February Fun

"The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within." -William C. Bryant

I decided it's probably high time I got around to writing about all the fun we had LAST month, seeing as how THIS month is almost over!  We did so many fun things! :-)

We started out the month with Groundhog Day.  I made the same "Groundhog Day" cupcakes that I made last year.  Joseph didn't seem overly impressed, probably because he couldn't have any.  Not sure where Puxy Phil's "early spring" is, seeing as how we had freezing rain overnight last night and it's the end of March.  BUT, we had fun celebrating nonetheless!

The next day was Super Bowl Sunday.  You know we are one sports-loving family (Joseph even has a sports-themed nursery), so we have a blast on this day each year!  Joseph watched his first Super Bowl in true sports-fan style - football outfit, football blanket to roll around on, and playing with his little football and daddy's big football!

Early in February American celebrated Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Week.  Some of you know that Joseph has two minor congenital heart defects - a PFO (very common and not clinically significant) and a PDA (easily fixable).  We are so blessed that Joseph's defects can be fixed before they will cause him any major problems.  Many many families are not so fortunate.  In recognition for the hard battle they fight, and in appreciation for the pediatric cardiologist Dr. Tatum from Duke Children's Hospital, who is looking after Joseph, we decided we needed to do something to honor the cause.  We wrote our mayor, as many CHD families did to their own mayors around the country, and asked him to officially proclaim it Congenital Heart Defects Awareness week in Greensboro.  His office responded promptly with a very nice and impressive looking resolution.  Joseph even wore a special onesie for the cause!

The next celebration up to bat was Mardi Gras!  After marrying a man who grew up just a couple of hours from New Orleans, Mardi Gras has become a pretty big deal at our house.  This year, my parents neighborhood was having a neighborhood Mardi Gras party the Saturday before Fat Tuesday, and my parents brought us along.  It was potluck, so there was a TON of food.  There were also loads of decorations and a parade of tractor "floats."  Soooo much fun!

On Mardi Gras itself, Joseph wore his Mardi Gras finest and David, Joseph, and I celebrated with a special Mardi Gras dinner - Red Beans and Rice, virgin Hurricane drinks, and King Cake for dessert!!!

The next day was Ash Wednesday.  I thought it may be a bit messy to be smearing ashes on the forehead of a 4 month old, so Joseph settled for a hat that already had "ashes" on it...

Next, around came Valentine's Day.  Joseph sported a new outfit and, by the look on his face, he was shocked to be voted "#1 With the Ladies!"  We had a great time and all drove out to Northeast Park in Gibsonville to revisit the place David proposed to me on Valentine's Day, 2009.  There is writing all over the picnic table there.  I added my own writing that said - "First Date Here, August 2008.  Engaged Here, February 2009.  Here with our 4 month old baby, February 2013."  It will be a place we will revisit for years to come.  Not sure where I saved the pictures of our Gibsonville outing, but at least I have pictures of Jojo's outfit to share...

Holidays aren't the only thing we celebrate around here!  We are self-proclaimed "Duck Dynasty" fanatics!  We pulled out Duck Coasters, duckie pj's, and a camo hat for Jojo to celebrate the new season premier.

And it's got to be a given that we watched lots of UNC and MS State basketball!  Go Heels and Go Dawgs!!!

What a fun month!!!!

Parenting Through Joseph's Special Challenges

"Children remind us to treasure the smallest of gifts, even in the most difficult times." - Allen Klein

Joseph was an eventful baby that gave us plenty of medical scares right from the beginning.  Two episodes of spotting (one with contractions) during pregnancy.  The 7 week one sent me running to my OB convinced I was miscarrying.  The 20 week one sent me running to the same place, wondering if it were preterm labor (and let's face it, babies born at 20 weeks don't survive).  By the grace of God, both of these turned out to be harmless false alarms.  There was the "First Trimester Screening Scare" when we found out Joseph's chances of having Down's Syndrome were 1 in 32.  Doesn't sound too bad, but when your odds SHOULD be more like 1 in 598 (according to statistics), 1 in 32 seems huge.  I know with God's help we could parent a special needs child, but no one can ignore that thoughts of the worry that would go with that - worry about their health and their future.  A big relief when we found out through amniocentesis that he was healthy.  Then, of course, the scariest day of all - October 20th when he unexplainable went into distress and was delivered VERY quickly by emergency c-section.  I remember that horrible ultrasound as they tried to figure out what was going on with Joseph that day.  He lay inside of me totally limp.  He looked, well, not very okay.  And the face of the ultrasound tech confirmed for me that we had every reason to be scared.  God pulled through again, though, and my doctor held a screaming and pink baby up over the drape for me to see a short while later.  Another relief.  Joseph has "kept us on our toes" from the start.

