Cloth Diapering Me v. Militant Cloth Diaper Moms

So recently I started cloth diapering. I know its late in the game, I missed out on cloth for his first year. I tried it when he was little but I didn't have enough to cloth diaper consistently. And he grew out of them so fast that I couldn't keep up. Many of the fancy diapers I had were only worn once. They were all in ones so once they were dirty I had to get a new diaper. I think I would have done better had I used cover and fitted diapers or prefold old school diapers. Most of the problem I had with diapering was the upfront cost. Non cloth diaperers are always freaked out by the poop. What do you do with the poop? Evan taught me to be comfortable with poop early on. He consistently had blow outs and still has them quite frequently. Poop? I can handle that part. The money part is the issue. True cloth diapers will save your pocketbook in the long run but they are an initial investment. It was much easier for me to use a good coupons and save a great deal on diapers. Now that Evan is a giant, disposable diapers are expensive and they are not working like they used to. No matter what I do, he pees out of them at night. I needed to find a solution.
I did my research. Modern cloth diapers a great. They come with snaps or velcro and many can grow with your child so you only need to invest once. I felt that pocket diapers and all in ones were too much of an investment. I wanted a diaper with an liner and a shell. Something I could change the dirty part and keep using the cover til it got dirty. If I did it right I could use a few covers a day and just change the inside. I have good friends that use prefolds and think they are great. The could be great to me. I came across a deal on Trend Lab diapers. They are new to the market, they have a microfiber insert that is very absorbent and a very leak resistant cover. Just snap out the dirty liner and snap in a clean one. If the cover gets dirty or wet, change that too. I got them and I love them. It held up all night and cleared up a diaper rash over night with no creams or ointments. I got a snug fit. Evan, Eric and I like them.
Well other people don't like them. They seem to be good for newbies but not for people who are serious about cloth diapering. The message boards and reviews made me feel bad about my purchase. Microfiber should never touch a baby's skin. Says who? I'll be the first to tell you that I hate how some microfiber feels, but this isn't itchy and absorbs well and quickly. Hey if shamwow made a diaper. I'd probably use it.
I belong to a cloth diapering group on FB. I've checked out cloth diapering message boards. They all hate Trend Lab. I feel like I'm back in highschool and I'm not wearing the right clothes and am therefore clueless. So many cloth diaperers are elitist and militant. Many like collecting cloth diapers and are always on the look out for new patterns. That's fine, but its not me. I like the idea of saving money, and not polluting more than I already do. I'm not into organic food or organic cotton. I'm average. I looked into many of the CD freaks. I share somethings in common. I breastfeed, I bedshare, I babywear (when I can), I pretty much attachment parent. But I do not share an important ideology that is common to the militants. I vaccinate my child. Vaccines are very important to me and I don't buy into that mularcky about vaccines and autism. I could never be friends with someone like that. Its a question of values that I feel strongly about.

Parenting is a process. People will always look down on you and many will tell you that you are doing something wrong. There will always be a person who consider themselves as wiser or more experienced or better educated. People will always say that they have been through tougher things when you talk about a struggle or issue or they will tell you that their kid is better when you share the good. I like my diapers and that is all.

One Year Old Art

I have no art in my new place. I wanted some unique original art for my place. I bought a few canvases and some washable tempra paint. Art ensued.

 The first thing he did was try some blue.

 Not as yummy as it looks.

 It looked like it was going to be fabulous.

 But someone just wanted to play.

 Until he saw how much fun it could be.

 Both hands and feet!

 And mommy's legs.

 No, mom. The blue is great.

 Finished masterpieces.

 All clean!

All in all after lots of baby wrangling. And placement in front of the art, we got some great pieces.

Happy Birthday.

In the past 2 days, Evan has reminded me of a lesson I have learned in the year he has been here. No so much to expect the unexpected, but be prepared for anything to happen.
On Tuesday, at 364 days old, Evan choked for the first time. Full on choking where he couldn't breathe. I swiftly took him out of his highchair and did the baby heimlich. He didn't seem phased by it at all.
Then on his birthday, as I was getting peanut ready for bed, his whole chest was covered in hives. Initially I thought it was eczema because he has been covered with eczema most of his young life. I put hydrocortisone on it and then freaked out because it was hives and not eczema. Thankfully the ointment worked quickly and the hives were gone before the doctor could even call me back. Two crises averted in two days.

