Morning all! Ahh, finally the weekend. There should be more weekends! Hopefully everyone is doing ok today?
I'm not doing too badly, my cold seems to be vaguely clearing and I actually slept through again last night! I feel much better today... However I've managed to develop a productive cough, complete with lovely green mucus. (TMI, sorry!)
Not sure what to do about this one... Anyone got any advice? I don't have a temperature and don't feel too bad generally, though I do sound like a raspy bloke at the moment. Am I safe to just ignore the green gunk and hope it goes away? Or should I begin the problematic job of obtaining medical advice over the weekend?
In less icky news, I got my Tesco voucher for the Pamper's Club today too, Stac. I already acquired a lot of size 1 nappies... I might get a pack of size 2 for the deal in case LO pops out bigger than anticipated, since my brother and I were both relatively large babies.
As far as prams go, I ordered the Britax B-Smart 4 from the Glasgow Pram Centre at the Baby Show in London, since they were offering a pretty good deal there according to my research. It's the updated model of the Vigour+ 4 from last year and is only just coming available, so I'm not receiving the parts until end of April at the earliest. Fine by me, not much I can use them for until LO arrives anyway!
When I was looking at prams I basically made a list of everything I needed and all the stuff I liked, as well as the bits I didn't like. Then I just compared all the types until I found what I was looking for!
I wasn't too worried about having a small size and low weight, I'd prefer it a bit sturdier and to last longer. I'm pretty strong and most of the time would be using the pram from the car rather than on the bus. Also, all the buses I catch are the big modern double deckers with designated pram areas, so I didn't need to worry about fitting there. However if you're using a lot of public transport where you're likely to be heaving the pram around, then small and light might be the way forward.
From stalking watching other parents around the city in various conditions (including all the snow), I reached the conclusion that having bigger rear wheels made pushing over rougher terrain easier. Also that four wheels were a lot more stable than three. However, smaller wheels and three instead of four is better for portability.
I wanted to go for a travel system, for ease of being able to clip the car seat into the base when driving to pick up DH and just wandering up to his work to meet him, or when popping into the supermarket with DH for a few odds and ends on the way home. Saves disturbing LO if we've finally got them to sleep!
For the main seat, I wanted one that could switch between forwards and backwards, as well as being able to lie flat for a newborn. I also wanted one that folded down with the rest of the chassis - rather than having to store each part separately. This is partially because I'm planning on going abroad later in the year and it'll be much easier to hand over (and retrieve) one piece of pram at the gate than two!
Little bits I preferred were that the brake bar didn't take up the entire back part of the pram, so I could use my foot for leverage when setting it up or lifting up curbs without locking the wheels. I wanted good suspension, but didn't want air tyres that could puncture. Wanted the hood to have a net area I could view through, to keep an eye on LO when they're facing forwards. Reasonable sized basket was useful too, as was height adjustability as DH is tall and I'm a bit short. Pretty (gender neutral) colours nice, but not vital.
Nice bits with the Britax is that they do what is basically a 'car cot' that covers two car seats in the back, that you can lie the baby flat and still hook in via the seatbelts, as well as attaching to the pram chassis. Well tested for safety, it's got a roll cage around it in case of an accident and such. I liked this because I'm at least two hours (in various directions) from family, and I don't want to keep stopping on journeys to take LO out of the car seat for a 15 minute break if possible to avoid! Keeping them flat means long journeys are easier.
I looked at the iCandy, the Tako and the Britax, mostly. Tako is a Polish company no-one seemed to have heard of that I couldn't view beforehand, so that scrubbed that idea. Support would have been a nightmare too! iCandy was nice... But the Britax did everything I wanted, was easier to find/test and I liked the car-cot and the safety record they are known for. So, that's what I went for in the end.
Sorry for the stupid long post... Hope that was useful though! I'm a first timer to this too, so I have no idea yet whether all my research will pay off on the day.
Can definitely advise going and having a play, however. Head for the nearest Mothercare/M&P/Etc and mess about with every pram they have! After the initial demonstration from the staff and once they've wandered off: take the prams apart, drop them down, put them up, clip them together, race them round, etc. You start to get a really good feel for things and work out what's important to you.
Cookies for anyone who made it this far!!