We have been a little surprised by the number of issues that our sweet little guy has had to contend with.  We were told by the medical community, as is everyone, that a baby that goes to 37 weeks gestation (which is where Joseph was when born) is considered full term and will be just fine.  I'll write a separate blog post on that later, but let's just say that I have come to totally disagree with that way of thinking (as does the March of Dimes and several other groups).  I know that some babies, like Joseph, have no choice but to come early.  But to have labor induced or a c-section scheduled for before 39 weeks seems to me like pure craziness after what we've gone through with Joseph.  I also realize, though, that not all issues he has experienced can be blamed on his slightly early arrival, some are just random.  Here is a rundown of some of the things he's been up against...

When he was born, he experienced what's called Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn.  Basically, it is a respiratory problem characterized by unusually fast breath and usually caused by retained fluid in the lungs.  It is more common in c-section babies (one of the ZILLIONS of reasons I PRAY every day I never have to have any of our future children by c-section).  Babies delivered vaginally get a "squeeze" coming through the birth canal that helps rid them of this fluid.  C-section babies don't get that.  In Joseph's case, it was made worse by the fact that he inhaled meconium (the first bowel movement) during delivery.  The 3 days in the hospital after his delivery were very scary for us.  A newborn's respiratory rate should be between 40-60 breaths a minute.  Joseph's rate stayed in the 80-90s during those first few days, and at one point got into the 120s - twice of what they should be.  David didn't tell me until later, but he said that first night of Joseph's life he went down to see him in the nursery.  David looked through the nursery window and saw Joseph's bassinet, surrounded by nurses and a pediatrician.  He said all of the nurses looked back and forth between Joseph and the pediatrician, gritting their teeth and making "worried" faces as they gazed at the doctor, as if to say, "Wow, what do we do with this baby's breathing?"  They kept Joseph in the nursery the entire first day, which was necessary but also very sad since I had planned on exclusive "rooming in."  Luckily he was able to join us in my room that night.  During our whole stay, nurses would come in at least every two hours to check his breathing rate.  Each time they would measure it and grimace at the results.  We were so discouraged.  On top of that, he, like many babies born a bit too soon, had jaundice.  They never did put him under the billilights, but they did check his billirubin over and over.  Looking at pictures from those first few days, I'm shocked at how orange my sweet little boy was!  We were astounded when Joseph's respiratory and billirubin rates stabilized enough to let him come home with us the same day they discharged me.  We had been told this may not happen, so this was a huge blessing.  The early adventures did not end there, though.  Our first night home, we noticed Joseph's breathing being very labored and fast again.  We called the pediatrician's office, and they said to take him to Moses Cone's ER (Cone has the pediatric unit, so off we went across town).  You should see the attention that a less-than-6-pound newborn draws at the ER.  Nurses would come into the ER room to check his vitals and say, "Is this where the little bitty baby is?"  lol.  Fortunately he ended up being okay, and by 3am that morning we were back at home ready to brave our first night "on our own."  I do remember the ER doctor commenting on Joseph's jaundice, too.  He said, "Did they check his billirubin levels at Women's Hospital?"  I said, "Yes, we know he's jaundiced."  He replied, "I was going to say, this kid kind of glows in the dark!"  hahaha

Joseph's weight was a huge concern in the first couple weeks of his life.  Our then pediatrician kept having us come in for weight checks, and kept telling us Joseph wasn't gaining anything.  He told us I'd need to start pumping and giving Joseph bottles so we'd see how much he was getting.  I never wanted Joseph to have a bottle, so this was hard for me to hear.  He said if that failed we'd have to go to formula.  A lot of you know that I'm a huge huge huge breastfeeding advocate.  David says my passion for breastfeeding could easily make me a top contender for president of La Leche League International, lol.  I'm not what one would call a formula fan (although I do obviously recognize there are situations in which mothers cannot breastfeed and babies must have formula).  We left the appointment with me crying and David worried about both me (emotionally) and Joseph (physically).  I started pumping and giving several bottles a day.  We kept going for weight checks and he kept weighing the same, or so they said.  Then, shock of all shocks, David and I together figured out that our pediatrician and his nurses were reading the scale wrong!  After we "taught" them how to read it, they realized Joseph had been gaining weight just great all along!  I wonder how many other children they had been misweighing!  Not only had we been scared for no reason, but introducing the bottle when Joseph was so young caused horrible nipple confusion that I thought was going to ruin our breastfeeding relationship (luckily my smart little guy got the hang of it again), AND I believe it later contributed to his acid reflux (I'll get to that further down in this post).  Needless to say, we switched to a different pediatrician and practice.  They know how to read a scale, and are thrilled with Joseph's weight gain from exclusive breastfeeding.  "I don't want you to change a thing" our new pediatrician (who happens to be my OB's wife) said.

