My mom used cloth diapers on me and my siblings (there are 5 of us all together) way back in the 70's and 80's before it was cool. Before I was even pregnant, I knew that I wanted to do the same. Or at least give it a shot.
I didn't actually put Amelia in her cloth diapers until she was 5 weeks old simply because when she was first born she was really little and then as time went by I felt a little scared to try. Finally, I sucked it up and did it and she's been in them ever since (except at night and longish ventures out of the house that will require diaper changes). I only use prefolds and diaper covers, specifically Thirsties covers. Love 'em!
When I was shopping around for diapers and saw all the different options, I was a bit overwhelmed, but once I price compared I knew that prefolds were gonna be the way to go. I was/am on a budget and just couldn't afford the cloth diapers that come with all the bells and whistles (ie. BumGenius). I bought 3 dozen unbleached Indian cotton prefolds in the infant size and four Thirsties covers XSmall. This initial stash lasted me until just recently. Right around 4 months Amelia grew out of the covers (which according to the manufacturer are good to 12 lbs. but fit her to 14 1/2 lbs.). Now I am still using the infant size prefolds and the next size up Thirsties. Although, I do have 40 Chinese cotton prefolds in the regular size for when her butt gets too big for the others.
Washing the diapers was one of the reasons I was hesitant to finally start cloth diapering, but really its not difficult at all. If there is a substantial amount of poo, I just do a quick swish in the toilet and into the diaper pail it goes. By the way, my diaper pail is just a small trash can with pop-up lid and I've never had any issues with smell. About twice a week I do a load of diapers. I do a regular wash cycle with some free & clear detergent on cold, then a second cycle on hot with an additional rinse. Unfortunately, I don't have an outdoor space for a clothes line so I use my dryer.
So that's the basic rundown of my cloth diaper routine. Yes, it was intimidating at first and a lot of people in my family thought I was crazy or wouldn't last but I have no plans to stop and I feel so much better about what goes on my baby's bum than I would otherwise.
Edited to add: I got the chinese cotton prefolds from the clearance section of Soft Cloth Bunz because they are all supposedly defective in some way. I have yet to see any problems with these diapers, and I got a great price.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Retaining Placenta, every hormonal new mom's dream
I swear, that after this post I will have been officially caught up and will no longer be writing 1000 word essays...
Warning: lots of TMI here. I have no shame.
8 days postpartum I woke up around 8 PM from a late, but much needed nap and went to use the bathroom. As I pulled down my pants I noticed what can only be described as a large, bloody mass coming out of my lady area. Needless to say I freaked and yelled for my mom. She came up, took a look and yelled for my husband to call 911. Neither of us had any idea what it was but mom's first thought was that I had a prolapsed uterus.
I worked my over to the toilet and very carefully sat down and waited for the ambulance to come. When the paramedics and firemen showed up (all 6 of them, I think, it was a real party) none of them knew what to do and one paramedic had to call the hospital for instructions. the one female firefighter helped me get myself back together without dislodging the mass and off we went to the hospital on the coldest night of the year.
Once there, I waited what seemed like 2 hours after first being taken to the ER, then being told that since I was less than 6 weeks PP I had to go to L&D. I'm sure I only waited 10 minutes at most for a nurse in the triage room at L&D and once she came in she whipped off my pants and misc padding. The mass came off along with everything else and the nurse assured me after glancing at it that it was just a large chunk of placenta. I was so freaking relieved! Of course, by this point I had realized that if it was in fact a prolapsed uterus they probably would have wheeled me right to surgery.
After a really fun ultrasound with a dildo-cam (remember I was only 8 days PP, and had a 2nd degree tear and lots of stitches) the on call Dr. decided I needed to stay overnight. They put me on a PIT and antibiotic drip to see if any remaining masses could be expelled without a D&C. I finally got a private room, one of the newly remodeled ones at that (when I had Amelia apparently every other pregnant women in the city had her baby at the same time and I got stuck in one of the 3 semi-private maternity rooms in the hospital). My mom had to stay the night with me so that Amelia could stay too.
