38 weeks

Today : Today is 39 weeks! This picture is from Friday, when I was 38 weeks + 5 days

Weight Gain : 27 lbs ... thankfully I seem to have leveled out for now.

Maternity Clothes : Yes... starting to get pretty excited about what will happen when I get my normal wardrobe back! I'm going to have so many more outfit options... who knows how long it will actually take me to be able to fit back into them though.

Stretch marks : Still nothing to talk about. My belly button is pretty solidly poking through all my shirts though.

Sleep : Would be much better if I wasn't getting up a million times a night to go to the bathroom... also what is happening to my hips? I am so sore. Holy guacamole!

Sickness : My 12 hour work days finally caught up with me last weekend. It was the first time I noticed swelling in my feet. My back was so painful and sore I was literally sick and throwing up all night on Sunday/Monday. Needless to say, I cut back to 8 hour shifts this weekend and my boss is letting me pick my hours next weekend (yes I plan on working until this child is born.. what can I say, I love my job!)

Movement : I think I'm going to have a very active little boy. He has been nothing but wild my entire pregnancy. Yesterday we had a full house and Samson was moving around like crazy letting us know he was part of the party already. 

Cravings : Obviously Christmas cookies. That's the only explanation for the amount of sugar that I consumed this week...

Exciting happenings : Cash's last Christmas as an only child! I love this time of year and while it would have been fun to celebrate with Samson, it was nice to have one last year just us and the dog. We didn't do much to celebrate Christmas in the "traditional" sense, we actually didn't buy a single present for each other. This year Christmas meant a whole lot more than presents as we reflected on God's presence in our lives. The magnitude of God's gift to us seems even more monumental when we consider our own son and the tremendous sacrifice of God sending his Son to Earth to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Joy to the world, indeed!

After being so sick on Monday at my 38 week appointment, my doctor is thankfully extremely sympathetic to the "Get this baby out of my womb," cause. I'm so thankful for this entire pregnancy and this entire process, but I am more than ready to meet our son and see his beautiful face. We can't wait to count his ten fingers and his ten toes and whisper how much we love him before kissing his sweet cheeks. 

Merry Christmas from The West's!

37 weeks

Today : 37 weeks + 5 days

Weight Gain :  27-28 lbs? I’ve been weighing myself at home once a week and now I’ve been getting weighed at the doctor’s office every week also. Obviously those weights are different… I personally like to go by the scale at home.

Maternity Clothes : Yes! My maternity shirts are almost not long enough! Thank goodness there are only 2 more weeks or I might have to invest in some longer sizes.

Stretch marks : Still nothing. Woohoo!

Sleep : Other than frequent bathroom trips, I’ve been sleeping pretty good. I’ve been SO tired though, so I’ve been napping hard core this week.

Sickness : Nothing. Other than being tired all the time, I feel great.

Movement :  I think Samson is learning Zumba, he has been moving around like crazy this week. Hopefully that doesn’t mean he’s too content in there, personally I’d rather see his dance moves on the outside of my belly.

Cravings : I’ve noticed a seriously increase in my desire for protein this week. I’m normally not a huge red meat eater but I have been thinking about a cheeseburger for DAYS. I’ve been trying to hold out for supper tomorrow night :)

Exciting happenings : As of Monday Samson is measuring  a full week ahead. So unless I’ve eaten too many donuts (Me? No way.) it looks like Samson might take after his momma. I was a 9 pounder!

I’ve got my hospital bag packed, sort of. The essentials are definitely in there… or near there… like on the bedroom floor by the bag. But if there was an emergency, we’d be mostly prepared. Samson’s things are all laid out in his crib. So they would be easy to scoop in the bag after tossing in the rest of the essentials like toiletries and the camera.  I want to make sure it’s packed and organized really well, which has been the delay in the whole process. Also, I hear if you are all packed and ready you almost guarantee that your baby won’t come early.

Side note about the packing: I keep seeing all these suggestions that you put baby hats and mittens in the hospital bag to keep them warm and ensure they don’t scratch their faces. I don’t have any! I’ve only seen them at Target and they aren’t really that cute… where do you find those things?! I want to make sure I’ve got some so the nurses don’t get all judgey if I’m not prepared. 

36 weeks

Today : 36 weeks + 5 days

Weight Gain :  26-27 lbs. I'm not really sure at this point. Depends on how many Oreos I've eaten that day.

Maternity Clothes : Yep. Even my maternity shirts are feeling the stretch at this point…

Stretch marks : Zero, my belly button is 1/2 out, 1/2  … flat? Haha!

Sleep : I’ve become an early riser, waking up between 5:30-6:30 am every day. It’s been nice to wake up early with Aaron and get a little extra time together before he goes to work. I’ve been taking at least 1 nap a day though because holy guacamole, I have been SO tired! Growing a human is hard work!  Thankfully Cash is a good sport and will curl up beside me in bed or on the couch.

