Before I was pregnant, friends of mine had a baby, and around the time he was 9 months old, they decided to start using cloth diapers. At the time I heard she was doing this, I knew nothing about them, and in all honesty, thought she was crazy. As most people do at first, I had visions of being elbow deep in poop. As she began her journey into the world of cloth diapers, and all there is to choose from, I got interested. I laughed at her when she became a little obsessed, and thought "how can diapers be so damn interesting that she is THAT into it??!!" Her husband was a very close frined of Renee and I, and he used to give her a hard time (all in good fun) about how they were just "poop catchers" LOL! When we found out I was pregnant, we quickly decided cloth was the way to go, and he made me swear i would not get obsessed as his wife did, so of course, with a laugh, I agreed, thinking that the topic of diapers surely cant be that interesting (little did i know.....). As my due date got closer, I talked to her more and more, picking her brain about what I should buy, wash routines, how many I needed, etc. I was way into it, but passed it off as me NEEDED to know this info because I was just getting started hehe!
When I was 7 months pregnant, I lost my friend Chris, the one who made me promise to not get addicted to poop catchers. His little boy was only 17 months old at the time of his passing... just 28 years old. He died of a sudden heart attack, and we were all in shock.
Once Eli was born, we had our stash of diapers and it turned out that as much as I loved all the bright colors of the brand I bought, they were just not a good fit on him, and he had issues with them wicking pee onto his clothes. Much to Renee's dislike, we had to go buy an entire new stash of a new brand, prep them so he had diapers to wear, then sell my 1st stash to pay ourselves back. I feel like I did pretty good, I only lost $100. We finally found the kind that fit him best, didnt leak or leave nasty red marks... I was happy, not to mention busy with an infant.
Eli was about 3-4 months old when I found myself getting sucked in to the cloth diaper websites, the forums and such. I was interested in reading about other moms who used cloth, what they had for a stash, trouble shooting washing issues, and the list goes on. Oh my god, was I getting obsessed too?? Yup, it was offical, I was there and I was ok with it. I know many times Chris is looking down on me thinking "Damn I lost another one to those stupid poop catchers"..and i have to laugh :) I honestly cant tell you what it is about the cloth diapering community, its like we are a breed all of our own. The mamas on the sites are so sweet and generous to some people who are in need... Some of the items I have seen them donate to someone else on there who has fallen on hard times its beyond generous. Not only do they discuss cloth, but any other topics you can think of, but that is the common thread. It's a good sense of community, especially if you dont have a lot of friends in "real life".
As Eli gets older, I am branching out to what types of diapers I try... I am trying very hard to practice my ability to master all the folds for flats, and to get them on a very wiggly baby. I'm looking forward to having all the knowledge of what is available for my next baby so I can try new things when they are born. Maybe using flats on a newborn who doesnt wiggle that much will be easier!
I have ventured into using wool at night. I will admit, I had my doubts on how fabric could be water proof, but man is it awesome, and lives up to everyone's good reviews. A wool diaper cover was the only thing I can use with Eli at night that wont cause red marks that welt up on his chubby little legs. I have finally found a wash routine that works, I have learned that a little bleach in every load will keep the stinkies at bay and not ruin the waterproof backing of my covers and pocket diapers like the manufactuer says it will. I have learned that microfiber is the devil and the root of all things disgusting. It can not be cleaned well, even with bleach, and natural fibers are the way to go. Prefolds make wonderful inserts to pocket diapers.
I am looking forward to using fitteds on a newborn, as well as prefolds and covers. With Eli, I didnt know much about what was available, and only used pockets until he got older. I have even been proactive in building a newborn stash LONG before I need one, just because I cant say no to a good deal, a good swap, or getting stuff in the mail :)
So all in all, I love my fluff, and I would love to have LOTS of babies to use it on!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
My Pregnancy and Eli's birth (Part 2)
I found out I was pregnant on March 29, 2010. I had gone to have blood work done to see if the IVF had been successful, and got the call from my Nurse while I was sitting at my desk at work. At this point, it was our 4th trip to NY, and our 13th try at getting pregnant. In the past, I could always tell by Greta's (my nurse) voice, that it didnt work... it must really suck to have to call people day after day to tell them they, yet again, were unsuccessful. This time she had me fooled. Im sure it wasnt planned on her part, or maybe I just expected it to be negitive again. When she told me I was pregnant, the first words that flew out of my mouth were "Are you F**king kidding me!!:???" I was so way beyond excited and shocked. Yes we had been trying and trying, and you always read about other people being pregnant, and I even had a million procedures done to get to this point, but when she actually confirmed that I infact was pregnant, and a tiny little person was growing in my belly... it was almost like I was watching it happen to someone else. I cried happy tears, I called Renee... sad that she was at work and we couldnt have gotten the call together, but it was nice to call her with good news for a change since I was always the one giving the "bad news" phone call after Greta gave it to me. As soon as the excitement and shock wore off..the constant worry set it. Im sure it's common for women who go through soooooo much to get pregnant to be a litlle on the nervous side, wanting to keep the pregnancy safe.
