Baby Essentials

Now that I’m entering my 8th month, I’m desperately trying to complete the list of items we need to get for Baby D. Unfortunately, as we are based abroad, we’re not among those lucky few who have relatives and friends with us who can give us gifts or even hand-me-downs to help us with cope with the expenses of preparing for the baby’s arrival. Hubby and I are solely relying on ourselves (and a handful of generous friends) to purchase everything we need before Baby D pops out.

It’s a good thing we started early in buying the big ticket expenses like stroller and car seat for Baby D. When we got them out of the way, we felt relieved as we know that the next items on our list will not be as pricey as these two. Since then, we have stocked up on the feeding essentials like bottles and nipples, as well as health, safety & hygiene items like nail clippers, digital thermometer, and nasal aspirator, to name a few. Now we can relax a bit as we only need to worry about small items like bibs, onesies and feeding bottle brushes. Thanks to my vouchers, we managed to buy other stuff that were not exactly budgeted for but were in our wishlist for the little one.

A big thanks also to my Dad who gladly sponsored my Medela Pump In Style Advanced Breastpump! It’s a big deal for me knowing how much we saved. I wished so hard to own one, which I intend to fully use after my maternity leave. As I stressed in my previous post, I dream of exclusively breastfeeding my little boy. Now that I have this dandy device, it felt like it’s just a step away of turning into a reality. I’m happy to note, too, that my hospital is pro-breastfeeding so I don’t need to worry about them feeding my baby with formula without my consent. In fact, you have to sign a waiver if you decide to give your baby formula milk while confined in their hospital.



My baby shower is scheduled a day before Father’s Day. Yep, it’s gonna be held on the same day of my birthday :) But I'm not expecting any gift for me anymore (except from the husband, of course!). All I want are stuff for Baby D – nothing else. We already chose a few knick knacks at the local Babies ‘R Us for the baby registry. Since they have very limited items we can choose from, we ended up listing 14 items only – most of which are stuff we know we might never receive. To be honest, I would rather receive vouchers even those worth AED 20 because they’re good for one year, and I could use them for future items we would need for the baby while he’s growing. For my colleagues, it was made easier for them because the list of items we still need were circulated by my team mate, Hazel.

Little did I know that babies require a lot of things for various needs like sleeping, diapering, bathing, clothing, health, safety & hygiene and traveling. When my sisters were born, my Mom never used a lot of stuff to help her out – and she did just fine. I hope that with all these items that we have, we will be able to easily care for our baby.