Friday, November 26, 2010

Yes!

Early this morning, early early since I'm breastfeeding, I noticed a wet spot on my shirt as I was going to feed our son.  Which means my milk is in and the let down reflex is active.  I am so excited.  Something has finally gone right postpartum.  I couldn't be happier that I'm providing for our son.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Cloth Diapering

I spent quite a bit of my time researching cloth diapering while I was pregnant.  I knew it was something I wanted to do primarily because it was so much less expensive.  The other reason didn't occur to me until I did some research and that was exposing my baby to the chemicals in the diapers.  I have a hard enough time with feminine pads giving me a rash and drying me out, my children will likely be the same with their diapers.  My mom and dad cloth diapered us growing up and I recall my mom telling me that I was potty trained before my brother came along and we are only 17 months apart. 

I found a great prefold package deal online, bought some covers made with PUL, and made my own laundry soap to wash them with and consequently our regular laundry too since it was so much cheaper than store bought laundry detergent.  So far the most challenging part of this was keeping track of how many times I pre-washed the diapers.  60 diapers take a long time to pre-wash 5-8 times.  I also knew that I would want to make my own wipe solution and avoid having to buy those as well.  My mom used to use wash cloths and soap water.  It just didn't seem all that complicated.  Why was everyone making such a fuss over how hard cloth diapering was?

I knew at the hospital that they only use disposable diapers and wipes.  This was fine by me since those first poopy diapers were filled with meconium which is a sticky tar like substance that is very hard to get off the skin of the baby let alone the diaper.  I thought it would be good to use those disposables for the first few days so I didn't have to worry about getting meconium out of my cloth diapers.  The hospital sent us home with two bags of diapers and wipes, we were set for a while.  The next question was when would we switch to cloth.  Me being lazy I had not made up the baby wipe solution that I wanted to use, so I put it off for a few days.  Then yesterday, my husband asked when we were going to switch over.  We only had about a dozen disposables left and I wanted to save them for any trips we would be making in the future.  Plus I wasn't a fan of the garbage we were producing.

That evening I made up a batch of wipe solution (2 Tbs baby wash, 1 Tbs baby oil, 2 cups of water), got out my cloth wipes, snappies, covers, and cloth diapers.  The first really great thing I noticed was that the diapers kept the poop in and didn't leak out through the legs like the disposables were doing.  I had to change my boppy covers 4 times in two days from leaks.  Thank goodness for protective waterproof covers or I would be washing the pillow too.  The next thing I noticed was that the dry skin around his waist was going away.  I suspect that the disposables were irritating his skin.  Last, my son doesn't cry the same with the cloth diapers.  He hardly cries at all now when I change his diapers.

One thing that really jump started me into cloth diapering was a youtube set of videos that answered all my questions about what's out there, legislation, and how to use cloth diapers.  Here is the first video in the series.  I recommend watching them all. 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

One Week

I can't believe it's been one week since I had my little baby boy.  He is so adorable even when asking for 3rd and 4th breakfast and I've only had 2 hours of sleep.  I wish there was a way to be able to go to any time in my baby's life and hold and cuddle him.  I know that 8 years from now I'll wish I could hold him like when he was only hours old.  Babies smell so sweet and need so little to improve upon.  I noticed that he spit up breastmilk and got some in his whispy hair.  At the time I couldn't get up to clean him off and later forgot to follow up.  Today, I remembered he did this and looked but his skin had absorbed it all and his hair was as fine and whispy as ever.  Some would think it gross that I didn't do anything but if you know about the properties of breastmilk you'd know that it is antibacterial, like a lotion, and very good for your skin.  You can even leave a bottle of breastmilk on the counter and it won't go bad like formula will.  Any bacteria that comes near breastmilk is killed on the spot.  That is one of the reasons why breastfed babies are so healthy and rarely get sick.  Also, breastmilk doesn't stain like formula will.  You can get some on your shirt and it will rinse right out in the wash.  You can't say that about formula.

So, I'm in love again, but this little man will forever have a part of me and who I am till the day he dies.  He is a treasure that I don't know if I could live without.  Any vague thought of losing him has me in tears.


Happy 1 Week Birthday.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Welcome Little One


Born November 14th, 2010 at 12:42am by c-section.  He is 6 lbs 7 oz, with blond hair and blue eyes.

The Sweetest Little Fellow

 When I was born my mother sang me this song.  It was the one song that I loved to hear the best because I knew my mom meant every word.  When I was in the military I asked for her to send me the lyrics.  It made me cry with homesickness.  Now I have my own little fellow to sing this to and I’m so glad he’s here.


 Mighty Like A Rose

Sweetest little fellow everybody knows
Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
Lookin' at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue
Make you think that heav'n is comin' close to you

When he's there a-sleepin in his little place
Think I see angels looking through the lace
When the dark is fallin', when the shadows creep
Then they comes on tiptoe to kiss him in his sleep

Sweetest little fellow ev'rybody knows
Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
Lookin' at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue
Make you think that heav'n is comin' close to you

When the dark is fallin', when the shadows creep
Then they comes on tiptoe to kiss him in his sleep

Sweetest little fellow ev'rybody knows
Don't know what to call him but he's mighty like a rose
Lookin' at his mammy with eyes so shiny blue
Make you think that heav'n is comin' close to you



Monday, November 8, 2010

How to annoy people who know a little history...

