Hi, S...
Congrats on your pregnancy!! :)
To be absolutely honest with you, both of my boys were out of their cribs by the time they were 15 months old, and they really don't care what color it will be! And registering for one will only work if you have a group of friends who could each pitch in to buy it, but then you would be cutting in on their budgets of buying other things your baby will need (and believe me, new babies need a lot of stuff!...ok, well, actually it's new moms who need it to make their lives easier).
So...with that said, I would say "take the friend's crib" (she'll feel more like she got more for her money that way), and save your money for when the baby gets a little older, and you want to change his nursery to a "big boy's room". If you're concerned that your sister-in-law would need her crib back before your baby is out of it, I would also say take the friend's crib. It's funny, a really good friend of my husband's gave us her crib when our son was born, and wasn't expecting it back, but about the time our son was transitioning out of it, she discovered she was pregnant again!(Definitely NOT in her plans!!)
OK....so I guess I went the long way of saying that if money is an issue for you now, take the friend's offer of her crib, and save your money for when your son reaches "toddler" age. When he's at that age, review your finances, and decide then if you want to spend the money on a toddler bed, or go ahead and put him in a regular twin bed (which he'll probably need by the time he's 5, anyway). The toddler bed will use his crib mattress, but you'll need a new twin mattress for the twin bed. Either way, the rest of the furniture can be a matched set that will "grow" with him.
Actually, you are just now at the point of your pregnancy where you will want to start registering for the things you want for your baby. Since he's not due until March, I would hold off on registering for things like clothes and other seasonal items, but you can go ahead and look for tubs, towels, "boppy" pillows (whether you're breast- or bottle-feeding), bottles, etc. You can call me or email me if you'd like, and I'd love to help you decide what will be best for you! (Clothes should definitely be LAST on the list, because you won't know until just before he's born his appoximate size and weight.)
For your work situation, I have some friends who couldn't "wait" to get back to work after the birth of their babies, and others who ended up deciding not to go back to work. I am now "working" as a consultant for a company that makes safer products for you to use in your home. They offer 5 lines of products ~ home, health, beauty, personal (bath and body), and medicine cabinet. If you'd like more information on this, please let me know.
Didn't mean for this to get so long, and I hope I addressed each of your points.
Warm fuzzies!
~J.~
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