Pram!

We finally did it, we bought a pram!  Yesterday Mr RG and I went to Baby Bunting and had a look at all the prams.  We test drove a few. We looked wider at other brands (are people seriously spending $1800 on a pram!? Wow!). We practiced putting some up and down, and taking bits of pieces on and off.
We decided on a Strider 4, with a bassinet attachment. The reasons for our choice:

• reversible (Pebble can face towards or away from mum and dad)
• easy to turn and move
• adjustable handle height
• 4 wheels
• good safety reviews
• good product reviews online and from people we know
• good striding space (Mr RG doesn’t bang his ankles with every step)
• easy to fold up
• good sized and easily accessible basket space
• good price

You don’t need to get the bassinet attachment, and the sales lady assured us that the standard seat is suitable for newborns. However we both felt (in all our wisdom and experience!) that we wanted the option to lay Pebble completely flat, which the standard seat does not do.
I did learn something new – apparently you’re not supposed to sleep the baby in the bassinet that comes with a pram as there is limited air flow. You can sleep them in bassinets which you buy for the purpose of sleeping. The sales lady says short sleeps are ok in the pram bassinet, but once they are sleeping through the night they should be moved to the cot. We have a bassinet on loan from a friend that is suitable for sleeping, but at least Pebble will have the option to lay flat while he or she is very young. I thought that Pebble might get all crunched up when newborn if the seat wasn’t flat. You know how you see the little tackers all floppy and sliding down into the bottom of the seat? Maybe I’m wrong…. but it wasn’t much of an extra cost.
Now that I’ve come to record the cost I can’t find the receipt! Mr RG was given one, but we had to hand it over to the guy out the back when we collected it. We will have to make sure that we go back and get one because we’re waiting on the bassinet and change table on back order!!
Anyhoo, from memory the Strider 4 in Slate was $469 and the bassinet was an extra $149 – both were 10% off from that price, so $556 in total.


The bassinet attachment looks like this:

We bought a Regent change table, originally $249, but with 15% off it was $211. The change table we ordered is the style of the darker coloured one on the left, but in the lighter colour on the right.
 
I like this style of change table because it’s a lot sturdier than the fold away type, and I can imagine using it later to store toys and then later again for little craft boxes or whatever the little tacker is into. We didn’t need to get one with drawers as we have a huge built in wardrobe in Pebble’s room, which the child will surely never be able to fill. Surely? And I preferred this type to the plastic sort with a bath tub, as I couldn’t imagine using it for another purpose later – and all my mummy friends say the bath tub is too awkward to use in those styles.
After picking up a mattress for the change table as well, we walked out of there $800 lighter!
The only negative to our pram choice is the Strider is very wide, as are a lot of the prams out there today. I looked at a few different recommendations in our price range and read a lot of reviews. It seemed that every pram I looked at had at least one comment that it is very wide and sometimes difficult to get through checkouts.
I had one lady standing near us while looking at the Strider and she said it was awesome, and that loves her Strider. I also had the same comment from another mum that I accosted in the shops recently. Both said they had no trouble with the width. I will  say that when we assembled it at home we found that we couldn’t get it out of our lounge room via the entry with the bifold doors (which cut off about an inch on one side of the doorway width). Thankfully it goes in and out of every other doorway, including the second lounge room entrance – and the front and back door :)
We will probably get a lightweight stroller later when Pebble is bigger, but hopefully this pram will service any other kiddies we have later on.
Geez, who’d have thought there was so much to say about bloody prams? Thank goodness that’s over!