Cloth Diapering

Well, I know I said my next post was going to be on the emotional postpartum-ness, but I don't feel like blogging about that just now, so I wanted to blog about my cloth diapering experiences. We've been cloth diapering full time for few weeks now and I have to say I love it!! It really is super easy and not a lot of extra work. I kinda enjoy diaper changes, if that is even possible!

I started the cloth diapers after his umbilical cord fell off and his circumscision healed. The first day I put him in pockets and he kept leaking onto his clothes even though I changed him every 2 hours or so. Then I realized how huge of a gap there was around his skinny little legs! My sunbaby's (I have 2) were the only pockets that fit him really well because of the hip snap. My Kawaii covers fit him better, so we used those a little bit with a microfiber insert with a liner on top to keep the microfiber away from baby's skin. Then, someone reminded me about prefolds, so I used those with a cover over it, and they worked great so I ordered about a dozen or two high quality prefolds (I just had some gerber ones, not the best). But, by the time I got them in the mail, the pockets were fitting him great. So I am currently trying to sell the prefolds...and if I don't I'll be gifting them to my little sister who I think I've convinced to cloth diaper as well. Anyways...

Jake's not a heavy wetter, so he can go about 2-3 hours before a change, but the thing is he's had a cold and has had super bowels and has pooped atleast twice every hour. It concerned me, it looked like breastfed poop, but I'm not BFing, so I thought something was wrong. I think he just had a cold and it was just super strange and mucousy. Anyway, sorry about the poop detail. My point of telling you that, is I am soooo glad I made about 30 flannel liners for my diapers. I made them mainly for my diaper covers that use the microfiber inserts but those liners have really protected my diapers from neon orange baby poop stains! And my hubby installed my diaper sprayer and that makes cleaning them off super easy!

Washing them has been great too.  I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to pull it all off. We recently bought a washer and dryer set, a front loader, and I think we probably bought the only one in the world without a "just rinse" setting. I wanted to rinse the diapers in cold first before washing in hot with detergent. So, what I do is put the diapers in the machine, run a "speed wash" cycle on cold with an extra rinse. That takes about 30 minutes total.  Then I put in my country save detergent and run a hot cycle, on heavy soil, with an extra rinse. I have been hanging them on my wooden drying rack if I can get them out early enough (I only get sun on my deck until noon). So far I've had no issues with ammonia smells, no funky smells, and the sunning has gotten rid of any stain on the diapers or inserts. Oh, and by the way, the diaper pail really does not smell. I mean it does when you open it, but you cant smell the diapers at all when it's closed, and I was very skeptical about that before!

I am so glad I decided to look into the cloth diapering thing. We only had to buy 1 pack of disposable diapers since Jake was born, and that was b/c he still hadn't healed completely from his circumscision, but that's $9.99 that we spent in 7 weeks! Awesome!!  This week I am going to start using my cloth wipes. I've just been using disposables b/c I had a ton left from my son needing them. My hubby is not too keen on the cloth wipe idea for some reason, so I'll probably still by sposie wipes to appease him, but I'll use the cloth. Anyway, that's all for now. Enjoy some cute fluffy bottom pics below!

 Harley Davidson cloth diaper by TKCuddlers

 This cow print is actually and ebay diaper from China sold by seller Grape-Apple. I love these diapers and they were less than $5 a piece!

 Jake in a green Kawaii cover

Jake in a blue and white sunbaby 4.0

Postpartum

So, Jake is here and is doing great. He is such a good baby I count my lucky stars that he lets me sleep and go places without too much trouble. I think I had a pretty easy and quick delivery. I was very worried about the week after, with my son it was a hard week for me. No one ever seems to talk about the postpartum weeks and what you experience. So, I figured it would be ok to talk about it on here. So, here's what I have dealt with this time around...

