I love how Bonnie boils down what you actually REALLY need for a new baby. This mom of 10 really has it down and I think we can all learn a lot from it!
Today’s guest is Bonnie Wiscombe from Outnumbered The Podcast. She also is the creator behind the website Bonnie and Blythe and the clothing boutique for busy moms Novalie. She also does coaching for busy moms to help them get their live under control. She ALSO has this awesome new mama box that you can use with your new baby!
This episode was inspired by ALL he posts I have on what you need for your newborn.
Big thanks to our sponsor The Online Prenatal Class for Couples — get your mind prepped for your upcoming delivery with this class. You can have the confident delivery you want in just a few hours.
What Do You Need for a Newborn
In this episode
We talk about what you need for your new baby:
- A place to sleep
- A carseat
- Something to wear
- Blankets
- Diapers
How to prep your mind for the new baby and the feelings/emotions you’ll have.
Knowing that it is going to be hard for a few days (the part where you feel down).
How to prep other kids (and keep it in a positive way)
Other things that might interest you
Can you hold a newborn too much?
Things you NEED for your newborn episode with Valerie Trumbower
Producer: Drew Erickson
Check out my other pregnancy podcasts:
Check out all my podcasts:
Transcript:
[00:00:00.240] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys, welcome back to the Pulling Curls Podcast today on Episode 91, we are using experience today, guys. You know, I always say that I have all this experience. I’ve been at the bedside for 20 years, yadda, yadda. But boy, oh, boy, I’m bringing in the big guns today.
[00:00:24.410] – Hilary Erickson
Welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast, I’m Hilary, your curly headed host on the podcast, where we untangle everything from pregnancy, parenting and home routines. I want you to know that there are no right answers for every family. And I find that simplifying my priorities is almost always the answer. It’s tangled just like my hair.
[00:00:49.390] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, guys, before we get started, just a reminder that you can subscribe. Whatever podcast player you like to listen to be at Spotify, Stitcher, Google podcasts, Apple podcasts, podcasts, Narnia. I don’t know. Just subscribe. Thanks. OK, guys. Today’s guest is the mother of a nine point nine nine eight children. I mean, I haven’t really done the math, but she we recorded this on Wednesday and she’s due this Saturday with baby number 10.
[00:01:15.670] – Hilary Erickson
She’s actually been on the podcast before. She is the podcaster behind Outnumbered, the podcast where she talks about big fun with big families and she also runs the online to novelly. I just love how many spoons she’s got in pots. I want to introduce my friend Bonnie Wiscombe.
[00:01:34.500] – Hilary Erickson
Do you feel prepared for your delivery? In just three short hours, you can be prepared for the competent collaborative delivery you want, you’ll know what to expect and how to talk with your health care team. And there are no boring lessons in this class. I’ll use humor, stories from my 20 years in the delivery room to engage both of you. I love how Alissa told me that she found herself laughing at things that used to sound scary. Most of all, you guys are going to be on the same page from Bump to Bassinette.
[00:01:59.310] – Hilary Erickson
Join the online prenatal class for couples today, you can save 15 percent with coupon code untangled. You can find the link in the show notes.
[00:02:09.620] – Hilary Erickson
Hey, Bonnie, welcome to the Pulling Curls Podcast.
[00:02:12.230] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Hello. Thanks for having me.
[00:02:14.150] – Hilary Erickson
Last time you were on, were you a mom of eight?
[00:02:16.460] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Oh, I don’t know.
[00:02:17.060] – Bonnie Wiscombe
It’s been a while. That’s possible.
[00:02:19.640] – Hilary Erickson
I think it was nine. But yeah, Bonnie is pregnant with number 10.
[00:02:24.560] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Woo Hoo!
[00:02:24.560] – Hilary Erickson
Bonnie, I want you to know that growing up, I thought eight was the normal number of kids. So you’re just beyond normal to me.
[00:02:30.860] – Bonnie Wiscombe
That happens. We had five growing up and I thought that was OK, but my parents could have done better if they had tried.
[00:02:39.170] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah.
[00:02:39.560] – Hilary Erickson
I mean, growing up in Utah, most of my friends had eight.
[00:02:43.100] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah, you just don’t see it anymore.
[00:02:44.550] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Well, here and there, but not quite as much, that’s for sure.
