Baby kit

Baby kit, something that seemed invisible to me, until suddenly it wasn’t. Now fancy prams seem to glide past me on the street, and I turn to watch them with a newfound interest. What make is that? Is it easy to steer? Light to lift? And, how much could it set me back?

Our current pram is a hand-me-down. It came from a family member who had really done her research and got a great one. Lucky me! When pregnant, the thought of spending hundreds of pounds on a new one filled me with a strange kind of panic. I thought babies were meant to be cheap!

The hospital kit list

Having waded through the baby kit lists, my head spun with the number of ‘must have’ items. I got everything I thought I needed and packed my hospital bag ready for the birth. My cousin offered to look through it.

“What are these for?!” She said, pulling out a massive box of plastic tea lights. 

“They are for creating a calming atmosphere at my waterbirth. 

“Okaaaaay…. what about this then?” She pulled out a babygrow for a nine month old. 

“I’m sure I’m going to have a big baby”

She cackled.

“I can promise you it won’t be that big!”

She was right of course…

Ahh Facebook, my old friend

One thing that surprised me about  impending parenthood was a return to Facebook. Having once been an enthusiastic user,  I’d migrated, like many millennials, over to Instagram and considered Facebook the domain of people with kids who liked to post endless pictures of said kids. Well, now I was back and ready to eat my hat.

Bugaboo, Silver Cross you name it, you can find it on Facebook Marketplace. You only need to click past the sea of sort-of-familiar faces, friends made and added long ago,, and then you’ll find the Marketplace button. It soon becomes addictive, the daily scroll to see what new items have been added. My first purchase was small – a baby sling, but we used it constantly in the early days.

Minted from Vinted

Vinted is the other site that friends from my baby group raved about. Sleepless nights with a newborn could easily turn into  scrolling sessions resulting in strange purchases for both the baby and me. More often than not, clothes that had looked cool in someone’s photo looked not so cool on my postpartum bod. 

People also raved about selling their babies’ outgrown clothes and toys there. A great idea… and one I’ve never got round to.

My actual old friends

Another source of stuff was friends and family. There was a point in late pregnancy where I couldn’t visit anyone with kids without being handed some baby-related items. I swear I caught a hint of glee as they handed over bulky items taking up valuable floor space and watched me try to squash it into my tiny car. It was a  lovely thing to do  and a bit overwhelming. Not wanting to seem rude and feeling like maybe it could all be useful, I accepted everything that was offered. My boyfriend sighed everytime I came through the door with more stuff to fill up our cramped two bed.

“And where is that bit going to go?”

“I don’t know!”