My list of "Do's/Don'ts" for After Birth:

DO:

• Purchase a doughnut. Not the edible kind, but the inflatable kind that you can safely sit on in the bathtub. This is really important if you had a vaginal delivery. You are told to take warm sitz baths and this makes it easier to sit in the bathtub.
• Have an extra set of hands for the first few days to a week. Whether it's one of your parents, sibling, or really good friend, just have someone else on hand. For the first few days, you can somewhat catch back up on your sleep while they take care of the baby.
• Keep a couple of sports bras handy. And these would go over your nursing bra when your milk comes in - IF you are only bottle-feeding. No one ever told me this beforehand, but my sister did recommend it when the time came. For over a month or so, I wore the nursing bra and then 2 sports bras over top of that. The more constricting thing you can wear, wear it. And make sure you ice the crap out of your boobs. Stick a head of cabbage in the fridge and apply single leaves on each boob. It also helps reduce the swelling.
  

DON'T:

• Have a house full of people staying with you when you get home from the hospital. Never a good idea especially when you have the added stress of taking care of your new baby. And plus, you don't feel like entertaining afterwards.
  

My list of "Do's/Don'ts" for Labor & Delivery:

DO:

• GET THE EPIDURAL - don't try and be Superman - get the epidural! It was the single-handedly best thing EVER. You truly won't feel a thing (well except for the injection itself), which is a great thing during those difficult contractions, and it will help you sleep and be generally relaxed. So when the time comes to push your brains out, you will be ready.
• Push like you are doing #2, instead of pushing like you are peeing. That was the best advice I got regarding labor and thank God I did. This would be why my delivery only lasted 45 minutes...
• Get a frozen pad from a nurse. If you are not offered a frozen maxi pad after delivery, by all means ask a nurse if they have them. I had no idea they even existed until my nurse offered it up. Sounds weird, but feels like HEAVEN. They unwrap a maxi pad, pour water in it, and then freeze it. You can then stick that on top of the massive diaper they give you and it's a built in ice pack. You might go ahead and prepare some pads for home too - that way they will be there when you get home. You will totally need them!
  
• Take the stuff off the cart. And by cart, I mean the little cart the baby comes from the nursery in. There are blankets, onesies, diapers, etc. Take all of these things before you leave the hospital. Especially snag the blankets - they are great for use in the baby's crib once they are home. And this is really important - see if you can snag an extra "snot-sucker", the little bulb things that are made for cleaning out their noses. No matter where you look, you will never find one that works as well as this one. And this comes in extra handy when you get home and the baby's room is on a different floor.
• Also snag the feeding/changing sheet that was used in the hospital for keeping track of how much the baby has eaten and how many diapers were changed. It comes in extra handy when you get home and you are too tired to remember ANYTHING. Just look at the list. Granted, you have to fill in the sheet as you go along, but it's much easier than trying to remember stuff at different times of the day.
  
• Pay extra close attention to the discharge nurse who is explaining a ton of things to you. She covered them quite fast, but we caught the most important parts and thank God we did. We were so much better prepared for when we got home.
  

DON'T:

• Become too reliant on pain medications of the strong variety. Stick with Motrin or Advil, anything really over-the-counter. The sooner you can control pain, the faster you can check out. Plus, it was hard for me to keep track of when I took the Motrin since I was worrying about keeping track of a feeding schedule and diaper issues.
• Keep your baby in your room at the hospital around the clock at first. For us, we spent about an hour or so with him when we were sent to our room, but then sent him to the nursery for the nurses to do their business and for us to get some sleep. Once we took a couple hour power nap, we requested him back with us. And that's where he stayed until we checked out!
  

