20 weeks pregnant and the searching for baby cribs has officially begun.

Oh yeah someone gave me some good advice today about the registry thing and guilt...they were telling me to add all things needed even the big ticket items...I didn't feel comfortable doing that but he told me that some people will give gift certificates and you can use a few of those towards the bigger items. No need to feel guilty as everyone who has a baby gets a shower and people will pick out what they want and what they can afford;-) A lot of this anxiety is just fear of the unknown...but it's not that unknown as babies have been coming since the beginning of time and will continue after yours and mine is here, everyone feels the same way and once the babies are born it's like you never lived without them...humans have the great ability to adapt!

Yup overwhemed at week 19+3 days. Wasn't even thinking about buying anything yet til they started in on me at work that I really need to start getting a list together and register somewhere. I'm thinking I still have a good 4 months to go and the snow hasn't even melted yet...but after the bombardement I signed up for the gift registry online and had no idea what to add, so I didn't yet. I started looking at cribs and strollers and all the other 1,000 things out there for a baby and am now officially over-whelmed and I stopped looking before finding anything. That's how i stumbled upon your web-site. Thanks it's comforting that others out there don't have $1,000's of dollars to buy all this fancy schmancy stuff for babies that I'm convinced they won't even need. Also that I'm not the only lunatic who is stressed about all the choices;-) I think that I will leave this link in my favourites and keep an eye on your progress as Jane seems to be a few weeks ahead of me. Dad and I haven't really discussed products so I doubt he is as freaked out as me....

My only advice is:
1) If you have the money to buy new, buy something which could turn into a bed afterwards ie: convertible. Saves $$ in the future.
2) If you are on a budget, then I would buy used (ie: Craigslist, etc). Rarely do cribs get a lot of wear and tear so you can save a ton that way! And really, after about 2 yrs they will be in a regular bed anyways....
3) If you are really lucky like I was, borrow one! :)

Wow... Thanks so much for the advise everyone! This is some good stuff!

One thing is that I know Jane will be having a baby shower - and I'm sure we'll get a lot of stuff there. But for me, I feel weird about it. Like you said Daddy Files, you felt guilty about it. I feel the SAME exact way.

When we were registering for things before we got married, I felt a little guilty/strange. But this time around, I'm feeling even guiltier for some reason. Maybe it's just because everything we're going through right now, who knows.

I imagine Jane and I will have to go out and register sometime soon - but before we do I want to have a list of exactly what we want/need and keep everything to a minimum. Since you felt the same way Daddy Files, maybe it's a guy thing. Even though at this very second I'd have no idea where the money would come from to buy these items if we had to buy everything, I would rather have to figure out how we can make it happen rather than registering for everything we need and hope most large items (like a crib and a stroller) would be given to us.

As far as second-hand items, that is definitely not an option for many reasons. Well, scratch that. Let me say that is not an option for *some* items.

I just did a search on CraigsList and found a TON of strollers around here that are brand new, never used, and many that are still in the box! Huh. Maybe people got them as gifts and didn't like them/use them or something?

I found several strollers on there that retail for $300 to $500+ and they're selling for $50 to $200 or so. Hmmm... not a bad deal at all.

This makes me wonder if we should skip on registering for a stroller to save people money and Jane and I could pick up a brand new/never used stroller on CraigsList. (Only way I would buy something there is if it was truly never used, ideally still in the unopened box.)

Then Jane could focus on the crib, bedding, furniture, a rocking chair (I think a nice rocking chair would be nice to have and good for Jane and baby Tarzan), and any other smaller misc. items.

I don't think I'd get a crib from CraigsList because.... wait a second.... I just looked on CraigsList for cribs around here and found several that are still in the boxes, unopened, and some good deals. For example, I found a sleigh bed that retails for $890 for $300 that is still in the box. Hmmmm....