[00:02:47.630] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. OK, so I saw Bonnie on Instagram telling us exactly what she prepares for the baby. And I was like, this is so smart because I think everyone’s like, I need the baby seat and I need four hundred clothes washed and I need to buy 20 gallons of Dreft or whatever that baby is so that they lure you into in those baby magazines. OK, so what do you what did you pair down to what you really needed for baby this time?
[00:03:12.410] – Bonnie Wiscombe
OK, well just as a caveat, my first baby, I was totally the same way. So that’s totally normal to thinking. I need all the things. But after a handful, I’ve decided that your kid needs a place to sleep and need a car seat because they won’t let you leave the hospital without it. They need something to wear and they need blankets and diapers and that’s about it. And if you got that, your crutch, that’s where we are right now.
[00:03:32.210] – Hilary Erickson
So do you have a… Where do you put your babies now? Do you use a playpen, a bassinet?
[00:03:36.830] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah. So I have a bassinet. I actually inherited it from my sister in law. We bought and given away a million of them. I just don’t like the storm. So our current one is a hand-me-down and we put it in the corner of our master bedroom. And then I have a couple of sleepers and some blankets and diapers in a basket undernea- underneath.
[00:03:51.680] – Bonnie Wiscombe
And that works really well for us.
[00:03:52.730] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. And then do you have diapers stored throughout the house? Probably.
[00:03:55.250] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah. And then I do have a stash. So our bedroom’s upstairs. I have a stash on the main floor as well with my toddler’s diapers too. So.
[00:04:01.850] – Hilary Erickson
You’re going to need all the sizes.
[00:04:03.300] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah, we do like every size.
[00:04:05.770] – Hilary Erickson
Have you ever been fully out of diapers.
[00:04:07.880] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Oh yeah. Yeah we’ve… Well actually funny story about that.
[00:04:11.450] – Bonnie Wiscombe
My worst diaper forgetting story was when we showed up at Disneyland late at night. You know, we get to the hotel, we’re getting ready to go to the park the next morning. I have a newborn with me. It was like four weeks old and I realized I forgot diapers. Completely forgot. So I had to track down whatever that street is that Disneyland’s on at like ten o’clock at night and try to find newborn diapers, which they don’t sell at gas stations.
[00:04:31.010] – Bonnie Wiscombe
They only sell like two and up. So that was fun. Usually we’re more prepped than that. Amazon keeps us stocked so.
[00:04:35.870] – Hilary Erickson
Did you go to the target. I’ve been to that target many times on Katala.
[00:04:39.860] – Bonnie Wiscombe
No.
[00:04:40.040] – Bonnie Wiscombe
I think it was even too late for that. I might have been closer to midnight. So I just I just went with the size 2 and wrapped it real tight.
[00:04:47.030] – Hilary Erickson
Is this the last time I saw you at Disneyland?
[00:04:48.800] – Hilary Erickson
Was it the last time you were there? Yeah, I think we saw it, yeah.
[00:04:51.500] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Oh, I don’t know. Did I have a baby with me?
[00:04:53.780] – Hilary Erickson
Back when Disneyland was open. Those were good times.
[00:04:56.100] – Bonnie Wiscombe
So sad.
[00:04:57.380] – Hilary Erickson
OK, so we know what you’ve prepped for the baby. How do you prep your mind? I think you have a really good viewpoint of how to expect all those emotional world ones after the baby. Yeah.
[00:05:07.040] – Bonnie Wiscombe
So this is the part that’s really, really hard for most of us moms because there’s so much going on. It’s such a big transition. And after you have the baby, there’s a lot of hormonal issues as well. And so my first four or five kids, it was a really rough transition. I remember thinking, oh, I feel so awful. The first, maybe like a week or two postpartum, and then all of a sudden it just kind of hit me, oh, this is just a fact of life.
[00:05:26.150] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Stop being surprised by it. Right? And so now I’m able to go into the postpartum period and love on my baby for the first few days. And then I usually think about day four or five when the visitors stop coming so often, and you’re home and maybe you’re even your husband’s back to work, then your hormones all drop off the edge. And then you want to stop all day long and think that your body’s never getting back to normal, you’re going to be back to normal.
