Packing a Bag

I was poking around at some pregnancy-and-mom forums this morning and came across a thread of women talking about packing their bag for the hospital. This had never occurred to me. I'm nearly 34 weeks, and some of these women have had their bags packed since around week 30. Sure, there's something to be said for being prepared for an emergency. But in my mind being prepared for emergencies means having enough bottled water and canned goods stocked in case of earthquakes or other natural disasters, or having a suitcase packed for evacuation from a politically unstable third-world country. Going to the hospital (in a modern, developed nation) for something routine like childbirth hadn't popped up on my contingency-planning radar until reading about it this morning.

I guess I'll pull out my airplane carry-on bag and replace a few things. What things, I'm not quite sure other than pajamas and clean underwear. Maybe some snacks. I'm not in the mindset of packing for two yet, but some baby outfits and diapers would probably be a good idea.

What goes into a hospital-stay bag?

My First Purchases

At just about 33 weeks pregnant, I finally made my first purchases for the baby. We'd visited some stores when we were in the United States during weeks 11 through 13 so we could put together a registry, but we didn't want to start buying anything until we were firmly back here for the birth. And then, even once I arrived, I tried to put it off until I moved from my hotel to our summer rental just so I wouldn't have as much stuff cluttering up the room and needing to be moved.

But somehow my car ended up at Babies R Us this morning on the way to Barnes and Noble. And lots of cute clothes were on sale. Not knowing if we're having a boy or girl really makes you have to search for clothes that are original and not the same green frog or yellow duck that gets the "gender neutral" treatment. I found lots of animal-theme clothes that are probably for boys, but with the right accessories, like an obvious pink sunhat, could be easily worn by a girl. (Seriously though, everyone who knows us and knows the baby will know the gender; curious strangers can mind their own business.) (Another aside: I saw the cutest pink baby fedora today and for the first time I wished I knew the gender so I could have bought it for a girl. If they had it in my size I would have bought it for myself.)

Now that I have these clothes, what do I do with them? Due to the nature of sales, there was very little in newborn and 0-3 sizes so most of what I bought can be packed away for a few months. But I'm guessing the clothes should be washed before the baby wears them. And what about the eventual clothes I'll be getting in the smaller sizes? How do you know when to start washing versus when the baby will be coming home versus what if the baby is huge and doesn't fit into all those washed clothes that now cannot be returned? So much to consider with this parenting gig.