When Joseph was about 3 weeks old I noticed his eyes were excessively goopy.  I thought maybe he had a cold, but the former doctor confirmed that it was blocked tear ducts in both eyes.  Wrote a prescription for some cream, which has done nothing to clear them up.  Our new pediatrician has not written a prescription for any more, because she doesn't want his body to develop and antibiotic resistance, and she says that until the blockages themselves clear up there is no point.  The plan is to wait until he is 10 months old to see if they will clear on their own.  If they do, FABULOUS.  If not, he will have to be put under general anesthesia and have them cleared.  He already has to be put under general anesthesia within the first year of his life to fix a different issue, so I'm praying he won't have to have the tear ducts fixed, too!  His heart condition (another topic below) makes it somewhat risky for him to have an IV until we get the heart issue fixed, so I don't want him having more surgeries than absolutely necessary.  So many things to consider.  I do the hot compresses and massage recommended for the tear ducts, to no avail.  I spend half my time trying to keep the gunk washed out of his eyes and explaining to people that hold him that I promise he doesn't have a cold they can catch. 

At Joseph's two month checkup, our new and wonderful pediatrician noticed that Joseph had a faint heart murmur.  She said it was most likely innocent and "nothing," but wanted us to see a pediatric cardiologist to determine for sure.  We got an appointment with Dr. Tatum, a pediatric cardiologist from Duke Children's Hospital (of course this Tar Heel momma wanted her child to see a Chapel Hill doctor, but the Duke doctor had the first opening, haha).  He was very very nice and helpful.  Joseph had an EKG and an echocardiogram, in which they hooked him up to electrodes and took 103 pictures of his heart.  Turns out he has two congenital heart defects.  Luckily, they are minor and the worse of the two is totally fixable.  Both of them are basically "abnormal connections" in his heart that create little holes where there should not be any.  I'm not really good at explaining the specifics, so you can Google these issues if you want more info.  The lesser of the two in terms of seriousness is called a PFO (Patent Foramen Ovale), a type of Atrial Septal Defect.  It is not really clinically significant.  In fact, 1 in 4 adults have a PFO in their heart that never fixed itself, and they are just fine.  There is a good chance that David or I have one and we don't know it!  The more significant defect is called a PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosis).  It shouldn't cause much trouble at Joseph's age, but it is something that needs to be fixed.  If NEVER fixed, it could one day lead to congestive heart failure.  Clearly, we are going to get this taken care of.  Right now, it doesn't seem to cause him any issues.  It CAN in babies his age cause poor weight gain, poor appetite, excessive sweating, and occasional cyanosis (blueness around his lips and face).  I never notice any of this.  NEVER any blueness.  No sweating (unless he's been SCREAMING from acid reflux - see below - but that's just from the screaming).  And the boy eats like it's his last meal all day long and is always gaining weight above and beyond the minimum that he should be.  So for now, clearly not causing a problem.  We go back in June to the same doctor to have it checked again.  There is a small chance it will have closed on it's own.  If not, we move to treatment.  They will first try drug treatment, which fixes the issue in 94% of cases (I'm pretty happy with those chances!!!).  Should Joseph be in the 6% where that doesn't work, his PDA is minor enough that they wouldn't have to do open heart surgery.  Instead, they would run a small device up to his heart through a vein in his leg, which would close the defect.  One way or another, this problem is going to get fixed.  In the meantime, the big thing we have to be careful about is him getting IVs.  Air bubbles in his IV could be very dangerous with this heart defect before the defect is fixed.  So, IF he has to have an IV in that time, we have to make sure the medical staff are VERY careful to make sure there are no air bubbles.

