Week 39: Baby Gear Mania!

I am feeling better but still pretty tired from the virus and lack of sleep, so I'll try to keep this week's update short (yeah right, when does that ever happen? :P). I am officially one week away from my due date, but perhaps even more scary and exciting is the fact that I'm now no more than 10 days away from going into labor! That's right, at my appointment on Tuesday, my doctor set my induction date for Sunday, November 8th at 7:30 pm in order to accommodate my mom's and AC's schedules. If my cervix is ready, they may even start the Pitocin that night. If not, they'll give me a cervical ripening agent overnight and start Pitocin in the morning. Either way, Ziggy will most likely be born on November 9 (unless of course he decides to come early or on time, but I have a feeling he wont)! So next week I'll have my last OB appointment and non-stress test before the big day (by the way, this week's non-stress test was fine as usual). My MFM will be back from his vacation then and will check my cervix, so we'll see if there's any more progress.

There's been a lot more progress on the baby gear front, that's for sure! My mother suddenly panicked and decided we needed to buy a whole bunch of stuff for the baby, so we went to this nearby baby store and got some good advice on baby gear. We ended up buying a large brown Glamourmom Nursing Bra Long Tank for me to wear at the hospital and until after my milk comes in and I can get fitted for some nursing bras. The saleswoman who assisted us recommended tanks over bras, so if I like the tank option, I may just buy some more and forego the bra option. We also bought a 12 pack of Gerber prefold birdseye 3-ply cloth diapers for use as burp cloths, a Natursutten 100% Natural Rubber Pacifier for 3-6 Mos, a pack of 200 4 ply non woven sponges for use as disposable wipes, Grippees Wash Mitts That Grip! for bathing a slippery, squirmy baby, and a chocolate brown Halo swaddle sleep sack for newborns. We were going to buy a combo bassinet and stroller, but they were sold out of the color we wanted, so we ended up ordering them online. I'm now the proud owner of the super chic Orbit Baby Bassinet Cradle and Toddler Stroller in mocha (the bassinet clips onto the stroller for the early months and then you transition to using the toddler seat)! Apparently a lot of celebrities own this bassinet and stroller. So, yes, this was ridiculously expensive but my mom purchased it for me and hopefully it will work well and last a while (maybe even for kid number 2!).

I also ordered a Naturopedic Organic Cotton Contoured Changing Pad, which we placed on top of an old dresser of my mom's which happened to be the perfect height to use as a changing table. This week I also washed, dried, and folded all of baby's used, hand-me-down clothes and cloth diapers and inserts and put them away in the dresser drawers for easy diapering and changing access. I'm planning on holding off on washing some of the newer clothes items in case we end up not needing them. I also ordered some stuff from Diapers.com (my new favorite website), some of which I may end up returning (they offer free returns on unopened or defective merchandise for 30 days): Kushies Flushable Biodegradable Diaper Liners (for use with diaper rash cream, since otherwise the cream can stain the Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers and affect their absorbency), bumGenius Microfiber Diaper Inserts (because you can never have too many inserts for your cloth diapers), Kushies Washable Diaper Liners, and bumGenius Reusable Baby Wipes (I may return these last two items since I just discovered that Fuzzi Bunz diapers shouldn't be washed with cotton wipes or liners, and it doesn't seem worth it to me to have to do a separate load for those things).

I also finally had the car seat installed by the car seat techs over at the hospital (they offer free car seat installation) and washed the infant bath tub and portable diaper changing pad from my cousin. I also ordered some other stuff online, which has yet to arrive, so I'll post about all of that later once it gets here. Right now I feel like I am trying to find a balance between being as ready as I can for baby (and having everything I need or that will make my life easier so that I can just focus on the baby when he comes) and not purchasing too many extraneous, unnecessary items that will go unused and just create clutter. It's a tough life I tell you! :)