likely I'll be having an emergency CS once I go into Labor I'm sure. The uncertainty is like well when do I do things since idk when the baby is coming I think I'll give birth around 37weeks or so

@Thankyouthankyoujellybean oh yes I've already been thinking about what I'm taking as far as food more than what I need to bring for the baby lol 😂😂

@DappledThings okay so about 35-38 weeks I love how simple you're keeping it too!

@Lottie917 yeah 30-35 weeks seems to be the thing. I hope you have an easy pregnancy delivery and recovery with everything you have going on.

I packed my bag for dc2 when I was in labour (at term, don't even have the excuse he came early!).

Don't do that. I didn't pack anything useful and dh had to bring in everything I'd forgotten, like a nightie!

I packed a light bag ready for a two day stay when I was 34 weeks due to a previous stay the week before for high blood pressure. Ended up having baby at 35 weeks with nothing prepared. The cot was still in dh’s boot. We had clothes but they were not washed. They were too big for him anyway and we had to buy tiny clothes. The pushchair, carrycot and car seat were 80 miles away when he was born. He stayed in hospital for 12 days though so it was enough time for a relative to bring those items.

Yes my darling any day now. Really excited lol. Can't wait to meet her. Thanks babe. X

@ditalini
Packing early sounds like the way to go bc you just never know. Baby will come when they feel like it. And if you don't have a nightie ready oh well 😂😂

@Blue2020 I'm so sorry baby had to stay in the hospital. If you could go back in time to be more prepared what would you have done differently. Hindsight is something else isn't it

@AshleyCali2Uk I suppose I would have tried to be prepared by 33/34 weeks but that’s hindsight, most pregnancies occur later on so I assumed I still had time.

I didn’t think about what I would need differently after a C-section. I didn’t prepare for a csection, well I didn’t prepare at all to be honest at 34 weeks. The most I had done was attended two online sessions regarding the birth and pain medication options and what induction involved. I wasn’t against a C-section though, I was just going to go with the flow. The hospital suggested induction in the next day and I agreed, but before it was started my baby stopped moving completely that day. I was already in the hospital (mild preeclampsia that was starting to get worse hence the induction decision). He had a static hr and no movement when he was monitored so they said he might struggle with contractions. Then an hour later I was suddenly having the surgery.

So I needed leggings and underwear that went over the scar. Previously I have always worn clothes on my hips. I tried afterwards but the scar was too tender/sore. Any movement and it also rubbed on the scar which hurt to start with, then even a month later it was more irritation. So dh went out and bought me things after the surgery. It might have been better to shop myself but I didn’t know I needed any of that.

I would sling some things for yourself in a grab bag now, even if it is short of your perfectly packed hospital bag. If something happens, even something short of early labour, like you you have a midwife appointment and they want you to go in for further checks and you need to stay in, or you have bump in your car and go to hospital they will probably be more likely to admit you for monitoring overnight, it will be highly stressful anyway and to be able to direct another person or family member to a ready-packed bag which at least has some underwear, toothbrush, toiletries and some PJs/comfy clothes, maybe a spare phone charger, in will help you feel more prepared. Realistically, if you went into labour now, baby would be in hospital for a while and the hospital would have premmie things at hand for them until you recovered from the shock and family could source own things.

I'm 30 weeks and I've washed all the clothes because I couldn't help myself!
I've thrown some of my things into a suitcase and started packing up and labelling baby clothes for hospital bag. Will formally pack this in a few weeks time and will set up car seat etc by the end of the year.
This is more my just wanting everything to be done by 2024 so I can have the month of January to myself (hopefully if baby comes around the time of the due date- first week of Feb!)
We'll do a deep house clean in January too so fingers crossed baby stays in there lol.

Good luck!

@Blue2020 I completely understand where you're coming from. My first pregnancy was with twins and my water broke at 36 weeks with baby A and baby b was breached and my sac had not broke with him. I had preeclampsia as well and was not expecting a c section. This was in 2011 now here I am pregnant again and I'm like wait what do I need to do to prepare? It's like being a mom all over again in a sense.
I guess it's never too early to have at least something put together

@Catopia this is absolutely brilliant you're right even if the bag isn't perfect it's something and from all these stories I'm hearing you just never know any way so best to be prepared even if it's in a small way. I didn't even think of that. Thank you

@msp2023 nice we are due around the same time! Good luck with the delivery and recovery. I hope it goes even better than you planned. I have all my baby clothes in a hamper so I can wash them just haven't gotten around to it. But I think I'm definitely going to start now. No more waiting around

I am just over 28 weeks.
I went through all the bits I have yesterday and made some organised caos of what is going where. Started making my hospital bag and washing bits.
Early I know but I want to concentrate on learning abit more towards the end because it's overwhelming me at the moment and I'm worried I'll just forget!!

I plan to make the nursery up (paint, furniture etc) in January so around 34/35 weeks.