Sickness : A little acid reflux, one night of heartburn… thankfully feeling really good. Still having some carpal tunnel issues but nothing awful, although my fat/swollen fingers haven’t been able to wear my wedding rings for several weeks and I’m really missing them. And beer.

Movement :  I haven’t noticed a decrease in movement like they tell you should expect at this point in pregnancy, but the movement I do feel is a bit different. I wish I had the proper words to describe what it truly feels like having a baby in your belly, because while I was skeptical about it at first, I really love it & I think I really will miss it when my belly is (hopefully) flat again someday.

Cravings : I am really, really ready to be able to enjoy a nice beer or margarita again. However, one indulgence I have definitely given into this week is Double Stuffed Oreos. Between Aaron & I, I’m not sure who has eaten more of the package.

Exciting happenings : This whole pregnancy is going by SO fast. I am so ready to meet him, but I also feel like time should slow down a little bit … there is so much to have ready before Samson comes! I’ve really started to feel those nesting urges in the past few weeks and there is baby stuff ready to go all over our house. Something weird that has been going on is my desire to stock up on EVERYTHING... from toilet paper to dog food to meat for the freezer. I'm starting to feel like a doomsday prepper.

I started packing my hospital bag this week… I thought about packing my hospital bag this week. Most importantly what snacks I'd like to take. I had a sister-in-law who went into labor at 37 weeks which is just a few days from now for us, so I definitely feel the need to but I don't even know where to start. For sure next week! 

Aaron’s job for this weekend is to clean our car from top to bottom and install the car seat & base. It's definitely starting to feel real that 40 weeks is almost over, but it's crazy actually thinking about bringing our son home so soon! We are so, so excited :)

Cloth Diapers : Part 2

Deciding to cloth diaper was fairly easy for us. Aaron says I’m the one who decided, but he really did get on board after we shelled out some serious dough on just TWO boxes of diapers. It really came down to money and me not being able to step down from a challenge. Since I will be working part time when I go back to work and won't be able to supplement our income as easily as before by picking up extra shifts we really had to tighten in our budget and find places to save. Plus, I'm not scared of poop. Not one bit. 

Several people have mentioned poop with utter disgust when I talk about cloth diapers, but I must admit, I’m no stranger. This may not be for the faint of heart, but I am an x-ray technologist at a major hospital in our area. I have seen things that will turn your stomach inside out. Poop, pee, puke, blood, gun shot wounds, stab wounds, foreign bodies, gangrene, open chest wounds, bones sticking out of body parts… I could go on but I’m sure you aren’t interested. Let's just say, I’m not worried about baby poop. And for the record, you folks who aren’t yet parents and think a throw-away Pampers are the key to not having to touch poop are in for a big surprise someday. Haha :)

To get started I made a list of things we'd need to start cloth diapering:

• Diapers
• Wipes
• Diaper Pail/Bag for Nursery
• Travel sized Wet Bags for the Diaper Bag
• Inserts
• Laundry Detergent
• Diaper Sprayer

Diapers

We will be using Charlie Banana pocket diapers (all in two diapers) with snap front closure and adjustable elastic around the leg holes. This is a bit more pricey than other cloth diaper routes. But we felt comfortable with our decision knowing that we wanted convenience and quality. We also knew we would like to re-use the diapers in the future. These diapers are made to fit a newborn baby to potty training toddler. Our goal is to have 18-24 diapers, we probably won't buy them all before Samson is born though, because we'll want to be sure these work for him before going all in. 

• Investment : $150 (12 diapers), approximately $300-350 for a complete stash

Wipes

These can be purchased and several people have even suggested baby wash cloths, but since I can sew I'm planning on just snagging some fabric from JoAnn's next time I'm on that end of town and making some of my own. It would be easy to use my own sewing machine, but to make them even faster, I'll probably borrow my mom's serger (Hi Mom! Thanks in advance!)   We will always have some disposable wipes on hand, but since we will already be doing diaper laundry, there is no reason we can't toss these in the laundry too. We'll have to see what works best for us but we'll either just use plain water to moisten the wipes or make a homemade spray to clean his tush with. 

• Investment : $10, still need to purchase/make

Diaper Pail / Wet Bag for Nursery

I'm still up in the air about this. I can't decide if I simply want a bag to hang on a hook, or a bag to put in a pail. If used properly, both would contain odors and mess just fine. I really like the ubbi diaper pail. It can be filled with regular trash bags for disposable diapers (no fancy refills needed) or a washable wet bags for cloth diapers. It costs a whopping $80 though, which is pretty pricey when you include buying two full size wet bags to go along with it for $25 a piece. I'm open to suggestions here moms!