In the grand scheme of things, none of these issues mentioned above have been too terribly trying on us.  But I saved the most challenging issue for last - his acid reflux (pediatric GERD).  It has been, in short, a nightmare.  I'm not sure people realize what a challenge it is to have a child suffer with an extreme case of this issue.    I am even in an online support group for parents with babies affected.  I'm sure you are thinking, "Oh my gosh, a support group?  It's not like this is a life-threatening issue!"  True.  But oh, the challenge.  We started to suspect something was going on when Joseph was about 7 weeks old.  We had been told that most babies peak fussiness occurs around 6 weeks of age.  From there on, the typical baby gets less and less fussy.    6 weeks came, 6 weeks went.  Joseph got fussier.  Our non-fussy baby turned fussy.  Our fussy baby turned crying.  And our crying baby turned screaming.  Each day was worse than the one before in term of his overall disposition and crying behavior.  I would be nursing him and suddenly he would arch his back and shriek in pain, pulling off from feeding, and screaming.  I thought maybe something in my diet was affecting the taste of my milk, but couldn't imagine anything I was eating that would make it THAT bad.  Besides, he seemed to be in PAIN, not disgusted by what he was eating.  And when he would spit up, OH MY GOODNESS.  It seemed as though a gallon of fluid came from his stomach.  I've babysat a LOT, a LOT of small babies in my day.  I'd never seen a child produce this kind of volume.  One night he spit up on David, and it literally COVERED the front of David's shirt, from neck to waist.  And another odd thing, his spit up SMELLED.  Not a typical sort-of-icky baby spit up smell.  But a pungent, acidic, VOMIT smell.  I'll spare you more details on the smell and appearance, but let's just say thank the Lord for fabric refresher and a good washing machine.  We thought maybe he had a touch of typical colic, and honestly, I still think he does have a bit of it.  But when we explained the symptoms to our pediatrician, she instantly said it sounded like a clear case of extreme acid reflux. 

She said that her favorite medicine for infant acid reflux is Prevacid, but due to a Prevacid shortage a baby must try another medicine first before insurance will cover Prevacid.  If I'd known at that moment how bad things were GOING to get, I would have paid out of pocket for the Prevacid at that time.  But I had no idea just how terrible things would become for our little guy.  She prescribed Zantac for him to try.  I had to give it to him 3 times a day in liquid form.  It tasted horrible and every single time he took it he screamed and almost jumped out of my arms, even after I had it "flavored" by the pharmacist.  Apparently even with the grape flavoring it was still awful.  Worse, it did nothing.  Things went downhill.  I mean way, way, WAY downhill.  When I was pregnant, I always told David that Joseph "felt" like such a "happy baby" with the way he would playfully dance around inside of me.  This baby was NOT happy.  For the month he was on Zantac, it feels like everything became very surreal.  If Joseph was awake, he was crying, save for maybe 30-45 minutes a day where he may feel okay and be happy (and that was on a good day).  We knew this couldn't be a poor disposition on his part, he had to be in intense pain.  He would have a huge spit up, we'd smell the acid, and he's shriek at the top of his lungs.  One night he spit up on David and David actually felt the acid burning his SKIN!  It was that bad.  Joseph would make painful grimaces as he tasted the acid in his mouth.  When he was asleep, he was peaceful.  When he was awake, he was screaming.  Day in and day out.  When I'd have him in the car and he had an attack, it was literally a struggle to stay focused on driving with the intensity of Joseph's screams coming from the back seat.  He'd have an attack, and we'd have to leave places early - church, restaurants, friends houses.  (I know my sweet little guy could in no way help it, but I am also a BIG believer in not subjecting others who are trying to enjoy church or a nice meal to my child's noise, and so we would grab our stuff and try to rapidly get out before things got REALLY bad).  Many, many nights we couldn't even get Joseph to settle down to go to sleep until 3am because of the pain he was in.  He'd be screaming, I'd be in tears, and David would be exhausted (and knew he still had to go to work the next day).  I felt like other people didn't really understand how intense things were for us.  They would say, "Well, you know, babies do cry!"  I wanted to say, "You don't get it, TRUST ME.  You have no idea."  It is so so so horrible to watch your baby suffer in agony like that every day.  It wasn't until I talked to other moms of acid reflux babies, who confirmed what a nightmare it was, how intense it made parenting, and how their doctors told them that a severe case of infant reflux could alter the family's life for months or even a year.  I wasn't even able to get our laundry done, let alone housework, because most of my days have been spent walking around the house with him, trying to calm him down.  Our little man was in pain, and there was nothing we could do.  He was hurting.  We were sleep deprived.  The Zantac was doing nothing, other than putting another terrible taste in his mouth.  I tried every possible adjustment to MY diet, thinking something I was eating and in my milk was causing it.  No success.  The reflux remained. 

Now that we have proven that he failed a month of Zantac, we finally have our Prevacid.  It's still undetermined if our insurance will cover it, but I paid the $135 a month out of pocket in hopes of him getting some relief.  He has been on it about a week and a half now.  Until about 2 days ago, it seemed things were improving.  We actually got to see smiles from our boy, and LOTS of them!  He seemed so pain free and happy, and it was WONDERFUL!  But, for the past 48 hours, things have been rough again.  As I am writing this, I have been up with Joseph since 4:30am.  We didn't get him settled down for bed until 1am.  He spit up 3 times in 10 minutes.  And he's screamed.  Our doctor said if necessary we can come back to her and we can go to a higher dose.  We may have to go that route.  If that fails, from our understanding, babies at that point usually just have to outgrow it, and that usually takes a solid year.

