Sites for parents-to-be 

Parents Place

Join your month's expecting club to get advice and stories from other women who are due around your time. I loved my August05 club - they are great! Our club changed to a 'playgroup' after the babies were all born so we can still chat and compare baby stories!

American Baby

I actually didn't use this site too much, but I did get the free magazine. It had some good stuff, some ok stuff...it was good bedtime reading.

Lollicakes gifts

Cute stuff for moms, dads, grandparents, and big brothers and sisters

We are glad that we... 

• Put a dimmer light in the nursery - it makes bedtime and night feedings easier
• Had our carpets shampooed. It helped me in my nesting stage and made having company that much easier.
• Invested in a digital camera, battery charger, and rechargeable batteries. We use our camera every single day for videos and pictures.
• Got the nursery ready early. My parents brought the crib from Minnesota right before Graham was born, but besides that we were set. I wouldn't have had as much fun if we had saved it until the last few weeks.
• Set up the swing (even though we didn't use it much), the bouncer, the carseat (obviously), the stroller. We didn't have time to put things together after Graham was born!
• Washed and sorted Graham's clothes. I got baskets for each size (0-3 months, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12) and sorted them. I didn't wash any of the older clothes, but I washed all of the 0-3's. Then we kept the first basket in his wardrobe and the rest on shelves in his closet. It has made the size transition easy, and I have clothes sorted for the next baby!
• Had a friend arrange meals for every other day for a month. Our church is incredible about bringing meals to new families. I arranged meals for my friend Ashley when she had Jack in June, and then she did it for us in August. Every other day allowed us to go out with our family some nights, and eat leftovers. It was so helpful! A great way to organize meals is to make a blog, creating an entry for every available day. When someone wants to take a meal, they comment for that day.
• Went to prenatal yoga class (well...I did, not David). It's not as expensive as you might think and it made me feel like I was doing something safe for myself and our baby. The stretches I learned helped throughout pregnancy.

Books we liked 

Baby Bargains: Secrets To Saving 20% To 50% On Baby Furniture, Equipment, Clothes, Toys, Maternity Wear, And Much, Much More! (Baby Bargains)

by Denise Fields, Alan Fields

Ok, so we didn't just like this book, we LOVED this book. It made registering so much easier! It also made us feel more confident buying things online (ebay - great deals!) when we hadn't seen them.

Amazon Price: (as of 08/30/2008)

The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy: Or everything your doctor won't tell you

by Vicki Iovine

I laughed a lot in this book. Some pregnancy books assume that as your tummy gets bigger, your tolerance for authors who are trying to be funny should get bigger, too. But this book really is funny. It also spends a decent amount of time on the changes you're experiencing. I felt reassured.

Amazon Price: (as of 08/30/2008)

Books that made me too nervous/mad/annoyed 

What to Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition

by Heidi Murkoff, Arlene Eisenberg, Sandee Hathaway

I really didn't like this book. I tried to like it, and I read it, but there were just too many times when the author was pessimistic. I was worried enough without reading this!

Amazon Price: (as of 08/30/2008)

I'm so glad that we bought... 

Leachco Snoogle Total Body Pillow

A full-length body pillow really helped my back, especially starting around week 25.

Amazon Price: $49.99 (as of 08/30/2008)

Sunbeam Health at Home Standard Moist/Dry Heating Pad

I layed on our heating pad in the recliner during the last few weeks. It was one of the only things that made my lower back feel better for a little bit.

Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 08/30/2008)

Breast Pumps 

I have the Medela Pump in Style. I highly recommend it! It's cheaper on ebay than in the store...don't get a used one, though. It's like sharing underwear with your friend.

Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by

Your hospital bag 

• Snacks for your husband, mom, sister, birthing coach - it gets long and you won't want them to leave to go and get a snack.
• Chapstick, but NOT flavored. I am usually a huge fan of lipsmackers (a simple pleasure), but the thought of strawberry lipsmackers still makes me feel gross. Go with plain - I like burt's bees.
• Maternity outfit for the way home that's too small. I was amazed at how quickly my tummy left me! I did need to wear maternity clothes home, but I was glad that they were some of the smaller things I had.
• Outfit for the baby, plus a onesie. I didn't bring the onesie. I don't know why, I just didn't think about it. And pack socks for the baby.
• Calling tree. Make a list of all of the people you want to call, and then choose one person from each 'group' to contact and ask them to call the others. Choose a back-up person from each group, just in case the main group caller isn't there. This way your hubby has to call maybe seven or eight people instead of seventy or eighty.
• Socks - I love the fuzzy kind. My feet got cold in the hospital and I was glad for my socks.
• Boppy - If you're planning to nurse, bring the boppy to get you used to it!
• Arrange for someone to bring your family member a meal. The hospital food at Duke wasn't fabulous, and I can't imagine that other hospitals have stellar food, either.
• Hair binders to keep your hair out of your face
• Camera and extra batteries and an extra memory card.
• Your baby's baby book. Our nurse printed Graham's little feet and hands right into his book. Make sure to tell them that you brought it so that you don't forget when your baby is born!
• Bottled water
• Cd's - I made a calming labor cd but we didn't use it. It was good to make before-hand, though...kind of like therapy. We forgot about it when the time came!
• Make-up and other toiletries. You will love brushing your teeth - especially if you throw up like I did.
• Nursing bras - find a few good ones before you give birth. My size really didn't change that much after my milk came in, so I think that you can find a few before. I like the snaping ones much better than the hooking ones. Motherhood Maternity has an awesome hookless/snapless sleeping bra that I highly recommend.

Questions? Comments?