Best wishes to you and your family. I went down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos recently that featured what items were liked and not liked for newborns by the various vloggers. It's fascinating to see all of the products available now. I still think the plug-in swing, not that Mamaroo thing, just a plain old side-to-side swing was my lifesaver. I've yet to meet a baby who couldn't rest comfortably in one, although I'm sure there are babies who hate them. There are times, though, when you need to two free hands and a free five minutes and the swing was terrific for that.

IMO, the one thing you should have which will greatly help you be hands free for a few minutes is a play mat for baby. Here are a few examples Of course being a newborn he won't notice much but within a couple of months he'll like the independence and being able to see mommy nearby.

Sophie the Giraffe is a must. I ended up buying one for each grandchild because babies really do love Sophie.

I swear by the swing. It lets you eat dinner with DH in peace which is when we used it and fortunately both of our kids - both boys, loved it. And before you know it, your son will be 30 or 32 and you will wonder where the time went

I was lamenting the flying of time yesterday and yet so happy about where my kids and their partners are in their lives.

Wow, thanks for the updates! You look great, and so good to hear how well Molly is doing. I have no children, so I have no special advice to add, other than wishing you a continued healthy journey.

You will be an amazing mom!!! so excited for you!

I am thrilled for you! Enjoy every minute of it for it is over way too soon. And none of us knew what we were doing before children so no worries it will be intuitive. Xo

I've been quite busy watching YouTube lately, as I mentioned before, and one of my favorite channels is Sailing LaVagabonde. They live on a sailboat and their baby has been aboard with them from the time he was just a few weeks old. They do a lot of baby wearing! On one of the recent episodes, they were talking about elimination communication, something I had never heard of before now. It sounds like a wild idea, but I understand why they are trying it.

So happy for you! Yes, it will probably come naturally ( I remember begging them to let me out of the hospital so I could just take care of my kid on my own), but if it doesn't make sure you ask for help. I put up with my second one crying non-stop for weeks. I finally followed a friend's suggestion to call a lactation consultant and they figured out that there really was a problem, what it was and what to do. We can't do everything on our own. Ask for help when you need it and sleep when you can.

Can hardly wait to hear the next big news from you.

Beagles, yes, a boy. I didn't want to mention that because I couldn't recall if you knew the gender of yours. But what they say about how you carry is true, at least in my case. (And yours!)

Wishing you well with the exciting event , and in the words of Mr. McFeeley...." Speedy delivery"!!

Feathers & Beagles, same with me. I had two boys and carried only out front. From the back you couldn’t tell I was pregnant .

Beagles, you look amazing! So glad to hear that your pregnancy has been easy and hoping that you find parenting to be the same. What a wonderful outcome for Molly!

Nursing does not come naturally to everyone and it can be really frustrating in the beginning. So don't feel like there is something wrong with you if it doesn't go smoothly in the beginning. I nursed my DS for 19 months but it was not easy in the beginning. Work through the beginning knowing it may not be easy and definitely see the lactation consultant in the hospital ASAP. Once you get it going it may end up being one of the most fulfilling times in your life - it was for me.

Invest in a good pump so DH can help with bottle feeding what you pump. I had enough frozen milk that I was able to keep using breast milk after DS self-weaned. You will be amazed how much milk you can produce. It's very empowering.

Beagles SO wishing you all the best!

I think you're made of sterner stuff than I am...the sleepless nights and physical demands of breastfeeding and baby care meant I didn't even want to THINK about work for the whole six months of my maternity leave (my husband took the other 6 mos). I honestly don't know how people take care of newborns and toddlers simultaneously. I know they manage, just not sure how!

I had a tough time breastfeeding and ended up having to combo feed. One benefit is my husband could do the occasional night feeding. It helped...a little.

Are you going to share the name contenders?

You look adorable. All belly and not big elsewhere.

None of of us knew what to do with a first baby. Hungry? Feed. Wet? Change. Crying? Rock.

Cant wait to meet the little beagler and find out the name!