The next morning I had another ultrasound (thankfully of the non-dildo-cam variety) and after viewing the results, the Dr. declared that I was all clear and could go home. Best news ever, I swear! And to this date we have yet to receive a bill for the second hospital stay. I'm assuming this is because it was as a result of some negligence on the part of the Dr. who attended my delivery. Who knows? I was just glad to have the whole (unnecessary) experience behind me.
Warning: lots of TMI here. I have no shame.
8 days postpartum I woke up around 8 PM from a late, but much needed nap and went to use the bathroom. As I pulled down my pants I noticed what can only be described as a large, bloody mass coming out of my lady area. Needless to say I freaked and yelled for my mom. She came up, took a look and yelled for my husband to call 911. Neither of us had any idea what it was but mom's first thought was that I had a prolapsed uterus.
I worked my over to the toilet and very carefully sat down and waited for the ambulance to come. When the paramedics and firemen showed up (all 6 of them, I think, it was a real party) none of them knew what to do and one paramedic had to call the hospital for instructions. the one female firefighter helped me get myself back together without dislodging the mass and off we went to the hospital on the coldest night of the year.
Once there, I waited what seemed like 2 hours after first being taken to the ER, then being told that since I was less than 6 weeks PP I had to go to L&D. I'm sure I only waited 10 minutes at most for a nurse in the triage room at L&D and once she came in she whipped off my pants and misc padding. The mass came off along with everything else and the nurse assured me after glancing at it that it was just a large chunk of placenta. I was so freaking relieved! Of course, by this point I had realized that if it was in fact a prolapsed uterus they probably would have wheeled me right to surgery.
After a really fun ultrasound with a dildo-cam (remember I was only 8 days PP, and had a 2nd degree tear and lots of stitches) the on call Dr. decided I needed to stay overnight. They put me on a PIT and antibiotic drip to see if any remaining masses could be expelled without a D&C. I finally got a private room, one of the newly remodeled ones at that (when I had Amelia apparently every other pregnant women in the city had her baby at the same time and I got stuck in one of the 3 semi-private maternity rooms in the hospital). My mom had to stay the night with me so that Amelia could stay too.
The next morning I had another ultrasound (thankfully of the non-dildo-cam variety) and after viewing the results, the Dr. declared that I was all clear and could go home. Best news ever, I swear! And to this date we have yet to receive a bill for the second hospital stay. I'm assuming this is because it was as a result of some negligence on the part of the Dr. who attended my delivery. Who knows? I was just glad to have the whole (unnecessary) experience behind me.
Breasfeeding Trials
Before Amelia was born, I knew that I would breastfeed without a single doubt in my mind. Babies in my family are breastfed, that's all there is to it. But somehow things just didn't work out that way. In the hospital, I breastfed without any trouble except for the usual trouble with keeping a newborn baby awake long enough to get a substantial feed in. It was once I got home that trouble started...
About three or four days after Amelia was born I began to wait not so patiently for my milk to come in and anticipated the much discussed horrific pain of engorgement. It never happened. My milk, what little there was, came in sometime between 5 and 6 days postpartum and by then Amelia had lost quite a bit of weight. At birth she was 6 lb. 6 oz. and at her one week check up, which actually happened when she was 6 days old, she was down to 5 lbs. 11 oz., slightly more than 10% of her body weight was lost.
Starting around 5 days PP I had what I can only define as a hormonal meltdown because it was obvious that she wasn't getting enough to eat. I whipped out the evil formula company samples that are so kindly handed out right and left to mothers who plan to breastfeed and Amelia had formula and seemed full for the first time since leaving the hospital. I had my husband rush out to BRU to buy the last Lansinoh breastpump they had on the shelves in an effort to up my supply as outlined by The Nursing Mother's Companion and had my mom run out to by fenugreek pills. When I pumped I would get no more than 1 oz. total until about 2 weeks PP when I threw in the towel on BFing and started FF almost exclusively. After that I would pump 4-5 times daily and would get at most 6-7 oz. a day. Gradually I decreased pumping sessions until I quit entirely at 6 wks because my nipples cracked and started bleeding while I was pumping. I decided that was all the sign I needed to stop.
