Getting Ready for Baby #2 Checklist

Getting Ready for Baby #2 Checklist

All right, who stole my week? Last week I was happily thinking about how Baby #2 would be arriving in about 14 weeks. The next day, I got my pregnancy update email and poof! Just like that a whole week was gone. I thought I was 26 weeks, but I was actually 27!

Now I have less than 13 weeks left to get ready for Baby #2. Up until now, I’ve been avoiding even writing down this checklist. Now that it’s out though I’m actually feeling a little less overwhelmed. I feel a lot better to have it front of my eyes rather than rattling around in my head.

Here’s my checklist for getting ready for baby #2. If you’re doing the same, hopefully this will help you with your preparations, too!

(This post contains affiliate links to some resources and products I found helpful in getting ready for baby #2.)

Getting Ready for Baby #2 Checklist

1. Prepare my Toddler for Baby #2

Since I found out I was pregnant, I’ve made it my goal to help my toddler become a little more independent. We’ve been working on getting dressed and undressed, putting on socks and shoes, and feeding himself. Pretty much none of that is working so far, which is just fine. He’s just not quite ready yet.

The very best most wonderful thing that is working is that we started potty training last month when he was 20 months old. I’ll be talking a lot more about that next week. I can’t wait to share our very positive experience with you! Update: Here’s how I potty trained my 20 month old boy. I’m soooo glad we did this before baby #2 arrived!

One of my major concerns has been to do a better job of getting our house childproofed. I can just imagine all of the things E will find to get into while I’m sitting down nursing the new baby.

Then one of my wonderful Facebook fans suggested that I should also plan a safe place to put Baby #2 down where he or she can’t be accidentally over-loved by the toddler. I hadn’t even thought to worry about that yet.

We spend a lot of time talking with E about the new baby that is going to come live at our house. I tell him how he is going to have to share his milkies with the new baby.

Still, I know that there is absolutely no way he can comprehend the huge change that is about to occur. I can’t comprehend it either, but I am feeling more confident that we will figure it out.

2. Prepare for Another Natural Birth

I’ve done almost nothing to prepare for the actual birth so far! I spend a lot of time preaching to people about how they need to prepare if they want a natural birth, and well, it’s about time I take my own advice.

I have been reading Childbirth Without Fear at a rate of about 5 pages per day. So, I should be done about the time the new baby turns 4!

Luckily, I have been enjoying lots of beautiful, empowering, natural birth stories and doing lots of research as I work on my Natural Birth Stories book. Wow! These women are so strong!

It is helping me build faith that I can do this again.

I really need to get back on track with my pregnancy exercise and nutrition plan. I’ve been doing ok, but I know I could be doing better.

I clearly remember how much I need all the strength in my arms and legs to maintain a comfortable position while laboring and pushing. I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees and in a semi squat during my first birth.

I would also like to practice my relaxation and review my Bradley workbook with my husband.

I need to start gathering supplies for my home birth kit. This will need to be ready by the time we have our home visit from the midwives. Thankfully that’s about 10 weeks away, but I’m sure it will be here before I know it!

We will be renting a birth tub, so I need to reserve that soon. I already have a just-in-case-of-transfer type hospital birth plan, but I’d also like to make one specifically for our ideal home birth.

3. Getting Ready for Baby

The nice thing about having a second baby is that there is much less to buy. Now if only there weren’t so many more things to do!

Here’s a list of things I can think of that we do need to buy before Baby #2 arrives:

• Convertible Car Seat. I have my eye on a Diono Radian because you can fit 3 across even in a sedan. (Thinking ahead!)
• Baby Wash Cloths. Ours are so worn out.
• Tandem Double Stroller. This can wait as we’ll be baby-wearing for quite a while.
• Postpartum Mama Cloth. This isn’t really for baby, but I will not be enduring 8 weeks in disposable pads again. Ouch!
• Bassinet. I need to measure and see if there’s anyway we can fit the Co-Sleeper in our bedroom. If not I like this Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘N Play Sleeper. It lets baby sleep on an incline, it folds up flat for storage, and it goes up to 25 pounds and 32 inches long which is great for my big babies. Update: We ended up using the Rock ‘n Play and loved it!

I also really want a pair of baby Robeez shoes. E never wore shoes until he was walking, but they’re so cute and impractical! I’ll have to wait until we find out the gender for that one though.

I need to wash at least the smaller sizes of baby clothes and sort out which ones might be passably gender neutral. We’re making it a little bit harder on ourselves since we aren’t finding out the gender this time.

I guess I should probably buy and wash at least a couple baby girl clothes? At least with an August baby, a diaper and a receiving blanket will do just fine for quite a few weeks. Poor BabyE didn’t wear clothes for the first three weeks he was born except to visit the midwife.

So there’s really not much we need to buy, compared to even my minimalist baby registry checklist I posted a couple years ago.

It felt so good to pack away the diapers just a couple of weeks ago, but I’ll need to find the newborn cloth diapers and wash them in preparation for Baby #2.

4. Declutter

We just did a major declutter about 6 months ago, so there isn’t a whole lot to do. I just want to maintain the progress we’ve already made.

• Tackle the pile of filing that is living on my dining room table.
• Back up and donate or recycle the old computer.
• Donate the books we decided to part with.
• Clear off the top of the dryer. I’m tired or reaching around the sewing machine to get to the knobs!
• Clear out a drawer for clothes for Baby #2.

5. Stock Up on Freezer Meals

I guess I had spent so much time learning about pregnancy and preparing for birth that I missed the part about postpartum recovery. I didn’t even put away one freezer meal before I had BabyE.

Then, the intensity of the postpartum period with my first baby took me by surprise. I didn’t cook dinner again until BabyE was 4 months old.

Luckily DH did an amazing job of taking care of us and making sure his ravenous breastfeeding wife stayed full of healthy food. That’s just not going to work this time around with a toddler and new baby that need our attention.

Update: I put away about 8 weeks worth of freezer meals, and I am SO thankful that I did! I heart Once a Month Meals! I’ll tell ya, the transition to two kids was tough, but not having to cook for a couple of months really helped!

So really, that’s not too much to get done in 13 weeks, right? Right!? I’ll be posting later to let you know how it all goes! Update: You can read the exciting birth story of my sweet Baby #2 here.

How did you prepare your toddler for Baby #2? What are your favorite freezer meal recipes? How many do I need? Did I forget anything from my list? (I’m sure I did!) Share your advice in the comments.

Original article and pictures take growingslower.com site