In addition to the crazy "health" scares, I have been thinking about out birthday last year. We put the birth in birthday because he was actually born on my birthday. With 30 hours of labor (only about 23 hours of active labor) it was the best of times and worst of times so to speak.
Gladly, a year out I do not remember any of the pain. Honestly other than recovering, I couldn't remember the pain a week later. So without further ado, here is what I remember of my  Evan's birth story.
I chose to have an induction because I was one of the 2 to 3% of pregnant women with gestational diabetes. It wasn't fun, I had to check my blood sugar 4 times a day and inject myself with insulin at night. I also had to have ultrasound twice a week to check for activity. Because of this, I can't stand moms that complain that they can't tell the sex of the baby with ultrasound. While that may be nice, the ultrasound is for health and grow, not vanity. On a side note, when I had my 20 week ultrasound I laughed the whole time and didn't cry when I found out Evan was a boy. I didn't really care about the sex. Anyway, I chose induction because diabetes can lead to really big babies and the risk of having a stillborn increases. I was scared and I wanted my baby out healthy.
The beginning was really really slow. I had a pill to help induce me and I had to wait a few hours before pitocin. Pitocin sucked. It brings on some unnatural speedy contractions. I went into the whole thing wanting to do it naturally as possible. Five hours of intense labor and some ridiculous bleeding, I got an epidural. One nurse thought I was a baby for doing it, really? Anywho, my awesome nurse told me at the beginning of the epi that you can't pee with an epidural because you can't feel the urge to pee, so I would need a catheter. Well after the epidural went in, all the nurses had to run off to c-section room. (someone had a prolapsed umbilical cord, yikes!) Meanwhile, I was sitting around for a while, someone said something silly. And my water broke. No it turns out I just peed the bed. I kept peeing too, so it turns out you can pee but you can't stop. During this ordeal, I apparently pulled out my epidural. (That is rare too) So I suddenly went from smooth sailing to having 8 contractions in a row. I can't tell you how much it hurt, but nurses and anesthesiologists were needed pronto. Second, epi and a catheter later. I was happy. Until I started to pee the bed again. I told then nurse that I was peeing. You can't pee outside of a catheter. My water actually broke. Funny how I kept mixing those things up. I still had about 10 hours of slow progress to go...
In that 10 hours most of my nurses were great. We had to "fire" one because one she wouldn't let us look at my monitor and two she didn't believe me when my second epidural stopped working. I told her that I could feel my cath and legs and I knew I shouldn't. So the rest was uneventful until my favorite part, pushing.
Shortly after 2 pm I needed to push. Its funny that you suddenly need to push. I believed I pushed for about 20 to 30 min, but I wasn't one of those ladies that got the baby out in 2 pushes and brags. I puked throughout my entire pregnancy so it was no different to puke during delivery, I barfed and Evan's head popped out! Best technique ever. I recommend it to everyone. The doctor said he's gonna tell all his patients. He had the cord wrapped around his neck twice (it was loose) and then he came out and Evan was born at 2:38 pm on my birthday. It wasn't 8-9-10 like I wanted but in the long run, his birthday is just as nice. In addition to the wrapped cord, in utero Evan tied a knot in the cord. The cord was also 3times the length of a normal cord (that was not hyperbole). Cord boy has been trouble since before he was born. He is so mischievous but I can't picture him any other way.

Our First Birthday together.

Bye Bye Babas and Bittersweet Boobies

So here I am after a busy weekend wondering if I'll ever get to update my blog. Free time is something I lack as a working mom. So as I pump for my last week. I am sad. I've worked so hard at this and I now I have to wean him off milk during the day. Actually, unless he us hurt or tired, the kid would probably care less about it. It is mommy that is sad. I am not sad to stop pumping. That my friends is a joyous occasion. I'm sad that I won't feed him throughout the day when I'm home. I suppose the kid has to grow up but I'm not ready.
Today was Evan's last day for bottles. He can drink well out of cups and he would rather play with a bottle than drink from it. Time to break him from it before he wants drink everything from the baba.

Evan doesn't seem to need so much milk anymore. Somebaby is self waening. So sad. Infact today, he didn't have any milk while he was at his grandma's. I've dropped my pumping at work down to once a day. This means I will have less milk during the daytime and I won't be able to nurse much during the day when I'm with him. I will certainly miss him crawling up to me begging for milk. Nursing isn't just for food, its a special time for him and I. He nursed for a really long time today and then looked at me like, thanks, I needed that. As nursing draws to a close, I savor each nursing session we have. Since Evan will be one on Wednesday, I am transitioning him to cow milk this weekend (for selfish reasons, I don't want him to have bad poops at his birthday party). I will still nurse at night, yes, we wake up once or twice for milk time. But my lil boy is growing up and I suppose I will have to too.

I will not miss pumping. Its the hardest thing I do each day.