to-do list before baby #2 comes

The Hospital Bag

With my first pregnancy, I barely touched my hospital bag. This time around, I packed lighter. You don't need the million of "stuff" that most of those lists on Pinterest tell you to bring. The hospital will provide mostly everything you'll need. They'll provide all the products you'll need to take care of yourself and your baby. When you get that almost $2,000 hospital bill in the mail after you deliver your baby, you won't feel guilty bringing home a stash of diapers, pads and pairs of mesh underwear with you. Embrace the mesh underwear! You don't want to buy or bring your own underwear that you'll just throw away. If you think you're going to walk out of the hospital in your pre-baby clothes and a thong, then you must have magical powers. I've never had a cesarean, so I'm not sure what the recovering process would be like.

| Marc Jacobs diaper bag | Bebe au Lait nursing cover | Mother Load clean clothes bag | Aden and Anais swaddle blanket | Treats for the nurses and doctors

My Bag includes:

• Flip flops - For the shower and to walk around 
• Bath towel - For when you shower. The hospital will provide some but I like my own
• Robe - Not necessary but this time around I want to look somewhat presentable when visitors arrive. The hospital gown is what I mostly wore because nice PJs will get bloody.
• Socks and/or cozy slippers
• Toiletries - The basics (shampoo, body wash, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, etc) for when you shower. If you need a hairdryer and your flat iron/curling iron, then you can bring that too.
• Light make-up - I didn't wear any last time, but this time around, I want to try to look decent and not look like a hot mess
• Nipple cream - My hospital provides Medela lanolin but with my first baby I used Lansinoh and would like to try Earth Mama Angel Baby
• Nursing bra and/or tank
• Going home outfit - Comfortable, loose clothing, dark colors, maybe even maternity clothes
• Wallet
• Hospital paperwork
• Phone
• Charger
• iPad 
• Pillow - Optional
• C2O coconut water and 2 packets of Mother's Milk tea - my personal preference. I don't like the taste of most coconut water brands so I'm going to bring my own. The Mother's Milk tea contains fenugreek, which helps with milk production. It is doctor approved. The hospital can provide the hot water and honey for the tea.

Baby Bag includes:

• Going home outfits - 2 to 3 outfits, you really don't know how big or small he/she will be
• Swaddle blanket - the nurses will swaddle your baby with a blanket the hospital provides, but you can bring your own if you want to. 
• Nursing cover - Optional, this is a personal preference. I used my Bebe au Lait nursing cover all the time with Brookie. I think if I had boobs like Scarlett Johanssan, I would probably bare it all everywhere I go.  

That's pretty much it! Like I said before, the hospital provides a lot of the things you will need. Don't go out and buy everything, you'll waste your money. You can use all the cute baby stuff when you come home from the hospital. Plus, you'll want to leave extra room in your bag for all the things you'll be bringing home. 

Other items on my To-Do List

Aside from getting the nursery decorated, putting the car seat in car and pre-washing all the cute little clothes, there are a few things I want to do before the arrival of our little one.

1) Pamper yourself

Get a pedicure. You can't reach your feet anyways, it's a perfect excuse. Get manicure or massage. Get a complete makeover, if you can. Whatever it is, treat yourself because having a baby is no easy task. It will change your life. Once your baby arrives, you will officially be in mama mode and sometimes taking care of yourself will be the last thing on your list.

2) Sleep

I know everyone says it but seriously, the days of sleeping in will be a distant past. When you're newborn sleeps, you'll want to stay up and watch him/her sleep. They look like angels when they sleep. As time goes by, you will get more sleep but it won't be the same. For some reason, I can wake up in the middle of the night with the drop of a pin. You become highly sensitive to noise and those days when you would sleep like a college student is long gone. If you're one of those mamas that don't need sleep, I envy you! I know some people can function with very little sleep. I wish I had that energy!

3) Prepare pre-made frozen meals, buy a bunch of snacks or be prepared to eat to-go meals

We don't eat at restaurants as much as we did, before we had kids. Living with one income, I've had to figure out how to maximize the food I buy at the grocery store. It's still a process and I'm still learning how to keep within budget.

I remember eating oatmeal and drinking hot Mother's Milk tea everyday for the 1st month. If you're the cook in the family, like myself, the last thing you want to do is prepare homemade meals everyday. For the first couple of weeks, you'll be weak from the delivery, sleep deprived and a human milk machine (if you're breastfeeding). You'll need the fuel to give you energy. Prep cut up fruit and veggies in storage containers or meals you can easily heat up. It was so helpful when family would drop by with meals. My mom stocked my fridge when we came home for the hospital, she's the best! My cousin and her husband came by with Rosco's Chicken and Waffles and I was in heaven! It was the best meal ever! It really takes a village to raise children.

4) Download a contraction timer app and baby nursing tracker on your phone

As you know, you don't want to go to the hospital the moment you feel contractions. If you're water breaks, that's a different story. For the most part, you'll want to wait until your contractions are less than 5 minutes apart and last a minute long for an hour. Typically you use the 5-1-1 rule or if you can 3-1-1, which are contractions that are 3 minutes apart. You definitely don't want to go to the hospital too soon because they will send you home.

The contraction timer app was easy enough for me to press 'start' and 'stop'. I didn't have to look at a clock and write down interval times. The pain became too intense! For me, contractions started around 5pm on Thursday and I didn't deliver Brookie until Friday at 2pm. It was a long process, which is usually the case for 1st time mamas so I'm hoping the 2nd time will be a quickie.

At the hospital, the nurses will want to know every time you nursed and for how long. They make you write it down, but I always forgot to write it down. The app is an easy way to keep track. Sometimes I would forget to press 'start' and 'stop' while nursing but it's great when you go to your baby's doctor visits. For your monthly pediatrician visits, the doctor will ask you how often your baby eats, how many times you change diapers, how many poops a day, how many hours of sleep, etc. The baby tracker app will help you answer all these questions.

5) Make treats for the nurses and doctors

They deserve a "Thank You" for what they do. The things they see and do amazes me. I don't want to get too graphic but delivering a baby is not a pretty business. I felt like a complete mess after my delivery. They took care of me and saw things I didn't want to see. I thought to myself, "What is that coming out of my vagina?! That is not cute!" Although cookies and candy aren't enough for their hard work, it's a little something I can give to show my appreciation.