Time for Nursery?

Our son was a surprise so to speak. We had been with our agency for 3 weeks when we were called to come pick him up the following day. Although we thought we were ready we realized that there were a few things that we didn't think of yet. A crib, very important but you don't need it right away if you just can't bring yourself to buy one yet...but a portable (folding) crib with a bassinet/ changing table feature is a treasure. That is something that you will use quite often and it costs little. You can use it for the baby right away and it is much better than the pretty little bassinets (which don't seem to be big enough except for the first week). Then when you have a regular crib it makes a great crib for travel, play pen (we keep ours up so we have a safe place to put our son if we have to go to the bathroom or answer the door). You can keep it collapsed and in a closet until your child arrives. Bottles, you will need them right away, so get a few and wash them and put them in your picking up baby bag. Don't worry about formula because you will want to have what the baby is already eating. We asked the hospital to provide us with extra for our trip home and they gave us enough for a week. Diapers, doesn't hurt to have them and wipes...but the hospital will send you home with enough for a day or two. We had a boy outfit and girl outfit for coming home. We wanted to make sure we had something special. Kept that in the picking up baby bag too. Don't waste your money on a changing table, they are big and unsafe. It is much easier to have a nice basket for all your supplies and change the baby in the crib or on the floor. You also can take it from room to room and you won't have to climb stairs or run from room to room for the 20 (it seems) diaper changes a day. Have some baby soap and shampoo along with diaper ointment and other goodies on hand. It will be nice to just not have to worry about it. Have a little baby medicine kit set up and find a pediatrician. And I would suggest just clearing out a nursery to be ready. It may be that you will have to go pick your child up right away like we did. While you don't have to have all the bells and whistles yet, it is very difficult preparing a nursery with a newborn in the house. (Take it from me!) Get a car seat and have it ready! (another suggestion would be to consider a convertable model. I wish I had done that but instead I had to buy a car seat before my son was 6 mo. because he is such a big kid) And enjoy. Take lots of pictures, you will look back on this time fondly.