Today I'm trying to watch Robin Hood with Russell Crowe, yet I'm finding myself only able to watch it in short increments.  Why?  Because of the historical inacuracies which are driving me up the wall.  It's little things really, but they throw me out of the rhythm of the film when they happen.  The first was when grain was stolen from Marian's home.  She called it "seed-corn".  Why are they referencing corn when it's the 12th century?  Corn wasn't discovered by Europe until the America's were discovered in the 15th century.  The word corn is new so they wouldn't have called wheat "seed-corn". 

Another one was when King John said his mother kissed the "picture" of her son every day.  "Picture" is a new word.  They would have used "portrait" or "painting" at this time. 

Or the king using the word "palsy" around a horse training to have a knight on it's back.  That is a late 13 century word.  Besides, the king would know what would go into training a knight's horse.  Those creatures had to be able to strike out on command with their hooves to smash in the helmet of a foot solder.  The king would not ask that the horse stop with the training the way he did. 

Then comes the references that the clergy do not drink alcohol or condone the drinking of alcohol.  I'm sorry but that is a 19th century idea.  In the 12th century the only safe thing to drink would be alcohol.  Everyone drank wine, mead, or beer (mead was even mentioned prominently in Beowulf).  Water would make you sick more often than not because of the lack of sanitation.  It wasn't until the 19th century that sanitation was really taken into account and found to be a healthy thing for all concerned.  Plus, the clergy in the 12th century were Catholic.  The priests and other clergy would be consuming wine on a daily basis because of their duty to giving daily mass to the people. 

One thing that annoyed me highly was when Maid Marian was refusing to go to mass on Sundays.  At this time in history, the people went to mass daily.  You also didn't have the right to refuse to attend services.  If you did not attend services there were ways of imposing public penance.  I went to Rottenburg in Germany and visited a museum of torture devices.  They had a wooden rosary that people would wear around their neck while standing up for all to see during services if they fell asleep during mass.  Each bead weighed 10 lbs.  It was huge.  The very wealthy could have chapel services at their home but this was rare and reserved for the nobility.  It would be slim to none chance that Marian would have been able to avoid Sunday mass let alone mass any other day of the week.  The producers or writers of the film must be confusing Protestant ideas and ideals with religion in the Middle Ages.  So far they are getting everything wrong.

Then of course there are the large discrepancies with history, such as the French landing on English soil in 1199A.D.  Sorry, they didn't do that for another 16 years until after the Magna Carta was signed.  That was called the First Barons' War. 

What would be interesting is if they showed the real age of Isabella of Angouleme.  She married King John when she was 12 years old.  In the film she looks to be in her early 20s.  But if they did that people would be shouting pedophilia since the king was supposed to be 33 at the time. 

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Waiting

I can see why many women want their pregnancy to be over.  For most I think it is impatience and being uncomfortable.  I'm not experiencing a lot of discomfort in my opinion even though I'm 37 weeks along.  Yes, I have to pee a lot in the middle of the night and I am not at all flexible.  But, I have no contractions that I can feel, I sleep well (thanks to a combination of my grandmother's inclining bed and a really thick memory foam mattress pad), and I'm not sore (unless I stand for a few hours trying to make dinner).  I have no reason for complaint and my body is fairly comfortable.  The baby kicks and rolls but that's not painful either just strange feeling. 

I think the hardest part for me is the weight gain.  With this baby weight I am almost 100 lbs beyond where my ideal weight is when not pregnant.  I don't want to gain any more weight.  I thought I was okay with it but apparently not.  My doctor says I have gained the right amount of weight but that now I'm starting to retain water.  My face shows it too.  How selfish am I to want to have my pregnancy over with because I might gain more weight? 

I might also be afraid of labor, the unknown.  I don't know how my body will behave and that scares me too.  I tend to want to get things over with if I don't know the outcome.  It makes me less afraid because I have less time to think.  But, no date is set in stone so I can't not think about it.  Dwelling is the hardest part for me.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

My Husband Thinks I'm Funny

Fighting sleep again, my husband found me knitting with my eyes closed (I was trying to get a little shut eye).  Fortunately, I didn't drop any stitches although he sent to bed to take a much needed nap (without the knitting).

The Elections are Here

I can't wait for all the political ads to be over.  I'm really tired of hearing about this ad and that.  We don't have TV so you can imagine that if I'm hearing about the ads then what about all the poor people who are watching TV.  They must hate turning on their favorite program.  I will admit that some of them are funny.  I really liked the Barbara Boxer talking head ad put out by Carly Fiorina.  Or the "Call me Senator" put out by David Zucker.  Some were really sad, like Missy Smith's (Washington, D.C. Tea Party candidate) campaign ads which show the results of abortion.  And when I say sad, I mean that they tug at the heartstrings of those who find abortion so horrific.

A few more hours to go and the US government will change again.  Have you voted today?