Maybe we should just register for small items - including about 1,000 diapers so we never have to worry about them! LOL

I just have a bad taste in my mouth with CraigsList because a couple of years ago I listed a bunch of items on there and I swear it attracted all of the weirdos in the city. Why on earth people would take the time to emails me ask if I'd take $20 for a new leather couch I had listed for $500 is beyond me.

However, the one thing that we'd absolutely buy brand new at a store is the bed - that's for sure. :)

i could not decide if i wanted to get a crib, bassanet, or pack in play or any combo of the 3. I got so OVERWHELMED and my hubby was so laid back about it that he would just say get what you like and i will like it too. So i just bought all 3. I used the bassanet when the baby was first born, i put it next to my side of the bed and it made it very easy at night b/c i could just reach over and comfort the baby or crab her when it was time to feed and just feed her right there in bed with out ever having to get up. Plus the bassanet had wheels on it so i could roll it into the living room or any other room of the house if i wanted. (i had very bad seperation anxiety at first and never wanted the baby to leave my site) then when she was too big for the bassanet i moved her to the pack in play sleeper and she still slept in our room, until at 3 months my hubby made me move her to her own room where she sleeps in the crib now. I loved having all 3 but after she out crew the bassanet i eventually gave it away because i just did not have room for it. If you have room for all 3 or any combo of the 3 i would get them, unless you think that you will only use a crib. something that is portable like a pack in play set is really nice to have! now that she is crawling i use it as a play pen when i need to clean house or do something when i cant be in the same room as her, it keeps her out of things that she should not be in and gives me a hand! plus the pack in play is nice to take with us when she spends the night at her grandparents house, that way they didnt have to get a crib.
Also i would suggest getting a car seat/stroller combo! even if you think you wont need a stroller for a while, you will!! trust me! we use our stroller almost everyday!
Baby's R Us is a great place to find baby stuff but they tend to be slightly higher than target or some of the others. Deffinetly price check on ever big item you purchase, sometimes things can be significantly lower somewhere else,(i bought a car seat/stroller combo at target for $100 cheaper at target it was the same thing from babys r us) so it helps to shop around once you know what you want. Look for coupons!! THEY HELP ALOT WITH ALL THINGS BABY!!!!!! Also check out some of the local baby resale shops, i live in houston too and i can send you an email of some really great ones if you want! i find really nice stuff sometimes brand new for really cheap and half the price!!!
I waited until after my baby shower to get stuff i didnt get. I ran around crazy for the whole month before the baby was born trying to buy things. I was due on July 17th and here i am running all over houston at 9 months preggers trying to gather things and stressing everyday about if i was going to be ready in time for the baby add that to the heat of summer and carring a baby inside me, lets just say it was not fun and i had a few melt downs along the way. I would say Jane if there are things you know you want then now is the best time to buy them dont wait until the last minuet like i did. That way too you wont buy alot of unneeded items like i did, i gave away alot of things and returned alot after the baby was born. Also keep a list of what you have bought and what you still need that way you dont buy doubles! And make sure that you have the little things ahead of time like diaper rash cream, baby gas drops, baby tylenol, things like that that you may not think are important, they are because if you dont have them it never fails that at 2 in the morning you will need them and there wont be a store in sight open. This happened to me a few times, now i keep lots in the house!!
It is very overwhelming buying baby stuff, some many people have so many different opinions as to what you need and dont need, just be organized and decided what you really want and need and what is a maybe and what is a deffinetly not item. It will make it so much easier!

Tarzan, you actually don't need most of the stuff you'll buy other than the bare essentials. The problem is Jane won't care about that. It's her first baby and she's understandably excited. And part of that excitement is to buy new things for the baby. So do yourself a favor and don't even THINK about suggesting second hand items. She will not be happy about it, even if it makes PERFECT financial sense. I've heard that they stop caring so much when Kid #2 rolls around, and then everything is used and hand-me-down.

But for Numero Uno...not a chance.

