Cloth Diapering - Initial Thoughts

Because I received two cloth diapers at my baby shower, and because a friend was willing to lend me some additional fluff, we've decided to give cloth diapering a shot this week. What follows is the record of our experiences. Stay tuned to find out whether we have the stamina to stick with it!

Day 1

Jamie arrived yesterday with two all-in-ones, four (or 6, I can't remember at the moment) pockets with extra inserts and three covers with a stack of prefolds and a snappy clasp. Add that to our original two pockets, and you have a recipe for a cloth diapering trial. She also showed us how to put them on, and demonstrated some cleaning techniques. Amelia got to see her first baby - Lydia, who is just a few weeks younger than her - and it became clear that she inherited her mommy's need for attention as a young child. ;)

Anyway, it's only been a day, but here are a few of my observations so far:

The Good

• Cloth diapers are hella cute! I find I actually look forward to diaper changes (how gross is that) half the time, so I can pick out her next cutest diaper. 
• They seem to do better (so far) with containing breastmilk poopsplosions, and as many up-the-backers as we've had lately with Huggies, we really needed that.
• I feel better about putting them on my baby, because they are soft and comfy. The only disposables I feel that way about are Pampers swaddlers, and they are hella pricey!
• Washing them isn't nearly as gross as I thought and I actually look forward to laundry. Weird!

The Bad

• I tried a prefold with waterproof cover on her last night (bc I'm not doing that to my dad during the day), and she only slept 5 hours (she had been sleeping 7-8 consecutively at night for the last week or so). When she did wake up, the prefold was SOAKED in pee. I read that prefolds are better than pockets for overnight pee, so maybe I did something wrong. If not, so far I find cloth to be inferior to disposables at night.
• I experienced a little bit of staining during the first wash. I'm going to invest in some Tide powder, which I think will help.
• My parents and my husband are hesitant about the change, so I'm not getting a lot of support thus far. Today is my dad's first trial with them so we'll see how he does. I already know the velcro ones are going to work best for him because he doesn't have a lot of feeling in his fingers and has a hard time with the buttons on her onesies.
• As cute as these diapers are, I'm not liking the bulkier ones as much thus far. I am finding it hard to squish her into clothes that previously looked so cute on her. :(

Even though it looks like the bad list is larger than the good so far, my overall feeling is a positive one. I am going to stick with it for a week or two and see how we feel. If I continue liking them and can get my husband and dad on board (since we are his primary caretakers), we might just do this for real.

Bonus Observation

• Poop and pee totally don't bother me, but when she starts vomiting up more than breastmilk, she will be her father's responsibility ;)

More to come as we get further in.

Spoiler: Her daily morning up-the-backer at Grandpa's was successfully contained by a cloth diaper. This is a good start, and saves Grandpa from a lot of laundry. 

My Birth Story (Welcome Baby Amelia!)

She's here!!

The love of our lives, Amelia Harper, was born at 9:42 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014, weighing 7 lbs., 4 oz., and measuring 20 in. long. Mommy and baby did very well and are perfectly healthy and happy.

The Golden Hour with mommy, moments after she was born.

This is our story.

All day Tuesday, after my 38-week appointment, I cramped and contracted and thought things must be getting close. Wednesday, things quieted down quite a bit, and baby was moving slightly less. 

Uncle Brian came over to play games with David, thinking it would be the last time they would in awhile. He felt bad, like he was imposing, but I had a feeling that if anything were going to happen, that it would overnight. (Maybe it was bc Braxton Hicks were always worse at night, or I just had a feeling). I watched a "Bones" marathon on Netflix, fixed an easy spaghetti dinner and Rice Krispies for dessert. That was the only sign of things to come - restlessness - but nothing completely out of the ordinary. 

Little did we know...

Around midnight, we laid down for bed, and after a quiet day, I started feeling contractions. At first, I thought I was having digestive issues, so I went to use the restroom, but had no luck. Next, I took a bath. Usually, that makes me feel better, but brought no relief this time. Back in bed, I tracked contractions with an app on my phone, and noticed that they were about 2 minutes apart. I still wasn't convinced this was it, but told David that I thought we might consider heading to the hospital. David freaked a little, but we gathered our senses and packed the car to head in. 

