A couple weeks ago, I posted our then current pre-babies to-do list. Thought I’d update here all we’ve gotten done since then! At most, 7 weeks left!
Sell 3 2 vehicles. Get Jason new car.
Remove computer & desk from nursery. Have AT&T fix internet spot.
Put together & set up cribs in nursery. Put dust ruffles, mattress pads, crib sheets, etc on cribs. Set up dresser/changing table. Put diapers & sleepers in it.
Trip to Buy Buy Baby: Buy second crib mattress, changing pad covers & crib tent. One more BBB trip, to return now recalled crib tent. Anyone have good ideas for keeping 18 lb cat our of the cribs?
Move den changing table to final location. Make room for hand-me-down rocker in den. Remove pile of baby things in corner.Put 3 mo clothes bins on top of babies closet.Move organizer into that corner. Set up pack-n-play in our room.
Clean out garage. Make place for second frig/freezer in garage.
Put car seats in van. Get ok’d from fire station.
Organize nursery making room for skinny chest from Mom & Dad’s. Put tiny baby stuff {socks, mittens, pants, shorts, bloomers} in that chest. Make room for & purchase glider for nursery.
Set up video monitor. Buy second video monitor camera {Trip to Babies R Us}?
Childbirth class 4/14 & 4/21
Breastfeeding class 4/18. Finish reading Mothering Multiples. Attend LLL meeting?
Cloth Diaper class 4/19.Wash new cloth diapers.Buy few more cloth diaper covers.
My guess is that this will turn into a two {or three+} part post. My pre-babies cloth diaper plans, how things are going once we’re home & doing it, how cloth diapering happens once I’m back at work & them at day care.
I figured I’d share my stash & plans now for cloth diapering the babies. This could will be funny to look back on. I’ve mentioned before that thanks to blog giveaway wins & the Haute Green party last August, I have a decent starter stash of pocket & AIO diapers as well as a pack of FuzziBunz cloth wipes. My friend Jenny passed down her size NB & size one Green Mountain prefolds & my book club buddy Jamie is letting us borrow 20+ Kissaluv fitteds & a few covers {Thank y’all!}.
Our my plan is to start using cloth on the babies fairly soon after they get home & after we use up the two packs of NB disposables from showers. We’ll use a mix of the Kissaluvs & prefolds with a snappi, using covers for both, & see which we like best. I think we have enough fitteds & prefolds to be able to go a couple days between laundry washes, but we’ll need a few more covers. At this point, I’m holding off on buying anymore until I see which brands works best.
Over the last few months, I’ve purchased four Thirties covers, been given another one & had received one at the BH party {mostly in size XS or 1}. This past Thursday, I went to a cloth diaper class at a local boutique & after hearing the store owner rave about Flip covers, I purchased two of those. I also ordered two Rumparooz NB sized covers last week. Are there other covers y’all would recommend?
I think we’ll wait on trying the pockets & AIOs {most are 8 lbs+ & I don’t expect Z & L to be that big}. I’ve heard pockets & AIOs are great for night time, so I’m guessing we’ll move in that direction when they’re big enough. As you might be able to spot on the laundry line, we have one Bumgenius freetime AIO, an Apple Cheeks size one, two Itti Bittis {both size ones, a pocket & an AIO}, a SoftBums pocket, a Thirties duo wrap, a Charlie Banana pocket, a Happy Heiny’s pocket & a FuzziBunz pocket. Like the covers, I’m willing to review/try more brands & also then purchase more of our favorites.
Sunday night, I washed all the brand new cloth diapers ~ the covers, pockets, AIOs, inserts & wipes. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous & overwhelmed. You know the saying, “opinions are like a$$holes, everyone’s got one”, that’s how I felt as I was asking for how-to-wash-CDs advice. So I stopped searching online & asking everyone, & I just listened to a few friends & went with what they’d done/do.
First cloth diaper wash
We have a top loading Whirlpool washer & I discovered it has a Heavy wash with a Rinse, Spin, Rinse cycle. I used Tide free & gentle liquid detergent {this is a bit controversial} although I’m looking into ordering some Country Save or making my own powder for the long run. I also have Rockin Green & Eco Nuts samples I plan to try. For the first cycle, I put everything in, set the water level to medium, the water temperature to HOT/COLD {I don’t have a HOT/WARM option} & poured in the Tide {to the 2 line in the cap}. I checked to make sure the water level covered the diapers {it did}, then opened a book on the couch near by. I went to check it again at the first rinse {still some bubbles} & again at the second rinse {no bubbles}.
