#4 A Few Things I'd Like Before Baby

There are a few things that we are looking to get before the baby comes, either to make our home a better place for our growing family, for my comfort in pregnancy, or for the birth. Some of the items listed won't seem like gifts associated with babies, but I'm just going to list everything!

We are planning a home birth and would love to have a birth pool available to me to labor and/or birth in!! I want to specifically support Waterbirth International (it looks like they'll make it through they're financial difficulties, should they not before my birth, there is a local contact that rents out birth pools). I'm looking at the Birth Pool in a Box Eco - Regular Size.

Even as a doula, I'm planning on taking a birth class. I'm looking into taking a Bradley Method class, as it is father centered. I want Dear Husband (DH) to be comfortable and confident in this experience.

We have hired a doula, we haven't finalized with payment yet, but the agreement has been made. Her cost is $400 (a steal given her skill level), I'm guessing we'll pay half fairly soon and half after the baby is born, at least that's how it was recommended that we charge in our doula class. As I said in a previous post, she is skilled in many things besides being a doula. I foresee taking advantage of as many of her skills as possible, therefore would like to be able to give her a generous tip!

A birth ball (update: I got the birth ball) and a body pillow (update: I got a body pillow!!) are on my list of must haves. I admit that I won't wait very long to be gifted these items as my body is already telling me all about the changes that are happening within! I guess that I mention them more for posterity, than for myself!

A couple other things that I'll list that we don't really expect as gifts: rather than a crib, we are planning to bed-share, so we need a new and larger mattress (probably a queen, we'll probably start with just the mattress on the floor and build it up to a "set" over the next year or so to spread out the expense and we'll get a little bed when it's needed for our growing child). We'll be getting it at Ikea, as they use less toxic flame retardants (phosphor organic flame retardants) on their furniture. While we're there we also intend to pick up a new couch (probably in Simris Blue and hopefully a spare cover), as we are currently using a futon, not very comfortable for sitting, worse for breastfeeding.

I'm going to mention this on behalf of DH, as one day he was joking, "Can't we ask that instead of stuff they just put money in our Health Savings Account (HSA)?" We have a HSA through Wells Fargo, as offered by DH's employer. We can, as a family, contribute $5,800 a year, we hope to put in $2,000, this year. There is no "use it or loose it" policy, anything we don't use will roll over to be used at any time in the future. I believe that anyone can contribute to the account until we reach our limit, if you're interested, please contact us or our soon to be announced go-to person!

I'm getting to the point where my requests will start overlapping with post-birth. As the women will know, and maybe some men, vaginal secretions increase with pregnancy and then, of course, there is the post birth lochia. I already use cloth menstrual products, but would like a few more, as I only have a basic package. There are quite a few new companies that supply these items. The ones that I have are from Luna Pads for examples of what I'm interested in, see their Deluxe Kit ($130), I see it as a combo of their Starter Kit or 7 Day Mini Pantyliner Kit (both $70 each, for pregnancy) and the Postpartum Kit ($80), mixed patterns o.k. I'm also interested in the Deluxe Lunablanket, in hearts or sky blue. Please remember to check the sale sections of any site! For DIY click here

I'm realizing that there are things that I wont need until after the baby is born, but that they'd be good to have on hand when the baby is born. Therefore, they belong on this list! I hear a bonus to breastfeeding is leaking breasts, so that brings me to breast pads. I'd like to have re-usables, 100% cotton to allow air flow. As some women never experience leaking while others like a friend of mine had leakage issues as early as 7 months into her pregnancy, I am only putting on my wish list 6 -10 pads, whatever one would expect in a starter pack! Homemade sounds great!

A car seat, while I intend to have a homebirth, one never knows what will happen. I originally assumed that I wouldn't be leaving the house with baby for a little while, but just in case, we should have the car seat on hand before the baby is born! I've read a little on Consumer Reports about the seats. An infant seat is recommended, followed by a convertible seat, however, one can use a convertible seat for an infant. While they strongly suggest investing in an infant seat and moving up to a convertible, I am a trying to keep our expenses down and am leaning towards just getting a top of the line convertible. R and I will need to re-subscribe to consumer reports to get the recommendations on convertibles, so check back for our request.

Another item that overlaps with pregnancy and post-pregnancy - bras. I'm hoping to get a few bras that I can wear later in pregnancy and then also for breastfeeding. I've been sized at Judy's Intimate Apparel here in Tacoma, for my wedding and they did a great job, I plan to return there for this new need. They were the first in the area to have bras for breast cancer survivors.

I'll start the next blog entry with items that I foresee needing for me after the birth of the baby and then follow those with items that the baby will need.