Your ultimate guide to all those last minute things you may forget to do, but will make life so much easier if you do, before baby comes list.
So your baby is almost here and you want to make sure you are ready. This guide shares all those last minute things you'll want to have done before your baby comes that you may not have thought of. These things will also make leaving and coming home from the hospital a whole lot easier, and leave you to have all your free time focused on your sweet new little baby. Check out our list with pointers below, or if you are looking for guidelines on something specific, click the link to jump right to what you need below.
Pack Your Hospital Bag
Packing your hospital bag is one of the first things you will need to do to start preparing for your baby. At the end of the day everything else is great to have done, but can wait. However, babies often come on their own time frames so you want to make sure you are prepared and ready should you have to quick head to the hospital, or even need to have someone else grab your things from home.
You will need to pack one bag that will come into the hospital with you that is just for delivery. This includes anything that you'd want to have while you are in labor, but does not include the rest of the stuff you will need for your stay. You'll then want to pack a separate bag that can stay in the car during labor that includes a few things you will need for yourself and your baby, during your hospital stay. Luckily, the hospital provides a lot of the things you will need already so you won't have to pack too much. Your husband will also want to have a bag ready if he will be staying over night with you and the baby.
Click here to download my hospital packing checklist.
Finish Setting Up Your Baby's Room
You don't want to start this one too early so that everything is fresh, but you'll want to have your baby's room set up for when you come home. Take the time to go through everything from your baby shower and all those gifts you've gotten or purchases yourself and organize them now.
We went through clothing first. Since you never know exactly what size your baby will be, we made sure to have both our newborn and 0-3 month clothing in an easy to access drawer so they are ready for use. The rest we sorted by size and moved to our closet, so they can be easily accessed later, but were out of the way until they were needed. We also got our crib and bassinet set up with waterproof cover and sheet.
Next, we got our changing table ready with water proof sheet cover (have multiples of these), our diaper pail ready next door, and a caddy with all the essentials which for us included:
hand sanitizer
diapers (both newborn and size 1)
wipes
diaper rash cream (Boudreaux Butt Paste is our favorite for rashes and hot days)
vaseline (great for circumcisions if you are going that route)
baby lotions and creams (for dry and peeling skin after birth. We stocked up with CeraVe Baby and Aquaphor Baby- which can also be used as a diaper rash prevention cream)
burp clothes
and a pacifier and toys for distractions
We set up our nursing area next. Whether bottle or breast feeding a few essentials and a comfy area, since you'll be spending a lot of time here, are key. For us this area included:
a comfy rocker with our bobby and a blanket and pillow
night stand with a lamp and tissues on top, a drawer filled with drinks and snacks (water and Gatorade to drink & granola bars, mints, etc to snack on), and a shelf with a basket of fresh bibs and burp clothes
a basket on the floor next to our rocker with our breast bump, hakka (to catch excess breast milk while nursing- life saver), and nipple cream and pads as well as spare bras.
And last we organized and put away the rest of our things in a place that made sense to us, and added the finishing decor touches (except our name sign, since we're keeping that a secret till our little guy is born!)
Clean & Stock Up
Besides checking off your weekly cleaning list, make sure everything is in tip top shape so you don't have to worry for some time about the little household chores you normally do. Besides keeping up with dishes and laundry, one of the big ones we did was washing all the sheets and towels, and making sure bedrooms and bathrooms were fresh so we were ready for guests.
We also stocked up on all the household essentials such as toilet paper, paper towels, and tissues. We bought disposable paper cups and plates as well to save on doing dishes if we have a lot of visitors. Think of the things you use on a regular basis that you wouldn't want to run out of and buy what you need now so you don't need to worry about it later.
Another thing that many new moms stock up on is postpartum essentials. Unfortunately since our baby is still breech, but there is always the chance he'll flip last minute, we are still unsure how we will be delivering so I didn't want to buy a bunch of unnecessary things. Instead I made two Amazon wish lists, one for a natural birth and one for a cesarean birth. On each list I included the things that would help me to heal and once I have officially delivered can simply click to order all the things on the appropriate list and have them waiting at home when I get back.
Sterilize
Along with cleaning, comes making sure everything is ready for your baby to use. I
I am planning on breast feeding, but still want to pump and have milk and bottles ready, for once I go back to work. With bottle feeding though comes making sure your bottle, all parts, are sterilized. They have bottle sterilizers you can buy if you want, but really sterilizing your bottles is as simple as boiling them in hot water so requires no additional purchase.
Simply fill a clean pot with water and bring water to a boil.
Once water is to a full boil, drop your bottle, nipples, etc into the pot and set a timer to let them boil for 5 minutes.
Once your timer goes off remove each piece with tongs and let dry. We use this awesome Boon Lawn drying rack, which comes in green, white, or gray for our stuff so all the little pieces don't get mixed in with our regular dishes and lost!
We not only did all our bottles, but also our pacifiers and teething items. Make sure to read the directions on your teething items though, because not all of these can be boiled.
And while we were cleaning, we bought a giant container of free and clear baby laundry detergent and did all his laundry ahead of time, so we have plenty of crib and changing table sheets along with clothing, bibs, burb clothes ready. We even washed those extra things you might not think about such as the liners for swings, tummy time mats, and baby towels and wash clothes so everything was clean and put together when we wanted to use it. We love the seventh generation free and clear since it's also safe for our septic, but Dreft Level 1 is another very popular baby detergent, and many of the common name brands have infant versions of their laundry detergents as well.
Install Car Seat Base
One of the most important things to do before your baby comes is getting your car seat ready, after all you need to get your baby home safely somehow. Most car seats come with a base that stays in your car, which you can set up ahead of time. You'll also need to have your car seat clean and ready on the right settings. Some straps may need to be adjusted, as many seats don't come set up for a newborn. Practice so you know how to use your seat, so you aren't struggling at the hospital with a newborn. You can even grab one of the millions of stuffed animals you probably got from your baby shower and practice with one of them to make it more realistic. Many local hospitals, police stations, and some fire departments do car seat checks and help you learn to install them if you aren't sure how to do this.
We also got these Munchkin window shades off Amazon to block the sun. We originally had the ones that clink to the windows, but had trouble with them sticking in the cold, and also wanted the option to be able to easily put them up and down so switched to these.
Meal Prep
The last thing you are going to want to do after coming home from a hospital stay is cook. One thing that'll make coming home a lot easier is having meals already prepared for your family. I have a few glass casserole dishes, but went out and bought some disposable aluminum trays and dishes from the grocery store so I could really stock up. Every time I'd meal plan for the week, I'd pick a meal or two that could be frozen and thawed easily and would buy enough ingredients for two. Then when it was time to cook I'd just make two, one for dinner and one to freeze, that way it wasn't as much prep and dishes since I was already making it, and only needed to double the recipe and split it. Once I was done I covered it with aluminum foil and wrote the directions on top with a sharpie that way anyone that happened to be over and wanting to help would easily know what to do. I've shared a ton of meals we've stocked our freezer with on the blog, but here are some of our favorites:
Having some yummy breakfast casseroles on stock is great too, especially for weekend and early morning visitors and helpers. Try this Cheddar Bacon Breakfast Casserole Recipe from the blog for a morning meal everyone will LOVE.
What else did you do to prepare before your baby that really helped when you got home? What do you wish you would have done ahead of time that would have been helpful? Share below in the comments! We'd love to hear!
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