• Investment : Not sure! Help!

Travel Size Wet Bag for Diaper Bag

Received a Planet Wise bag as a baby shower gift.  I'm planning on starting with two or three, but haven't purchased anymore yet. I really like the Planet Wise bag but, I've also heard good things about Itzy Ritzy bags. Any cloth diaper mommas have any other favorites? 

• Investment : $0, received 1 as a gift ... plan on purchasing one more for $15.

Inserts

Charlie Banana diapers come with two microfiber inserts and should be able to withstand normal diaper situations all on their own. It's unlikely that we will have to purchase a full set of extra inserts to find success with our cloth diapers. However, I've heard boys might need a little extra absorbency to get a diaper to last, especially at night. My cousin Jessica, who is cloth diapering a little man of her own has given me some really awesome advice and generously gifted us a few extra Hemp doublers to test out. 

• Investment : $0, received 3 as a gift ... typically run anywhere from $3-$8 a piece, depending on the material they are made of. Won't buy any more until we start cloth diapering and we find out what we really need.

Laundry Detergent

I've made my own laundry detergent in the past, so that was my first thought. Unfortunately though last year when we moved to our house outside city limits our water went from soft city water to hard country water. Our clothes simply weren't getting clean and it was much simpler to run to the store and buy a bottle of Tide versus fix the homemade detergent recipe. We have since switched to All Free & Clear and will be using it for both our clothes and Samson's clothes. However, we will be using a detergent specially made for cloth diapers to protect our diapers. We will be using Rockin Green : Bare Naked Babies Detergent. Our water company was recently bought out by city utilities and after they run the pipes all the way out to the boonies next year we'll have much softer water, so maybe I'll try some homemade detergent recipes out to save some money!

• Investment : $0, our first bag was a gift! $16/bag, which does 90 loads in a he washer

Diaper Sprayer

Not a necessity, but an awesome poop avoidance device. This attaches to your toilet and sprays the diaper clean before you toss it in the diaper pail/bag. I wasn't sold on wanting one until I found the Diaper Dawgs company. The silicone "dawgs" that they are known for act as a barrier between you and whatever funk you might come across in the diaper. Their really cool product though is the collar that they make to keep the diaper sprayer's spray contained. If you want to see it in action, check out this video (warning: this video displays real diapers with real poop!)

• Investment : $60 for the sprayer and the spray collar, we still need to purchase these

What I loved about making this list is that I can see exactly where our money is going and it's not in the trash! We recently bought a box of Newborn Huggies (88 diapers) and Size 1 Pampers Swaddlers (100 diapers) and spent $50! Holy smokes... that's just a few weeks worth of diapers. Not good for a tight budget. It also made my heart happy to think that some of these items were gifts and some our diapers will be paid for with gift cards. The generosity of our friends and family never ceases to amaze me. We feel SO loved and SO supported. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

I calculated our initial investment to include 24 diapers ($350), homemade wipes ($10), 1 additional travel wet bag ($15), 1 full size wet bag for the nursery ($15), and the diaper sprayer/spray collar ($60). Any additional wet bags or a diaper pail aren't a complete necessity. I didn't factor in detergent because there are far too many variables for a first time cloth-diaper mom to make an informed calculation. Hopefully I will do an update in the future once I have some experience and will re-evaluate this list and the costs involved.

Initial Grand Total : $450 

Cloth Diapers : Part 1

Disclaimer: You can find this information and more other places on the world wide web. This is my spin on the cloth diaper debate. I'm here for your entertainment folks, so keep that in mind and feel free to laugh at my jokes and weird humor. If not, it's going to be a really long and awkward post...

I’ve struggled to write this post for quite a long time. Probably due to the fact that I have had received lots of mixed reactions from several people. Positive and negative. The ones that didn’t necessarily shock me, but really annoyed me came from people who don’t even have kids. What?! If you haven’t lived 24/7 with a pottyin’ machine and been responsible for changing (and paying) for the diapers, I don’t think it’s fair for you to get all judgey. Who knew butts could be so controversial?

So first and foremost, I’m not trying to persuade anyone that my decision is better than anyone else’s. I'm not against disposable diapers by any means. Samson will be in them for the first several weeks of his life and we will always have them on hand, just in case. Cloth diapers have a lot of appeal for us though. Aaron and I put a lot of thought, effort and research into what was going to work for our family and this is what we decided to try. That being said, we are first time parents and there is a HUGE learning curve. This isn’t going to be a pros-cons list. I’m just trying to put some good cloth diaper vibes out there. I will be doing a separate post with specifics to our situation, like why I'm not that grossed out by poop and how much money we will be spending. This one will be wordy enough. So without future ado…

