FTM Check-in 9/13-whenever

mrsmang

Hey ladies!  I'm sorry I've been so bad at posting this thread!!  It seems to not be the most popular thread, so I'm making this one to just stay open for a while if people have anything they want to come talk about here.  A while back we decided not to do the standard check-in format and just have more of a discussion here.  Feel free to bring up any topics you think are relevant to first time moms, things you are worried about, etc.

mrsmang

I believe this has been talked about a little in other threads, but DH and I are big planners/studiers so we have signed up for what I feel like is maybe an excessive amount of classes, but I'm hoping it will make me feel more prepared.

Today is our first Bradley Class, which is a 12 week, 2hr/week, class.  Our session currently has 4 couples, so I'm hoping the small size might make it easier for us to make parent friends with kids due around the same time, and also get more attention for the exercises and such.

We also signed up for 4 classes through the hospital: a Childbirth and Baby Care class that is a Saturday/Sunday for 6 hours each day for 12 hours total, a Breastfeeding Class, an Infant First Aid and CPR class, and a Maternity Tour.

Anyone else doing anything similar to try to feel ready?  Or how are you preparing yourselves?

kianarain

@mrsmang ugh, good for you! I've been looking into classes and at the very least want to do infant CPR, childbirth and of course a maternity tour. I seriously feel so behind already and am wondering where in the hell I'm going to find time to do it all. I think I just have to sign up and make it happen, because I really want to meet moms in my area around my same due date also. It's awesome to have the community here, but I need that in-person support too.

The nursery is a serious undertaking that I haven't even started yet... At first it seemed so fun and now, getting into the nitty gritty, I'm just a bit overwhelmed. There's SO much to buy, and I have this weird pressure of making it perfect (that I'm putting on myself). It has me totally gridlocked on pulling the trigger on anything at all. 

What did you buy first? I've been waiting to get an inspiration piece that I could hopefully center everything else around, but it hasn't come to me yet and I'm feeling like it's overdue to get the ball rolling. Bleh.

galactickates

We haven't signed up for any classes yet,  whoops! I want to though and need to look into it when i get back from vacation.  As far as the nursery goes I 100% cheated and used pinterest to inspire me.  I think I browsed nurseries for boys and looked for inspiration. I kept being drawn to the woodland theme.  If I didn't have a best friend who was an artist i would have started with wall decals then furniture.  Once you start telling people your theme gifts have a way of finding themself to you.  

wkuandrea

@kianarain for the nursery we are just choosing things we like then letting that dictate the "design" so to speak (btw we haven't put anything together yet, but that is starting soon!) We bought furniture when BRU was going out of business, so if you don't have furniture you might start there -- white? wood? painted? etc. See what you can find on local mom sale groups on FB! I see great furniture on there all of the time. We like "cute animal stuff" (a very broad category) so we just randomly pick up things we think are cute. It doesn't all have to coordinate, we're not doing an HGTV show about our nursery (this is what my DH tells me anyhow!) If you find a wall mural or decals or even a piece of art or bedding you love, try to draw inspo from that! As I said, for us we wanted a very loose decor category, so we're doing mint colored paint and bright colored accents (pinks, oranges, yellows, blues). We have grey carpet and our crib/dresser are espresso colored wood. 

As far as classes... we have signed up for one outside of our hospital that our whole local parent community raves about, that's starting next month. We'll also take CPR but haven't yet (I'm already certified, but DH is not, and I'd appreciate the refresher) and need to schedule a tour of the hospital at the very least. SO much to do! 

alexandraseattle

We signed up for a couple of classes. DH is taking a 4 hour "Conscious Fathering" class, where hopefully he can make some dad friends. Then we are taking an all-day Newborn Preparation & Breastfeeding class. I'm doing the Centering model of care with 4 other couples, and starting next month Childbirth prep is part of each of our appointments (including a hospital tour). We have also hired a doula, so between those two things, I'm feeling good about not taking a special class for childbirth preparation. 

The first thing we bought for the nursery is a glider and ottoman set, because it's made to order with a 12+ week wait. This is our only real splurge, because I love gliders, even though they are not my design aesthetic. We don't really have a "theme," we just are choosing furniture and colors that go with the rest of the house. We have a small townhouse in the city, so there isn't a whole lot of room for stuff/decoration. We are getting a crib and dresser from Ikea because they are a good size footprint and scale for the space. We've registered for a lot of small footprint things, like folding swings and other space saving items. When we went to BuyBuyBaby some of the swings would take up half of our living room! 

mrsmang

@alexandraseattle we’re hiring a doula too - she’s actually the one teaching the Bradley classes so we’ll get to know her pretty well which is nice. 

@kianarain we picked the furniture first, and a general theme (travel/adventure) and colors (light teal, white, gray). Other than that I’ve just been keeping an eye out for things I love. Other than one bigger print, I haven’t bought much. I’m definitely worried about how much stuff I feel like I want/need just as decorations. There’s soooo much “stuff” in general I feel like we need for baby and all of a sudden I’m feeling like time is going to fly and I’m behind!  I see Pinterest articles on things like hospital bags, bins of diapering supplies, bins of breastfeeding/after birth care supplies, medicine/care items to have for baby, etc. that I’m so overwhelmed about. I feel like there’s no end to the spending - which obviously is now true for a long time. It’s scary for sure!!

kaf1788

@kianarain I'm trying to design the nursery in a way that fits with the rest of our house and isn't super "babyish". I'm keeping the paint color the same and just putting up a cute wallpaper accent wall I found on Chasing Paper. Almost nothing I'm using as decor is specifically a "baby" item, just things we like! I would just look at stores you already shop at for the rest of your house so everything flows nicely.  Our condo is almost entirely Ikea and West Elm, so that's what we're sticking with for the nursery.

KLS123

We also have signed up for Bradley Method classes that start in two weeks. Note that if you want to do a Bradley class they are 12 weeks long so you need to sign up soon to be able to finish them all before a January birth.

We also hired a doula that has groups she hosts for pre and postpartum that I'm looking forward to meeting some people in. 

@kianarain as others have suggested, we bought basic necessity pieces first and have still not decided on a "theme" or "decor" yet which is the overwhelming part to me. We bought a dresser from Ikea first (the grey Hemnes) then a crib (the oeuf sparrow that I found second hand on facebook) and a chair (I went with a hanging egg swing chair that will mount to the ceiling because traditional gliders are really not my style). I also just ordered a rug from amazon and hung some basic white curtains. Everything is super neutral and can be used in other rooms down the road so I haven't had to commit to any particular style yet.