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Whether it’s your first baby or your 7th baby, adding a new child into your family can be stressful. There are a million things to consider, before, during, and after welcoming your new bundle of joy.
But there are a host of other things that a person thinks about. Namely, how to properly prepare for bringing home a new baby.
And as a seasoned mom (wow, that’s still weird to say), I thought I’d share the list of things I’m doing to prepare for our new family member this time around.
I made this mistake before baby number 2 — I failed to properly prep with freezer meals — and I felt it in the weeks after. This time around I’m stocking up my freezer with ready-to-bake casseroles and thaw-and-eat sandwiches that will make those first couple of weeks with a new baby run a bit more smoothly.
2. Consider cord blood banking.
As a first time mom, I was clueless about the benefits of cord blood banking and the peace of mind that comes with it. I learned that cord blood banking and Cord Blood Registry (CBR) have been around for over 20 years. Today, many conditions may be treatable with cord blood as a part of a stem cell transplant, including various cancers and blood, immune and metabolic disorders.* And a lot of research is being conducted to explore potential uses in the future. Most recently, a CBR funded study in partnership with researchers at Sutter Medical Center showed that a child’s own cord blood is even safe for children with autism! If you’re interested in learning more about the study and its findings click here and watch this video.
Cord blood: studying a potential treatment for children with autism
#AutismAwarenessMonth A prominent neurologist and autism researcher from Sutter Medical Center, recently published results from a CBR-funded clinical trial studying cord blood as a potential treatment for autism. Watch as Dr. Michael Chez discusses the trial and learn how CBR clients are helping to advance newborn stem cell science!
Posted by Cord Blood Registry on Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Know who you’ll call if you need someone to run to the store for you; know who you can call with a question about nursing; know who you can call to take your other kid(s) for an hour or two; know who you can call to help you clean your house; and, most importantly, check with them because they will assure you that you can use them.
4. Load your Netflix queue!
I remember how naive I was before my first child was born 5.5 years ago. I didn’t fully understand how many hours I would spend half-awake in a 24-hour period. But I learned quickly that life with a newborn operates in a haze. And you will keep the TV on half-watching, half-feeding a tiny human, for far more hours than you can fully grasp.
I watched everything those first few months — Gossip Girl, Dexter, you name it. I went from shows I’d never even cared to watch to rewatching series I’d already finished. So for our second baby I spent a couple of hours just loading up my queue with things I really wanted to watch, to things I’d be content watching half asleep.
5. Grace.
Our third child is months away and I’m already prepared with grace. Grace in the sense that I’ll be giving it to myself by the boatload. I want all new mothers to understand that even though giving ourselves grace is one of the hardest things to do, it’s also one of the most important.
*See source here.
These are all such great tips! I’ve heard so much about CBR – I need to take a look at it more in depth. Thanks for sharing such helpful info!
Great info, as we’re preparing for baby #3! I’ll make sure to look into doing all of these things!!
The advancements for CBR sound so awesome! Love the baby pictures too.
GRACE IS HUGE! Great list!!! Cord blood storage is so amazing!
I think blood banking is far most important. I wish my parents had done that for me.
Veronika
https://brunettefromwallstreet.com
I love your suggestions for preparing for a new baby! There is so much we can do before that little bundle arrives. I particularly like the batch cooking idea. I did that with my son and it was so handy!
I never did any of these things but times were different when we were having our children. We always included the older children in the whole pregnancy and they were our big helpers with each baby. All sounds good.
These are great tips! I will definitely pass these along to my momma-to-be friend! 🙂
I honestly didn’t know about CBR and blood banking! Thank you for sharing.
I’m going to have to save this post when it gets closet to the arrival of our twins in September. I’m already stressed! Lol
Thank you for educating on CBR! It’s such a powerful tool. And great tips for preparing for a new baby. New moms need all the tips they can get!
I didn’t know about Cord Banking until my third child. I wish I would have known sooner. So important.
I think it is easy to underestimate the importance of freezer meals, but seriously it is a game changer!!
Great tips for future moms!
I def did all of this (except cord blood) for bothmy pregnancies. This post is making me nostalgic for this season of life – my oldest is now 9!
Lots of things to prepare for I bet!
It’s funny how you mention loading up your Netflix queue. The only thing was, I wasn’t watching them in the daytime. I had 2 other kids. I was watching my shows at 2:00, 3:00, or 4:00 in the morning when I was feeding the baby to keep from falling asleep! Lol
These are some great tips, freezing meals will defintely help you, you are so close.
These are such great tips!!! And what a cutie!!
We’ve definitely been looking into this for our next baby, too!
Very interesting article. I haven’t heard much of CBR. I will pass these tips for my friends that are mamas-to-be.
These are some great tips. I don’t think I’ve heard of CBR. It definitely sounds very interesting.
What great advice. We hope to start a family within 2 years, so I am glad I found your blog. I think the meal ideas is perfect and I never knew about CBR. It sounds like a good idea.