Fortunately Annie's new anti-emetics seem to be doing the job, although still a bit hit and miss, and so she's able to think about and speak about the pregnancy a little more freely without it making her feel more nauseous.
Now the end of the first trimester is in sight, I've finally allowed myself to dip my toe in the vast sea of baby-commerce. Everywhere you turn when looking at infant equipment there's a huge range of diverse product and prices.
One of the vows we made, even before the pregnancy, was that when we had a child we would use reusable nappies as it's a) nice to feel like you're doing the best for the environment that you can and b) the payback period for them is very low, given the extortionate disposable-nappie racket, and the good ones are usable from birth to the age so you only need to buy them once. A lot of people still seem to think of disposable nappies as being huge white things made out of towling held together with an oversized safety pin. However they are quite different now and are available in a wide range of colours and patterns (surely if it's between a baby in an ugly white rustly disposable nappy and a nice camouflage reusable nappy it's a no-brainer?)
As well as this there's some variety in materials, including cotton, woo, micro-fibre, bamboo and minky (still not sure what that is), all of which have different properties (most notably varying degrees of absorption). Add to this the choice of adjustable poppers of velcro straps. Disposable nappies are an area that we still not research before coming to a decision on what to go for. There seems to be 2 basic choices: brand names, which look well engineered and well made but are at the top end of the market or the cheaper ones that are readily available on ebay, which look like they do the same job but there's always that doubt that it will live up to what you want (from what we've seen the ebay types have a better range of colours and patterns, so that gets my vote). Despite the fact that nappies deal with one of the most unappealing aspects of babies, they are the item we're most excited about getting.
The other thing we've been looking at is a pram. This is a consumer minefield like I've never witnessed before. Most of the options seem completely over-engineered and at prices that could make your eyes water. I fear that you won't really know what you require from a pram until you've got one and it doesn't really do what you need.
At the moment I think we need a pram that:
- Suitable for children from birth to when they don't need it (which in my view is earlier than most kids that I see, but that's a rant for another time).
- Is small enough to fit into the boot of a modest hatchback.
- Can face forward or backwards.
- Has proper padding for when the baby is lying flat.
- Has some decent wheels so that it's not rattling around the whole time and so that it doesn't feel like a supermarket trolley the day before its retirement.
- Comes with a car seat that can be attached to the chassis.
So as you can see to get this for a reasonable price is maybe not mission impossible but certainly missions improbable. So far there I think the shortlist is :
- Obaby Monty Travel System - Berry - Good features, good price, doesn't look sturdy enough.
- OBaby ZeZu Travel System - Dotty Lime - Comes with full compliment of accessories, sturdy, much higher price tag.
At the moment these are the only 2 in serious contention, hopefully over the next few months we can see and test some others in person. If I had my way it would probably be a little like this.
I realise it's probably too early to start thinking about prams, cots, nappies, mobiles etc. but some of it is just a bit too cute to resist.
Unfortunately I haven't updated the blog nearly as often as I'd like, so apologies for the fact that this has ended up as the ramblings of a loon, I will try and make it a bit neater next time. We are currently waiting on the next scan date, which I am very excited about, having seen the little bean the first time a couple of weeks ago (partially because I'm still paranoid there could be 2 in there and that one was hiding behind the other in the first scan).
Until next time...
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