Stand Tall, Shine Bright

I am a planner. I like spontaneity, but I love to plan! So of course, since I found out I am pregnant, I began planning.

Things I needed to plan:

• How to get EVERYTHING we need shipped to us
• Picking out products
• How to rearrange our house to make room for McVaby (her room, the living room, a bathroom, etc.)
• Cloth diapering
• Baby laundry
• Making my house/baby products easily self-explanatory for babysitters, grandparents, my husband 🙂
• Hospital bag (for a Korean birth center)
• Labor plan (tentative of course!)

Solutions and Planning:

I started to research everything! I read review after review after review and decided on my “to buy” list. I used gimmethegoodstuff.org, ewg.org, blogs and Pinterest to help make decisions. Then got to ordering. Some things take months to get to us so I had to get to it!!

Things started coming in and so did the gifts (thanks everyone!). So then I had to organize. And organize. And organize.

Around the house:

Her closet with labeled boxes according to size.

The diaper drawer. I have chosen to use Grovia and Flip hybrids for daytime and the Grovia O.N.E. for nights. Hopefully I will get around to telling you what we think in about six months.

I decided to do a “nighttime” drawer with jammies and night diapers for easy distinction.

And of course just a clothes drawer.

My freezer set up for breast milk storage and freezer meals.  My label maker just makes me happy and I like everything user friendly so babysitters, grandparents and my husband have no excuse 😉

My fridge with labeled baskets for breast milk.

I made a baby friendly area on our entirely tiled/hardwood floor.

Home decor acceptable “how-to’s” around the house.

The cloth diaper laundry directions above the washer.

And the bottle warming directions next to the bottle warmer.

The baby cabinet in the kitchen. Baskets from Daiso make me so happy! I decided on Kiinde for pump bags, bottles and eventually food with a few BornFree glass bottles for when she is older.

And her “coffee maker” (aka bottle warmer) added to the refueling station.

Her bathroom had to be “Americanized” since most Korean bathrooms don’t have tubs or storage. Meaning, I had to get some storage and a tub.

Decorating her room: now the cute and fun stuff!

This door hanger was made for my shower thrown back in January by four very special friends of mine. The leaves are each painted uniquely and one is personalized with “Avera” on it.

Labor and Delivery:

With labor being so unpredictable, I just want to be prepared. So I checked the boxes on every “hospital bag” list and decided to add more! (especially since we are having to “Americanize” several things as well)

What’s in the bags:

For mom:

• robe
• comfy postpartum clothes
• toiletries
• slippers
• breast pump
• tub pillow
• bath sponges [like these] for my knees in the tub (you never know!)
• fully opening nightgown
• a cute enough outfit to wear home
• oils and oil mixes (lavender, clary sage, gentle baby, fennel, citruses)
• donut pillow
• postpartum pads
• throw away panties
• tub clothes (bra)
• postpartum spray (a recipe with witch hazel and oils)
• tucks and witch hazel pads

For McVaby:

• 2-3 swaddles
• sleep sack
• 2 pajamas
• layette side button shirts/onesies
• coming home outfit
• diapers: I chose Seventh Generation and Honest Co.
• wipes: I chose Seventh Generation and Jackson Reece
• burp cloths
• lavender cream: homemade coconut oil with lavender
• nail clippers
• hand mittens
• nose sucker
• nose nuzzle wipes: Jackson Reece again
• bunting to come home in case it hasn’t warmed up enough
• health record log book
• keepsake journal (same brand/author as the Belly Book I used during pregnancy and loved)

For dad:

• change of clothes
• toiletries
• shorts and Tshirts for tub (in case)

For everyone:

• oils
• oil diffuser
• snacks
• mattress topper (Korean beds are hard)
• camera
• transformer
• money for tolls

Other ways I wanted to prepare:

Being in Korea I’ve gotten a little spoiled and I love getting my lashes done. I also heard some ladies talking at a restaurant several months ago about how they wished they would have had pedicures before labor because that was something they noticed when looking at their toes. So I continued to regularly get my lashes, a pedicure and other body maintenance!

I made a labor binder. I love binders. It has our flexible labor plan, paperwork, checklists, consent forms, information we need for McVaby’s passport, social, etc., phone numbers, oil list etc. I wanted it all in once place for Mike to be able to reference and not have to ask me 😉

The mental and emotional prep:

There is no way to do this, I know, but we all knew I’d try! In the final weeks leading up to McVaby’s arrival I simply tried to soak it all in. I spent time with Mike and Pippa embracing as much of them as I could get. I got emotional about nearly every little thing that I thought might become different between the three of us in our near future. I did as much of my current normal as I could.

I understand many women fear labor or the reality of becoming a mom or being a good mom. I don’t have these fears. The fear I have is for this change in my life and my desire for that change. I want to be prepared for a shift in the dynamic of my family; the family that I so much adore just the way it is. Unfortunately, I think I am going to have to play this one by ear.

My end result:

I feel as prepared as possible and I will let you know if I’m right in a couple of weeks!