After checking in, completely calm, they took me to L&D and hooked me up while David waited in the waiting room. I was measuring about a 3.5, basically what I was at my last doctor's appointment. By the time David was sent in, the contractions were getting much stronger, but they still monitored me for an hour to see if I would make any progress. I tolerated the pain fairly well, I thought, but David watched as they grew stronger and stronger on the monitor. Closer to 6-7 cm, I started losing it. The contractions were worse than anything I'd felt before and they were lasting about a minute and a half, with no down time between. I never "screamed" per se, but I moaned loudly with each breath, which I struggled to catch, and I'm pretty sure everyone in the entire wing heard me. The nurse who checked me in gave me some IV pain meds to bring me relief between contractions, but it really didn't work long. While I waited for the anesthesiologist, I kept yelling "I need help - I need help!"

Once that epidural showed up, things were a breeze. Soon after, around 5 a.m, the nurses had a shift change and a friend of mine from days past turned out to be my L&D nurse (the previous one didn't even say anything about leaving). By 6 a.m., I was more than a 9, and we practiced pushing. (Confession: It felt a lot more like a bowel movement than I thought it would :/) Since my doctor was off Thursday, they thought she would be delivered by one of two on call doctors, but contacted mine anyway to let him know. Initially, he said he could be there after 10:30 a.m. (his wife was busy and he was watching the kids). Right near the end, the two on call doctors were switching shifts, when I got word that my doctor was about 7 minutes out. I felt relieved because I really like and trust my doctor, but when it took longer than I thought it would, it became harder and harder NOT to push. Anything I was doing at that point felt involuntary. I thought for sure Renee (the nurse) would end up delivering her, but just then my doctor showed. 

Not long after, at 9:42 a.m., she was born. They put her immediately on my chest and David stared lovingly at her. I couldn't really see her face she was so close, but I looked at her hands and feet, and already knew she was perfect. While we were doing that, the doctor delivered the placenta and showed it to us, along with what was apparently an extraordinarily long umbilical cord (which was only loosely wrapped around her neck twice). He made some joke about jump roping with it. :) After that, he sewed up a few superficial tears and took off a skin tag I've had since birth, and then it was over. 

Before heading to recovery, we watched another nurse give her a bath, which she hated, and then we went to rest in one of the postpartum rooms. She also didn't like when my mom put clothes on her for the first time, but now she loves them!

The next two days in the hospital flew by, even though neither David or I got any sleep. We passed the time staring at our little girl, squeezing in intermittent naps, learning to breastfeed and watching seasons 2 and 3 of Friends on DVD. Thursday, both sets of grandparents, all three uncles and a soon to be aunt visited, as well as my aunt and uncle. Friday, all of my aunts and some friends popped in. 

The nurses at the hospital were great. Every time Amelia needed to eat, one of them came to the room and helped us. We really struggled. My body wouldn't cooperate and it was hard for her to latch on - that, and, my milk obviously hadn't come in yet. I wasn't sure she was getting anything. Apparently she was, though, with the help of those ladies. She even gained an ounce at the hospital, which they said was really strange. 

Saturday morning, we waited for my doctor to come in and discharge us. We were ready to go home, even though my doctor invited us to stay through the evening. We checked out around 1 p.m. anyway. It was a cool 75 degrees outside, even though the previous two days had been abnormally hot.

Looking back, I sort of wish I had stayed in the hospital as long as possible. We have the rest of our lives to be home, and this first week has been quite the adjustment. We've had several visitors, and my mom even took off a few days to be at home with us so we could get some sleep. But I have been battling some serious baby blues - like that depression you get after Christmas is over and everything goes back to normal - only I'm also running on a week of nearly no sleep. I feel lonely a lot, especially since David went back to work, and there have been bouts of hormonal crying, especially at night. Today, my dad stopped by to check on us a few times, so it wasn't so bad, but sitting here waiting for David to come home is depressing. That, and I think we hit a growth spurt last night, because she fed for 4 hours almost consecutively, and STILL had to take some formula to go down for a few more hours.

Amelia is as sweet as ever, and we're getting the hang of breastfeeding. We love our little angel face, who turns one week old today. Time is already going too fast!

Here is a proof of my favorite hospital pic by Mom 365 :) We bought this as a keychain for each of us.

