So I am writing this because I know if I had a friend in our situation I would want to know. A lot of people have been asking what we need for the baby and during our time in the hospital. So here it is.
-Size 1 and 2 diapers. Until we have a better understanding of how his bladder and bowels will work I will use disposable diapers instead of the cloth diapers that we have.
-Sleep and play 0-3 month/newborn outfits with snaps instead of zippers. It will be easier on the scar from the closure surgery, and if he has wires hooked up to him in the NICU they can just come through the snaps.
Thankfully since we are having another boy we already have a lot of the baby stuff that we need.
-For the hospital it would be nice to have a few gift cards for some restaurants in Grand Rapids. Even just a $5 gift card for Subway, Jimmy John’s or Chipotle will really help us out.
-We will be able to store some food where we will be staying, so snack type foods or even Meijer gift cards would be great to stock up a little.
-The doctors let us know that we will have lots of follow-up appointments in Grand Rapids the first few months, just to go down to GR is a tank of gas which really adds up, so gas gift cards would really help.
Or if you want to help us with gas with out giving us a gift card, right now BP is doing a promotion until March that if you fill up over 8 gallons and take you receipt in after filling up you can receive a scratch card code. Once we collect 5 codes we can get a $10 BP gift card. The more codes we get the more gift cards we can receive for free!
Life will be crazy in January and all these things will add up for us but who ever can help will be such a blessing for us. Feel free to e-mail me if you have an questions, [email protected]
Coleman and Lauren
December 12, 2010 at 6:54 pmGood idea posting this list! A couple suggestions from my experience… Lewis didn't wear any clothes in the hospital at all. They did have some baby hospital gowns that they let him wear but they didn't have many big enough for a full-term baby. (We accidentally ended up taking one home with us when we left but seriously, I think I paid the hospital more than enough to cover it!) Once he came home he could wear anything so you may not even have to worry about the whole sleepers-with-snaps thing. You should bring your own receiving blankets, newborn hats, and even your boppy pillow. They'll let you use all of that. Also the Renucci house was great but food-wise they're short on two things- snack food and anything fresh. EVERYTHING was canned or boxed. So fresh fruits and vegetables were a hot commodity. If people are going to bring you food while you're there, that might be a good thing to ask for. Let me know if you have any questions! Praying for you as the day gets closer. Enjoy your Christmas!