As you may have seen in my recent blogs and posts on social media, I’m expecting baby number three in September of this year. Of course, the whole family is excited, including myself and my husband. We are also in a very privileged position to be the owners of Baby and Mumma Gifts, which means we have access to all sorts of baby gear, and rather than having to go out to the shops to make our purchase, we can walk to our stock room and find lots of different things we need.
At about 30 weeks of pregnancy, I started to get things ready and prepared. There were a few reasons I started getting ready this early. Firstly, I wanted to be organised in case anything unexpected happened. We have all heard stories of pregnant mothers unexpectedly having premature babies, and I wanted to make sure I was prepared and ready, and not relying solely on my husband to get all of our baby gear ready. Secondly, I remembered from previous pregnancies that the last few weeks of pregnancy are exhausting and that the last thing I would want to be doing would be carting around big boxes of baby items, washing, and shopping for everything I needed. I also like to be organised and needed to feel like I was on top of things.
I also used my own checklists for baby items that I created for Baby and Mumma Gifts. You can get the checklists here.
So here is an incomplete list of the things I have ready to go before our baby arrives:
1) All the big baby gear:
As this is baby number three, I already had most of the big baby gear from my previous children. This meant I didn’t have to go out and purchase any of the expensive items. I just had to get all the items out, cleaned, set up, and ready to go. Here are the main big ticket items I have ready:
- Change table
- Bassinet and cot
- Pram
- Capsule and car seat
All of these had been packed away in our garage for the past couple of years, and I got them all out, washed everything I possibly could, and set them up in our bedroom ready to go.
2) Change table organisation:
I was deeply inspired by my sister in law and brother in law when I was at their house recently by their very well organised change table! Because of this, I went and bought some baskets from kmart and started to get ours organised for baby. I know some people don’t use a change table much, but it’s something that I always used and found helpful. If nothing else, it’s a place to store all the baby things.
I have told this story before on this blog, but I will never forget the first time I went on an outing with my first baby and continuously forgot things from the nappy bag. I was already stressing about taking the baby to a family event on my own, and was running around my house trying to work out what I needed to bring. The whole time I was holding an unhappy newborn, and then when I finally got her to the car and buckled in, I remembered something I had forgotten, so I unbuckled her and we went back inside to get it. Then when she was buckled in again, I forgot another item, so we unbuckled and went back inside. I did this a total of three times. After that, I kept an already packed nappy bag with everything I needed ready. I didn’t want to be stressed and running around when getting everything ready. Soon I learned that I didn’t actually need to pack everything under the sun, but also learned to always check the nappies and spare clothing are always re-stocked. So in preparation for baby number 3, I packed my nappy bag ready to take with me to the hospital and for the first outing. It made me feel so organised!
If you want to see what I pack, please check out my checklists here.
Here is a picture of my already packed nappy bag – one of the benefits of owning Baby and Mumma Gifts is that I gifted myself one of the nappy bags from our store, this beautiful grey backpack nappy bag which can be purchased here.
4) Nappy caddy packed:
My husband thought I was crazy getting this packed so early, but I remember how much of a life-saver the nappy caddy was when my last baby was a newborn. In preparation for baby number three, I have already got my nappy caddy ready with most of the items I need already packed inside. I will use the nappy caddy at night, to avoid having to get up overnight to change baby’s nappy, and I will also have it with me during the day when feeding baby, as I know I will be needing things for baby while they are feeding, and also things for myself. Once baby is here, I will also add some snacks and my water bottle to this nappy caddy, as I know I will need them constantly while feeding and caring for baby.
Here is my partially packed nappy caddy (just missing snacks and water!). I am using the nappy caddy we stock here.
5) Baby clothing and items washed, sorted and organised:
I pulled down boxes of baby clothing from our garage, received some more from our relatives, and bought some more from Facebook Marketplace. In addition, I chose a few cute items from our stock room which I just couldn’t resist. The washing machine and dryer were going for days to get all of these things cleaned. I then organised them by size and put them into the chest of drawers ready for when baby gets here. I also have a box of premature-sized clothing I was gifted which is also in our wardrobe ready to go in case we need it.
6) Maternity, nursing, and postpartum clothing sorted:
This one has been a long process for me! The maternity clothing I had during my first pregnancy no longer fits well, and the clothing I wore during my second is the wrong season. So I had to buy a whole lot of new items. I found some on Facebook marketplace and ordered some new ones. I also went to my favourite op shops and found some maternity items and some items that are loose and will fit a pregnant body. I also went out and bought new nursing bras. Hopefully, I don’t need to buy anything more as it was really hard to find nice maternity items!
7) Hospital bag packed:
Again, I know it’s early to be packing my hospital bag, but I like to be organised and prepared for anything. For this one, I was lucky enough to find so many items I needed in our stock room, such as the maternity pyjamas, toiletries kit, postpartum underwear, and more! I have put these together with all the items I already had for the baby, a new pack of nappies and wipes, and all the bits and pieces I need and packed them into a hospital bag. If you want to see what I packed, check out my checklists here, or check out our Hospital Bag for Mum section. The main thing I still need to add to my hospital bag is my snacks! Closer to my due date, I’ll be going to the supermarket and stocking up on a whole lot of snacks to eat in the hospital as I know I’ll be needing them!
8) Cooking:
I haven’t started this yet, but in a few weeks, I’m going to start stocking the freezer full of family meals to eat after baby is born. I did this with my previous two pregnancies and found it to be amazing after the baby was born, especially after my C section with baby number 2. When I was in the early postpartum period and exhausted, it was so helpful to have a freezer full of beautiful meals that I could choose from each day so I didn’t have to worry about cooking. I have already started to look for freezer-safe recipes, and can’t wait to start cooking soon!
9) Family holiday:
A bit like a baby-moon, we’ve planned a little getaway for the family. It is nothing at all luxurious, just a few nights away at a holiday park where we will be able to relax, and the children will be fully entertained by all the fun at the holiday park. We want to spend some time with our two children before things become really busy with baby number three, and we want to make it as relaxing as possible. I plan on sitting by the pool (even though it will be too cold to swim!) with a mocktail and a book, watching while my children entertain themselves on the playground for a few days. I cannot wait!
I hope you found all my preparations interesting to read, and I hope it helps others to start getting prepared for new babies. I love being organised and I wish all the other pregnant mummas all the very best of luck with organising everything for baby, and don't forget to get your free baby prep checklists here.
Lots of love,
Rachel
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