Early Maternity Leave

I had my 38-week appointment yesterday morning (38w, 3 days), and came home on early maternity leave.

Everything, for the most part, looked good - baby's size, her heart rate (a steady 155, as per usual), etc. I was even dilated a little past a 3 and 50-60% effaced. My OBGYN seemed pretty impressed, and said things were moving along nicely.

In case this was my last chance to take a photo of my pregnant self, at 38w3d.

He estimated her size and weight around 7 pounds (my fundus height was 36), but then he had me sit up, bend over and lay back down so he could double check. This time, fundus height was 38, and he adjusted his estimate up. I never did catch the number, though I understand guessing is not always very accurate ;)

One small hiccup - my blood pressure, which had been consistently fabulous this whole pregnancy, was a little high when the nurse took it, at 140. When my OB came in, he checked it again, and again, 140. He took it a third time, this time in my right arm instead of my left (after a few deep breaths), and it was 130, which he seemed comfortable with.

He asked me if I felt like I wanted to induce or go into labor naturally, noting that while my original due date was Sept. 15, her ultrasounds had her at Sept. 7, which is Sunday.

I replied that I thought it would be great to go into labor naturally, so he set another appointment for me on Friday morning to check my blood pressure, and sent me home with a doctor's note to start maternity leave right away. He said he figured my bp would normalize if I laid around and took it easy, but that they would check again on Friday, and induce if it was still high. I don't necessarily have a problem with that.

All day yesterday and last night I had some cramping and light spotting, which apparently is normal after a cervical check this far along. Overnight I didn't seem to notice, so if anything happened it wasn't too strong. This morning, I had a bit of bloody show, which is an encouraging sign of progress - but today, things are moving along quite slowly again.

This week is basically a waiting game, but I have a feeling that if we make it to Friday, we'll probably end up inducing. I trust my body and I'd rather go naturally, but at this point, I'm using up sick time without her, not to mention we're eager to meet her and bond with her and take care of her on the outside.

Wish us luck!

Maternity Preview

We had maternity pics with Korin today. She took our engagement photos, wedding photos, now maternity photos, and soon, she'll take our newborn pics.

Here are the preview photos she's already posted. I love them, but can't help but notice how huge I am! No wonder things are getting so uncomfortable.

Oh, and one bare belly pic just because.

33 Weeks Update

Just a quickie update here. 

Went to the doctor last Friday (32 weeks, 6 days) and had a super fast checkup. Before I get to that, let's rewind a bit, since I've been an update slacker. 

At around 28 weeks, I flunked my one-hour glucose screen and had to take the 3-hour screen (not nearly as bad as people say it is). I actually thought it was a breese, and I passed - but my three-hour number was high. At least two of the four numbers have to be high for a gestational diabetes diagnosis. The doctor said that can still change at the pregnancy goes on, so we'll need to watch that a bit, but for the moment it appeared that we're in the clear.  

During that same appointment, her heartbeat was a strong 154-157, as usual, and she had moved into a head down position, where weeks ago, she had been lying transverse (on her side). My uterus was measuring a little on the small side of normal. Still, he felt around and estimated her actual size at around 3.5 pounds (normal), and told me for the umpteenth time that I'm still "carrying wide." (I understood that when she was apparently lying transverse, but what the heck does it mean now? I will never know.)

This time her heart rate was about the same; maybe a little closer to 157 because she was moving around a lot. She's still head down (in "go" position), and I'm still "carrying wide" but only gained a pound over the last two weeks, which he estimated to be her. He says she's about 4.5 pounds now (at basically 33 weeks), which he said was pretty big for her age, although from everything I've read online it seems to be in the normal range (really though, what do I know?).

I haven't had any Braxton-Hicks contractions yet, unless I have and I don't know that's what they are (I think maybe I had my first ones last night).

Only 7 weeks to go, and lots to do!

Diaper Shower/Co-Ed Shower Success

David's mom, dad and brother threw us an amazing Co-Ed Shower/Diaper Party at Brian's house on July 20 (32 weeks) where we got a lot of new stuff for Baby Amelia and had a blast with many of our closest friends and family members. Thought I'd recap some of it here with photos before this weekend's Wittman Family Baby Shower, which will be much more traditional, but fun nonetheless. ;) 

Both of these special events mean that our due date is coming ever closer, but at least we're getting things together and ready for our new arrival!