I'm trying to focus on the positive.  He DOES have some happy moments now, and they are so sweet!  To see his cute little personality when he's not in discomfort.  He's such a sweet boy with precious little smiles and giggles.  Seeing his darling personality when he's not in pain makes it all the harder to witness him in agony.  But, like I said, I treasure the happy moments.  Another positive - he loves the taste of the Prevacid and sucks it down quite happily each time I give it to him.  And one of the biggest positives for me, it's really reinforced my confidence in breastfeeding being the right decision for Joseph.  Many people switch babies with acid reflux to formula, thinking that the heaviness of the formula will help keep acid down.  Through my research I confirmed what I already knew, NOTHING is better for a baby with GERD than breast milk.  For one, they don't overfeed the way that formula-fed babies sometimes do, leading to less severe attacks.  And, the biggest reason - breast milk is much more easily digested.  Formula is harder for a baby to digest, and thus stays in their stomach longer, leading to more reflux.  This was all confirmed for me by numerous sources, but I took most solace in the article I read from PAGER (the Pediatric/Adolescent Gastroesopogeal Reflux Association).  This is a non-profit organization dedicated ENTIRELY to pediatric GERD, and they concur that breastfeeding is by far the best way to help them in terms of feeding.  They say a momma should trust her instincts, and I'm so glad I've continued nursing Joseph through his acid reflux issues.  We have cut down on his number of bottles, too, because he can feed so much faster from a bottle, and that leads to more reflux.

Joseph is three months old today, and I have to say the three months have been quite a ride.  Even with all of these issues, we couldn't imagine life without our precious little guy and are just so grateful that the Lord has entrusted us to take care of him.  For our friends reading this, please pray for his reflux, we need it.  I know that through all of these little health challenges God is teaching us patience and showing us how to best meet the needs of our little boy.  We love our little man so much!!!

Our Christmas Activities

“Christmas is not just a time for festivity and merry making. It is more than that. It is a time for the contemplation of eternal things. The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving.” ~ J. C. Penney

 We had such a wonderful Christmas season this year, made better than ever by the presence of our little guy!!!  We didn't let having a very young baby stop us from our seasonal festivities...in fact, I think we squeezed in more holiday stuff than ever!!!  Our mission to stay active and on-the-go when we had kids was definitely accomplished. 

Early in December, we went to Winston Salem for Frohliche Weihnachten, a German-Moravian Christmas event at Historic Bethabara Park.  It was so fun...our first time going and we vowed to make it a yearly tradition!!!  It was unusually warm out that Saturday and David even wore short sleeves.  In fact, a bee kept chasing the stroller, so I had to break out the insect netting to protect Joseph.  Crazy weather!!!

We had a great time walking around the village, listening to carols, and soaking in the sunshine..

Joseph went along with us the next Saturday to get our Christmas tree.  He loved sleeping in the Baby Bjorn while we looked for the perfect tree!!!

We went to the Festival of Lights in downtown Greensboro.  My family has gone to this event since I was a baby, and David and I have gone each year since we were married.  Joseph slept through the whole thing!

We went back to Winston-Salem, to Old Salem for a day.  It was fun to see it all decorated for Christmas.  Jojo rode with Daddy on our walk though the area...

 We even drove up to Caseville, NC, in Chatham County (about 45 minutes from our house) to see the Pascal Farm Christmas Lights.  Each year the Pascal family puts up over ONE MILLION lights on their farm to celebrate Christmas and declare the Gospel.  It is beyond amazing.  My parents went with us, and the night we went was about the coldest weather I've ever felt in my life.  It was unbelievably cold.  Good thing we had a super thick bunting for Joseph that kept him toasty.  And guess what?  He slept through the event (are we noticing a theme here???)...

