These things have worked well for us. We have twin boys, so some of our numbers are higher than normal.
It has been supremely important to run the laundry, dish washer, and Roomba regularly and often. You never want to fall behind; this way lies madness. Get used to kicking off a half-full dishwasher or washing machine. Check the robot states at least once a day; maybe twice.
You are adults. Adults need sleep. Babies need sleep also, but not the same way adults do. Instead of having both of you exhausted and fried from being up all night, trade nights: one adult sleeps with the babies and feeds/sooths/changes them at night, the other sleeps in their own bed with earplugs and an eyemask and sleeps as long as they can. This appears to be working for us; I don't know how long we will sustain it.
This is probably because we have twins. We don't have time to deal with parental freakouts because they require food and changing and sleeping and soothing all the time. This is great; all of the concerns about nipple confusion and baby classical music and the other crazy stuff goes away. The kids are alright, just be a mammal.
You will be braindead a lot. When you are not braindead, make checklists that you can use when you are braindead. Stuff like "all of the daily chores at home" so when you are fried and awake you can look at it and then go "right, I should take out the trash" instead of just standing in your kitchen drooling.
These things are pretty great and not super fiddly. We have about 4 per baby in a couple of weights. The heavier weight is nice at night or if we go outside and it's windy.
Don't buy baby clothes; get them from friends who desperately want to get rid of them. Bonus: they are already stained, so you can stop worrying about keeping your baby impeccibly stylish and start worrying about keeping the robots running and taking naps.
Great for bottle/breastpump part drying. Remember: lots of little fiddly parts.
This is how you will wash your bottle nipples, breast pump parts, and other small things.
We're using disposable diapers for now. Pampers appear to be the best as far as ease of use at 3AM and lowest amount of blow outs. Our hospital used them as well.
We got a bunch of soft microfiber cloths to keep at the changing table. Useful for drying bottoms (a dry bottom is a non-chafing bottom!) and cleaning up assorted messes.
We bought a bunch of these. You want to be able to wash them easily.
This one doesn't suck. If you plan on breastfeeding, it's good to have a nice supportive pillow.
We like the Chicco Keyfit 30 because they are lightweight, easy to use, and easily fit 2 to a back seat. We got this frame to convert it to a twin stroller.
Delivery++. For us, this has meant we've eaten better than take out food when we've been fried and in-between friend and family food drops.
Pre-built meals, delivered once/week as component parts. Takes about 45 minutes to prepare the recipie. Advantage is it's cheaper than Munchery, easier than doing your own shopping, is tasty and healthy. Heads off takeout, plus the menus are pretty broad so you make stuff you might normally not cook. Better once you've started to get your feet underneath you (week 3-5); until then, Munchery and family food is the way to go.
Don't read them if you value your sanity. Really. But there are a few that we've found useful.
Great book to read while you are pregnant. Otherwise don't read pregnancy books, they will make you crazy. And don't read online forums either, for the love of god.
Everyone will tell you to read this. They are not wrong. Really there are 2 pages' worth of gold in this book, which is telling you how to soothe your seemingly inconsolable baby. The rest is gravy.
Recommended by Janet, our awesome pediatrician. Great info about getting kids to sleep and keeping them well-rested. There's a twin version too.
Joy liked this book more than Mark did, but it's a pretty interesting take on pragmatic parenting.
They aren't dying. They are fine. They just sound like they are choking, or breathing hard, or not breathing, or having a heart attack, or being attacked by space goblins. They will make these noises when sleeping and when awake.
This means that even though they are sleeping 2 hours out of every 3, you won't be, because every time they make a noise you will wake up.
Pregnancy is uncomfortable. There will be lots of trips to the bathroom and interrupted sleep. This will come as a surprise, and means that you'll be starting the infant care process already in sleep debt. Say goodbye to hippocampus function and nap as much as you can.