We got loads of diapers and wipes, in addition to a lot of great gifts, but this diaper cake was so adorable! Although it's summer time and lots of people couldn't make it, most of the people we regularly hang out with showed up, including a 7-week-old baby, and a 9-day-old baby. They were adorable, but mom and dad aren't ready to hold them just yet. ;)

We played party games - mostly the guys - involving babies in ice cubes (whose water will break first?) and tying your shoes with a balloon in your shirt, and encouraged guests to make Amelia a personalized toy block to play with when she's older. Marissa helped with a lot of the planning and was an amazing help, even though she just came back from a trip to Mexico the previous day (poor tired lady!).

Among a multitude of overly generous gifts from everyone in attendance, Athena and Bryan got us this awesome Doctor Who outfit for when she outgrows her TARDIS onesie. ;) Uncle James brought her a copy of one of his favorite short storybooks as a child, complete with a personalized note inside. 

All in all, we got a great start on her closet and things are starting to feel more real.

Go on, admire the craftmanship of these toy blocks ;)

26 Weeks Update and Nursery Preview

Baby Amelia has been pretty active lately. I can feel her rolling around and not just kicking anymore! A couple of times, it's been uncomfortable, but at least a lovely reminder that things are good in there.

From the outside, I'm finally starting to look more pregnant than just fat.

Check me out at 25 weeks!

Here at 26 weeks and 2 days, we're looking ahead to our joint shower/diaper party and my baby shower, in July and August, respectively. In the meantime, we are taking inventory of what we have and what we need. 

Her room's looking pretty awesome if you ask me, but it's still not quite finished. I'm hoping to have it mostly ready to go by mid-July so we can sort all the goodies we get in there. 

Want a preview? Here are some pics of what we have so far:

The curtains hadn't been switched out at this point yet.

The rain & clouds & umbrella here are a model from Pinterest, not the finished product,
 but you get the idea.

Curtain fabric up close

The curtains my mom made for us

This will be where we hang all her bows and accessories

A gift from Uncle Brian and Grandma Nancy

That's all for now. Check in later!

Week 24 - Quick Update

Had our 24 week appointment today and everything is going smoothly so far. She's measuring right above my belly button now and her little heartbeat is consistent and strong at about 154 bpm every time we go in. Today, however, was probably the last appointment David will be able to go to with me, as he starts his new job at Miniature Market in St. Louis next Tuesday. In about four weeks I'll have to do my 28-week labs and glucose screening, so I'm hoping that goes as well as everything else has thus far.

I feel her move every day now. It's super cool, but still a little weird, especially as it gets stronger. The other day she got me so hard it kind of scared me. I haven't seen any movement from the surface yet though, and my belly button is still a major innie, so for those things I can also be temporarily thankful.

It's a Girl!

A week ago Friday, we had our anatomy scan ultrasound where we learned the baby's gender and that everything was looking really good. (Thus far, holding my pee before that appointment has been, by far, the hardest part of my pregnancy.) It was nice to see baby, though, much bigger this time, and we got 10 pictures out of the visit (including one really cool one of a hand - you can see all the little bones in the fingers). We also learned that she's a little big for her gestational age at 14 oz., and bc of that and since I have short cycles, Dr. Talsky moved my due date up to Sept. 13 from Sept. 15.

We held the secret for the rest of that day, which included a banquet at work for me, and the next day, in which I had the Color Run and Kevin and Kelsey's wedding, and then we held an official gender reveal lunch on Sunday, where we did a fun little reveal using Silly String. 

First, we asked everyone to guess the gender, and we took a group picture. Then we went out to the front of the house and let my mom, David's mom and David's dad spray us with pink Silly String to reveal that we are having a little girl. We are calling her Amelia Harper.

Everyone is really excited! David's mom never got a little girl, and mine was excited to dress her up all cutesy, but really, we would have been happy either way. 

This week, 21 weeks along, I learned those feelings I have been having are indeed baby kicks, and they are getting stronger. David was even able to feel them last night by pressing into the bottom right side of my tummy. He was super excited and said it was "the best feeling in the world." It was very cute, and I was happy to be able to share that with him. 

