We didn't need to paint when we were expecting our baby. We planned ahead when we moved in and painted the room a bright neutral green. I believe the actual color is Valley Poplar, picked out by my husband, who did a great job. Green is hard to pick, just ask my former roommate about the cheery citron green I thought I picked for our kitchen that turned out to be highlighter yellow-green (gross!). We had sort of a purple and green theme in what was the guest room but when the guest room became a baby room it needed a change.
I'm big on color schemes and themes. Usually I start with colors that I like together and build from there. The room was green and I loved green and blue for baby boy rooms and green and pink for girls. I contemplated the idea of not finding out the gender of the baby but wanted something to look forward to. We found out our baby was a boy but I really liked the idea of keeping a lot of the baby things neutral so that when baby number 2 came along we could still use everything if baby was a she and not a he! So I picked a lot of yellow and green baby things and then put blue around the room too. 
I obsessed for a few weeks over the paintings I was making to go with the pond theme (we like right next to a lake/pond), knowing that someday we could tell him that I made the paintings just for him. I love doing sets of 3 because it just feels complete to me. It was also important to have 3 pond friends because I felt that I could honor the two other babies that we'd lost.
The room is bright and cheery and light-filled...one of the happiest rooms in the house. Makes sense because our baby boy is a gift and a joy and the greatest work of art we've ever been a part of!