There have been several good suggestions here. Here are mine:
1. I, too, liked the open bottom gowns. But only for one DS. The other one was way too hot and sweaty for them. The other DS slept swaddled in a onesie.
2. And I didn't get one of those velcro swaddlers. You can accomplish the same thing with a blanket (I liked the Gerber waffle weave ones the best for this because they had the best stretch, and DS5 needed a really tight swaddle or he'd escape and wake up screaming).
3. My grandmother made us several flannel receiving blankets (which are nothing like the thin, cheap ones from the store), and we used those quite a bit with both boys. They worked well for swaddling DS7, and they were easy to tuck in around the kids in their car seats. Oh, and they were big enough to use as play mats on the floor.
4. We had a swing and a bouncy seat. One of the boys liked the swing, and one the seat, so I'd wait and try the baby out in both before you buy either. DS7 would only go to sleep in his bouncy (his dad used this almost exclusively), and DS5 hated the bouncy seat; he would try to throw himself out of it.
5. Diaper disposal systems are a waste of $. I just used a trash can with a lid on it and Lysoled it when I changed the bag.
6. Baby Bjorn...LOVED it. We used it for both boys and it was easier to deal with than the stroller. We eventually bought a stroller when the kids were 2-3, but we never used it much. It was an umbrella stroller (a nice one with a lid), and I think we only used it once or twice.
7. It depends on what kind of house you live in whether you need a monitor or not. When DS7 was a baby, we lived in a loft (think no walls), so it was stupid. By the time DS5 came, we had moved into a 3 story house, so it was nice to have one if I was in the basement doing laundry or whatever. I just put it on the counter in the kitchen and could hear it anywhere in the house.
8. Bottles: I was seduced into the Dr. Brown ones. I used these exclusively for DS7 (there were issues that made breastfeeding impossible, unfortunately). These were a PITA. If I had it to do over, I'd use the Playtex nursers with disposable liners. Or at least something with less parts inside. Cleaning these were a beast.
9. Baby laundry detergent: If you have a HE washing machine, you probably really don't need this. It's expensive, and all the soap rinses out in a HE washer, so just use regular detergent if it doesn't bother the baby.
10. Baby Beds: Most crib mattresses are covered in a water resistant or water proof cover. You might want a mattress pad to keep the baby off the plastic-y mattress, but you probably don't need a water proof mattress pad. For sheets, the simpler the better. Sure, all that baby bedding is cute...until you have to wash barf out of it.
11. Final thought: Any item you buy that has "baby" in the name (think dresser,etc) is going to be twice as expensive than a "regular" one. Just get the regular one. They hold more clothes, and you'll be able to use it longer. And changing tables are useless. Most of them have a relatively low weight limit, and they don't really hold clothes or anything in any kind of organized fashion. We used a lidded basket and a nice spot on the floor or the bed. We had a waterproof pad for the bed.
Congratulations and good luck.
