Arthur's Mutterings

Well what a busy few weeks it has been, getting married, and preparations for the impending baby. The former part, getting married, went smoothly enough, once past all the preliminary panics about who was doing what and how many people were coming, etc. etc, the actual day went really smoothly and was lovely weather. Were now trying to collect photos from attendies so we can create a definitive set.

But onto the main subject of my rants, babies, or rather the over bearing application of "help" that you get and its utter uselessness. First off is the marketing material, i know this isnt really trying to be helpful just try to sell product, but they do add a thick gloss of pseudo-help, whilst simultaneously trying to muddy the waters even further. Take nappies as an example, you start out thinking that its a straight out choice between disposables, and those ancient fold up & safety pin jobs, but oh no, now theres hybrids [cue groan] semi disposable things, linings, stuffable things, fleecy ones, pre-folded, one piece, the list is seemingly endless, and they all have their little foibles, convenience in application often means inconvenience in washing, and so on. sigh.
Choice is usualy a good thing, but in thise case, evaluating the right choice will take more time, money and effort than will ve available before its too late and baby is past that phase.

Then theres good ole Auntie Mabel (Anti-Natal) Classes, or "parenthood" as they would like you to call it now, these seems to be predominantly targeted at those that have some how miraculously managed to miss or not read any of the mountain of literature that you are bombarded with from the outset. The first class we attended consisting entirely of repeating the content of the booklets we had already been given by the same health service. Further classes have attempted to talk about some of the options available, but mostly with a "we advise this" but without giving you any valid reasons or detail, and when quizzed about other alternatives just giving in with "its personal choice really" well thanks, that helped me make an informed choice, not.

Enough of my rantings for now, i forsee this being a rich vein to plumb, so more in the future.