Pregnancy Archives – Page 4 of 5 – A Well Crafted Party

Packing for a Hospital Birth

July 19, 2011 4 Comments A Well Crafted Kid

Well, it is here… I’m 36 weeks. He can come any day now and my doc won’t stop him from coming. (Although, we all hope he makes it another couple of weeks to grow a bit stronger.) But, since I am here at the possible last month of pregnancy it is now time to pack our hospital bags and get them in the car. I’ve read the checklists and tried to figure out what I would need in packing for a hospital birth. I assembled my own sort of list (which I am sharing today) but, would love your advice!

Packing Bags for Baby's Birth at the Hospital - A Well Crafted Party

We have 3 bags (my bag, my hubby’s bag and the baby’s bag) that are going to the hospital with us along with my Boppy, laptop and purse. I still have a few things to clean and pack away and then we’ll also have the last minute items of chargers and other such electronics. But, overall it is almost done!

Hospital Bag Items to Pack for Mommy to Be - A Well Crafted Party

What I Packed for the Mommy-to-be Hospital Bag:

*For During Labor*

—Birthing Gown (Didn’t want to wear the hospital one)

— Robe

—Slippers

— Chapstick

—Hair Ties

—Ipod stocked with music

—Mints and Hard Candies

*For After Birth*

—PJs

— Nursing Tops

—Nursing Bra

—Nursing Pads

—Industrial Sized Pads

—Underwear

—Toiletries

—Makeup (I just bought a whole new basic set to keep in the bag)

—Contacts/Contact Solution (Will Grab Glasses Last Minute)

—Hair Dryer

—Going Home Outfit (that will fit my big bloated self)

What I packed for the Daddy-to-be’s Hospital Bag:

—Snacks

—Comfortable Clothing for two nights/days

—Toiletries

—Laptop & Phone filled with games/entertainment/books

—Camera!

—Binder with Must Call list, birth plan (with extra copies), insurance information, directions to hospital from several different areas, list of area restaurants near hospital

—Gifts for Nurses (see below for more info)

—Banner from baby shower to put in room that says, “Welcome Small Human”

Babys Hospital Bag Packing List - A Well Crafted Party

What I packed for my baby’s hospital bag:

—One Swaddling Cloth

—1 Baby Blanket

—A couple pairs of socks (one for his little hands)

— Diapers (we are doing gDiapers so we wanted to have some with us)

— Small Stuffed Animal

— Button on shirts

—Going home outfit

—Also will have car seat in car—

Nurse Thank You Gift Printable - A Well Crafted Party

In my last Mommy Monday post I wrote about how we are bringing Thank You gifts for our nurses and those people that help us during our labor and delivery. We packed 5 of them and made them look super cute with a printable. I thought I’d upload the printable for anyone who wanted to use them! They say, “Thank you for taking care of us on this special day!”

Nurse Thank You Printable - A Well Crafted Party

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE THANK YOU PRINTABLE DOWNLOAD

What did you find that you needed or didn’t need when you were packing for a hospital birth?

A Well Crafted Home

{Mommy Monday} Decorating the Nursery Pt. 1

May 16, 2011 1 Comment A Well Crafted Home

Thank you to everyone who responded to last week’s {Mommy Monday} Recent Reads.

I really enjoyed the responses and am excited to pick up a few of those books suggested!

So, I have approximately 13 weeks before baby.

(if he arrives on his due date that is…)

YIKES!!!

I need to get things ready! I think I just now hit that time they call “Nesting.”

I’ve been planning out his room the past few weeks, but am just now getting around to doing something about it. This weekend I bought paint samples, material for his crib sheets, and organized the clothes we have into plastic bins. I also started going through ALL of my entertaining supplies trying to condense them into one closet instead of the three that they are currently in.

Theme

We decided to go with a vintage(ish) robot theme for the nursery.

(Which I’m SUPER excited about.)

Paint Samples

Like I said…. I went to Home Depot over the weekend and hmm’d and haw’d over paint chips for a while. I ended up buying three samples for wall paint and then brought home some paint chips of the colors I’d like to feature as accents throughout the room.

The colors look a little distorted from what they actually look like on the wall. I think we’ve decided on the middle color (a light grey) for the walls with the yellow, blue, green and orange as accent colors. (Although… not as dark as they are pictured.)

