I am officially 35 weeks with baby girl! This is such an exciting milestone because I’m now past the point where I went into labor with Four. A part of me has just sort of expected that I’ll go into labor early with baby No. 2 also, but my doctor told me there’s a good chance I’ll go the full 40 weeks (there’s no correlation with how early you went into labor with your first baby).

To be safe, I mentally and physically did allllll of my prep work super early. With Four, I didn’t have ANYTHING prepared before we went to the hospital. As someone who likes to be organized, that was really tough for me. I always feel way more comfortable when everything is in its right place.

I’ll be honest, I spent a lot of time thinking through what I needed to feel my best and most prepared for this baby. From my hospital bag to my feeding station at home, I feel like everything is in a good place. So I wanted to share with you what I’ve done to prepare for baby No. 2 in case any of you are expecting soon too! Hopefully, this will help you feel better both mentally and physically.

Hospital Prep

I’m actually pretty nervous about labor this time because last time didn’t really give me a normal experience to draw from. Since my water broke, there was no questioning whether it was time to go to the hospital or timing contractions. I called the doctor and he said to come immediately — that was that. I didn’t go into labor on my own (they gave me Pitocin), so I’m not sure what it feels like to have normal, non-pitocin contractions. I also have no clue what it’s like to time them out or know when it’s time to head to the hospital. I know it will be fine, but this is something I’m a little nervous about because it feels like the first time again!

• Put together a hospital bag for me
• Find out if I can book a room for postpartum at the hospital
• Put together L&D Nurse baskets
• Order a coming home outfit — I got this one in a preemie size and love how it turned out.
• Figure out our childcare plan for when I go into labor
• Put the newborn car seat in our car

Mental/Emotional Prep

They say that you block out labor after you have a baby or you wouldn’t have more than one. Honestly, I think that’s true because I can barely remember all of the details of labor I had with Four. I did read some books and I’ve watched the Tinyhood videos, which have really helped me feel confident going into this birth.

• Rewatch Tinyhood videos (code BRIGHTON20 should work!) for a refresher on what to expect for Labor. I watched some of these last time before I had Four and found them comforting and helpful. I talked a little bit about it in his birth story blog post if you missed it.
• Read Crib Sheet — I read her other book, Expecting Better, and it was SO helpful for making my own decisions last time. It helped me feel more educated and confident along the way.
• Read/skim Latch again for a refresher on breastfeeding
• Print and go through this book of prayer for baby

Feeding

It’s so wild when you have a baby because you give birth, then they hand you the baby and you’re expected to start feeding them immediately. While it’s SUCH a special bonding moment, it can also be super overwhelming. There’s also so much pressure around breastfeeding when you have a baby. I definitely plan/hope to nurse this baby, but I’m also going to play it by ear and see how things go once we begin.

• Prep the Baby Brezza — make sure we have all of the parts and that it works
• Wash and organize pump parts, prep for coming home
• Read/skim Latch again for a refresher on breastfeeding
• Make a “bottle section” in the kitchen for all of the baby stuff (bottles, drying rack, pump parts, etc.), clean and organize bottle parts
• Figure out how I’ll store my milk in the fridge, order what I’ll be using + sharpie and tape to label
• Figure out which baby tracking app to use
• Wash Boppy pillow covers — I got this pretty one (it took a month to get in) and this light pink one from Amazon

Prep Baby’s Bathroom & Bath Stuff

Baby bathtime can be sort of stressful, especially when they’re so little. You’re basically trying to hold them up and support their neck while cleaning them at the same time. I’ve found it’s way easier to have everything in a place where it’s easy to grab quickly when you’re bathing. Here are some of the items I’m planning to have prepared in baby’s bathroom.

• Prep bathroom — clean out bathroom drawers. I’ve got a bunch of my own stuff in there + I want to wipe the drawers clean.
• Bath stuff — I got this tub, this baby soap, and this kneeling pad that I used with Four (and still use to this day).
• Washcloths — We used these washcloths for Four, and they were super soft for the early newborn days.
• Towels – I ordered one of our favorite hooded towels; they’re really big and thick and absorb extremely well! And this is totally not necessary, but I got her some Weezie monogrammed towels that she’ll use once she gets a little older and grows out of the hooded towels.

Newborn Clothes & Closet

Not going to lie, this has been one of the most fun parts of preparing for baby girl. I LOVE all of the cute girl clothes and pink accessories I’ve been able to add to her closet. I can already tell she’s going to have plenty of clothes for the foreseeable future. I also made sure to get plenty of basic swaddled that can be easily thrown on and thrown out if she ends up staining them with spit-up or a blowout.