We did so many more things not even pictured here!!!  Candlefest at the Greensboro Arboretum, Christmas concerts at our church and the church up the road from us, Lanes of Light (a drive through light display in Burlington) and more.  It all led up the the fun of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (we hosted Christmas Day at our house this year)...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Cloth Diapering: Why We Do It, and Reflections Thus Far

"No disposable diapers for me...my body is Dioxin free!" -Saying From an Infant T-Shirt

A lot of people ask me about cloth diapering - why we are doing it, how it is going, etc.  So I decided, why not write a blog post about it?  (By the way, there is another more fun post coming soon on the Christmas activities that we have been up to, hopefully in the next few days).  Most of you know, David and I decided very early in pregnancy to use cloth.  Well, scratch that.  I thought it was a good idea, and my loving and supportive husband went with it, especially after he heard my reasoning.  Since Joseph was born a bit sooner than we expected and was less than 6 pounds, I couldn't cloth diaper him the first month because all of our cloth diapers were just too big for him.  I had resisted buying newborn cloth diapers like I could have (which WOULD have fit him) in anticipation of him being on time and potentially being a huge baby (since I measured ahead for so long).  So the first month, he wore a particular chlorine free brand of disposables (I am a HUGE OPPONENT of 99% of the disposable brands, and you'll see why as you read on).  But once he hit the 7 pound mark, we hit the ground running with cloth right away (both cloth diapers and cloth wipes), and we have officially been doing it for a month now.

Why cloth?  I get this question from LOTS of people.  Let's face it, disposables are, well, easier, and honestly more "mainstream," so why not just go along with the norm?  Well, I used to think the same thing, until I read some alarming facts.  Yes, part of our reason is for financial savings and environmental benefits, but I'll get into that below.  My main reason was the very scary facts I learned about traditional disposable diapers.  A lot of you know that I'm not a big fan of funky chemicals anyway.  I refuse to use artificial sweeteners in my coffee and I refuse to use margarine.  I'd much rather use the real stuff - sugar and butter - in limited amounts.  I just can't stand the disgusting junk in the other stuff.  So when it comes to chemicals that may be up against my baby's skin?  Well, I am SUPER picky about that.  And if most parents were educated in the composition of traditional disposable diapers, I think they would be alarmed as well.  One of the reasons I wanted to write this blog post was to educate parents on this information.  If I can help one parent make a healthier decision for their child, then I'm happy!  You see, most disposable diapers contain 3 chemicals that aren't so lovely - Dioxin, Tributyl-tin, and sodium polyacrylate.  Dioxin is a toxic byproduct that results from the bleaching of the paper used to make cloth diapers.  The EPA lists it as the MOST TOXIC of all cancer-related materials.  MOST TOXIC.  Let that sink in!  It is so toxic, in fact, that MOST other countries have banned its use.  And in most common disposable diapers, this chemical is right up against your baby, all day, every day.  Tributyl-tin is another toxin linked to hormonal problems.  And sodium polyacrylate, the gel like absorbent substance that produces those little gel-like beads seen in a lot of wet disposable diapers, has been shown to foster an environment for the growth of toxic bacteria.  I believe a lot of parents choose disposables because they aren't aware of these concerns, but really, do you want these things up against your baby's delicate skin?  I sure don't.  Also, disposables don't "breathe" like cloth, and have been shown to increase scrotal temperatures in baby boys, leading to potential long-term damage to sperm production.  We also use cloth wipes at our house, which we wash right along with the diapers.  They are so amazingly soft and clean Joseph up so much better than wimpy disposable wipes.  And on that topic, disposable wipes aren't full of a lot of sweetness, either.  They also have dioxins, but they also include two other yucky substances - Methylisothiazolinone and Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate.  The first is a preservative shown to cause chemical burns, skin irritation, and dermatitis.  The second is a neurotoxin and contact irritant that was once used in, of all things, PAINT!  For me, these just are not risks worth taking.  These facts are what sold David on cloth as well, and for us I would say this is our primary reason for choosing cloth.

There are also tons of financial and environmental considerations.  I could give you all the numbers, and I have verified them to be true in our own usage, but to avoid boring you, I'll stick with the basic underlying fact - for an average family, cloth diapering cost 1/10th of the cost of using disposables.  This includes the investment in the cloth diapers, and the water/energy used to wash and dry them.  Cloth diapered babies have also been shown to, on average, potty train much earlier (the feeling of wetness they feel encourages them to want to learn to use the potty to avoid that feeling), so you don't typically have to wash cloth diapers for as long as you would expect!  As a stay-at-home mom, I'll do anything I can to make living under one income easier, and so for us this was a fabulous benefit.  The least of my reasons for choosing cloth, but still important, is the environment.  Most of you know that I tend to be pretty "green" for a "traditional conservative."  David calls me his little "Republican hippy" in this respect.  But seriously, disposables are CLOGGING our landfills.  America goes through over 27 BILLION disposable diapers a year and, guess what, they take an average of 250-500 years to decompose.  Whoa.  Not cool.  The manufacturing of disposables uses far more resources than the manufacturing of cloth, too.  And guess what?  David and I plan to have more kids, and when we do, we can use the same cloth diapers we've used on Joseph on them.  And when we are done having kids?  We can either turn our cloth diapers into very effective dust rags (mainly the flats and prefolds), or we can re-sell them (mainly the fitteds, pockets, all-in-twos, and all-in-ones).  Cloth diapers have an excellent re-sell value!  So of the SMALL amount that we did spend on them, we'll get some of that back, too!

