Cloth Diapers

So, I was thinking about ways to save money. We will be moving back to MI in the next two weeks, I will be starting my new job again as a full-time stay-at-home mom, and honestly we are going to be poor. So, again, I was thinking of ways to save money and two things I have decided to do is #1 shop by using coupons and following sales trends and #2 start cloth diapering.
Have you ever had a sudden epiphany? Well you can kind of say that is what has happened to me.
For the past year or so we've used reusable shopping bags instead of the plastic bags they usually give you at grocery stores. Now, every time we shop without the reusable bags I cringe at the amount of plastic bags I walk out of the store with. Now that I've decided to use cloth diapers... I cannot wait until we can start. Little N has started the potty training process already. He peed on my floor at least 3 times today and removed his diaper every time he was wet. He sat on the toilet maybe 6 to 7 times. It has become frustrating because I feel like I can't encourage him. Just wait a few weeks little man, we will be moved and you can run around our new house naked for all I care! So... done with the rabbit trail.
Cloth diapering.
I've been on information overload for the past 3 days ever since I did the math and found out how much money it will save us. I've already made two orders and when we arrive at our new house in two weeks N will have 6 bumGenius 4.0 one size diapers waiting for him. I really, really, really, don't want to buy any more disposables. I might have enough to last us the next two weeks. Then when we arrive in MI, I'll be potty training N, so I'm thinking those cloth diapers might be enough.
Information overload.
I messaged a few cloth diapering friends on Facebook and received a lot of information about the different cloth diapering systems out there. The two that sound the easiest are the All-In-One(AIO) and Pocket Diapers. Most of them come in one size fits most so basically one diaper will be able to fit your babe from birth(depending on how big they are) to toddler hood. Sounds lovely. But with all of my previous children being under 7 lbs. at birth, I have then researched what diapers to use at the newborn stage. They have Pocket diapers and AIO's that fit babes that young but I cannot justify spending the money. I've decided to get at least 4 AIO, Pocket or Fitted diapers that I can use at night to make the night changes easier and possibly use during any outings that we head on during the first 2 weeks or so. Most of the One-Size diapers are suppose to start fitting around 8 lbs. So for the newborn stage I've decided to go old school with the Prefold diapers and diaper covers. It won't be a wasted investment. Newborn Prefolds can be used as inserts in the pocket diapers, burp clothes, or just saved for the next little one. You can use pins to pin them or a Snappi(which I'll be using). There are many different ways to fold a Prefold around your babe and then put a diaper cover or wrap on top of that and that's it! So what about the dirty diapers? I will absolutely be investing in something like this. They are a little expensive but I'm taking the leap. Laundering doesn't seem like it will be too difficult. I plan on line drying, outside as much as possible. Babe will be born in early August, that gives us a few more months in MI to use the clothes line outside. I'm so excited. I can't wait to start and my nesting instinct wants to be prepared as soon as possible. Like I've already said I have made two orders already. Kelly's Closet has a lot of deals that I can't seem to pass up. I've checked out Wee Bunz, Green Mountain Diapers and plan on buying a few things from each of them... as well as this site I found a positive review from a cloth diapering blog and the diapers are so cute and surprisingly affordable. So I've started on this journey and have decided that there is no turning back. I will make it work!

Your Best Birth

I picked up a book, Your Best Birth by Ricki Lake and Abby Epstein, you might have watched A Business of Being Born, the documentary they did a few years ago. So far it's been a great read. One thing I found really interesting was a part about pain medication and discovered that with each of my births, my ideas of pain medication during birth has changed, somewhat dramatically. They cited another book by Penny Simkin called The Pain Medication Scale.
I'm not going to list everything here but the scale starts out with
+10 I want to be numb, to get anesthesia before labor begins(an impossible extreme)
to
0 I have no opinion or preference. I will wait and see(a rare attitude among pregnant women)
to
-10 I want no medication, even for a casarean delivery(an impossible extreme)
Of course with varying degrees in between.
When I was pregnant with my first I can honestly say I was at 0, I had no preference, if I made it without pain medication then good for me but if I felt like I couldn't I would get it. I was honestly very uneducated when it came to birthing, no research was done, I knew that I didn't want pain but never thought about searching for other ways to reduce pain other than the normal pain medications. Result= narcotics and epidural. Two hours into the induction I just could't stand the pain, of course I was just laying in bed and my loving husband was sleeping(he had just gotten off a night shift). So there was a feeling of lack of support and my loving nurse said "I can make all the pain go away". Who wouldn't cave in at that point? Overall I loved my birth, labor only lasted 10 hours, after the epidural I hardly felt anything, the only thing I would have changed was the coached pushing that lasted 2 1/2 hours. But at that time the pushing seemed normal, I had nothing to compare it to.
With my second pain scared me. I was scared that my labor would progress so fast that I wouldn't be able to receive my blessed epidural and would have to experience the pain I missed with my first. I had heard that second labors usually go faster than firsts and with my first only being 10 hours long..... Yes, I was scared. On the pain management scale I was a
+7 I want anesthesia as soon in labor as the doctor will allow or before labor becomes painful.
Sign me up! Was my model and I let those nurses know it. I got my way. Epidural, 7 hours of labor, 10 minutes of pushing, it was perfect.
With my third, epidurals were still in my game plan. They seemed to work for me. I was induced at 36 weeks because I had developed pre-eclampsia. Induction to birth was 12 hours. I went from 4 to 12 in one hour. Everything happened so fast that went I mentioned the idea of an epidural the nurse said "if I sit you up for the epidural your baby will pop right out" Maddened I thought, " then sit me up" I was told not to push, only because the doctors were not there. My baby was not handed to me right away, instead he was bundled up and rushed to the nursery because he wasn't holding his temperature. To this day I wonder why kangaroo care wasn't the first choice and blame myself for being knocked up on the narcotics given to me an hour before I gave birth for not having the state of mind to advocate for my child. His whole birth changed me in so many ways. I was first empowered. I can do it without an epidural! It's not necessary. Definately no more narcotics for me, I want to be in charge of my births, how can I do that when I can't think straight? The idea of no more pain medication led me to researching alternatives. Through home birthing mothers and documentaries I decided that now on the pain medication scale I am a
-9 I want medication to be denied by my support team and the staff, even if I beg for it
I first decided that if I ever gave birth in the hospital again I would need to fight for my rights. I would need some more support than just my husband, someone who would help me advocate when I was in pain. I wanted to be able to be free to move. Didn't the nurse tell me if I sat up my baby would pop right out? Yes, I wanted that. Through inspiring people and stories I've decided that a birth at home would be my best birth place and I am now looking forward to it. No drugs. Freedom of movement. A relaxing atmosphere. Sleeping in my own bed. The only thing I might miss is food being brought to me but I might be able to save so we can order out for the first couple days or convince my loving husband that he is responsible for it, he is already looking forward to changing the first diaper, he was always on diaper duty in the hospitals. Maybe I can change more diapers and he can bring me food in bed? We will see.