Wednesday 1 April 2009

Planning

I caught up with a friend of a friend on the weekend who is pg with twins from IVF. She is a few years older than me and 27 weeks pg. It was hilarious to compare swollen feet and bloody nose stories with someone IRL. Everyone at the function said that my belly looked as big as hers but I'm sure it was just my dress.

She asked what brand cot and pram we have bought. I laughed. This poor baby has one toy, a kind of cute-because-it's-so-ugly hand knitted clown (bought with love by DH's parents), and a high chair my mother bought (with love I'm sure) from a garage sale for $20 which DH wants to throw out. We have bought nothing. We hadn't even thought about nursery furniture - mainly because the nursery is not built yet!* Anyhoo.... she tells me that most cots and nursery furniture have a 12 week delivery wait.

Needless to say I have spent the past few days scouring the internets for baby stuff. I can't believe I have been putting this off! Apart from wondering how I can guarantee a lottery win to pay for it all - this is exciting! This is what normal people expecting babies do! They go and buy stuff for them. You know, like actually make plans as if they are going to bring home a real live baby from the hospital that they have to feed, clothe, put to bed and transport about. I should probably do more of this! It seems quite healthy - not to mention fun!

I must say though, that it's a might bit confusing too. I have fallen in love with a cradle but I have no idea if I need a cradle!? If the house is not finished I will definately need one for a few weeks or months, but is it just a waste of money to buy a band new one? Should I try to borrow one or buy second-hand? As for prams, my god, how many prams/strollers are on the market? And how ridiculously expensive are they?

And speaking of ridiculously expensive... my ridiculously expensive 4 year old car is in need of ridiculously expensive repairs. It needs a whole new transmission at the hefty price of $8,500! Isn't it amazing that major expenses (and major projects) always seem to collude together to arrive right at the same time?! {{sigh}}

The Austral.ian government are currently giving women $5,000 when they have babies, do you think they'd let me have mine in advance?



* We had a house fire over 18 months ago which gutted a self-contained apartment, one of our bedrooms, and damaged our lounge room and hallway. Our 3rd (yes third) builder started in January and tells me "yeah it should be done by July, love". We cleverly thought we'd re-do our kitchen at the same time - a decision I am currently trying to talk DH out of....

3 comments:

ColourYourWorld said...

I am the same, and haven't bought not one thing. Not even a pair booties.
Perhaps after my next scan I can feel a bit more confident, I am certainly looking forward to it!

I had no idea it took that long for furniture to arrive, that is crazy !
You can always hire a cradle or anything in fact from places like this.

OHN said...

Make a list of the things you "need" then scratch off half of them.

We were given a changing table...never used it..glady I didn't fork over any cash for it.

We used a family bassinet for a few weeks then it was too small, so don't spend bucks on that either.

What you will need is diapers and burp cloths. When you think you have enough, double it :)

Chris said...

I used an Arm's Reach co-sleeper, which was really handy. It attaches to the side of the bed, great for being able to just reach over and pick up the baby for late night feedings. When it is outgrown it turns into a pack n play/play pen type thing- also very useful. It also bought us a lot of time to figure out how the heck to decorate and furnish the nursery.