Adoption
What should we buy RIGHT NOW to be ready for "the call?"
What should we buying right now in case we get the call that there is a baby already born and waiting for us? I know this probably won't happen, but I want to be prepared at the bare minimum. We have already bought a carseat, but that is it.
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Re: What should we buy RIGHT NOW to be ready for "the call?"
Bottles (we had 8 and this was a good number)
A few newborn onesies
A few burp cloths
Our LO slept in the carseat for the first couple of weeks, so you can use your carseat until you have time to buy a carseat
The hospital will probably send you home with a lot of diapers and formula, so don't buy this ahead of time.
Thanks!
Go_Dawgs
Thanks for the info as well.
Alisonemma
Thanks for asking the question.
We are not yet approved but once we are we will start looking in to getting a few of these things just in case!
We are buying things as we find good deals. I am stalking Craigslist daily!
We did get a new stroller, and ordered it last week.
I also buy clothes and onesies as I see good deals, but I am trying to stick with 6 mo size and larger, since we don't know how big s/he'll be! And it's also tough to find things that are gender neutral, so I grab them when I see them.
As far as gear was concerned, we bought what we called the Big Four: carseat, stroller, crib (with all the things that come with it: mattress, pad, sheets), and Pack n Play.
As far as other things, I would get a week's worth of diapers (at least), bottles (6-8), formula, a dozen onesies and sleepers, swaddling blankets, diaper rash cream, baby thermometer, monitor (if you think you'll need one), and that's about all I can think of.
50% of our agency's placements (including ours) are emergency placements. We didn't have a crib mattress when DD came home, so DH made a monster WalMart run the night we brought her home.
Do it only if you want to do it... don't let it stress you out. You can easily send a friend, family, or use the web to quickly get the essentials. (FWIW...I had a friend remind me of this regularly every time I'd get stressed about not having this or that.)
What I have enjoyed doing is learning the things I want, figuring out what exactly I want, then watching Craigslist and other store sites for great deals.
More than anything, the shopping and researching kept me busy during the waiting period. I am now back to waiting after a failed match, and I feel lost. Nursery is set up, stroller is in garage, etc. I really wish I had some baby projects to keep me busy. In other words, relish in the time suck that is finding baby items
We figured a car seat would be pretty important to have on hand, because you can't bring a baby home without one. We ran across a car seat/stroller combo on clearance for $59 so we grabbed it. We've also purchased a Pack-n-Play for $48 and a crib/changing table set for $99. We know we don't need all of that when we are still in the home study process, but we couldn't resist those prices.
I went to a baby consignment sale and bought some gender neutral sleepers and a few outfits. Other than that, we are holding off on buying a lot of clothing because I want to be able to have my girl wear pink and my boy wear blue, instead of everything being yellow and green. We do want to get a few packs of onesies in different sizes.
I echo the list from Go_Dawgs..you will want to have bottles and onesies right away. We have done as many others have, figure out what we want and then scope out good deals as they come along but really for those first few weeks you don't need a ton of things.
8 bottles works well, diapers, wipes, blankets/swaddlers, onesies, pacifiiers,and a car seat. We had purchased a pack n' play and it was great to have. While waiting we were able to use a TON for when our friends were over with their kids.
The hospital sent us home with diapers, wipes, some formula, therm.,pacifiers, aspirator.
And no matter how well prepared you think you are, you will end up running out to the store to get a few things.
When we got the call, we bought a infant carrier/stroller combo, diapers, bottles, Dreft detergent, a couple blankets, pacifiers, onesies.
Friends/family gave us clothes and I did buy formula but had to return it because our LO came home on a different one. Our LO came home from the hospital with diapers, formula, a pacifier and the nose suction thing.
We already had a crib that we just had to put together and we had a bassinet already.
-A crib/mattress (although you could get away without one and use a packnplay, cradle, carseat, etc. for the first while)
-Fitted crib sheet
-Car seat (we have 2, an infant and a convertable but that is unique to our situation)
- Bottles (we just bought a playtex drop ins starter set)
-Gender neutral clothes
-Gender neutral receiving blankets
-New soothers (we got the type our hospital has)
-Diapers (we have 5-6 of each size. We aquired these from friends/family. Just asked for 5 of the size their baby was in until we had all sizes. Again this is unique to our situation)
-Wipes (just 1 box for now)
-A monitor (I am hearing impaired and this is a must for us)
-Baby proofed home (another situation thing, we need this to complete study and due to not knowing what age we will get)
Good luck and I hope that helps
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."
I would definitely buy diapers--some Newborn, some size 1's. The hospital did NOT send us home with much formula or many diapers.
Rectal thermometer, towels, washcloths, baby tub.
I waaay over-bought newborn and 0-3 clothing. They really don't need a lot. Save that for 6-12 months when their growth slows.
I'd also keep an eye out for a swaddle blanket (like a Miracle Blanket).
Baby Bargains is an awesome resource for gear. :-)