I saw a link to this thread on Mumsnet‘s Facebook page about how ‘precious’ we can be around our first child. A comment that had me giggling for ages after was that one mum actually squirted Johnson & Johnson’s No Tears Shampoo into her own eyes to test it really was ‘no tears! Oh dear!

It reminded me that when I was pregnant with my fourth baby last year, I wrote this post about how my attitude to so-called ‘nesting’ had changed since I had my first child over 10 years before. I seem to have gone from feathering my first nest to, perhaps, just tidying that nest a little bit with my second and third, to simply trying to keep all the twigs together by my fourth nest! So, without further ado, here is my list of ways nesting was different for me:

Nesting, then and now
Having spent most of the afternoon cleaning the house, I realised I’ve not actually achieved much more than the basics… and now it’s a tip again! I thought it might be the nesting instinct (pregnant woman with duster = feathering her nest), but in fact I’m just doing the bloody cleaning!

I thought it might be fun to compare some of the things I did first time around in 2000, when expecting my first child, with now (and my other children). Ah… the days of organised living… *goes off into daydream of tidier times*

Nesting first time round:

1) Decorating and setting up a beautiful nursery complete with wardrobe, changing station and cot
2) Hanging babygros on hangers and placing them in said wardrobe!
3) Neatly arranging bottles of baby-specific organic lotions in the bathroom
4) Cleaning and sorting inside every cupboard in the house
5) Obsessively grabbing ‘bargains’ such loo roll, washing powder and wipes so there’s enough to last until baby starts school
6) Cleaning the house thoroughly every day, everything in its place … just in case
7) Packing the hospital bag with enough stuff for two-weeks, two months in advance
8) Buying lots of equipment and accessories I will never use
9) Going to NCT classes with my husband and collecting leaflets
10) Making lots of plans for lunches, shopping trips and baby yoga in the weeks after baby’s born
11) Washing my pre-pregnancy jeans in readiness for ditching my baggy maternity joggers post-birth
12) Reading pregnancy magazines and books, and watching videos of births (with husband!)
13) Cooking nutritious meals for the freezer
14) Standing in the nursery with a glazed, happy look imagining the little babe asleep in its cot
15) Practising the drive to hospital
16) Writing a two-page birth plan
17) Putting my feet up while my husband does everything and fusses over me with tea and foot rubs

Nesting second (third, or in my case fourth) time round:

1) Imagining a space in my bedroom for the baby
2) Shoving stuff from one drawer into another to make space for a few babygros
3) We’ll use soap and baby wipes!
4) Avoiding opening any cupboards!
5) Stocking up on chocolate and ice creams for one-handed snacking
6) Polishing and wiping surfaces, carpets, shoes, everything with baby wipes
7) Throwing a few things in a bag when labour starts
8) eBaying the non-essential equipment and accessories I bought the first time round to pay for nappies
9) NCT classes – been there done that, don’t want to be reminded!
10) Registering with Netflix and Sky Movies as it’ll be impossible to leave the house until weaning starts
11) Buying a new pair of maternity joggers in week 39… to last for another six months!
12) Avoiding pregnancy magazines and books, especially watching any births on TV!
13) Collecting takeaway menus
14) Walking into a room and forgetting why I’m in there… every time!
15) Getting tarpulin in for a home birth
16) Birth plan, schmirth plan!
17) My husband can’t remember what day it is, let alone that I’m pregnant! And actually said ‘Can’t you do it?’ when I asked him to rub a bit of cooling lotion on my hot, swollen feet!

Reading this back made me smile! What about you, can you remember doing things differently when you had your first baby, or were you the same with all of them? I’d love to know!