Baby shower gifts....

BUT - I'm trying to figure out what to do here. I'm a ftm, due the third week of November, and my baby shower is a "surprise" - meaning I know it's happening although we pretend I don't know anything about it lol. I also have a general idea of the date, and am pretty sure it's in October sometime.

I am SO grateful to be having a shower thrown for me, but it feels a little late for my type-A, plan-ahead self. Which again is fine, no big deal. Except as the due date approaches I'm feeling more and more unprepared for baby - I want to start checking things off my list but people keep telling me not to shop before the shower. Okay, fine, but almost nothing has been purchased off my registry yet and I don't want to be stuck scrambling to get everything together at 9 months pregnant! 

So my question to you ladies is whether I should just sit tight or start buying things off my own registry lol. I don't like to count on gifts, and hubby and I are happy to provide for our baby ourselves (although of course we're not swimming in money!). I'm just worried that if I count on getting things as gifts, I might be scurrying to supplement at the last possible moment.