But seriously, my only advice is to wait and let people buy these things for you if you have lots of family around. I felt guilty about doing this until I saw how genuinely happy my relatives were to buy us these important items. It was their way of contributing and they felt good about it, and proud. The stroller, the crib, changing table, diapers, clothes, books, DVDs...if Jane is having a baby shower she will get these things in spades when you do your registry.

That's my two cents. Buy as little as possible.

It's just as overwhelming for Jane, I'm sure. I know cribs were the FIRST thing I looked at. I quickly decided what style, what color, I liked and then the search was on. And like the previous poster said, I'm on a very very tight budget, so it had to be something reasonably priced. I truly lucked out when looking on craigslist, a lady had a crib (to my liking!) posted for $30, with a brand new crib mattress. Needless to say, I quickly found the money and bought it. It's in great condition, but has been slightly used. No biggie, it's going to be used again! LOL. I think I was almost 30 weeks when I bought the crib. After that, I settled down but knew I needed the carseat next. I already had a perfect carseat/stroller combo picked out, I was waiting on money to work out. Sadly, it never did and I waited too long, the carseat went unavailable, so I had to search for a new one. BLAH!!!!

I've waited til the last minute to do everything, and it's been stressful and manic. I didn't buy the carseat until a week ago? And I'm due in the next couple weeks. I JUST washed baby clothes, just bought diapers/wipes, my baby shower is tomorrow. Everything has been done within the last week, and seriously, it's been crazy because I was also informed by my doctor at my last appointment that there is a VERY good chance I'm going early!? After that news the rush was on!

Anyways, good luck, once you get the big ticket items, everything else just falls into place. And I never put those on my registries. I could never ask someone to spend hundreds of dollars on MY child's bed, transportation, ect. I wanted to get those myself. I left all the small stuff like clothes, bath stuff, bedding, toys up to my guests. :)

Hey there~ we started looking right around that time because we heard furniture can take forever to come in. Our crib was actually backordered but only took an extra week or two to arrive. My husband was smart. He told me to narrow it down to the top few and then he helped me pick. I did all the research, I read the reviews, I chose in the end:)

Craig's List!

We got ours REALLLY early, but that was because we got cash for Christmas and we didn't want to spend it on anything else.

Seriously, though, Craig's List. It saved us a ton of money and the crib was in perfect condition. We got a $500 crib for $150. And my son has given it so much abuse that I'm glad we didn't pay full price for it.

Looking back, though, I'm going to go the small crib route next time. They're HUGE and take up a big chunk of a room. We're in an apt and each room has more than one purpose. IKEA has a great crib (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/0011600...) that is very solid in person. I've also seen people use apartment cribs just fine. More on these two links:
http://jordanferney.blogspot.com/2008/09/moses-clo...
http://www.shopping.com/xPO-L-A-Baby-L-A-Baby-Comp...

Tarzan, I have learned not to ask for my tarzan opinion when it comes to the baby things I am looking at, he believes i should be looking at anything till at least the day before the baby is born, well as you would know once your darling wife or partner is pregnant there is nothing you can do to switch off the baby thoughts you wife is having,

My mum brought us the change table and bouncer both are still in the box, and i actually found this great cot on ebay, it meets all the safety standards and was the exact cot I was going to pay $600 + for. I got it second for $70 it looks brand new and they also gave me all the baby linen hey had as well and a another change mat. so that might be a consideration for you and Jane.

Apart from that I still have not found a stroller/Pram that I want and as we are on a budget i can not afford to pay $800 for one so it might be ebay again for this item

My friend at work is organizing my baby shower for 1 month before the baby is due, however i don't feel comfortable telling people I need this or i need that, so no registry for this Me, however what i am providing is a list of things that would be nice to the girl organizing the baby shower and if anyone asks her then she can give them some pointers. so this is where i think i will get a lot of the smaller items we need

We do not drive so getting a car seat is not needed at the moment, but we will need to learn to drive fast what we do is hire a baby capsule to start with till we actually have a car sorted and by that stage we will then need a car seat that we will buy well and truly after the baby is born

Good Luck with it all