In my efforts to locate a little dashiki of some sort for my little one ... I came across these little girl summer dresses from the LilCrumsnatchers Shop on etsy (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24948697)!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh ... adorable! I think she'll live :D
So, a poster on a board that I frequent (smile) asked about hospital bags tonight ... got me to thinking ... what goes in a hospital bag ... what will I absolutely need ... this is what I'm considering:
With Milkies Milk Saver you're supposedly able to nurse anywhere without worrying about leaks or uncomfortable nursing pads. Even better, its supposed to allow you to collect your leaking breast milk while you're nursing on the other side. 
It's a free-form fingerprint pendant charm made from actual fingerprints! They send you this special clay that during the firing process, the water and binder burn away allowing metal particles to fuse together. The end result produces a solid .999 silver. Once you send in your fingerprinted clay, a silver pendant comes back to you made from the actual fingerprint that you imprinted into the clay!
The process looks like this:
You remove the sealed silver package from the small kraft envelope and it tear open carefully. You then unfold and invert the plastic to remove the clay. Working quickly, you gently knead the clay to soften it and re-shape it into a ball.
Then you place the reshaped ball of clay between the layers of mylar square.
Using something hard, flat and smooth, you then press down on the top of the clear flap until the clay is approximately the size of a dime or penny. This helps to remove any unwanted lines.
Lift the clear mylar flap slowly, and using firm pressure, press downward with the finger into the flattened clay. Press hard enough to see the clay squish out from the finger without pressing the clay too thin. Do not roll the finger. Babies and small children have very fine ridges and may require extra firm pressure. The ridges may also be difficult to see.
Lift the finger slowly and gently to see the print. You should only go through the process once for the best results. It is not recommended to re-do the print. Expect some irregularities.
Then you remove the clear flap and leave the imprinted clay on the silver mylar to dry undisturbed overnight. The print will slide off when completely dry. Place dried fingerprint in the provided jewelry box and return along with the form that is included in the package. And that's it!
Your print will be fired, finished with a silver jump ring, hand-stamped with the initials you specify, polished and mailed back to you at the address you provided within four to six weeks.
I think I have to have one and I'm definitely getting one for the grandmothers!
1. Here, you'll see what I started with ... 24 used kissaluvs (size 0) in "natural" and various colors.
4. After about 3 hours of soaking, adding more boiling water, and agitating, I drained the soapy water and refilled the sinks with clean cool rinse water. We allowed them to soak in the rinse water, making sure to frequently change the water to ensure that we were getting as much of the Dawn out of the diapers as possible. NOTE: 1/3 cup of Dawn proved to be WAY too much (added a few washes and rinses to my process). My mom also made sure to agitate and squeeze the diapers in the rinse water as much as possible as she continued to change out the water.
NOTE: We probably didn't have to go through all of that rinsing but this was my first "stripping" exercise and I just wanted to be sure ... the washing machine could have taken care of the majority of the rinsing
5. By the end of the "Dawn process" ... the diapers looked something like this and were then ready to go into the washing machine.
6. ... and this and this ... now honestly, don't they look like all of the Dawn is out of them ...
NOTE: while engaged in this process, I made sure to turn up the water heater ... wanted to make sure that the water was at its hottest when the diapers got to the washing machine ... of course I could have just dumped some boiling water into the washing machine (which of course is an option) but I didn't want to lug large pots of boiling water into the garage ...
7. So, once we "thought" we'd gotten most of the Dawn out of the diapers, my mom carried them all to the washer for a few regular washes -Cool Rinse-Hot Wash-Cool Rinse without detergent during hot wash - remember, I was trying to ensure that there was no more Dawn left in the diapers - don't want to irritate my baby's skin.
NOTE: didn't have a "hot rinse" option on my mom's washing machine
8. My mom and I ended up washing the diapers 4 x at the highest water level ... every time the diapers looked great (no suds) while in the washer, as soon as the agitation began ... more suds ... grrrrrrrrrr ... I added tea tree oil (natural antiseptic - I think that most people use grapefruit extract which I believe is a bit stronger but I initially chose to use the tea tree oil ... honestly, its what we had on hand) to the final rinse. Then, I kinda got a little paranoid and decided to make a quick run for some grapefruit extract ... a little panicky ... so I ran ONE MORE WASH w/about 35 - 40 drops of grapefruit extract ... crazy I know ... THEN, the diapers were ready to go ... I chose to put them in the dryer on the highest temp ... of course, I could have just hung them in my mom's back yard in the sun to dry but I liked the idea of the added heat ...
NOTE: I've also heard that running another rinse cycle (particularly if you still smell Dawn on the diapers) with 1/2 cup of vinegar will help to get all of the Dawn out.