This morning she started kicking a bunch when Mini kitty sat on my stomach, I think because she purrs so loudly. She doesn't do that with Sadie Gray yet. 

Checking in at 19 Weeks

Over the past few days, I think I've finally started feeling the baby move a little... although it could all be in my imagination, or wishful thinking.

I've read on various forums that sometimes it feels like flutters, and sometimes gas bubbles, and sometimes like someone's flicking you lightly from the inside. From my perspective, the third description seems like the most accurate. I guess I'll find out when they get stronger, and I'm able to more easily identify the feeling, but for now, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

On Friday, we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. We've decided to keep it a secret for a few days until we can do the big reveal with our families at the house on Sunday, because we've got a busy weekend ahead (Honors Banquet on Friday night, Color Run and two weddings on Saturday). I threw together some decorations and I need to start cleaning the basement and putting them up this week. Not sure how exactly we'll do the reveal yet, whether it's cake or balloons, but we've got a few more days to think on it. 

Cuz bowties are cool.

We've got girl names and boy names picked out, but I'm not sure when we'll share them with the masses. Maybe we'll share the one we intend to use once we know the gender. We may want to keep the other one in our back pocket in case we have more kids (I'd like 2-3 total).  

In other news, baby is now the proud owner of a nice bed my mom found at a garage sale, and a few other furniture items. And this, of course, a souvenir from Wizard World Comic Con St. Louis. (We saw Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, among others, in person!)

 Baby's first TARDIS

I'll check back in next week! In the meantime, take our Survey Monkey survey and tell us what you think - boy or girl.

16 Week Update

Just a quick update following my 16 week check up this morning (at 15 weeks, 4 days).

This month I battled a number of infections, for which I was on a number of "pregnancy safe" antibiotics, but otherwise had no complaints.

Everything looked good at the appointment.

I did gain 5 pounds within the last month, which seems kind of steep for this early in the pregnancy. I am looking bigger around the middle these days and wearing a lot of my friend Emily's hand-me-down larger, non-maternity clothing to feel comfortable, but there's not much of a bump there, if any at all. Until this morning, I thought my uterus was much lower than apparently it is, so maybe some of that pudge is actually a bump now after all.

The nurse practitioner found baby's heartbeat immediately, which was a steady and strong 157 bpm.

At next month's appointment, on April 25, we should be able to tell whether he or she is a little boy or girl! I can't wait. I guess I should start researching fun ways to "reveal the gender" to our families and friends. Mostly I am looking forward to looking for cute baby stuff to put on our registry. I haven't let myself do that thus far because there are far too many gender specific things out there and I don't want to find myself daydreaming and leaning one way or another, when really all we care about is a healthy and happy baby.

Pregnancy Update!

Today/tomorrow (depending on which website you pay attention to, I'm 14 weeks along! And as usual, I have not updated this blog in a very, very long time.

Let's rewind a little, with a little help from my written, private journal, which I keep up only a little more efficiently than this blog ;):

Just before Valentine's Day, around 9 weeks, we told our parents, using heart-shaped mini boxes of chocolate and cute little Valentine's Day cards. Now that I think about it I should have taken a photo of them before we sealed them up, but David's parents' card said something along the lines of "Roses are red, violets are blue, September 2014 is when baby is due." Both sets of "grandparents-to-be" were pretty excited!

Although it felt good to tell some people, it still didn't feel real until that first doctor's appointment, which was Feb. 28. We heard the heartbeat and saw our little one on the ultrasound for the first time. It was really exciting! He or she was bouncing around a lot in there, and appeared to be sucking his/her thumb at one point. It will be weird when I can feel all that. 

Here's baby's first photo: 

That night, we celebrated with dinner at Applebee's and then telling our closest friends. On Sunday, we told some extented family, and on Monday, which was another snow day, we went "Facebook official."

It's all much more real now. I'm still not "showing" in a way that anyone can tell, and I haven't gained much weight, but my clothes are definitely tighter. I really just look fatter. I tried on clothes Friday to clean my closet up a bit, and almost none of my pants fit me at all :/ Although it's cold again today and supposed to snow, it has gotten significantly warmer over the last few days, and I'm looking forward to full on spring, skirts, and nice weather. 