Looking back, I wonder if the switch to formula was necessary. I was exhausted and hormonal and while my mother tried her best, to paraphrase my father, she was "a cow" when it came to producing milk for her own children (and in fact with my oldest brother had so much excess that dad made some fudge from her BM, which he claims he had to throw away because it was too sweet). She helped the best she could but didn't seem to understand why I wasn't spraying milk like a firehouse on command.
One of the major reasons I switched to formula was because she seemed so content and full (read: she slept well) after eating a formula bottle, but when I would breastfeed she would nurse for 15-20 minutes and fall asleep. I would take her off the boob and she would wake, scream and cry, and I would nurse her again until she fell asleep again. This cycle would repeat itself a lot. One day she was attached to my boobs with maybe 10-15 minutes breaks for 5 hours. I thought that a fully satisfied baby would just sleep and that if she cried that meant she was still hungry. Of course I realize now that she was probably just crying because she had a sleep association with my nipples. I was a giant pacifier and she would wake up when the pacifier went away.
I guess I'll never know if the switch was necessary, but I do know that she is a happy, healthy baby and I try to not have any regrets. Maybe with the next baby (which ain't happening for at least 3 years) I'll have better luck.
About three or four days after Amelia was born I began to wait not so patiently for my milk to come in and anticipated the much discussed horrific pain of engorgement. It never happened. My milk, what little there was, came in sometime between 5 and 6 days postpartum and by then Amelia had lost quite a bit of weight. At birth she was 6 lb. 6 oz. and at her one week check up, which actually happened when she was 6 days old, she was down to 5 lbs. 11 oz., slightly more than 10% of her body weight was lost.
Starting around 5 days PP I had what I can only define as a hormonal meltdown because it was obvious that she wasn't getting enough to eat. I whipped out the evil formula company samples that are so kindly handed out right and left to mothers who plan to breastfeed and Amelia had formula and seemed full for the first time since leaving the hospital. I had my husband rush out to BRU to buy the last Lansinoh breastpump they had on the shelves in an effort to up my supply as outlined by The Nursing Mother's Companion and had my mom run out to by fenugreek pills. When I pumped I would get no more than 1 oz. total until about 2 weeks PP when I threw in the towel on BFing and started FF almost exclusively. After that I would pump 4-5 times daily and would get at most 6-7 oz. a day. Gradually I decreased pumping sessions until I quit entirely at 6 wks because my nipples cracked and started bleeding while I was pumping. I decided that was all the sign I needed to stop.
Looking back, I wonder if the switch to formula was necessary. I was exhausted and hormonal and while my mother tried her best, to paraphrase my father, she was "a cow" when it came to producing milk for her own children (and in fact with my oldest brother had so much excess that dad made some fudge from her BM, which he claims he had to throw away because it was too sweet). She helped the best she could but didn't seem to understand why I wasn't spraying milk like a firehouse on command.
One of the major reasons I switched to formula was because she seemed so content and full (read: she slept well) after eating a formula bottle, but when I would breastfeed she would nurse for 15-20 minutes and fall asleep. I would take her off the boob and she would wake, scream and cry, and I would nurse her again until she fell asleep again. This cycle would repeat itself a lot. One day she was attached to my boobs with maybe 10-15 minutes breaks for 5 hours. I thought that a fully satisfied baby would just sleep and that if she cried that meant she was still hungry. Of course I realize now that she was probably just crying because she had a sleep association with my nipples. I was a giant pacifier and she would wake up when the pacifier went away.
I guess I'll never know if the switch was necessary, but I do know that she is a happy, healthy baby and I try to not have any regrets. Maybe with the next baby (which ain't happening for at least 3 years) I'll have better luck.
Post-Partum fun
Child-birthing and labor get such a bad rap that people never seem to discuss the whole postpartum recovery period. For me, the worst part was while I was in the hospital, once I got home I was pretty much over the hump as far as pain and soreness went.