I bought orange material to make a few crib sheets—I’m super excited to use the crib sheet tutorial from Prudent Baby to sew up a few sheets for the little man’s bed.

UPDATE: Click here to see how the Robot Nursery turned out!

How did you decorate your nursery?

Or… what are your plans for your nursery?

I’d love to see moodboards, blog posts, pictures… etc!

A Well Crafted Kid

{Mommy Monday} 6 months down!

April 25, 2011 No Comments A Well Crafted Kid

Okay, obviously this pregnancy has hindered my ability to blog. Let me give props to some amazing pregnant bloggers that seem to be able to keep up with this whole body take-over with

style and pizazz:

Kari from Kari+Nathan— not only has she kept up posting during most of her pregnancy, but she has also done a “Mommy in the Making Monday” post for WEEKS now that I look forward to every Monday. She has inspired my Mommy Monday Posts even though the format will be different. I’m really looking forward to seeing her posts after the baby is born!
Kelly from Sewing in No Man’s Land— This lady is AMAZING. Not only does she have THREE little ones already, but she is pregnant with her fourth and is constantly posting new patterns, tutorials and images to her lovely blog. She is making me SO excited about sewing for my little one. Oh, and she is living abroad as the wife of a Foreign Service officer! Her blog is really a treat to read.
Nicole from Making it Lovely— Okay, so she isn’t pregnant anymore… but, she was consistently surprising me with wonderful posts of lovely decor and images during her pregnancy. Now she is still updating the blog constantly with BEAUTIFUL images of her little ones. Definitely check out her monthly photos of her little ones: Eleanor and August.

Seriously, how do these ladies do it!?!

I think I am finally at a place where I can start blogging more consistently again. I have plenty of posts and ideas up my sleeve, but have just NOT had the energy to even pick up my computer.

One of the things I’m trying to post about is the pregnancy itself… which is why I am introducing

{Mommy Monday}

Mommy Monday will be a time for me to discuss the pregnancy, my concerns and some fun photos. I really LOVE hearing about other parent’s experiences and welcome any comments and advice!

Today I’ve finally hit the 6 Month mark! Whoohoo!!!

At 24 weeks pregnant we now know the sex of our little munchkin, have started getting things together for the nursery and are reading a TON of material hoping to prep for the birth and baby.

I’ve decided to try to take semi-weekly photos of my growing baby after being

inspired by these lovely images {even more lovely images if you click the link to the left}:

Source: None via Jenni on Pinterest

Source: ontobaby.com via Jenni on Pinterest

*SEE MY WEEKLY PHOTOS AND FIND OUT IF IT’S A BOY OR GIRL AFTER THE BREAK!*

Obviously, if I haven’t been feeling like blogging much I also haven’t

been up to taking a TON of photos…

but, I did take a few and have been much better about it during these past few weeks.

Here is what I have so far:

“12 Weeks— You are just a little one yet. I was happy to see you were a human and
not an alien creature.”

“13 Weeks— In just a week you made my belly grow a full two inches.
Someone even asked me if I was pregnant this week.”

“18 Weeks—We found out you are a BOY! We cannot wait to welcome you, our SON, to our family!”

“21 Weeks— I got my ‘Mom’ haircut this week. You are certainly making yourself known…kicking up a storm
and already keeping me up at night!”

“22 Weeks— Your dad and I are excited about showing you cherry blossoms next year.
We have SO much we want to show you!”

“24 Weeks— We got your crib this week. We also started the process of getting your room ready.
We sure do hope you like it.”

Well, that is where we are right now!
Thank you for following the break to look at all these silly photos. I am thrilled to be having a baby boy and am hopeful that I will be able to keep up with him and this blog.

I will continue to update about the pregnancy in my {Mommy Monday} posts. I plan to add some of the nursery projects, questions about being a mom and preparation updates to these posts.

Of course the inspiration behind {Mommy Monday} came from my constant reading of
Kari+Nathan‘s Mommy in the Making Monday posts. I have loved the idea of updating about the pregnancy once a week and really like alliteration (see Friday Finds)… so, I hope you enjoy my {Mommy Monday} posts and give Kari’s blog some love as well!