In the hospital Jake latched on and breastfed like a champ. It didn't hurt and he was getting enough to eat. About the same time we got home from the hospital my milk came in, and no one ever tells you how badly that hurts. I expected it this time, since I remember the pain so clearly from the first time, but boy does it hurt. Rock hard does not even begin to cover it! I became so full and engorged that every time Jake would latch on, I could barely breath because of the pain. It was excruciating!! After the first minute, the pain stopped, and then my uterus would start to contract. That hurt so badly! So between the first latch and the contractions, breastfeeding was a painful experience. I dreaded it!  I knew that to ease the engorgement I needed to get Jake to feed as often as possible, but he just wasn't interested. So I hurt because he would refuse to feed. I thought about pumping, but I didn't buy a pump this time because I didn't know if I would be able to breastfeed, so I couldn't relieve the pain by pumping. On our 3rd night home, I was up late at night, tired, hurting so badly, and found myself begging Jake to eat but he wouldn't eat.  I sat there thinking about how I planned on switching to formula when I returned to work and school, and made the decision to switch to formula and let my milk dry up. So, after letting my hubby know how I felt, we decided to switch.  I woke up several times in the night to puddles of milk in my bed, and yet I was still so engorged, so I read up on ways to dry up milk fast and everything said cabbage leaves. So I walked around the last few days with cabbage leaves in my bra, and it is zapping my supply quickly, and they are almost pain free now! I also iced them when they hurt.  Oh, and a tight bra is a must!  Jake is now 100% bottle fed and he is doing great. Eating every 3 hours! It was quite an emotional experience to make this decision. I felt so much guilt that I wouldn't be giving Jake everything I could, but in the end I decided that Jake needs a happy Mommy, and this is something I had to do to keep my sanity.  I do take pride in how long I actually was able to breastfeed Jake and just knowing that my body worked enough this time to make it happen is comforting. And speaking of emotional roller coaster... I think my next blog will be about the emotional side of the postpartum time.  But for now, this tired Momma is gonna sleep since baby is sleeping!

Jacob Spencer is Here!

Well, after 19 long months of trying to get pregnant, 2 devestating miscarriages, 9 months of a surprisingly uncomfortable pregnancy, and 6 hours of labor....

I am thrilled to introduce to you our newest Morris! Jacob Spencer Morris was born on May 26th (a week early from my original due date, but perfectly on time with my ultrasound date) at 4:33am. Weighing in at 8lbs 5oz and a lengthy 21.5inches. He is just precious and the perfect fit into our family.

Wednesday the 26th I had a doctor appointment, and my doctor had already told me she would strip my membranes and try and get labor moving. When she stripped them, she said, "Oh yeah, that's gonna do it, that was a good-quality stripping. I'd give it a day or two, but I doubt you'll be pregnant this weekend." As soon as I sat up I had a painful contraction, and got excited that it just might work! So I left and went to my chiropractor and got adjusted, and was having some steady braxton hicks, so I decided to go walk and see if anything came of them. So I walked around walmart and they stayed pretty consistent, but I decided to head home because they weren't hurting and were about 8-10 min apart, like they'd been for weeks now. So I get home about 7pm, and they start picking up in strength. I tried to stay active to help them do some work, so I cleaned the house as best I could. By 8pm I was calling Spencer, they were getting to be about 3-4 minutes apart, and starting to hurt. By 9pm they were under 2 minutes apart but weren't hurting. They were uncomfortable, but they weren't demobilizing like every book says they are, so I called the hospital and asked them if I should come in. They said if it didn't hurt, it wasn't labor, so wait until it hurts. Spencer was heading home and they were still coming less than 2 minutes apart, so I told Spencer to hurry and that we were going in anyway. I made sure we had our bags packed, got Cohen in his jammies and ready to go to his grandpas, and as soon as Spencer got there, we left and dropped Cohen off. We made it to the hospital about 10:30pm. My contractions slowed a little in the car to every 4 min apart, and I was starting to worry they'd send me home, so I applied the pressure points I'd been using, and when we were walking into the hospital I had 3 really painful contractions about a min apart. I refused the wheelchair and as we approached the L&D desk one of the nurses says, "Oh boy, holding her belly and panting, looks for real!" So I got checked into a room and the nurse checked me and to my surprise I was already 6-7cm dialated!! The nurse also looked surprised, so she said, "Let's get that epidural for you!" and by 11pm I had my epidural. It wasn't the most pleasant experience getting the epi this time, when he went to thread the catheter through the epidural needle I could feel it going into my spine and that hurt, so he had to remove it and place it again, which was much better! They checked me again after about an hour and I was at 8cm, so they went to go call the doctor and see if he wanted to break my water, and I think he wanted to wait for whatever reason, so they let me get some sleep for a few hours and at 4am they checked me and I was 10cm and my bag of water was buldging, so in came the doctor and broke it. Then he must have realized he forgot something, because he stepped out really quick and the nurses looked a little confused, but they set me up to push and said they wanted to see how I push. They could instantly see his head and asked me to wait for the doctor. I could sort of feel when I was having a contraction. The doctor was a great coach, and helped me push Jake out in 3 contractions, so about 12 pushes, and I didn't even tear! They put Jake on my belly and cleaned him off, and he cried out once, but after that was very quiet but super alert and big-eyed.