Great news and looking forward to seeing pics of the little one. You look great. I think my food-baby is bigger than you!

Beagles, you look great and I'm glad it has been an easy pregnancy for you. You are a good dog parent, so you already know how to take care of another living being that is totally dependent on you.

My ‘basketball’ was a girl.

My first child was a dog. She taught me how ready I was, and how much love I would have for a human child. :). Best wishes! We will all be excited to see first pics! dedtired....little beagler...cute!!!

Thanks Oakley. We do have a play mat / tummy time mat. That Sophie the Giraffe is really cute too!

Blfenton I will look more into the swing. My husband is kind of against it (he’s a chiropractor and something to do w/ the spine) and plus I’m not sure if the dogs would be a huge fan of a swinging baby. I got a boppy and some tummy time mats so am hoping he can play on those when I don’t want him in the carrier.

Fun2BeHere I’ve heard of elimination communication. I was loosely considering trying it but I’m not sure if it is more trouble than it is worth. Are the sailing people having success w/ it?

Thanks Rory. We are planning a home birth so there won’t be a hospital for us (hopefully!) but there’s a lactation consultant through my midwife who already taught a class and who hopefully will help. I will get a pump for sure so others can help feed the baby.

Robo, I am hoping that I’m not underestimating the challenges of working w/ the baby. I do have paid maternity leave from one of the companies I work for but I really do not like the idea of taking off from my other freelance jobs I do on the side. Everyone has been super incredibly supportive and said to take as much time as I want, but my freelance jobs obviously don’t pay me if I don’t do them and they are so simple and lucrative that I will be very upset if I can’t find like an hour a day to write a few articles! We will see how it goes.

Eld6161 our short list includes Bastian, Bentley, Braydon, Hayden, Archer, and Brooks. There are a few others but it almost assuredly will be one of them. My husband really likes Bastian.

Martinca My first two children are dogs and I love them so much, it is hard for me to imagine loving anything more. So I hope they’ve gotten me well-prepared!

You look wonderful beagles.

Our nephew and his wife had prepared to follow the elimination communication trend and go without diapers with their first. They had prepared so well there wasn’t a diaper in the house when the baby arrived. Within 18 hours he was out shopping for cloth diapers...

Healthy baby wishes to you!

No vote for us Beagles? Mine would be Braydon. Sorry but Bastian sound too much like something else to me. Of course if you choose it I will love it just the same.

Maddie, I have not heard of that!

What does Bastian remind you of? We both really like that one b/c it is unique. We both liked Bentley as a first choice but my husband's brother said that it had become a very popular name b/c of some MTV show w/ teen mothers so that has made us a bit wary of that one...

@beaglesdoitbetter Sailing LaVagabonde doesn't really go into depth about any subject, so I have no idea how they are doing with elimination communication, but the concept is fascinating to me. If you try it, I hope you will post about your experiences. With regard to the swing, I wonder if your husband understands that we are talking about swings where the baby is laying supine, not sitting up?

ETA: The swing doesn't usually bother dogs.

Well Sebastian means venerable Bastian means from Bastia. So at least the meanings are interesting.

Some people wait to meet the child. My husband and I had a hard time choosing names until we met our kids. It worked for us.

@Fun2BHere I thought babies sit up in swings? Wouldn't they have to sit up in order to swing? Or am I thinking of the wrong thing? Every swing I see when I google has a baby sitting upright?

If I try elimination communication, I will definitely post about it. I really like the idea of him not being in diapers for long. I trained the dogs to go potty on command with the words "go pee pee" so I feel like the baby should be able to get it, right ? But at the same time, it also seems kind of gross and like a hassle.

I felt so guilty using diapers that I've spent the last 20 years being extra diligent in my household consumption and waste. I've more than redeemed myself. (And then there's the fires in the Amazon, so keep it all in perspective.)

