thankyou so much suse - I am going to cut and paste your post to a notepad on my desktop!

I have some micro fleece liners for if and when i need a barrier cream, I am thinking I might just cut up an old sheet for the first few days to line the nappies with - I haven't any prefolds (and MUST NOT buy anything else LOL!) ..........

Surely I have an old flannelette sheet somewhere.... maybe even a cotton sheet, that should do?
kitt3n - the meconium will be out of bubs' system pretty quick, so chop up something old and just throw it away when it's done! Even chux cloths will work. A lot of hospitals provide a few sposies at birth, and although they're not the nicest things to put on a brand new, perfectly natural little bot, it might be an easy option until the icky black stuff is finished. If you're using flats or prefolds, then just rinse, wash and make sure they get plenty of sunlight. Even NB poo stains will come out.
As for the flushable liners, I found that the eenee liners didn't work to contain anything much, but the Bummis ones do, somehow. DS is exclusively BF, and of course most of the liquid goes thru all liners, but it certainly makes for an easier clean-up and they're great when I'm out and about and dont really want a poopy wetbag with me. I have a few shorter liners that I place towards the back of the BumGs for the same reason - they can leak if he floods - but they catch most of the mess. More useful before I had a little squirt!