by Melissa Gould & Ellie Miller

Another day at work. You’re sitting at your computer finishing a report but instead of checking your facts online, you’re perusing your favorite baby sites. The work that should have taken five minutes has been put on hold. There’s a stroller sale on one site, a diaper debate on another and suddenly everyone in the conference room is wondering why you’re late, again. What pregnant, working woman hasn’t lived some variation of this same story?

When we were pregnant, juggling our hectic work schedules with doctor appointments and baby prep, took its toll. We weren’t managing our time so much as managing to drive ourselves, and our husbands, crazy.

So for all of you out there with bulging bellies and demanding jobs, here’s The Baby Planners “Wish List” that we hope will make your pregnancy experience a little more enjoyable:

We Wish We Would Have:

Paced Ourselves. Waiting until the third trimester to paint the nursery, find a pediatrician, and re-organize the garage was probably not the best idea.

Realized That We Didn’t Need To Buy Everything At Once. Six hours in a baby super store with swollen feet and the need to pee every five minutes could have been prevented. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was the perfect nursery!

Known That We Could Have Registered At More Than One Baby Store. Why limit yourself when there are so many fabulous products out there? Basics are one thing (stroller, crib, high chair) but we say take your time. Enjoy the boutiques, cruise the internet, there are some great finds out there and why not give yourself (and your friends and family) some options.

Taken people up on their offers to help. “Yes, you can pick up breakfast for me on your way in to the office.” “Yes, you can pet-sit my cat/dog/fish so my partner and I can get away for a weekend before baby comes.” “Yes, you can organize my garage, thank you very much.” (see how helpful that one would have been!)

Cooked meals ahead of time. Once baby arrives, all meal planning is thrown out the window. A lasagna in the freezer would have been delicious – even for breakfast.