I hope you have enjoyed the last couple of posts about gift etiquette and that a few of your questions have been answered in the process.

Today I digress as I feel a little rant coming on, yes today I feel the need to vent about my shopping experience last weekend. It wasn't just your average shopping expedition, this friends was our first attempt at shopping for our first child.

In typical fashion husband and I had left the baby shopping experience till the last minute. We had one weekend and one weekend only to purchase all the big ticket items before we move back to the country. We have been so busy in the lead up to our move we really only had one weekend to dedicate to this mammoth task. Mistake number one - creating unnecessary time pressure; good for getting assignments done, not so good for pregnant women's blood pressure.

I had done a little bit of research purely through circumstance - I put my back out last week and spent three days flat out on the couch. One of my gorgeous gal pals who has recently had a beautiful baby girl bought over some delicious soup, lamb shanks and a huge pile of baby magazines. I had only purchased one or two preggo mags thus far as at $15 a pop I find them a little hard to swallow, especially as their articles are recycled more than Bec Hewit's latest "crisis" in New Idea.

We have been very lucky as we have been given some of the big items on our baby list. The cot, all linen, bassinet and high chair are all taken care of thanks to generous family members.

Aside from that we still had quiet a list of items to purchase before leaving the big smoke. So we set out to "Baby World" full of Dutch courage and coffee last Saturday morning, which leads me to mistake number 2; baby shopping on a Saturday morning.


BONNY BABY? YES PLEASE! Image Scott Hamilton

We enter the store which is more like a warehouse full of all the baby related paraphernalia one could imagine and we are confronted with dozens of other pregnant women and their partners wandering haphazardly with not nearly enough sales staff to go round. I was completely overwhelmed, I had no idea where to start and quiet frankly had never seen so many pregnant women in the same room at one time!

I tried to make a quick run for it but Husband wasn't having a bar of that. Thank God only one of us has raging hormones to deal with. Calm, courageous and curious as ever, Husband starts at the top of the list, which was the pram. No, sorry that was bumped to second after electric breast pump on the advice of my very experienced and wise friend. "If you want any kind of freedom, life or even just a damn drink after your baby comes along get a good pump" she advised. What the what - a drink? That was enough to take it straight to number one baby.

By the time we got to the pram the only help we were able to enlist was that of one of the trainee assistants. From where we were coming from anything that came out of her mouth was going to sound genius to us so trainee or not, it didn't really matter. Lucky for us she was one of those maternal types who has had the names of her children picked out since she was 14 and knows her Peg Peregos from her Bugaboos. All I knew about the pram situation was that I wanted to leave the orange flashing light and "wide load" sign at home when we finally venture out for a spot of shopping. Oh, and a cup holder - I really wanted a cupholder. Needless to say helpful Hiedi was able to recommend a pram that did that and a whole lot more.

The fact that I have the back of a 60 year old meant that we had to spend a little more than we normally would on things such as the pram and baby carrier but it also means that we bought good quality that will see all subsequent children though. I learnt the true meaning of hand me downs that day. It's more than a cost saving exercise, hand me downs are given to children so parents are subject to baby shops when there is absolutely no other option.


BABY SHOPPING - JAPANESE STYLE! Image Pjan Vandaele

We also bought some things that others, say my Mother, may deem completely unnecessary. Like the bouncer that bounces automatically with the slightest movement from the baby. As I will continue to work from home I could easily justify a bouncer that does the work for me so I can squeeze in some work that I may not have otherwise.

By the time we finished our whirlwind adventure and bought all of our new baby wares home, I couldn't help but be filled with a true sense of joy and excitement. Three months from now we are going to welcome a new life into our family, one that we created. I'm not saying that you have to buy the latest gizmos and gadgets to give your child the best start in life, but I did feel a sense of accomplishment and anticipation that we were well on the road to doing just that. Now, to those instructions ....