• Wash all clothes and swaddles
• Order more velcro swaddles
• Get the Ollie swaddles that I used for Four out of storage
• 10+ onesies — I got an 8 pack Gerber NB size onesies, 2 preemie sizes, and 2 of these bamboo ones in size NB to start
• 4 NB convertible gowns — I love the Magnolia Baby ones as well as Kissy Kissy
• 6 NB footies — love these
• Order baskets for the closet shelves to store blankets, sheets, etc.
• Hangers — I got these velvet ones and they’ve been great!

Set Up Dresser & Diaper Station

Another place I know I’ll be spending a lot of time once the baby is here is the diaper station. It makes life so much easier when everything is organized and easy for me to reach while I’m mid-wipe. I am mostly sticking to the items we used with Four because they were honestly great.

• Order changing pad
• Diapers + wipes, organize in her dresser
• Wipe holder/warmer
• Diaper cream + spatula
• Order more burp cloths, wash them, and put them in the dresser. We love these; they have great absorption!
• Order laundry hamper — this is the same one I used with four and love it.
• Order diaper pail and bags
• Order and put together drawer organizers

Misc.

These are things I wished I’d done before having Four. Honestly, some of them aren’t necessary, but they’re things I really want to do (or have already done!) so I’m including them on this list. :)

• Take and print maternity photos for baby book + get printed to be framed
• Drop off things for monogram with enough lead time
• Order and start a baby book — I shared more about what I chose in this baby book review post and reviewed what I used for Four too!
• Order Petit Keep trunk for her room and keepsakes — I think these have a 6-week lead time FYI
• Schedule tentative date for newborn photos
• Start looking for outfits for newborn photos

Nursery Finishing Touches

The nursery is 90% done, but there are a few finishing toches I want to add to make it feel even more personalized to this baby girl. I love decorating nurseries so much. All of the sweet little details are so precious and can only be used for such a short time in their lives. I am fully expecting that we’ll be transitioning to a Disney princess room before I even know it.

• Picture frames for shelves — ordered this frame and this one
• Order books for shelves — I got these precious little prayer cards from my friend Cleere (she makes the sweetest products!) and they look so cute on her shelves!
• Get a pillow for her crib monogrammed

Postpartum Recovery Prep

This is a huge part of feeling my best after the baby gets here. People don’t really talk about the fourth trimester nearly enough. In my opinion, it’s just as challenging as being pregnant, just for different reasons. Thankfully, I kind of know what to expect from my last postpartum experience, so there are things I can do this time to help.

• Set up postpartum caddy for the bathroom (shop here)
• Coordinate help with family, figure out who will come and when
• Set aside a capsule wardrobe for postpartum, order a few things
• Look into getting help with food maybe? or make a list of meals to make for the freezer

On-The-Go

I have a feeling we’re going to be way more on the go than we were with Four. We basically camped on the couch out after having Four, but this time we’ve got a toddler who needs activities to keep him stimulated. So I’m already planning what we’ll need to take a newborn with us wherever we go.

• Changing pad — I got one of these cute pink gingham ones monogrammed :)
• Organizing bags for the inside of the diaper bag
• Order a diaper bag. I’m going to use this backpack in size large. I actually did a whole review on the medium vs. large size and then just the bag in general – this post is going live on Thursday!
• Wash the baby wrap I used for Four

Sleep & Crib Setup

I’ll do a separate nursery reveal post with the crib and everything — this list is just my personal to-do related to all things sleeping. Our drapes have blackout lining, so I didn’t need to worry about that but I’d definitely recommend getting some from Amazon if you don’t! We have a bassinet that we got for Four but we only really used it for the first month or two because we wanted him to sleep in his crib as soon as possible.

• Waterproof mattress cover
• 2 sets of fitted sheets in pink
• Set up the Nanit stand monitor
• Sound machine
• Wash swaddles
• Order a baby blanket — I’m obsessed with the one we had for Four, so I got her a matching one in pink. And I’m psycho so I also got her this one with the hearts (which is smaller than the other one, it’s square vs rectangle). Judge me, it’s fine. I’m judging myself! I still want to get her a monogrammed one, but I want to make sure we don’t get one as a gift first lol. We had way too many blankets with Four!
• Review Taking Cara Baby newborn tips
• Wash Dok-a-Tot cover. We mostly used this for setting Four down around the house because it felt safer.