At about 6 weeks, I started spotting and about had an axiety attack because I thoguht I was in the beginning of a miscarriage. The fertility clinic had already discharged me to my OB/GYN but I still called and begged them to send orders for an utlrasound since my OB at the time kind of sucked. The wanted me to wait it out saying if I was going to loose the baby, there was noting I could do to stop it. Of course I knew that, but I dont think I was asking for too much just to see some reassurance. I finnaly got my u/s, and before we began, they told me that because it was so early on, we would be lucky to see anything much less a heartbeat. Well not only did we see our little "Beaner" but we saw the most beautiful little flicker on the screen... a brand new, strong heartbeat!
As the next couple of weeks went by, I felt better that we saw a heartbeat, but the 12 week mark couldnt come soon enough. Then and only then could i relax a bit. Again at abotu 8 weeks I started bleeding again, and again, freaked out. I got another u/s and it showed he was just fine, but the placenta tore a tiny bit away fromt he uterus... take it easy, and things should be fine.
I rented a fetal doppler around the 8 week mark to ease some of my nervousness about him being ok in there after all of our scares. I was able to pick up his heartbeat right sway each time I tried, and that made me feel so much better. I did this each morning and each night until I started to show. Once I could see my belly start to grow, I finally believed we were in the clear, and I could relax and enjoy my pregnancy. And that is just what I did. I worked so hard to get to this point, I just needed to get to a point where I was comfortable not hainvg to hear him each day to know he was ok. I ended up having minor placenta previa for about a month, but thankfully that cleared itself up rather quickly!
I made sure that once I started to show, to take a picture of my belly each week to see the growth. My last actual belly shot was at 35 weeks and I looked like I was ready to pop. We must have gotten caught up in preparring for his arrival that w eforgot the last few weeks to take a pic. In hindsight, I regret that, but have a short video we took in the hospital of my belly jumping because he had hiccups, so at least we got to see the final belly there. :)
I had a great, easy pregnancy...The gestational diabetes was easy to manage, and thanks to it, I left the hosiptal weighing 20 lbs less than when I got pregnant! At my 38 week ultrasound, we saw that he was in the head down position, but hadn't dropped. But ny fluid was pretty low. The doctor felt it was safest for the baby to induce that weekend before I lost any more fluid.
On Saturday November 20th, we got to the hospital bright and early. I was hooked up to the monitors and the Pitocin started. It took a good while before I was actually able to feel the contractions I was having. Renee was with me, and her sister Niki, and my best friend Jess. All there to be my support and take pics/video.
As the day/night progressed my contractions got stronger (as they always do with the dredded Pitocin). I had ideally wanted a pain med free birth, but the Pit made the contractions so much worse that by the middle of the night I couldnt stand it anymore and had an Epi. The first try he hit a blood vessel and had to try again and go up a notch. That only helped the contraction I felt in the front part of my belly but once I transitioned and felt them lower, the Epi wasnt touching them. I guess now I know for the next baby, dont bother with the Epi- they dont do a thing for me.... I felt everything.
After 2 1/2 hours of pushing (partially b/c he never dropped), Eli Joseph was born at 7:55 am on 11/21/10! 8 lbs, 9 oz- 22 1/2 inches long. I finally had my baby... the one i had always wanted.. the one I endured hundreds of painful shots for.... but man was he worth it all and then some. He was absolutley perfect and chubby!! He had fuzzy white-blonde hair and blue eyes. :)
We had decided during my pregnancy to cloth diaper him, so I plan to write about that in coming posts... what I have for a stash, wash routines, all kinds of fun fluffy stuff.
At about 6 weeks, I started spotting and about had an axiety attack because I thoguht I was in the beginning of a miscarriage. The fertility clinic had already discharged me to my OB/GYN but I still called and begged them to send orders for an utlrasound since my OB at the time kind of sucked. The wanted me to wait it out saying if I was going to loose the baby, there was noting I could do to stop it. Of course I knew that, but I dont think I was asking for too much just to see some reassurance. I finnaly got my u/s, and before we began, they told me that because it was so early on, we would be lucky to see anything much less a heartbeat. Well not only did we see our little "Beaner" but we saw the most beautiful little flicker on the screen... a brand new, strong heartbeat!