Since I saw no bubbles, I knew had been told it was okay to then take out the covers & pocket diapers. Again there’s some discussion on line drying vs throwing them in the dryer on low. Since it was the first time, I line dried.
Drying Covers & Pocket Diapers
In the washer then, the inserts, wipes, & AIO diapers remained. I’d read the wipes only needed to be washed once but I figured why the heck not wash them again vs trying to figure out what was a wipe & what was a thin insert. Since there was less, I did the same wash cycle, at same temperatures but as a small load size & only poured in a level 1 cap size of Tide. I checked again at the beginning of the second rinse, saw no bubbles, so once that wash was complete, I threw them all in the dryer on low. A few thicker ones weren’t super dry after two dries on low heat, so before I went to bed, I hung those inserts on the drying rack too.
I was tired after we got home from childbirth class Saturday & took a nap instead of photos. Yesterday, it was rainy & gross & I didn’t love my outfit so no photos either. Post-work, 30 week pregnant Suz…
Maternity clothes? Yes & even discovered this weekend that a few maternity tops are getting too short…
Weight Gain? I was weighed at the doctor Thursday. Up 43 pounds.
Stretch Marks? Yep. Lotioning up almost everyday but I think they’re just gettin’ bigger.
Sleep? Thanks to my new Snoogle & heartburn med perscription, much better. Although leg cramps kicked my butt left calf this weekend.
Movement? Yes. & this morning Z did something big. I kinda feel like he might’ve flipped back head down because it hurt kinda bad in the process {enough that I had to go lay down to catch my breathe}. And now I’m feeling kicks/punches in different places from him. She seems content transverse & gives me little kicks on the left side, punches in the middle & head nods in my right ribs to let me know.
Genders? Baby A, Zach, is a still a boy & C, Lucy, is a girl.
What I Miss? Baby B always. Cute summer shoes. Sitting comfortably.
Food cravings? I’ve once again gone through a lot of cereal this past week.
Food aversion? I think those are gone.
Labor signs? Still none. Bake another couple weeks babes!
Belly button in or out? It’s still an innie. Just barely.
What I’m Looking Forward to? We went to check out some rocker/recliners this weekend. Looking forward to having a big comfy chair for us & the babies. Hospital tour on Wednesday. MIL coming this weekend to help build & then set up nursery furniture.
Symptoms? Swollen feet & ankles got bad at the end of last week. Crazy huge marshmellow feet that tingled all the way up to my calves. Luckily the cooler weather of the past couple of days has the swelling at bay.
Weekly Wisdom? We went to a lot of pre-babies classes last week. It think it was great for us both & I really loved watching husband soak in the info then us talking about it later. We considered not taking childbirth or breastfeeding classes since they’re mostly focused on singletons, but I’m so glad we did. We also heard/saw the babies twice last week. Once at the hospital L&D Tues night with dopplers & then very briefly on ultrasound Thursday to get positions & heartbeats. We see/hear them so often that it’s almost routine but we try to remember that each time is cool & special.
Milestones? This week in the pregnancy starts with a 3 y’all! 30 weeks!! Baby Center says the babies should be around 3 pounds {but we know that’s what they were 2 weeks ago} & around 15.7 inches long. Baby Center talks about eye sight getting better this week too.
Nothing like getting it all in within a week or two right? The fact that we hadn’t taken any get-ready-for-babies classes snuck up on me, then I was in a rush to get them done before they arrive. So that meant that instead of spacing them out a little, we’ve been bombarded this week with information.
Last Saturday, we had our first of two childbirth classes. We learned relaxation techniques that I’m hoping Jason will carry on doing at home, preterm & regular labor signs {that we already put into practice Tuesday night}, & the first couple stages of labor. We watched some birthing videos that thankfully had been done recently & weren’t shocking to see since I’d already had us watch The Business of Being Born a couple months ago. We go back tomorrow for our final class tomorrow where we’ll cover the pushing stage of labor as well as complications & interventions.
Tuesday we had an unoffical hospital tour when my paranoia, mixed with us being first time parents-to-be, meant we took a trip to L&D. We have our offical hospital tour next Wednesday night.
Wednesday night, we went to breastfeeding class at the hospital close by after the class at the hospital we’re delivering cancelled their class. It worked out well that it was only 10 minutes away & I believe we learned much of the same information as we would have at the other hospital. We chatted about the benefits {most I already knew}, watched a video {I think the first time I’d ever fully ‘seen’ breastfeeding in action}, then practiced holds with baby dolls. Holding two babies in the football hold made it pretty real y’all. I’m literally going to have my hands full breastfeeding! Jason was a great support in class, & I think the class really got him on board with what all breastfeeding entails & why I’m all for it.