My list of "Do's/Don'ts" for Pregnancy:

DO:

• Invest in some type of body pillow. You will DEFINITELY need it for either going between your legs while sleeping, or as I did, run it the whole length of your left side. You won't be able to sleep on any other side or your back as the pregnancy goes on, so get used to the left side early. And it really helps with the body pillow.
• Get to know CROCS. And by CROCS, I mean the absolutely wonderful and not so pretty rubber shoes that were such the craze years ago. You will find that they are awesome not only for helping you walk around the house when you get as big as the house, but you can slip them on and off without having to bend down. I recommend having a pair or two to wear out of the house and one pair to wear in the house.
• Buy maternity clothes - I know, everyone complains about them endlessly, but I found they were a dream come true. I'm even still wearing some of them! I did find that the most reasonable place to buy those clothes were Old Navy and Burlington Coat Factory. And let's discuss bras for a second while on the topic - go to Motherhood Maternity and purchase a couple of nursing bras - not the regular underwire ones, but the ones that look like doubled up sports bras. These things are the best thing since sliced bread, especially after giving birth, but they were so comfortable while being pregnant. I've now been wearing mine for about the last 5-6 months and they are still in excellent condition.
  
• Relish in your glow - you WILL have great skin and great hair as pregnancy goes on, especially in the last few months. That will all go out the window later on though, so enjoy it while you can!
• Buy quite a few sleep n' play outfits for your newborn. Don't bother with the cutesy little onesies or little sweatsuits or things of that nature. The sleep n' play outfits, especially the kind that zip all the way down are money in the bank. It makes it so much easier in the middle of the night when changing diapers or changing outfits in general (after spitting up, etc).
• Buy a Diaper Champ. And by Diaper Champ, I mean the one and only Diaper Champ. Not the Diaper Genie, but the Diaper Champ. Best invention ever and it holds A LOT of dirty diapers and you won't smell a thing. And, you don't have to buy the special replacement bags - it uses regular trash bags.
  
• Buy a pack of cloth diapers by Gerber. They make the best burp cloths because you can get them all the way under the baby's chin. They are super absorbent too.
• Stock up on bottles if bottle-feeding. My recommendation would be anywhere from 18-24 bottles, preferably the largest size available. We made the mistake of buying 6-7 oz bottles and that's getting ready to be extinct with how much he eats now. We wish we would've bought the 9 oz bottles from the start.
• Take the time to register on www.babycenter.com. I found this website much more informative than all of the books I bought combined. They send you weekly emails letting you know what to expect that week, what the baby looks like, etc. Awesome info!
• Also take the time to register on the formula websites. Especially if bottle-feeding. You will totally need those $5 off coupons. (also register your better half too - double the coupons)
• Buy a video monitor. If you have the money, buy one. It eliminates A LOT of treading to and from his room to check on him. We bought the Mobi video monitor from Walmart for under $100 and it was by far the best money we ever spent.
• Buy a "swaddler." I always thought the swaddling blankets were such a rip-off since you could just use a regular blanket. I'm now understanding that there is a reason for their existence. You can't find a blanket on the market that is big enough to swaddle correctly. We got so disgusted with trying to swaddle him in swaddling blankets that were so small, that we didn't do it for very long before we switched to a sleep bag. Buy a couple of those too - they are AWESOME as well. You just zip the baby right up and it's a blanket... you don't have to worry about it choking them.
• Prepare meals ahead of time. Cook and freeze as much as you can before the baby arrives. I bought a ton of meats and froze them in individual bags and thawed them as needed. Not to mention, spaghetti sauces, breads, chili, etc. All of that stuff freezes really well.
  

DON'T:

• Buy cases and cases and cases of newborn diapers. It's surprising how fast they grow - our baby was only in them for about a month or so and then graduated to the next size.
• Waste money on a bottle sterilizer. We didn't realize this, but our dishwasher has a sterilize setting on it. Automatically saved us $18!
• Waste money on the night/day bottle warmer either. You will get a little cooler in your diaper bag from the hospital that you can use for night bottles. Just purchase an extra bottle warmer, $19, and keep that in the nursery. We just take the cooler up at night before bedtime.