First-time parents tend to go overboard with baby preparation way, way too early in the game, perhaps out of a frenzied desire to control at least some aspects of the pregnancy/birth process, which often seems uncontrollable.
We are a little more laid-back and haven’t yet purchased one single baby-related item. Horror of horrors, we haven’t even decided on a color scheme for the baby nursery. I figure that since I found a midwife and am on track with my prenatal care, I’m doing just fine for now. Getting sucked into the Baby-Industrial Complex too early on isn’t likely to do wonders for my mental or financial health, anyway.
However. We are already looking at daycares and getting our name on waiting lists. In case you’re wondering, yes, it is completely insane for a woman who’s a mere 16 weeks pregnant to be figuring out where her child will spend his or her days a cool 9 to 12 months from now. But with infant care slots in very short supply at quality daycares, you’ve got to be a little on the aggressive side. And even then, with our name on several lists, there’s no guarantee that something good will be available when we’re both ready to go back to work.
So we’re going on these tours, nodding our heads, and feigning like we have well-developed parenting philosophies, which of course is utter bullshit at this point. Any place that can promise to keep my kid warm, dry, fed and safe is going to be pretty OK with me, even if it costs as much as our mortgage payment every month (*note, this is actually true in terms of the cost estimates we’re seeing).