So, have I built a compelling case yet?  Well, maybe.  But a lot of you want to know how cloth diapering plays out in real life.  Isn't it a lot of trouble?  Well, yes and no.  Do you have to do some extra laundry?  Yes.  It is a life-ruining challenge where I sit at home all day, every day, and wash diapers non-stop?  No.  Honestly, once you get into a washing routine, there is nothing too it.  Of course, you can only use certain detergents on cloth diapers (you can only use certain rash creams as well, so be sure to check out which ones are cloth-friendly).  The wrong detergent will clog up their absorbency.  I use Charlie's Soap or EcoNuts (depending on what is on sale at Whole Foods or Earth Fare - and Harris Teeter now carries Charlie's Soap, too!), and they come out so nice and clean.  Sometimes there are issues of slight poop staining with cloth, but honestly, if you hang or lay them out in the sun, like our grandmothers did, the sun bleaches them right out and they look awesome. :-)  The cloth wipes wash up wonderfully, too, and I've never had any staining happen on them.  Basically, how often you wash depends on the size of your cloth diaper stash.  I have a pretty big pile, so I really could only wash twice a week if needed.  I tend to wash three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays), just to keep staining at a minimum, but that's not a necessity.  I use a standard diaper pail with a Planetwise wet bag in it.  When a wet diaper comes off, it goes right in the pail.  When a dirty diaper comes off, we take it to the toilet and spray out the poop with our diaper sprayer, then bring it back and put it in the pail.  On laundry day, the Planetwise wet bag goes in the wash along with the diapers and wipes.  Easy easy! 

There's a lot of confusion among non-cloth diaperers or parents just getting into it about the types of cloth diapers.  There are so many now, from primitive to advanced!  When I built our stash, I made sure to get some of every single type, because different situations call for different diapers!  Here is a breakdown from most "old school" the the most high tech.  I have some of each and they all have merits!

1) Flats: These are as primitive and old school as it gets.  These are what our grandmothers and generations before them used.  Just a flat, thin square of cotton fabric.  It must be folded (there are tons of types of folds) to fit and to place the thickest absorbency there you want it.  I only have a few of these, but I got them because I heard they were good for day and short overnight trips (see my thoughts on traveling with cloth below).  I'll confess, I just tried these earlier this week.  I had been a bit intimidated.  BUT, I finally dug in, learned the folds, and I am amazed at how well I like them!  These require a Snappi/Pins and a cover.  I'll talk more about those below.  But basically, it folded up great, fit Joseph wonderfully (you can really tailor these to your baby's body), and fit under the cover beautifully.  I felt so brave, because honestly, few moms I know even own a single flat because they are considered so primitive.  But, so far, with my OsoCozy organic cotton flats, I'm in love!

2) Prefolds: This is the next step up.  These diapers also require a Snappi/pins and cover, but they are already folded down smaller and thicker for you.  So really, you just stick them on and Snappi or pin them, and place the cover over it.  This is what I have the most of and, once I got the hang of it, I LOVE them!

3) Fitteds.  These are like prefolds, except more tailored, with fitted legs, and Aplix (a lot like Velcro) up top instead of pins.  They still require a cover.  I only have a few of these, but I really like them. 

4) Pockets: I did not understand the appeal of these at all before Joseph was born, but I had a few given to me by friends that I thought I would just use as a last-resort.  But I have discovered why so many people like them!  The diaper/cover is kind of a combo, but inside there is a pocket that you stuff with an absorbent insert.  When you take it off the baby you have to reach in, grab the insert, take it out, wash insert and diaper in your next load, and then restuff.  I couldn't figure out why one would go to all that extra trouble.  But the beauty of these diapers is that they keep baby's bottom drier than an average cloth diaper due to moisture wicking layer.  So now, I'm a fan!  I use them when Joseph has bad diaper rash for a few days to help it clear up.

5) All-In-Twos: These are covers with absorbent inserts that you lay in them.  So at each diaper change you can just change out the insert and use the same cover, unless the cover gets really soaked with urine, then of course you wash it, too.