[00:05:46.730] – Bonnie Wiscombe
And so I just expect it. So I like to tell myself to stop. Oh, this is cool. This is the part where I get depressed and cry and feel fat and feel like I’m never going to sleep again. It’s going to go away, but my baby’s going to go away too. So I’m just going to cuddle them and be totally, totally happy with this phase, even though it kind of sucks for a couple of days. So that helps a lot.
[00:06:03.890] – Hilary Erickson
That’s such a good way to look at it. They always have the opposite, like good friends. It was like the episode with cheesecake or whatever. And this is just the part where it sucks for a week or two. Yes, yes.
[00:06:14.120] – Bonnie Wiscombe
And don’t be surprised. Just come to expect it. And I’ve also noticed that it helps if you have like a loved one, kind of be aware of this phase and checking in on you, especially if you are not sure if you’re going to be prone to postpartum depression or if you think you might be. It can help to have a husband just say, oh, this is the part where you need to watch me, make sure I don’t need any professional help, because if I start to nosedive, you’re going to need to pull me out.
[00:06:33.500] – Hilary Erickson
So, yeah, I like that a lot. That’s great for our partners. Have you ever nosedived?
[00:06:38.060] – Bonnie Wiscombe
I have not. I, I think my first couple were definitely a lot rockier. I haven’t needed medication or really any professional help with that phase, but I know that it is extremely common and it really helps to have somebody watch out for that. For you. With you.
[00:06:49.370] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, definitely. That’s so important. And I think it’s important to watch your partner, too, if you’re both going through a phase like that. Does your husband notice anything weird?
[00:06:58.040] – Bonnie Wiscombe
No, actually, he’s pretty chill. He… I’m the newborn lover and he’s like the six month old lover. So as soon as I get… They get mobile and I get tired of cuddling them all the time. And he kind of takes over. And so… He doesn’t, I don’t think the newborn phase really messes with him very much, which is nice, he can deal with the other kids while I’m cuddling the baby.
[00:07:15.170] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah. So what do you do to prep the other kids now?
[00:07:17.540] – Hilary Erickson
You have so many of them, although a lot of them. This is probably routine at this point.
[00:07:21.710] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah. The older ones are either excited or like I roll here. There we go again, kind of thing. But my younger ones really do benefit from a little bit of prep. And my main theory about this is to just get them on your team ahead of time. So, yes, there will be changes, but I don’t feel the need to warn them about the negative changes.
[00:07:37.190] – Bonnie Wiscombe
I just prep them for all the exciting things because they’re going to figure out the negative stuff on their own. Right. Right. But to say things like how are you going to be my best big helper when the baby comes? What are you going to do? If you can help with diapers? Can you help go get any pajamas? Could you hold the baby with mom’s help? You know, get them really excited about these new things. Ask what you are…
[00:07:54.020] – Bonnie Wiscombe
What are you most excited about? How will the new baby make life so much more fun, that kind of thing. So just to really hype it up, make them super excited and make them realize that you’re going to need their help, even if it’s not really true with our three, you know, they could feel really like it’s really important for them to be around and be happy and excited for the baby.
[00:08:11.360] – Hilary Erickson
I don’t know, a three year old has saved me with a burp cloth before.
[00:08:14.360] – Bonnie Wiscombe
True. That’s true. If they can run and get something that helps a lot, it does.
[00:08:18.320] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I like that. Just keeping it really positive because I don’t think you can actually prepare them for what it’ll actually feel like.
[00:08:24.860] – Bonnie Wiscombe
And some kids adapt so well and some are like a train wreck. So there’s really no way to know until you see it. And then if they are having a really hard time, I try to make sure that I have some time for them.
[00:08:34.370] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Pass the baby off and we go for a walk together or even just go sit and have a bowl of cereal together and they can tell me about what’s weighing on them.
[00:08:40.520] – Bonnie Wiscombe
That helps.
[00:08:41.060] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, that’s really smart, especially where you have older kids who probably want some baby time.
[00:08:44.270] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah, that’s true.
[00:08:45.350] – Hilary Erickson
Do you find most of your older kids are excited?
[00:08:47.610] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yes, they are.
[00:08:48.440] – Bonnie Wiscombe
It’s mostly just my oldest who’s kind of like, oh, can we move past this or get all the other ones are super duper excited. They’ve all got their their bets in on whether it’s a girl or boy because we have a spreadsheet or this time.