Yesterday, some of my friends ran the St. Pat's Parade 5-Miler in St. Louis. This was my first time NOT doing that race in the past three or four years, and it felt kind of weird, even though I'm not the biggest fan of that race and even got sick last year after doing it (I think I had already come down with something - which would explain my less than stellar time). We have been playing some tennis since the time change, so I'm trying to keep active, but my back's been pretty sore, so it's not as easy as I would have thought. Even this early. Anyway, that's the update for now!

Inlows +1

Even though we haven't told anyone yet (and I won't publish this until we do), I decided to start a blog post about a coming addition to our little family. No, we're not getting another cat... we're having a baby!

Up to this point I've been pretty nervous to even say anything privately and jinx us (although I've obviously told David), as I know miscarriages are pretty common this early (did you know than 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage?). We plan to tell our families in a few weeks when it's a safer bet, and everyone else anytime between that and 12 weeks (if all goes to plan). In the meantime, we've decided to let ourselves get a little excited and enjoy this little one instead of worrying 24/7. As someone said on one of the forums I've been frequenting, "Be happy that today, you're pregnant." So I am.

Here are the highlights thus far:

4 weeks
On Friday evening, Jan. 4, 2014, I was sitting in Grandma Wittman's recliner and watching "Game of Thrones" on my iPad, when I randomly decided to take a break, use the restroom and have a warm bath. I don't know what possessed me to do so, but I took a pregnancy test. Somehow, I already knew, but was still in shock after seeing that second line. I had taken a few tests in previous months, thinking I "felt pregnant," and of course I was always wrong before and the line never showed. This time it was there, and it was clear as day. Hindsight is 20/20, but suddenly the super weird dreams I had been having over Christmas break, the slight nausea after eating too much pizza and the extreme fatigue (no matter how much sleep I got) started to make sense. My hands shook with nervous excitement. I could have told David in some creative way, or I could have waited, but instead I came right out and showed him the test. He was sick at the time, and medicated, so the news didn't quite sink in until later, but even he couldn't deny the test result.

That weekend was a long and snowy one. On Monday, even the doctor's office was closed (as was Lewis and Clark, where I work) so I had to wait another day to call and make an appointment. I read online that miscarriages are very common before 8 weeks, so knowing we had a whole month ahead of us felt daunting. I took another test that day "to make sure." Again, positive. On Wednesday, I saw Dr. Ricci and had a blood test done to test for pregnancy and my thyroid levels. On Friday, his office called - my levels looked great, and the test, again, was positive. Third time's a charm - after having it confirmed by a medical professional and not just me and a cheap at-home test, we decided to let ourselves get excited about the happy news, even though my first appointment with the OB isn't until the end of Feb. (11 weeks) and that's scary. We're just taking it day by day and feeling lucky for what is ours at the moment. We even know two names we like already, although I have no idea if they will still be on the list in 9 months. Lincoln for a boy, and Violet for a girl.

5 weeks
This week, if baby is growing according to schedule, he or she is now officially an embryo about the size of an appleseed. These next few weeks, according to all the reading I've been doing on The Bump, Baby Center and "What to Expect When You're Expecting,"are crucial because they're when all of his/her organs will be forming (and some will even start to function). I would bet that's why most miscarriages happen during the early weeks, being that the number one reason they happen is that baby is not developing properly. I know I'm being a worrywart and things will probably be OK, but just in case I'm doing most all the right things - exercising (at least as much as I did before I got pregnant), hydrating, and taking a prenatal vitamin every day at dinner (so as not to interfere with my thyroid meds, which are important for me and for baby). I'm not eating badly, though I could eat better, so I'm working on that. I mostly haven't had any caffeine, although I know it's safe to have a little. It just hasn't seemed appealing, even though normally when it's this cold out I drink a pot of coffee a day! As long as that's the case, it's easy to completely abstain - especially since it's not good for me anyway. I'm watching the few pregnancy symptoms I do have for any changes, which could be a hint that something is wrong, but there's not a lot I can do other than stay positive and believe in the power of positivity. So far, I've not experienced any more "sickness." Mostly, it's just light cramping from time to time, digestion issues and fatigue. My chest is a little sore, so I catch myself from time to time checking them to make sure they still are. I read here that the chance of miscarriage drops to about 5 percent between 6-8 weeks, so we're almost there.