Joyful Baby Momma

April 21, 2013April 21, 2013Leave a comment

You might be thinking the name of this post is a little out of the ordinary compared to my usual birth sneak peek posts, and it is! For several reasons:

I couldn’t use baby’s name in the title because this sweet girl is still being referred to as “new baby”.
Her parent like unordinary names…hence why they’re being a little indecisive about her name 😉
This was the birth of my friend and co-birth field worker/associate/referral/personal diaper supplier, Kristina who operates “JOYFUL BABY PLANNING“

Title make more sense now? 🙂

I was so excited when she asked me to capture the moments right after the birth of her next “surprise baby”. The only scary part was her last labor for her 2nd child was very fast and we were all prepared for this one be even quicker. “I know I’m going to have this baby in the car,” she told me several times, and that prediction wasn’t far from true.

We arrived at the birth center at the same time (just 2 hours after she text me “I think I might be in labor”) and she hurried inside to be checked. 10cm! She had showed up complete and ready to push. It wasn’t too long of a wait before a screaming, pink baby made her debut. Her parents were so relieved to have her in their arms they didn’t even check for gender until about 3 minutes after birth!

It’s a Girl

The great moments didn’t stop there! Since she arrived so quickly they had time to call their other two kiddos and tell them the good news….or bad news to big brother who was certain the new baby was going to be a boy.

Listening for a reaction from big brother…something…anything

He was not happy with the result, but his reaction sure was amusing for all in birth room! After crying, "nooo" he hung up on his parents. I'm sure he'll come around.

He was not happy, but his reaction sure was amusing for all of us in birth room! After crying, “nooo” he hung up on his parents. I’m sure he’ll come around.

I am so blessed to have been able to witness the birth of this family’s newest addition, and look forward to learning what name this precious girl has been given.

Cloth Confession #4

January 29, 2013Leave a comment

“Get me a REAL diaper”

When we began this journey to cloth diapering my biggest skeptic was my husband. He could wrap his brain around the fact that it would save us money but that was about it. We started off with just 4 diapers so we could get through the majority of the day and then use a disposable at night or on days when I didn’t do laundry in time. I thought after months of discussion and convincing that Thomas was finally on board with using cloth as our main type of diaper, but apparently I was wrong.

I work 3 half days a week and was getting quite frustrated when I’d come home to find that Thomas hadn’t put Olivia in a cloth diaper while I was gone. It was alway an excuse like “they weren’t stuffed” (we use pocket diapers) or “the pants I wanted her to wear didn’t fit over the cloth”. I never knew diapers could cause such an irritation between parents. What was funny to me was the fact that he never once complained if I was home and changing the diapers. So finally after a long stressful day I snapped (looking back it may have been a tad of an over reaction but it worked so….)

I’m pretty sure I yelled something along these lines, “IF YOU DON’T START USING THE CLOTH DIAPERS I’M JUST GOING TO GO SELL THEM BACK….NO WAIT I’LL JUST GIVE THEM AWAY SO IT’S A REAL WASTE OF MONEY”

Well that got my point across and Thomas suddenly stopped complaining about the cloth diapers. We ordered a few more to add to our supply and can now do laundry every other day. Things seemed to be going much better but I was still skeptical that Thomas was completely on board. I didn’t want to be forcing him to do something he really didn’t want to. Then this morning a wonderful sentence came out of his mouth.

Thomas started a diaper change for Olivia without realizing I hadn’t stuffed the diapers yet after last nights laundry. I figured I he’d just grab a disposable and we’d put her in cloth later, but mid-change he hollered, “Honey can you get me a REAL diaper I only have the cover”. Success! He then told me how he is glad they’re all clean today because the skirt he wanted to put Livy in would be too big if she were to wear a disposable.

I think today has proven that my husband is the true cloth convert of the this family not me. 🙂

Cloth Confession #3

January 4, 2013January 4, 2013Leave a comment

I keep waiting for the smell…

While trying to figure out if I should cloth diaper or not I read a lot of discussion boards aimed toward cloth mommas. A common concern I saw was that the diapers after a time would start to smell like ammonia or they couldn’t get the poopy smell out.