[00:08:59.720] – Hilary Erickson
So, man, so exciting.
[00:09:01.460] – Hilary Erickson
Is this going to be the final one, Bonnie?
[00:09:03.380] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Hoo… I am like ninety eight point nine percent sure.
[00:09:07.850] – Hilary Erickson
That’s the most I’ve heard. Yeah. You were never sure on the other ones.
[00:09:11.300] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Nope. It’s been the most for me. So I think I think we can wrap it up.
[00:09:14.960] – Hilary Erickson
If you had to have a C section this time, would you tell them to tie your tubes.
[00:09:18.050] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Oh I don’t know about I don’t know what the permanent thing is. Too permanent. All right.
[00:09:24.680] – Bonnie Wiscombe
I got to leave the window open.
[00:09:25.460] – Hilary Erickson
All right. So you’re three days away from due date, right?
[00:09:28.670] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yep, that’s right.
[00:09:29.960] – Hilary Erickson
Anything you’re doing is just jestate with all those people around you?
[00:09:34.400] – Bonnie Wiscombe
No, just laying on the couch as much as I can, trying to keep from having to do work, boss the kids around. It’s pretty great.
[00:09:41.480] – Hilary Erickson
That is pretty great. And do you have it all set up? The all extra chores when the baby comes home, so you won’t have to lift a finger.
[00:09:47.780] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Oh, that’s a good question. Actually, no, I’ll leave that up to my husband. He’s really good bossing people around to tell what to do.
[00:09:53.960] – Hilary Erickson
How much time will he take off?
[00:09:56.390] – Bonnie Wiscombe
If it were up to him, it would be like a day. But I think time baby number six, I told him you have to take as many days off as we have children. He’s like a whole week? I’m like yes, a whole week.
[00:10:05.030] – Bonnie Wiscombe
So he did… Bless his heart. So but the transition does get a lot easier with each kid. And I have big kid helpers now too. So it depends on the timing I’ve got. My oldest is in school and if I can have this baby right before spring break, that’ll be great. So I’ll have to drive.
[00:10:17.480] – Hilary Erickson
That’s so true.
[00:10:18.470] – Bonnie Wiscombe
But you’re.
[00:10:19.070] – Hilary Erickson
Yeah, I did not like driving around with the newborn. It’s too unpredictable. Yeah.
[00:10:24.980] – Bonnie Wiscombe
They’re screaming in the back. You’re like, I need you. I’m sorry.
[00:10:29.010] – Hilary Erickson
Well, that’s going to be the life of number ten.
[00:10:31.130] – Bonnie Wiscombe
That’s right.
[00:10:31.880] – Hilary Erickson
Really, that’s the life of number three. Pretty much on.
[00:10:34.790] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah. Yeah. Sorry, baby.
[00:10:36.860] – Hilary Erickson
All right. Thanks for coming on, Bonnie.
[00:10:38.450] – Bonnie Wiscombe
Yeah. Thanks for having me! See you, Hilary.
[00:10:40.160] – Hilary Erickson
OK, guys, I love that interview because it’s so complicated in our minds. Pregnancy, right. But when you’ve done it so many times, it’s just impressive. Right. I love how she’s just terms that as, OK, this is the part where I just don’t feel so great.
[00:10:54.440] – Hilary Erickson
Right. Like when you have a cold, you know that you’re going to have kind of that down period. But, you know, you’re going to get better because it’s just a cold and you’ve had a cold before. Same thing with having a baby. It’s just a baby you’ve had you know, you’re going to get better. We’ve all been through those areas where we don’t feel so great. And I also love how minimalist she is with a baby, because the reality is you really don’t need a lot there.
[00:11:13.340] – Hilary Erickson
Sure. A lot out there. And there are things like I would probably add a baby swing to her list, but she doesn’t need one because she has all those extra arms that can hold the baby what she would like to shower. So just lots of good things in this episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it and can learn from the wisdom of experience.
[00:11:28.700]
Thanks so much for joining us today. I hope we help smooth out a few of the snarls in your life. We drop an episode every Monday and we always appreciate it when you guys share and review. Until next time, we hope you have a tangle free day.
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