[Lauren611]

We're in the homestudy process (domestic) and I wanted to know when others bought the crib and car seat.

Thank you

[lotsa_love_2give]

With both of our daughters, we bought gender neutral carseats around our homestudy time. We were matched with both of them before our homestudies were written fully. Our first DD was a babyborn situation, so it's a good thing we had it!

[Bnoll]

We bought everything for the nursery and the travel system during the home study. We weren't matched during that time. We felt that by getting everything together at that particular time would prevent us from feeling that the items were a certain child's if we had purchased them during a match and it fell through. Does that make sense? Probably not, but it was a good excuse to go shopping! Also, it was a great thing we did get everything together early as just two weeks after we were home study approved, our DD was born!

[Magic_Hat]

We got the car seat when the home study was just about done. We didn't prepare a nursery cause we were using the room that eventually would be the nursery and we thought it would stress us out to look at a decorated room every day while we waited. We had a ton of hand-me-downs stored away and that included a bassinet so we knew we'd be ok for a while. Once we brought the baby home, we got a crib w/i a couple months and slowly put together the room (it was already painted a good color for baby).

[binkybear]

we purchased a stroller/car seat travel system as soon as we were approved.

Our nursery was painted and set to go but I was really going back and forth with the crib and furniture style. Before I had one picked out we were matched and 10 days later were home with our son, somewhere in the middle of those 10 days we spent 4 hours at a babies r us stocking up and ordered our nuetral classic furniture. For the first few weesk he was in our room in a bassinet my sister used for her daughter. (he's still in out room, but in his crib

If you like nuetral looks and you're ok with having a crib in the house (whether assembled or not yet assembled) I'd say go for it and have the crib standing by. If you're really wanting a crib that's all girl or all boy in style just have something else on hand that the baby can safely sleep in until you get the crib.

[sambob]

We didn't have a crib or set up a nursery until after we brought a baby home. We didn't specify newborn so we didn't quite know the age of the baby/child that we would be bringing home. As it turned out, it was a newborn and a very fast situation. We ended up borrowing a car seat to bring our daughter home from the hospital. We spent the next few days stocking up at Babies-R-Us and going through all the hand-me-downs that were given to us. Crazy times! But fun. I couldn't imagine setting up a nursery ahead of time, that would have been too weird for me.

[Fran27]

We bought the car seat and the crib when we got approved, but didn't set up the nursery until 4 months after we had the babies home.

[Amber76]

We bought the car seat on the way to the hospital, literally. But, we had already picked out exactly what we wanted and knew it was in stock at Babies R Us so we were prepared. We didn't buy DS's crib until he had been home for a month or so. He was a baby born situation only 2 weeks after we switched to domestic adoption, though, so we might have done it differently if he hadn't come so quickly!

If I were you, I would at least go ahead and pick out the carseat you want and make sure it is readily available now so that you are prepared and not doing research last minute. The crib, I think, just depends on your own preferences. We weren't planning to use ours for a few months after baby was home (nursery is upstairs and our room is downstairs) so it wasn't a high priority for us.

[Nevada Jen]

I would wait and treat yourself after you finish the homestudy and go register at BRU. One boy registry and one girl registry. Just don't tell people about the registries until you are ready for people to start buying gifts off them. Then in the event you get a quick baby born call you can run into BRU and grab your registry and start grabbing stuff off the shelves. A lot of cribs need to be ordered in advance so you may want to do that ahead of time. But you really won't need a crib for at least the first couple of weeks. And you can pick up a car seat just about anywhere if its really an emergency.

[MkMw]

1st time - we picked out what we wanted (down to bedding, different types for boy and girl)and waited. I did order the rocking chair because I knew I could use that anyway.

Our plan was to order the crib so that it arrived about a week before the baby, but we weren't going to so set it up until baby was home. As it turned out because I spent over 4 months overseas, DH ordered the cribs while I was gone, and friends set one up the night we got home,and DH did the other one when he came home a few days later. I bought the car seats the week before we travelled Would have had them sooner, but they only had 1 in stock and with twin stroller wanted them to match!


Second time around - someone had already given us cute girly bedding. We did wind up buying her a new car seat, because when DH came to get us he grabbed the wrong one and it was missing a clip. Everything else we bought for her after birth - because, well,we didn't get matched until after birth - but really, as long as you have a couple of neutral sleepers, baby t-shirts and recieving blankets, the rest can wait.

[Cjmeck]

We bought the carseat 6 HOURS prior to TPR; only when the SW at the hospital made me do it. I was so afraid her bmom would change her mind that I just couldn't bring myself to buy anything. I mean NOTHING...
The crib I didn't buy until our daughter was like 2 months old. We had a pack and play from when DS was little so we used that (the bassinet part) for the first few months in our bedroom.

[Texan99]

We did not buy anything until after our son was born. Of course he came a little over 8 weeks early so we had plenty of time while he was in NICU to purchase things. We were only planning on buying the car seat ahead of time and waiting until he was here to buy all the other things. If we ever decide to adopt again we will not buy anything ahead of time. (not even a car seat) Some people like to buy stuff ahead of time, but I prefer to wait. Do what feels most comfortable to you.

Regards,

[Lauren611]

Thanks everyone. I could borrow a pack n play from my sister if we need it sooner than expected.

[Stormster]

I'm so surprised to hear how early everyone bought everything!

Our first situation was baby born in Texas so we flew there, met the baby, ran out to the local Walmart and bought car seat. Placement failed so we gave everything to mom.

Second situation, bought car seat online (by then we knew what we wanted) and had it shipped ahead. E's birth mother knew it was for E no matter who ended up parenting him.

Crib was on hold at store for when we got home throughout. Didn't do nursery before we had a baby but it was painted a neutral color, clean and empty.

BTW I can't tell you how many sets of names we had made up for nursery (that is the one thing i did in advance) We ordered the set (the one we wanted took a long time to make) three times from the store, changing the name each time situation failed. It was crazy. Did not feel good.

[jcm]

Thanks for asking the question that has been on my mind Lauren. ....and everyone for responding. We are just waiting to hear from the agency if we passed the HS or not. It's been several weeks since it was submitted, and I am on pins and needles, wanting to nest.