This advice is too late here, but I always tell pregnant women to NEVER reveal the names they're thinking of naming their babies. People will give their opinions when they think you're still undecided, and those opinions can sometimes skew your choices. (For example, a co-worker said about one of my potential names that it sounded like the kid who gets beat up on the playground. I was appalled!) Instead, wait until after the baby is born, announce the name, and everyone will be happy for you.

Finally... the moment we arrived home from the hospital with our oldest, he spit up and my husband and I panicked. We didn't know what to do, even though we had read every book and felt prepared for all this. But we just felt so helpless when it was just the 2 of us and this little bitty human being. We called the nurse at the hospital in tears and wanted to bring him back. I don't remember how, but she calmed us down and we were OK. He's now a healthy, wonderful young man, btw. Don't fret, Beagles. As prepared as you think you are, you're not. But you'll be just fine. You got this!

Is Bastian short for Sebastian? We had a coworker (Dutch) who named their 5th (or was it 6th?) Sebastian and called him Bastian for short.

When I had my first, and went to mom-and-baby groups, all the moms said “no one tells you how hard it’s going to be”. Well, I totally disagreed. EVERYONE says it’s harder than you think, we just don’t realize it. But ya know, we all get through it and (almost) no one would go back and undo it.

For elimination communication, I suppose it’s a way to develop that muscle control early, but in the early days they have so little control, you need to be prepared. How do you go out? Ever? Shopping even? My cousin lived in Ukraine just after the changeover, she didn’t have children but had friends who did, and she said elimination communication was a function of survival, because disposable diapers were not easy to get and cloth ones not so easy to wash frequently. But still, in a baby’s early days you’d have to be so tuned in the baby. That can actually be hard. I felt much more tuned in to my first than to my second in the early years.

Oh, it’s going to be super. Watching a baby develop is the most exciting thing! Even the first time you notice that their little hand movements are more organized than they were the day before, when they roll over and are totally surprised, when they wake up not hungry but practicing vocalizations, and my favorite, the language explosion. Funny story, my son was about 20 months and fully entrenched in language explosion. The guy remodeling our bathroom had a baby at home, and one day he noticed our son chatting and wondered when his baby would start talking. I asked how old the baby is? 6 months, he said. I told him the baby is already starting to talk, just listen to the sounds he’s making and experimenting with, how he listens and watches, how he tries to copy. You just can’t discern the words yet!

Your husband should evaluate the names based on whether he would have liked to be called that as a child, a teen, and today as an adult. Also consider the possible shortened versions as boy's names are almost always shortened to one syllable.

, Feathers! My advice as well. Names are like colors, one you love I may hate. Keep the choice (s) to yourselves for another reason as well: Its something to announce! Everyone knows the sex, keep something as a surprise.

One of the joys of creating your very own human is getting to name the baby!! :) You and your husband know best, and you will make the perfect choice for your little guy.

@beaglesdoitbetter The "swinging" is powered by a small electric motor, not by the baby.

Here's a link to one on Amazon that has a short video clip that you can watch. They could be called a rocker or a swayer (if that were a word) rather than a swing.

https://www.amazon.com/Graco-Simple-Sway-Swing-Abbington/dp/B00PTL15D6

A friend of mine, whose parents are from the Phillipines (this is germane), told her dad that she wanted to name her son Quinn. Her dad said, "QUEEN!? You want to name him QUEEN?!!!!" After that, Quinn was off the table and they ended up naming him Kai.

My only further advice with names is be mindful of what nasty nicknames might be made out of them (I winced when I ran across Rilla and Zilla in a baby name book). Also what your kid's initials spell, and how it sounds with the last name, and how it sounds with the first, middle, and last name. You may be yelling the latter when he's in trouble.

I grew up in an area where Sebastian was a very common name. Had never heard the Bastian version. I googled and one comment I read was someone saying that Bash would be a great nickname, which made me think that some will be seeing it and pronouncing it as BasHtian. That would drive me crazy!

Just an example of the things you have to think of when choosing names.

DH liked Travis for DS1, but I just couldn't do it, as I worked with a Travis that was a very odd guy.

