Before our girl baby was born nearly three years ago now, we didn't have much ready.  We were outfitted with the basics - the crib, car seat, stroller, some outfits we received as gifts.  Close to my due date I asked my doctor nonchalantly what we need to have when our daughter is born.  He shrugged, stating his son slept in a drawer for the first few weeks of his life...babies don't know the difference.  We went to the store and bought diapers.  Surely she'll use diapers. 

I pride myself on not being high-maintence in the mothering department.  Why bother buying a changing table when you have a perfectly safe floor (can't roll off it)!  Saved myself a few hundred there.  Why bother waiting until your baby is fat and happy to go off on weekend errands with your husband.  Lean over and nurse her in the carseat!  Spending money on a silly cape to shield you from breastfeeding?  Just whip it out inconspicuously.  The more attention you draw to the fact you're nursing, the more eyes you'll get.  (Note: my kids were easy nursers...this may not be so simple with those kids who don't inconspicuously nurse in public.)  By the time they're 5 or 6 months old, they don't want to be hidden from the public...the little buggers want to look out between sucks, and they will remove whatever is in their way, be it a blanket, cape, or spare shirt you happen to throw on top of her to offer coverage.

That said...my low-maintenance attitude and way quickly changed come time to push my newborn daughter around the block.  We initially purchased a Peg Perego Pliko 3 with the matching car seat.  It looked fast.  I remember the day we got home from the hospital loading my daughter in her stroller system and proudly walking around the block with my husband and parents.  We made it a mere three houses when my 9lb. newborn let us know she didn't want to be in the stroller anymore.  So, there is my dad, pushing an empty, but stylish-looking brand new stroller, and there's my daughter, asleep in my arms as we truck around the neighborhood.  The stroller was fine.  It got the job done...for the first few weeks.  By the time I was feeling ready to work out again (the next week...there's something in me that won't let me sit still), I quickly realized that this stroller isn't up to par for my daily power walks.  The wheels were rickety, the stroller was noisy even on nice sidewalks, and the ride wasn't very smooth.  Hitting large cracks or bumps, had my child not been belted in, would've ejected her!  Needless to say, the Peg now sits in the garage at my parent't house.  We hesitantly use it when we go to visit.  The kids (my now almost 3 year old and 2 and a half year old niece) love it.  The parents and grandparents do not.  We fee like the stroller needs a license plate reading: My Other Stroller is a Bugaboo.