I am planning to attend a few local LLL meetings {I’ve heard there’s a twin mom leader in town} as well as maybe meeting one on one with a LC at our delivering hospital {if I still have questions}. I’m also reading Mothering Multiples to get as much multiple breastfeeding knowledge in as I can before they arrive.
Last night I went to a local baby boutique & took a cloth diapering class. I wasn’t sure how biased it’d be in regards to pushing just what they sell {it kinda was}. I felt like through blog reading, chatting with CDing moms, & doing my own research, I knew a fair amount. The class confirmed what I knew & yet was still helpful. Seeing all the flats, fitteds, covers, hybrids, AIOs, & pockets laid out next to each other, passed around & compared really helped me get what’s what & the benefits & drawbacks of each. I’m even more excited than before to start cloth diapering the babies.
I think thanks to a few cloth diapering mom friends, we’re set with fitteds & prefolds for the babies {at least while they’re little}. I’m still working on getting enough covers & figuring out if we want to mix in a few more pockets & AIOs. I’m doing my first cloth diaper laundrying {for our brand new diapers & covers} this weekend. Wish me luck! I’ll probably share how that goes next week.
What’s left to go to class for? I don’t know; maybe nothing?! I know for tonight at least, I’ll be on the couch resting with my marshmallow feet propped up catching up on our new AT&T Uverse DVR. Have a great weekend y’all!
So last night we spent an hour & a half at the hospital’s labor & delivery department. Only to thankfully return home around 1130p. Long story short, everything is fine with me & the babies & I’m not in preterm labor.
But that’s not what this slightly-paranoid-first-time-mom was thinking all day yesterday. This is TMI, but what’s blogging about IF & pregnancy if it’s not TMI?! Monday night, I had some discharge that was thicker & different than what I’ve been experiencing. In my half asleep haze, I sortamaybekinda wondered if that could possibly be part of my mucus plug. But I shook off that thought & went back to sleep.
All day yesterday though, my discharge was very liquidy ~ clear, odorless, not a ton, but enough to make me pause. At 4p, I decided to mention it to the husband by text, tell a few coworkers & text a friend. All said to call doctor, so I paged the nurse line. I never heard back from them & don’t have an after hours number {on my list for our next appt}. I went home, laid on the couch with a towel under me & ended up falling asleep. An hour later {around 7p}, Husband called on the way home from work. I sat up, felt a little more escape & some lower pain from sitting up quick.
We ate dinner speedily & decided that even though I was 90% sure I was fine, that we’d regret it if that 10% ended up happening. I changed into comfy clothes, grabbed my insurance card & hospital id info, my barely charged cell, a book, jug of water & off we went to the hospital. On the way over, we were a mix of quiet & talking about what we’d do if this was it & I was going to be put in the hospital the remainder of the pregnancy.
Our hospital tour is scheduled for next Wednesday night. So we didn’t really know where to go, but the nice lady at the front desk of the women’s hospital sent me right up to 4th floor L&D while Jason went to park the van. They checked me in, went to grab my chart from my doctor’s practice & a nurse walked me into my triage room. I changed into a hospital gown {& *almost* took a photo in the bathroom mirror ~ ever the blogger} then they attached monitors for the babies heart beats. What an awesome noise hearing them both steadily beating away! They attached another one on the belly to see if I was having contractions {I wasn’t} & said we needed to monitor these for at least 30 mins.
Jason arrived soon after & we quietly listened to the heartbeats & the machine noises. A resident came in & I told him what I’d been feeling. He asked about breastfeeding {I said yes} & our plans for post-babies birth control {really?!}. Then said the OB would be right in to check me & do swab tests. A few minutes later, she appeared, again super nice, entered a speculum & took three q-tip swabs from my cervix area. She said based on the look of things, I was still closed & not leaking but she wanted to look under microscope to be sure.
Everything tested fine. No contractions, bleeding, or broken water leaking. They sent us home without restrictions & with plans to keep our regularly scheduled MFM appointment tomorrow.
I now have a few more questions for my MFM, a little more hospital experience & the knowledge that we need to pack a mini hospital bag {with a cell phone charger!} just in case this happens again sooner than later. Pretty sure we’re both motivated to get our house in order & that to-do list checked off just in case it’s the real thing next time!