I agree with others about waiting until the baby is born to zero in on the name. DS1 was Baby Boy OurLastName on his hospital bassinet card for 2 days!

The singer Sebastian Bach formerly of Skid Row goes by Bas.

cawaps, I actually have a Filipino friend whose son is named Quinn. But they lost their accents long ago.

What do Rilla and Zilla mean? I am clueless.

Me too.

Beagles, babies need to recline in the swings so that their heads don't fall forward, cutting off oxygen. Same reason they are now saying not to let babies sleep in infant car seats when you get home and they are still sleeping. When I had DD1 in the 80s, I remember driving with one hand on her forehead so she wouldn't be so far over while sleeping for fear she would not be able to breathe. It was just common sense to me at the time. Now it's a "thing." DGS, who is now 8yo, had colic, and he slept in the swing a good bit or else DD2 did not get any sleep.

When DGS was potty training, and while I kept him at their house while she was at work, we spent 2 days without diapers on and it worked... but it was not fun to clean up pee a couple times the first day when he would forget he wasn't wearing a diaper.

Whether you tell people names before or after the baby arrives, there is always going to be someone that doesn't approve. But I'm in the "keep my mouth shut" camp. Why hurt feelings? Obviously, if the parents have picked out names, they like those names.

I have no idea of the name origins of Rilla and Zilla, only that they showed up as girls' names in a baby book I had. And that the names practically beg for some punk kid to tease them by calling them Gorilla and Godzilla.

In line with Braydon and Haydon, a boy on my street is named Cadon. It seems like a stronger male name than the other two and I can picture it working through all stages of development.

You look wonderful, fit and ready! So happy for you and your husband. No experience here so no advice other than to enjoy the blessing. Wishing you an easy delivery and a home filled with happiness and joy.

We didn’t tell anyone names we were considering. When DS1 was born my sister took a video of my husband announcing his arrival and name to family in the waiting room. When he announced, “It’s a boy! We named him Jackson”, you can hear my MIL say “Jackson!?” (with a sour tone)!

He was born late at night and by 6am the next morning my husband and I decided that Jackson just didn’t feel right so we picked a different name. I’m glad I didn’t see the video until a few days later though, because I would hate to think that her comment influenced the change.

You and Mr. Beagles will find the perfect name that feels right for you. Best wishes for a wonderful delivery!

You're adorable Beagles! Thanks for sharing all the happy news! Wishing you so much joy and an easy labor and delivery!

Feathers11, I'm sure there will be lots of panic moments. That's why I have my in-laws coming to stay! They've successfully kept children alive into adulthood so it will be good to have them around!

pbath Bastian isn't short for Sebastian. We don't like that name. We just like Bastian.

cawaps that's funny about Queen! I would not have thought of Gorilla or Godzilla as connected to Rilla or Zilla. Guess I'm not that creative about coming up w/ mean nicknames.

gsciencechick I think Bas is a cool nickname!

allison I have read that about car seats as well. We won't leave him in there!

amj0517 I am pretty sure my MIL doesn't love any of the names we're considering. Oh well. She'll have to just be happy with getting a grandchild!

Countdown time! I really enjoyed the anticipation of giving birth during those last few weeks.

You look great and I hope you have a speedy and healthy delivery!

I love the name Bastian, my grand was going to name her son and I was happy but, at the last minute she switched it to Dylan. I'm still happy, he's my everything. I think you will do wonderfully with your child. I never felt like it was hard as I loved every minute of it. I watch our Dylan two days a week and it's the best two days of every week. You will fall in love with your child, a deep love that surpasses all others.

I took off 3 months when our first (and 2nd and 3rd) were born, but I was emailing staff from maternity and worked from home quite a bit over my leave. I wanted to. DH was on leave with me and we had a nanny and household help. I breastfed for a year with each.

All of our babies were very good sleepers (6+ hours the first night) and not colicky or anything, so there were plenty of hours in the day to be with them, rest, and get some work in. If all goes well, I'm sure you will be able to write given that you have help.