**Side note have you ever done something kind of strange and thought, “wow I’ve turned into a freak…well other moms must do it….ok this isn’t so weird”**

I now find myself constantly sniffing my daughters diapers while hanging them to dry, while stuffing the inserts, and while putting them up (now the side note makes sense right?). I guess I’m washing them correctly or I’m just lucky! 3 months in and still no smell…maybe it takes longer to develop? Honestly I’m stumped on this one but excited at the same time that I don’t have to deal with a stinky baby or unpleasant diapers 🙂

Speaking of cloth diapers! I am co-hosting another “Intro to Cloth Diapering” Class with Joyful Baby Planning!

Saturday January 9th @4:30 Allen Birthing Center 406 W. Main Allen, TX 75013

RSVP on Facebook today!

Oh Those Lovely “Mommy Wars”

December 11, 2012December 11, 2012Leave a comment

The following Facebook status was written this morning by NaturallyBorn, an online community of moms and dads looking for and giving support to others. Of course when it comes to parenting boards there are bound to be disagreements. Giving your opinion on how you raise your child(ren) is one thing but flat-out bashing another parent who is doing their best is uncalled for.

The term “Mommy Wars” used to be reserved for Stay at Home vs Working Moms, but now it seems EVERYTHING a parent does is under the microscope. In today’s society parents tend to think,”if you aren’t doing something MY way….you’re wrong”. We are supposed to be the example for our kids, not the ones who teach them how to judge and attack others. You can be passionate about your parenting methods without disrespecting others choices.

Please follow NaturallyBorn’s hint and stay out of the conversations if you have nothing nice to say!

“Dear moms, here at NaturallyBorn we have a large (very large) group of moms who love their children fiercely. It is wonderful. Please be aware, however, that on this page you WILL encounter moms who parent differently than you. On this page we embrace natural births, homebirths, birth center births, C-section births, and induced births. Some of our moms breastfeed, others use formula, make their own formula or receive donor milk. Some co-sleep, and babywear, others have babes that sleep in cribs and love their swings. Our babies eat store bought and homemade purees, table food, and vegan food. Our babies drink cow milk, goat milk, coconut milk and almond milk. Some babies get all of their vaccines on schedule, some are delayed, some get none at all. Some visit the chiropractor, others do not. Some moms here love and trust their family doctor, others avoid him. BUT WHAT TIES US ALL TOGETHER IS OUR LOVE FOR OUR CHILDREN. It is time to stop the bullying and name calling and judging. If you are uncomfortable conversing with people who mother differently than you, this may not be the place for you. Poor behavior will not be tolerated. Thank you.”

Cloth Confession #2

December 10, 2012December 10, 2012Leave a comment

If you diaper right you won’t have to deal with leaks…as much!

A big opposition I hear from people when talking about cloth diapers is that they “leak more”.

Leaky diapers are a part of parenting. Disposable or cloth, it is inevitable. Don’t believe me, ask any parent what happened around 8 weeks old with their kids diaper. The most common answer will be something along the lines of “oh the blow out!” or “you mean the poopy diaper that goes up the back and get in their hair?” Yes, it will happen and there is nothing you can do about it except be prepared to clean it up. Cloth diapers have also changed A LOT in recent years! They have gone from a piece of fabric you pin together and put a plastic cover over to convenient, snap together, absorbent, and cute diapers that moms and babies love.

Maybe we got lucky, but since we’ve started using the cloth diapers we’ve had one leak that was totally my husbands fault (don’t tell him I said that). I’ll admit, you do have to use your brain just a tad bit more when using cloth diapers, but it is worth it. In the case of our first leak, my husband decided to use only 1 insert instead of 2 (we’re using pocket diapers) and we were out of the house a little bit longer than anticipated. If you plan ahead your baby…and car seat…should stay happy and dry.

Preventing leaks also requires you to care for your diapers properly; washing and drying does require a couple extra steps. Once you establish a routine it really doesn’t take up much time during your day and will prolong the life of your diapers saving you even more money!