I'd have to say that the worst part of PP recovery was being straight-cathed, TWICE. For any one not in the know, this is when the nice nurse shoves a tube up your urethra without any numbing or foreplay. It's a temporary cath that they remove once the bladder is empty. I was cathed about 2 1/2 hours after Amelia was born and then again about 12 hours later. The second time was so so much worse because by then the epi was LONG gone and everything down there was swollen and bruised and torn, but I will say that the relief of fully emptying my bladder after only being able to piddle pathetic amounts was awesome. Hands down, one of the best feelings ever, or at least I though so at the time. If you want to prevent this horror from happening to you I highly, HIGHLY recommend icing your area pretty much constantly as this will help to keep the swelling down.
If women talk about the PP recovery at all, most of them address hemorrhoids and the dreaded post-baby bowel movements. I won't lie and say I didn't have any hemorrhoids or discomfort from them, but they were far away more painful prior to baby than after and they went away pretty quickly, probably within the first week. Just take your colace religiously and don't skimp on the tucks and everything will be fine.
The only other thing I have to say about the postpartum period was that I was exhausted and extremely hormonal. My mom came to stay with us for the first week home and she helped out a lot. She was always telling me to nap with the baby and while I would try my best to do this, most of the time it didn't really work out very well. Either I couldn't fall asleep, or somebody would call/text me, or Amelia would wake up just as I was about to nod off.
I think with people about to have babies, or with new babies the number one concern is when will they get sleep again. Trust me, you will get used to waking up when your baby wakes up. Often I would wake up a few minutes before Amelia would and just lay there waiting for her to demand food. And eventually your baby will sleep longer and longer chunks. I know that not all babies are easy to get to sleep and not all of them learn to sleep better on their own, but you are a parent now, time to develop those parenting skills. Thankfully, Amelia seems to be pretty independent and has led the way as far as sleep goes. She went from being up 2 times a night at 2 months to once a night at 3 months to straight through the night just after 4 months. We used to be a co-sleeping family because the only way she would sleep was near/on me, but after some dedication and persistence she sleeps in her own room in her own crib, at night. We are still working on crib sleeping during naps.
I do have one more tidbit to share about the postpartum period and it involves retaining placenta, but Amelia is calling.
I'd have to say that the worst part of PP recovery was being straight-cathed, TWICE. For any one not in the know, this is when the nice nurse shoves a tube up your urethra without any numbing or foreplay. It's a temporary cath that they remove once the bladder is empty. I was cathed about 2 1/2 hours after Amelia was born and then again about 12 hours later. The second time was so so much worse because by then the epi was LONG gone and everything down there was swollen and bruised and torn, but I will say that the relief of fully emptying my bladder after only being able to piddle pathetic amounts was awesome. Hands down, one of the best feelings ever, or at least I though so at the time. If you want to prevent this horror from happening to you I highly, HIGHLY recommend icing your area pretty much constantly as this will help to keep the swelling down.
If women talk about the PP recovery at all, most of them address hemorrhoids and the dreaded post-baby bowel movements. I won't lie and say I didn't have any hemorrhoids or discomfort from them, but they were far away more painful prior to baby than after and they went away pretty quickly, probably within the first week. Just take your colace religiously and don't skimp on the tucks and everything will be fine.
The only other thing I have to say about the postpartum period was that I was exhausted and extremely hormonal. My mom came to stay with us for the first week home and she helped out a lot. She was always telling me to nap with the baby and while I would try my best to do this, most of the time it didn't really work out very well. Either I couldn't fall asleep, or somebody would call/text me, or Amelia would wake up just as I was about to nod off.
I think with people about to have babies, or with new babies the number one concern is when will they get sleep again. Trust me, you will get used to waking up when your baby wakes up. Often I would wake up a few minutes before Amelia would and just lay there waiting for her to demand food. And eventually your baby will sleep longer and longer chunks. I know that not all babies are easy to get to sleep and not all of them learn to sleep better on their own, but you are a parent now, time to develop those parenting skills. Thankfully, Amelia seems to be pretty independent and has led the way as far as sleep goes. She went from being up 2 times a night at 2 months to once a night at 3 months to straight through the night just after 4 months. We used to be a co-sleeping family because the only way she would sleep was near/on me, but after some dedication and persistence she sleeps in her own room in her own crib, at night. We are still working on crib sleeping during naps.
I do have one more tidbit to share about the postpartum period and it involves retaining placenta, but Amelia is calling.
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