 

We are home now and I am loving this little boy more and more. I couldn't be more in love with my boys!!!

38 Weeks!

Had a doctor appointment yesterday. I told my doc about the bad contractions I've been having so she wanted to check my cervix. I have been debating whether or not I wanted it checked at all, but I was just too curious to see if those contractions were doing any work, so I agreed.  I'm 2cm dialated, and about 50% effaced.  When I got to the doctor and had to give my urine sample, I noticed some spotting, and mentioned it to her and she said it was from my cervix starting to dialate. So something's going on in there! She asked me if I was thinking about induction, and I told her I wanted to wait till my due date came to think about that, but I asked her if she'd strip my membranes next week and she said that would be perfectly easy to do, and a perfect time. So, if this little guy stays around till then, he'll be prodded along just a little. I've gained 32 pounds total, and my blood pressure has been slightly elevated above my normal, but nobody seems worried. I also think I lost a majority of my mucus plug last night... but I'm not sure. I am really hoping I go into labor in the next few days, I feel like it's soon!

37 Weeks

3 Weeks to go!
I am begging this little man to make an appearance a little sooner though. I am officially miserable. So far this week I've:

*Burned my belly on the stove while cooking dinner. Yes, I have a burn blister a little bit bigger than a quarter on my belly. That HURTS. I guess that means I am officially too big.

*My stretchmarks- I haven't gained any more this pregnancy, theses are from my previous pregnancy- have started bleeding. My skin literally can't stretch anymore. I feel like my skin is tearing in 2 no matter how much lotion I put on.

*Was woken up from a deep sleep to intense leg cramps in both legs. I couldn't even move my feet to stretch my legs out. It was painful!! My whole leg just seized up! Awful! (and yes, I've increased my calcium intake and potassium and still no luck).

*My ribs have been on fire. After a contraction mostly, but the pain lingers and I am just dying for some relief, I'm not getting kicked there thank goodness, but it's another pain that's driving me nuts.

*I have become a basketcase. Every little think makes me burst into tears- for example my washing machine was making a loud noise after the repair man "fixed" it. I bawled like a baby over it. I'm also sort of ragey and "I don't care"-ish. I just feel miserable.

I am sorry to complain, but I have never been this uncomfortable in my life. EVER. I thought I was uncomfortable with Cohen. I doubt that now!! I am so glad to be pregnant and finally get this baby we tried so hard and waited so long for... but these last few weeks are going to kill me. Come on baby let us meet you soon! BTW here's my 37 week belly shot. Feelin huge in a moo moo. :)

Starting to plan the party

So, I'm about 37wks (38 by ultrasound) and so I figured it would be ok to get things going a little. Mostly prepare things for getting going. I bought some Raspberry Leaf Tea, I drank a ton of it with Cohen. It's supposed to strengthen my uterus and make contractions more effective a making me dialate and then eventually push the baby out more effectively. I drink 1-2 cups a day, I don't LOVE the stuff, but it is good and relaxes me. I also have started an evening primrose oil regimine... 1 capsule a day to soften the cervix to allow for easier dialation (and prevent tearing when pushing). Now none of these things will induce labor, just enhance it and make it a little easier. I had a prenatal massage today and the lady showed me some pressure points that can lead to labor, and she rubbed them a little saying it was not enough to start labor, just to get my body thinking about it. I'm not evicting this baby before he's ready, but I'm sending him a 30 day notice!! lol. Haven't had any more nights like a few nights ago with steady contractions... weird! Anywho...hopefully things get underway soon... the countdown has begun as I am now considered "full term!"

The Baby Room

I don't think I posted any pics of the baby's room setup, other than my cloth diapering station. So here they are. I made the crib bumpers and crib skirt, bought the red sheet on Ebay, got the crib mobile on amazon. (I've wanted this particular mobile, but couldn't find it for less than $50 anywhere, so I held off on getting it, and ended up finding it when I was shopping for my textbooks for $30 so I got it.) I've woven the bumpers in and out covering 3 bars and leaving one exposed. It made for a tighter fit, and I like the look better. The mobile plays Brahm's lullabye.  I used some leftover fabric from the crib bumpers to make a cover for the changing table. And since he's going to be sharing with his big brother who already had a car theme going on, there's my older son's bed and half of the room. The only changes Ive made since taking these pictures is their names are above each of their beds in wooden letters, and there's a Lightning McQueen poster in between the names, right above the changing table. I think it's a very cool room if I do say so myself. :)