Multipage form in custom module

I have created a custom module (natpages) for a new content type called 'natpages'.
In the module i have created various forms using FAPI where the user can enter content into the website.
The form was a single page form and it worked perfectly and i was able to create pages using this module.

But then I had to modify the module so that its is able to handle the same content in different languages.
The only way that im know of implementing this is to create a multipage form.
The way i tried to implement is to first have a form where the user enters the number of languages (n) in which it
wants the content and then create 'n' number pages which will consist the same forms.

I was partially successful in the first part, where the users would enter the number of languages.
But the problem here is that when i click on 'submit' instead of going to the next page, which should contain forms where users can input content.
I again get back the same form and even though i have a custom hook_submit function the node_form_submit function in node.module creates a new node.
Since the first form page is only for the number of languages(i.e forms the module should create). I dont want to create a node until the user
reaches step 2 (i.e the form where users can input content).

This is my hook_form and hook_submit functions:

function natpages_form(&$node){

$form = array();
$form['#multistep'] = TRUE;
$form['#redirect'] = FALSE;

$languageoptions = array(
'af' => 'Afrikaans',
'sq' => 'Albanian',
'ur' => 'Urdu',
've' => 'Venda',
'vi' => 'Vietnamese',
'xh' => 'Xhosa',
'ji' => 'Yiddish',
'zu' => 'Zulu'
);
drupal_set_message(" hook_form is called ");
$type = node_get_types('type',$node);

if (!$node->numberoflanguages)
{
drupal_set_message('Getting the Langauge Information');

$form['countryinfo'] = array(
'#title' => t('Country Information'),
'#type' => 'fieldset',
'#description' => t("Country Languages"),
'#collapsible' => TRUE,
'#collapsed' => FALSE
);

$form['countryinfo']['numberoflanguages'] = array(
'#title' => t('Enter the number of country languages'),
'#type' => 'textfield',
'#default_value' => $node->numberoflanguages,
'#required' => TRUE
);
}

else
{
drupal_set_message('Enter Information');

$form['body']= array(
'#type' => 'hidden',
'#default_value' => $node->maincontent,
);

$form['photocaption'] = array(
'#title' => t('Photograph Information'),
'#type' => 'fieldset',
'#description' => t("Information about the Feature and Historic Photograph"),
'#collapsible' => TRUE,
'#collapsed' => FALSE
);

$form['photocaption']['featurephotocaption'] = array(
'#type' => 'textarea',
'#title' => t('Feature Photograph Description'),
'#default_value' => $node->featurephotocaption,
'#rows' => 4,
'#default_value' => $node->featurephotocaption,
'#required' => TRUE
);
$form['photocaption']['featurephotocaption']['#id'] = 'featurephotocaption';

$form['photocaption']['historicphotocaption'] = array(
'#type' => 'textarea',
'#title' => t('Historic Photograph Description'),
'#default_value' => $node->historicphotocaption,
'#rows' => 4,
'#default_value' => $node->historicphotocaption,
'#required' => TRUE
);

$form['firstparagraph'] = array(
'#type' => 'textarea',
'#title' => t('Locale Overview Teaser'),
'#default_value' => $node->firstparagraph,
'#rows' => 10,
'#required' => TRUE
);

$form['maincontent'] = array(
'#type' => 'textarea',
'#title' => t('Locale Overview Body'),
'#default_value' => $node->maincontent,
'#rows' => 10,
'#required' => TRUE
);
}
return $form;
}

function natpages_submit($node) {

drupal_set_message("natpages_submit is called ");
switch($node->op) {
case 'Submit':

if(node->maincontent)
{
print 'Content entered so will save node now';
node_save($node);
}
else
{
print 'Content hasnt yet been entered.';
}

break;
}

So in hook_submit even though the content hasnt been entered node_form_submit in node.module creates a node for it.
How can i pass variable between the form pages and not create a new node??

Any help is appreciated, especially after 3 days of frustration with multipage forms :p

Thanks