6) All-In-Ones: The MOST high-tech.  These are like disposables, but made out of cloth.  They are the most expensive, too.  Thankfully, I asked David's parents for 5 of these as baby gifts, so I love using those for busy days!  They have the cover, liner, everything, all sewn together.  So during changes, you put on and remove just like you would a disposable.  The whole thing goes in the wash on wash day.

Like I said, the first 3 types require a cover.  I have about 4 covers of each size that I rotate, and have found that to be plenty.  This is what keeps the diaper from leaking through to clothes, and they come with either Aplix or snap fasteners.  Also, the diaper underneath has to be fastened together if you are using flats or prefolds.  For this, you can either use old fashioned diaper pins (I have some), but a cooler and safer solution is to use a Snappi.  Google it, and it will make more sense.  Basically, it is a t-shaped rubber device with "teeth" on each point of the T.  The teeth grab the diaper fabric and hold the diaper together.  I have 6 Snappis, which is way more than I will ever need, because they can go many uses before they have to be washed with warm soapy water.

I really like all of my cloth diapers so far!  Different diapers come in handy for different situations.  During the week, when I'm home a lot, I use flats, prefolds, and fitteds.  On weekends, when we are on the go, I tend toward pockets, all-in-twos, and all-in-ones for convenience sake.  I will caution those thinking about cloth - flats, prefolds, fitteds, pockets, and all-in-twos are not for those of you with a low gross-out threshold.  They all require somehow touching urine and sometimes poop soaked fabric.  There is no way around it.  I handle, with my bare hands, urine soaked diapers all day (yes, there is some frequent hand washing that goes on here), and if this would bother you, you don't want to go with these options.  Spend these extra and get the all-in-ones.  But honestly, not many parents mine their own baby's urine.

Many people think cloth diapers are just for at-home, daytime use.  Not so, my friend!  I use cloth all day, all night, and when we go out and about.  The only time Joseph gets a disposable pretty much is once a day when we go to weight him on our baby scales (it's too inconsistent to weigh him with the different weight of cloth diapers).  Thus, he usually goes to bed in that disposable.  But at the first nighttime diaper change, usually around 2am, I bring out the cloth again.  I use them when we go out and about.  I have several small wetbags (waterproof, zippable bags) that I keep in our diaper bag.  For changes while we are on the go, the wet/dirty diapers go in there until we get home and can spray them out and put them in the pail.

Honestly, for Joseph, I brought chlorine-free disposables to the hospital when he was born to be used until we went home.  No way was I going to let him wear the Pampers that Women's Hospital uses, which are full of the ingredients I listed at the beginning of this post (sorry, Pampers, but the truth hurts, and I don't like the junk in your diapers!).  But I have known several moms that took cloth diapers and a large wet bag to the hospital so they could start cloth from day one.  With our next baby, I think I will do that, too, particularly if he or she is bigger than Joseph at birth!  Really, I have enough that I could easily make it the 2-3 days we would be there if I took my full stash, and I would just wash them with my first load of laundry when I got home.  Actually, there is a small but growing movement out there to try to get hospitals to go back to using cloth diapers like they did in the days before disposables.  I think it is a FANTASTIC idea, because then parents could get used to how cloth works before they even come home, and perhaps more would be encouraged to keep it up.  Hospitals don't seem to sold on adding extra laundry staff to do the wash for these, though.  Oh well, maybe one day!!!  I'll keep hoping!

Also, a lot of people think you can't use cloth while travelling.  Not true!  A lot of my cloth mom friends use them for trips!  If you have a large, zippable wet bag, and are only going to be gone a few days, then you can just store the wet/dirty diapers in there until you return home.  OR, if you are going to a hotel with laundry facilities, you can wash them there!  We have yet to take an overnight trip with Joseph, and I always thought that I would use my chlorine-free disposables on trips, but now I'm starting to think I'll take our cloth along.  Most of the hotels we stay at in places like Myrtle Beach have laundry rooms, so why not?  Worst case scenario, I'll just put them in the wet bag and wash them when we return home.  Now if you are going on a long trip (more than several days) to a place with no laundry facilities, disposables may be your only option.  But how often does that happen, really?  I even know people who take their flats (very primitive) with them and cloth diaper when they are CAMPING, because flats can easily be hand-washed in a bucket with soapy water.  If we go camping at the beach this summer, I'll let you know if I was indeed brave enough to try that. :-)  I'm not counting it out as an option right now, no matter how crazy people think I am.

Anyway, this post has been far longer than I planned.  To make a long story short, I'm so, so, so glad I chose cloth.  I know I am doing a huge favor for Joseph's health, his future potty-training, our finances, and the environment.  I hope that, by educating more parents on the use of cloth, others will make this decision, too!