Stolen from a mam who has been there... helpful hints!!

[TroubleNStereo]

The boppy pillow is awesome! My husband and I both use it all the time. I would buy extra covers because ours gets spit up on a lot.

Dr. Browns bottles- They have a few more parts to clean than most bottles and are kind of expensive but they keep a lot of the air out and we haven't had any problems with gas or fussiness from the baby. Get dishwasher baskets cause it will take you FOREVER to clean all the little parts by hand. The Dr. Browns basket only holds parts for 3 bottles so you may want to get a few of them. We bought the munchkin brand baskets and they work just as well and hold more.

Pampers Swaddlers Diapers and sensitive wipes-  This is the kind of diaper they gave us at the hospital and we really liked them. They are the softest and seemed the most comfortable for the baby. The pampers sensitive wipes are also great.  We tried huggies and didn't like them, they didn't fit her right. I really wanted to use Seventh Generation for the environmental factor but they are really stiff and don't seem like they are even cut right for babies. She is almost 9 pounds now at a month old and she is still in the newborn size just to give you an idea of how many to buy. The size 1's are quite a lot bigger.

Onesies and long sleeved footed pj's- We have a lot of both of these. The baby spits up on them a lot so we go through quite a few.  She has already outgrown most of the newborn sizes so I would get some bigger ones too.

Stroller- You don't leave the house too much with the baby in the first few weeks so we brought the travel stroller inside. Our baby loves to sleep in her car seat and it's easy to push her around the house in it so you can do other things while she's napping and keep an eye on her.

Pack and Play- We got one of these to use as the bassinet. It works great and when she outgrows the bassinet phase in a few months we will take that part out and still be able to use it. We have the Natures Purest pack and play which is made with organic cotton. It's not that much more than the other brands and it's really soft material. It's sold at Babies R' Us and they also have a high chair, swing and bouncer. You will need extra sheets for the pack and play but the natures purest one's are a little pricey. You can buy cheaper crib or bassinet sheets and they will work just as well.

Noise Machine- We got one at Bed, Bath and Beyond. It plays rain, ocean, heartbeat, and some other lullabies. It seems to really help our baby sleep and we found that we actually like falling asleep to it too. (Although as tired as I am, I could probably fall asleep to the sound of a jackhammer at this point!)

Formula- We tried our hardest to breastfeed but it didn't work out for us. I wish the breastfeeding would have worked out cause formula is expensive and this melamine situation is pretty scary!  Anyway, we started using Enfamil Lipil first and it worked great for us. Our pediatrician told us that generic formula is exactly the same so now we are using that. It's a price difference of $25 a can compared to $12 a can.  They have a Target brand and a Wal-mart brand. The consistency of the powder is a little different but other than that I haven't noticed anything else.  So far a large can will last about a week for us so as long as the baby likes the cheaper stuff, we are using that.

I was also interested to find out that you don't have to warm baby bottles. We buy bottled gallon jugs of water and fill the bottles with the amount that we want. Then when you are ready to feed the baby, just put the scoops of powder in and go. I tried to make them ahead of time and refrigerate them but I found that when the baby is hungry, that few minutes that it takes to warm a bottle can be pretty stressful. It's also much easier in the middle of the night so you don't have to leave your bedroom if you don't want to.

There is a travel container that is about $3 at Wal-mart (I'm sure they have it at Target too). It has 3 compartments so you can pre-measure formula to take with you in the diaper bag. Enfamil makes cool little travel packets but they are pretty expensive. The travel container works really well for us and if you buy a few of them, you can keep one in your room with the bottles of water for those middle of the night feedings.

Bath Time- We have found that giving her a bath is easier if we make sure shes fed first and try to keep her as warm as possible. I try to keep a warm washcloth over her but she still seems to get cold. There is this company online called bath luve and they sell these really neat animal shaped washcloths that are made to cover the baby up during the bath. They are only 6.99 and work so much better!  http://bathluve.com/ourproduct.html

Make sure you have extra of the following because they will get spit up on, peed on or pooped on:  onesies and long sleeved footed pjs, bassinet or crib sheets, changing table covers, boppy pillow covers, burp cloths and lots of receiving blankets.

  Also... labor is not as scary as you think it will be. Contractions are very painful but manangable (especially once you get that epidural!..it only feels like a bee sting and trust me...it hurts a hell of a lot less than those contractions!)  I was induced with pitocin and it wasn't that bad. The healing at home after you have the baby is probably worse than the actual labor! (especially if you have an episiotomy or tear) Just keep reminding yourself that labor can't last forever and you'll have your baby soon!  Ask the nurses as much as you want while you are there because you will feel clueless when you get home. Also take as many diapers and formula samples as they will give you cause you are paying for them anyway! I also suggest getting a book for the first year. We have needed to look up so many things already! There is one "Your Baby's First Year" and it's written by the American Academy of Pediatrics so I really trust it. It's so helpful!!

Hope this helped!! and just so you know....being a mommy is a million times better than you even think it will be! Good luck to everyone!