As the next couple of weeks went by, I felt better that we saw a heartbeat, but the 12 week mark couldnt come soon enough. Then and only then could i relax a bit. Again at abotu 8 weeks I started bleeding again, and again, freaked out. I got another u/s and it showed he was just fine, but the placenta tore a tiny bit away fromt he uterus... take it easy, and things should be fine.
I rented a fetal doppler around the 8 week mark to ease some of my nervousness about him being ok in there after all of our scares. I was able to pick up his heartbeat right sway each time I tried, and that made me feel so much better. I did this each morning and each night until I started to show. Once I could see my belly start to grow, I finally believed we were in the clear, and I could relax and enjoy my pregnancy. And that is just what I did. I worked so hard to get to this point, I just needed to get to a point where I was comfortable not hainvg to hear him each day to know he was ok. I ended up having minor placenta previa for about a month, but thankfully that cleared itself up rather quickly!
I made sure that once I started to show, to take a picture of my belly each week to see the growth. My last actual belly shot was at 35 weeks and I looked like I was ready to pop. We must have gotten caught up in preparring for his arrival that w eforgot the last few weeks to take a pic. In hindsight, I regret that, but have a short video we took in the hospital of my belly jumping because he had hiccups, so at least we got to see the final belly there. :)
I had a great, easy pregnancy...The gestational diabetes was easy to manage, and thanks to it, I left the hosiptal weighing 20 lbs less than when I got pregnant! At my 38 week ultrasound, we saw that he was in the head down position, but hadn't dropped. But ny fluid was pretty low. The doctor felt it was safest for the baby to induce that weekend before I lost any more fluid.
On Saturday November 20th, we got to the hospital bright and early. I was hooked up to the monitors and the Pitocin started. It took a good while before I was actually able to feel the contractions I was having. Renee was with me, and her sister Niki, and my best friend Jess. All there to be my support and take pics/video.
As the day/night progressed my contractions got stronger (as they always do with the dredded Pitocin). I had ideally wanted a pain med free birth, but the Pit made the contractions so much worse that by the middle of the night I couldnt stand it anymore and had an Epi. The first try he hit a blood vessel and had to try again and go up a notch. That only helped the contraction I felt in the front part of my belly but once I transitioned and felt them lower, the Epi wasnt touching them. I guess now I know for the next baby, dont bother with the Epi- they dont do a thing for me.... I felt everything.
After 2 1/2 hours of pushing (partially b/c he never dropped), Eli Joseph was born at 7:55 am on 11/21/10! 8 lbs, 9 oz- 22 1/2 inches long. I finally had my baby... the one i had always wanted.. the one I endured hundreds of painful shots for.... but man was he worth it all and then some. He was absolutley perfect and chubby!! He had fuzzy white-blonde hair and blue eyes. :)
We had decided during my pregnancy to cloth diaper him, so I plan to write about that in coming posts... what I have for a stash, wash routines, all kinds of fun fluffy stuff.
Getting to where we are now... (part 1)
It was 2006 and I found myself living in a tiny little apartment in Portland with my best friend at the time. Apparently 11 years of being friends doesn't always lay the best ground work for being good roommates, especially when that friend had depression they chose to ignore, and expected me to act as their mother.
At that time, we found out the friends of ours had split up. I must confess, one of them I has a secret crush on for quite some time.. but I was not going to take advantage of the situation she was in at the time. I did what any good friend would do and offered her an open invitation to my couch and home as long as she needed it.
It wasn't long before I found out that she too had liked me for some time, and a relationship began to blossom. My friend moved out, and Renee moved in. I knew somehow I had gotten it right this time, as it didnt feel the same as when I had dated anyone in the past. I was going to marry this one, I just had a feeling.
Eight months into dating, we were engaged after the most breath taking proposal I have ever seen. Granted, this one was for me, so of course I would think it was pretty great, but even if this had been for someone else, I would still say it was the most beautiful proposal ever :)
We set the date for April 13, 2008, excatly 2 years and 1 week from the day we began dating. In the mean time, we moved back to Renee's home town of Augusta to be closer to her family. I don't have much for family, so the thought of being close to hers made ma happy, the feeling of being part of a family was something I had always wanted. Shortly after we moved into our TINY Augusta apartment, we fell in love with a little old house and instantly knew this was the one that was meant to be ours. You know, you walk in and can tell this is where you are going to raise your kids, set up Christmas trees, and make big yummy dinners on Sundays. We had gotten lucky and bought it from an elderly woman who had lived there for over 60 years and her and her husband took amazing care of it. All that need to be done was cosmetic, and a kitchen remodel. ALL... yeah that kitchen remodel cost a pretty penny and sucked to live through, but thanks to my Father-in-Law, its beautiful and DONE!
