Is anyone ever really fully ready for their baby to arrive?
If you read my recent FAQs post, you’ll already know that I’m currently in the third trimester of our first baby. It’s so exciting, and there’s so much to learn that no one tells you until you’re pregnant. Where on earth do you even start when you’re getting ready for a baby to arrive in your home? But, there’s one thing that I’ve heard a lot of…
Everyone tends to focus on the labor part. And rightfully so, it is a big part of having a baby, I won’t deny that. However, there is what some people call the ‘fourth trimester’. And it’s the part that a lot of people forget about because they’re focusing so much on the end of the third trimester. After being told this at our NCT class, I realised, I was one of them.
It’s so important to think about the first few months after you’ve brought your baby home now. You need to get ahead. You don’t know what you’re going to feel like, how much sleep you’re going to get, or what energy you’re going to have for your everyday things. So getting ahead now is going to set you up for all of that.
I’ve been spending the last few weeks, in particular, thinking about this and thinking about what I can do to make it as easy for myself as possible. It’s obviously not such a huge concern nowadays. If you forget something, it’s so easy to get something delivered next day on Amazon.
Set up an Amazon Baby List
If you haven’t already, set yourself up an Amazon Baby List. We found that everyone would ask us what we needed when they wanted to buy us a gift, and I’d never have any idea. I also found it awkward telling people what I actually needed, not knowing how much they were wanting to spend. Or whether they wanted to spend it on toys, clothes, or more practical things. So we set up our Amazon Baby List, and whenever anyone asked we would just send them the link.
It’s been really useful, if there’s nothing on the list they want to buy it at least gives them inspiration. They also have the option to run through their checklist to make sure they’ve you’ve thought of everything you might need.
Deep clean the whole house
Even though it’s hard to know exactly when the baby’s going to arrive, I’m planning a big, whole house deep clean. My aim is to get it to the stage where we can just clean as we go, then bring the baby home to a nice clean and tidy house. And me not have a lot of housework to do.
Part of my nesting phase has helped with this, I always desperately need the house to be clean. But I know that soon the energy-drained stage is coming, so I’m making the most of it now.
A heavy declutter
For us, our nursery room was a bit of a mess room. It was the room where we kind of dumped a lot of things that we didn’t know what else to do with. So we’ve used clearing it as an opportunity to have a declutter. We made quite a few trips to the tip, and also to our local charity shops with donations.
It’s also so needed because you’ll learn quickly just how much room babies take up. Even before they’re born. They come with so much stuff, it’s crazy to think they have a whole room of their own things and they’re so small. So whether you’re planning it or not, chances are you’re going to have to have some sort of declutter.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: The Third Trimester and Pregnancy FAQs I Had
Don’t leave out the garden
My happy place is our garden. This year I’ve worked hard to get it up together and ready for our non-existent Summer. So, it’s part of our home that I’m desperate to keep going with. I’ve been checking for weeds nearly every day, deadheading as I go, and cutting back anything that needs it. It’s been really lovely, but what I do not want is to finally have time for it again in a year, and it’s like a jungle. Also, lovely photo opportunities with the new baby in the garden are a bonus.
Meal prep nutritious meals
This advice changed my life because I hadn’t even thought of this. Even though it is quite obvious. When you get home from the hospital, you’ll want nice, home-cooked meals, and you’ll need to feel fed to make sure you have the energy made up from the lack of sleep (as much as possible). Plus, you need to be eating the right things to make sure you’re getting nutritious meals.
You can sign up to something like Hello Fresh or Cook, but what I’ve opted for is making my own microwave meals. I’m booking out a day where the plan is to just cook freezable meals. I bought these freezable, reusable food containers to fill up with my prepped meals, and afterwards they’ll work as leftover boxes.
Stock up on household essentials
This is one I’ve seen on a lot of recommendations, and while it’s not urgent (remember Amazon Prime), it’s something off the mind. Also, if you know you’re stocked up, you know you won’t run out. This means things like kitchen rolls, toilet rolls, washing up liquid – the basics that you use every day.
It’s worth also stocking up on cleaning things you don’t use every day, but can have ready in case there’s a spillage.
Laundry, laundry, laundry
This goes with the cleaning, but this one feels more important. I’m trying to stay on top of our laundry pile (much harder to do with no sunny weather) to make sure it’s not building up. The last thing I want to come home to is a pile of washing to do and nothing to wear.
Set up the things you know you’ll need first
I said it in my last post, but someone pointed out to me that chances are the baby won’t need a nursery right away. They’ll probably be in your bedroom at night, so really, the nursery shouldn’t be top of your list. I’ll be honest, ours was, just because it was the fun part of prepping for the baby for us. Plus, I wanted our baby to have their own room, even if they don’t know what it is just yet.
But, if you’re finding yourself struggling for energy or time, there are a few things in the nursery that I recommend you prioritise, if you can. First, a baby feeding area. You’re going to be feeding a lot (every three hours, minimum), so you want this to be set up as a nice space to be in. We have a rocking chair, a soft lamp, and a coffee table. I intend to have water for me, snacks, and my iPad set up there as well, so whenever it’s feeding time I’m ready. (On a side note here, also have programmes downloaded on your iPad if that’s what you’re doing, so you never have to panic over what to watch when needed.)
A changing area is really important. You can get changing tables, but we’ve opted for a chest of drawers, thinking that it’ll be much more useable after we’re not needing a changing table anymore. Then on top we’ve just got this changing mat/basket, and a nappy organiser, so everything we need is within reach. Anything spare, like spare nappies, is in the top drawer, so it’s easy to refill as we go.
And probably not the most important, but I’d recommend getting storage. We have a chest of drawers, then baskets in a wardrobe storage. It’s not something you’ll really, desperately need in the early days, but it’s so good to have everything tidied away and organised.
If you know where everything is without having to think about it, things will run a lot more smoothly.