Well ... this is what I ended up with ... pleased with my 24 squeaky clean used kissaluvs
While all of this was going on, I was also prepping new diapers, inserts, and covers ... well a few new covers that hadn't yet been prepped ... this was my process ... thanks so much to Amanda from the eco-friendly family blog (http://theecofriendlyfamily.blogspot.com/!)1. I first wanted to make sure that I prepped natural fibers with natural fibers and synthetic fibers with synthetics.
2. In instances of synthetic fiber inserts, covers, etc., I simply ran a normal wash at the highest water level with 1/2 the recommended amount of Allen's Natural Laundry Detergent (https://allensna.ipower.com/osCommerce/catalog/index.php?osCsid=612d75a2c7f26d99c9fca74627fb4c30 ) In my case, a normal wash was a cold rinse-hot wash-followed by a cold rinse. Done! The diapers were good to go ... I just hung everything to dry.
NOTE: I plan on using Amanda's "special brew" ... her homemade recipe for cloth diaper safe laundry detergent in the future to wash my diapers. I was home in Houston visiting family and decided to do a little laundry ... I didn't bring my 5 gallon bucket of "Amanda's brew" that I made just before my trip to Houston with me ... so I improvised w/Allen's Natural Laundry Detergent, which I must say is great! Loving the Allen's Natural Laundry Detergent ... but I will say that Amanda's recipe gave me A LOT more detergent for my buck!
3. In the instances of natural fiber inserts, diapers, etc., I ran a total of 5 "normal wash/Dry" cycles ... yes, that's a full wash cycle followed by a spin in the dryer at the highest temp ... that's 5 dry cycles ... yes ... it was an all day job.
This is what I ended up with:
Now that was a hard days work ...
1. I know for a fact that it's better for the environment ... I mean my goodness, for one, they're reusable. From what I've seen, good cotton diapers will hold up for 75 - 100 washings (at minimum), and can be saved for the next child. WooHoo! Free for baby #2! This is also evidenced by the number of cloth diapering moms who actually sell their cloth diapers once they've finished ... again, great for the environment. Even though energy is required for washing the diapers, it's still a fraction of the energy used for disposables. Cloth diapers are also recyclable (great rags in the future).
It's estimated that about 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture disposable diapers for American babies alone. Honestly, that's INSANE!!!! Although some disposables are said to be biodegradable; in order for these diapers to decompose, they have to be exposed to air (oxygen) and the sun. These conditions are often unlikely making for the decomposition of disposable diapers to take several hundred years , with some of the plastic material never decomposing.
The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers is also a possible danger to contaminating ground water. The amount of water used per week to wash cloth diapers at home is about the same from what I've hard to flushing the toilet 5 - 6 times a day. Also, when flushing solids from a cloth diaper down the toilet and washing the diapers in a washing machine, the contaminated, dirty water from both toilet and washing machine go into the sewer systems where they are properly treated at waste water plants. This treated waste water is much more environmentally friendly than dumping untreated disposable diapers into a landfill.
2. I think that there are so many health related benefits to cloth diapering. Some concerns about disposable diapers have been about dyes, sodium polyacrylate (the super absorbent gel), and dioxin, which is a by-product of bleaching paper. Babies have been known to pull disposables apart and put pieces of plastic into their noses and mouth. That can't be a good thing.
One of my main concerns is diaper rash. According to the Journal of Pediatrics, 54 % of one-month old babies using disposable diapers had rashes, 16 % having severe rashes. A study done by a disposable diapers manufacturing company (won’t name the company, but its one of the largest manufacturers) shows that the incidence of diaper rash increased from 7.1% to 61% with the increased use of disposable diapers. Hands down, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (and a little common sense might I add), the best way to prevent diaper rash is to change diapers, cloth or disposable, frequently. While disposable diapers can hold large quantities of urine, this slight wetness is still against your baby’s skin, which can lead to rashes. Cloth diapers are more often changed every time baby wets. From what I've heard, baby immediately lets everyone know that they're wet ... there are no "super gels" to keep them feeling dry and so parents are apt to change more frequently.
3. My research also indicates that the cost of cloth diapers, home laundered, is considerably lower cost than buying disposables ... from birth through potty training. Now I will say that the "start up" costs were "staggering" ... I was however, able to save some money by purchasing some gently used diapers that were in great condition ... I mean excellent condition. I was able to find some great deals via the internet and I couldn't be more pleased ... particularly considering the amount of money that I would have spent on them had I purchased them new.
