What are people doing to prep for baby before they arrive?

Question

Hey ladies, so I am due to finish work and go on Maternity Leave next week. Will possibly have 2-3 weeks to myself before baby arrives (unless she makes an early appearance). My 2 sons are back to school Monday as well after a hard time of home schooling and me working at home (we live in UK). 
I’m just so used to not having anytime to myself what should/could I be doing during these weeks before baby arrives? I know I will probably get bored so any ideas are welcome!! 😊

Answer

Oh god, girls here have such huge plans. I can’t move out of my couch. 🤣 
It’s my third baby and my second was not that long time ago, so it’s kinda still fresh in memory. 
Clothes, changing stations (on both floors), nappies done and ready. The rest I can’t be bothered that much. The house is clean ish as much as it can be with a toddler 🤣 
I know that my first months were on the sofa with my baba, so I don’t need much other then frozen pizzas or some frozen meals. 
The necessary items are ready like the car seat, pram, activity mats. 
Some things I decide to buy when needed like new nipples for the bottles after I freeze milk, or dummies. So I’ll buy them after. Nothing else really. I also have two cats so it’s impossible to have the house completely sterile and I’m not going to.

Answer

Set up the closet system.
washed & organized clothing by size.
setting up a breastfeeding/diaper station in our room.
getting her basinet set up.
going through my sons old toys and donating what isn’t used.
going through my kitchen cabinets and donating what isn’t used (making space for bottles/freezer milk, etc).
setting up a postpartum box/station filled with pads, depends, mesh undies, benzocaine, my peri bottle, tucks pads, sitz bath stuff in my bathroom for easy access (I’ll have two kids so I’m trying to streamline everything).
setting up small things like the clothesline we’re installing in the backyard for cloth diapering.
deep cleaning each room in the house.
Spot cleaning daily (having a homebirth so want to be sure the house is clean no matter when she decides to come.)
Also related to homebirth, setting up a quickly accessible labor box with things I need in order to set up for labor/delivery or things I’ll need while in labor & baby box with things she’ll need directly after birth.
Going on walks every single day.
Spending ample time with my first born, nurture that relationship.
Getting whatever few items we still need for both baby & the birth. 
Returning shower gifts we won’t use/don’t like.
Cleaning our our cars..:and I mean really deep cleaning the cars.
Reading ina mays guide.
Meeting with my doula for our final birth prep class.
Lots of midwife appointments.
Resting when I need to.
Sex with the husband & date nights. Because our relationship is important to nurture.

Answer

My usual to-do list before baby’s arrival is making sure the baby’s room is ready to go (clothes/burp cloths all washed and put away, crib sheets and blankets all washed and put on, decorating the room to make it cozy, etc.) I will also wash the car seat cover and put the car seat base in my car so it is ready to go while also giving my car a good cleaning. After that (since I am bottle feeding) sterilize all bottles/binkys and any other baby seats and bassinets that we will be using! 
After that i do a whole house clean, make sure the outside yards are in decent shape and make sure any other little projects are all done. As I get closer I also do some dinner preps and put those in the freezer as I’m sure I will be in no mood to cook for a little while once baby is here 😆

Answer

I'm 33 weeks and I have already asked my mother to come down the first weekeend of April (we live a few hours apart from each other) to help me shampoo our furniture and carpets as well as helping me with a general deep cleaning of our house. I've already put together a dresser for her to store her clothes in as well as a changing station! Our baby shower is next weekend and hopefully we'll be able to set up her bassinet and get more important items put away in an accessible place for when she does arrive. We are also going to "baby proof" our house in the next couple of up coming weeks by installing our safety latches on our cabinets and plugging all of our wall outlets so they are not easily accessible when she does become mobile! 
The biggest thing on my list is getting our house clean; we have a cat and a dog and I plan on getting them both up to date on their vaccines as well as a good grooming before hand since they are allowed on our furniture. Otherwise I just am preparing our living space for our new little addition so we aren't scrambling to get her things she needs after she comes 😊

Answer

Read the baby books you won’t have time or energy to read when baby arrives :) that’s my plan!

Answer

Some things were doing (35w5d) - cleaning the entire home. He mowed/weeded it two days ago. Making a grocery list of frozen meals and easy things. Washing all of baby’s things, folding, made her a little bedtime cart. Sterilized all of her bottles and pacifiers, made a formula station in our kitchen. Installed car seat and mirror. Packed her hospital bag, still gotta pack ours. Hubs picked up some snacks for the hospital. Set up her swing in the living room. One other thing we plan on doing hopefully soon is getting our dog groomed before she arrives.

What are people doing to prep for baby before they arrive?

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