We knew we wanted to start trying for a baby pretty soon, and already knew it was going to be a little more challenging for us seeing as we were a same sex couple, so there was an added layer of aquiring the "goods" lol!
Our first try resulted in a failed attempt.. "oh well, there is always next month". 2, 3, 4 ,5..... all nothing. For me, I have never been the type of person to have dreamed about having this amazing career when I grow up, as a kid, all I ever wanted was to be a mommy. So needless to say, when each attempt came and went with no pregnancy to be excited about, I was crushed more and more.
So what do I do when things don't go as planned? Get mad, sure- in this case YES, but more importantly, I get stubborn, determined, and research EVERYTHING until I find a way. After the 1st try failed, we went straight to getting all my innards checked to make sure nothing was wrong before we sunk money into trying each month. All was good, "text book" even. So we began to see a fertility doctor to do IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination). All failed. By now I was beyond crushed... my spirt was broken. I had no diagnosis to stand behind and point a finger at, just unexplained infertility. Well... stubborn and determined won out again, and I brought out the big guns... we were going IVF baby!!
I found an amazing clinic in Upstate New York who I would reccomend to anyone. We started the medication and we were off to make a baby... high tech! :) We did our egg retrevial on Halloween 2009, and ended up with 8 perfect embryos. We didnt actually get pregnant until our last Frozen Embryo Transfer... I got pregnant with Eli, our last remainng embryo on March 17th 2010 (Happy St. Patty's Day)... I already knew I was going to like this kid ;) See my next post for Pregnancy and Birth Story.
At that time, we found out the friends of ours had split up. I must confess, one of them I has a secret crush on for quite some time.. but I was not going to take advantage of the situation she was in at the time. I did what any good friend would do and offered her an open invitation to my couch and home as long as she needed it.
It wasn't long before I found out that she too had liked me for some time, and a relationship began to blossom. My friend moved out, and Renee moved in. I knew somehow I had gotten it right this time, as it didnt feel the same as when I had dated anyone in the past. I was going to marry this one, I just had a feeling.
Eight months into dating, we were engaged after the most breath taking proposal I have ever seen. Granted, this one was for me, so of course I would think it was pretty great, but even if this had been for someone else, I would still say it was the most beautiful proposal ever :)
We set the date for April 13, 2008, excatly 2 years and 1 week from the day we began dating. In the mean time, we moved back to Renee's home town of Augusta to be closer to her family. I don't have much for family, so the thought of being close to hers made ma happy, the feeling of being part of a family was something I had always wanted. Shortly after we moved into our TINY Augusta apartment, we fell in love with a little old house and instantly knew this was the one that was meant to be ours. You know, you walk in and can tell this is where you are going to raise your kids, set up Christmas trees, and make big yummy dinners on Sundays. We had gotten lucky and bought it from an elderly woman who had lived there for over 60 years and her and her husband took amazing care of it. All that need to be done was cosmetic, and a kitchen remodel. ALL... yeah that kitchen remodel cost a pretty penny and sucked to live through, but thanks to my Father-in-Law, its beautiful and DONE!
We knew we wanted to start trying for a baby pretty soon, and already knew it was going to be a little more challenging for us seeing as we were a same sex couple, so there was an added layer of aquiring the "goods" lol!
Our first try resulted in a failed attempt.. "oh well, there is always next month". 2, 3, 4 ,5..... all nothing. For me, I have never been the type of person to have dreamed about having this amazing career when I grow up, as a kid, all I ever wanted was to be a mommy. So needless to say, when each attempt came and went with no pregnancy to be excited about, I was crushed more and more.
So what do I do when things don't go as planned? Get mad, sure- in this case YES, but more importantly, I get stubborn, determined, and research EVERYTHING until I find a way. After the 1st try failed, we went straight to getting all my innards checked to make sure nothing was wrong before we sunk money into trying each month. All was good, "text book" even. So we began to see a fertility doctor to do IUI (Intra Uterine Insemination). All failed. By now I was beyond crushed... my spirt was broken. I had no diagnosis to stand behind and point a finger at, just unexplained infertility. Well... stubborn and determined won out again, and I brought out the big guns... we were going IVF baby!!
I found an amazing clinic in Upstate New York who I would reccomend to anyone. We started the medication and we were off to make a baby... high tech! :) We did our egg retrevial on Halloween 2009, and ended up with 8 perfect embryos. We didnt actually get pregnant until our last Frozen Embryo Transfer... I got pregnant with Eli, our last remainng embryo on March 17th 2010 (Happy St. Patty's Day)... I already knew I was going to like this kid ;) See my next post for Pregnancy and Birth Story.
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