In the long run, I know that we're saving money. Babies will go through an estimated 6000 diaper changes from birth to potty. Lets check out the actual savings over a 2.5 year period of diapering ... The following information came from the Banana Peels Diapers (http://bananapeelsdiapers.com/)
Cost of disposables: $2000
Cost of disposable wipes: $800
Total cost disposables: $2800
Cost of cloth diapers: $840
Cost of cloth wipes (24): $42
Total cost of cloth: $882
Uhh ... hello ... Savings: $2000!
4. Last but not least, they're adorable ... as I stated earlier, I'm completely obsessed with cloth diapers ... they're absolutely adorable! So, for my little lady, they're a bit of a fashion statement :D
Now lets take a look at my stash but a few things before we move on:
This is what my stash and diaper related accessories looks like as of today:
Maternity clothes?: Loving them! I'm hoping that I have enough to last me ... I really, really, really, really hate shopping for maternity clothes ... I just don't want to invest too much money in clothing that I HOPE I won't be wearing for too long
How big is baby?: By this week, she weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. Now that's a lot of woman
Stretch marks?: still nothing ... keep your fingers crossed ...
Sleep?: back to insomnia ... I pretty much sleep in 3 - 4 hour intervals ...
Best moment this week?: The usual ... watching my stomach jump around ...
Movement?: All over the place ... as usual! Particularly when I eat fruit!
Food cravings?: Just food in general ... LOL
Labor signs?: Nope ... that wouldn't be good
Belly button in or out?: still in ... again, lets keep our fingers crossed ...
What I miss: I miss not having these little aches and pains all of time ... its always something ... whether it's pressure on my bladder, my back hurting, round ligament pain, pressure in my lower abdomen, etc.
What I'm looking forward to: The arrival of our little lady & of course, maternity leave!
Milestone: During my research ... I came up with the following:
How your baby's growing:
By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of her head to her heels. She can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With her eyesight developing, she may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. She's also developing billions of neurons in her brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.
You're in the home stretch! The third and final trimester starts this week. If you're like most women, you'll gain about 11 pounds this trimester.At this point, you'll likely visit your doctor or midwife every two weeks. Then, at 36 weeks, you'll switch to weekly visits.
Also, if your glucose screening test result was high and you haven't yet had follow-up testing, you'll soon be given the 3-hour glucose tolerance test. And if the blood work done at your first prenatal visit showed that you're Rh negative, you'll get an injection of Rh immunoglobulin to prevent your body from developing antibodies that could attack your baby's blood. (If your baby is Rh positive, you'll receive another shot of Rh immunoglobulin after you give birth.)
Around this time, some women feel an unpleasant "creepy-crawly" sensation in their lower legs and an irresistible urge to move them while trying to relax or sleep. If this sensation is at least temporarily relieved when you move, you may have what's known as restless legs syndrome (RLS). No one knows for sure what causes RLS, but it's relatively common among expectant mothers. Try stretching or massaging your legs, and cut down on caffeine, which can make the symptoms worse. Ask your caregiver if you should try iron supplements, which can sometimes relieve RLS.
Ulric (my man of honor) and I after the rehearsal dinner (May 22, 2009).
Another something or the other to be excited about ... Sade's new CD will be in stores on February 8, 2010 ... WOOHOOOOO!!!!! Loving the first single ...
So, depending upon what source you use ... 3rd trimester begins at week 27 or week 28 ... I'm going with week 27 :D and I can't believe it! How is it possible that I'm this far along ... well, certainly 3rd trimester brings with it greatness ... for one ... my baby showers! WooHoo! Next Saturday (December 12th) to be exact ... in my hometown of Houston, TX.
This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with her legs extended. She's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing her eyes, and perhaps even sucking her fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While her lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if she were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother her, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.
How yur life's changing:
The second trimester is drawing to a close, but as your body gears up for the final lap, you may start noticing some new symptoms. Along with an aching back, for example, you may find that your leg muscles cramp up now and then. They're carrying extra weight, after all, and your expanding uterus is putting pressure on the veins that return blood from your legs to your heart as well as on the nerves leading from your trunk to your legs. Unfortunately, the cramps may get worse as your pregnancy progresses. Leg cramps are more common at night but can also happen during the day. When a cramp strikes, stretching the calf muscle should give you some relief. Straighten your leg and then gently flex your toes back toward your shin. Walking for a few minutes or massaging your calf sometimes helps, too.
It may be the furthest thing from your mind right now, but it's not too soon to think about family planning. You'll want to have made some decisions about postpartum birth control before your baby arrives. If you're considering a tubal ligation, be aware that most states require you to sign a consent form at least 30 days beforehand. So if you'd like the option of having the surgery during your postpartum hospital stay, don't wait too much longer to discuss it with your caregiver. (You can still change your mind later.)