Cloth diapers will save us money. It will save us money on diapering kid number 1, it will save us even more money on kid number two, etc. It doesn’t matter how thrifty you are with your coupons or your economy sized boxed store brand diapers, you will literally spend hundreds thousands of dollars over the course of your child(rens) days in diapers. There are several websites that will break it down for you. If you are truly interested in the economics of it, feel free to google it. I won’t refer to any one website in particular because I feel like there are far too many variables to take into account for the variety of people who may be reading this. Your personal savings is dependent on the type and brand of both cloth diapers and brand of disposable diapers. I knew that the disposable diapers we would be using would be Huggies, Pampers, or something like Honest Company, so I consider our savings to be fairly substantial. Your savings would be less if you use a store brand disposable diaper. Your savings would be greater if you use a less expensive cloth diaper option. No matter how you slice it though, cloth diapering will save you money. A lot of it.

Cloth diapers are eco-friendly. Yes I will be doing more laundry, using more water and electricity than a strictly disposable family. I promised I wouldn’t be biased, but you are nuts if you think my extra laundry will have more impact on the environment than your poop bombs. Solid poop from a disposable diaper is supposed to be flushed down the toilet before tossing the diaper in the trash. Most people don’t know that, or they just don’t care. But just think of all the poop baking in those plastic Diaper Genie bags in the landfill. Can’t wait until our great-great-great-great-great grandkids dig that up. Our new washer and dryer are energy efficient and our diaper detergent is biodegradable, therefore reducing the impact of increased laundry loads. You are welcome future generation.

           

Cloth diapers are non-toxic and gentle. Aaron even judges me for this sometimes, but I usually am very cautious about what we put in to or on to our bodies. Except McDonalds French fries, God knew what he was doing when he created the French fry man. I try to make smart choices when it comes to certain foods and products that we consume and use. Do I think all things should be organic and 100% clean? No. Did you read what I said about the French fries? Also, if you think I’m wiping my tush with some eco-nut or store brand single ply, you are insane… I want it plush. Charmin all the way baby. As a kid, I had really sensitive skin and I’m sure my baby will be no different. If cared for properly, cloth diapers can help reduce skin rashes and irritations.

            

I could add that cloth diapers are cute, but I really think that’s a matter of opinion. They are cute now hanging out in Samson’s diaper drawer, but their job is to catch pee and poop, so I’m not sure that I could persuade anyone over to team cloth when that little blue diaper is doing it’s duty. It’s a diaper ya’ll. So instead of pointing out the cute factor, I’ll point out that there are so many types of cloth diapers. There is something that will fit in to every lifestyle and every budget.

            

If you are having a baby anytime soon and haven’t looked into cloth diapers, I highly recommend it. It wasn't something I would have ever considered until I started noticing people around me doing it and started asking questions. It's helpful if you have real people to use as resources, I have some friends and relatives who I consulted. If there are any introductory classes at shops or boutiques near you, check them out! 

Tomorrow I will be posting Part 2 and Friday will be my weekly update!! 

35 weeks

Today : 35 weeks + 5 days

Weight Gain : 25 lbs, same as last week

Maternity Clothes : Yep

Stretch marks : Nope. Belly button is approximately 1/2 in and 1/2 out and I guess I'd forgotten to mention I got that weird dark line down my belly a couple months ago, it's hard to miss now that my belly is out-to-here. 

Sleep : Elusive. I try to sleep as much as possible, but I'm still waking up at the crack of dawn! Thankfully, my weekday no-work schedule allows Cash & I to take a nice long nap in the morning after Aaron leaves for work. 

This is Cash letting me know we have slept long enough.

Sickness : Nothing this week except for one night of crazy acid reflux and my usual carpal tunnel fun & games.

Movement :  Yes! Sunday and Monday Samson was moving around like CRAZY. I'm a little nervous that he was working on switching positions, but it feels like he is still in the same head down position. We'll have to see what the doctor says at my 36 week appointment on Monday.

Cravings : I have been feeling some serious urges for chocolate lately. Not sure if that can be tied to pregnancy, but I've only got one more month to play that card so we'll just pretend, okay?

Exciting happenings : We started decorating for Christmas this week. I'm really feeling pregnant in the way that prevents me from bending over to pick things off the floor, so watching me arrange the tree skirt had to have been hilarious. Also there is a loose bulb somewhere in the top 12" of the tree but there is no way I see it ending well if I climb up on a chair to try and fix it, so we'll just let it stay dark. We'll call it "ombre lighting." Also there is no tree topper yet for the same reason. Eventually I think Aaron will start to feel festive and help a preggo out. 

Bah humbug.

We are making some strides in the nursery and I have done three loads of baby laundry, which is probably one of the cutest things ever. I took the time to fold his clothes, but I'm fully aware that there will come a day that I will literally throw them in the drawers unfolded (or leave them in the basket?) and that's totally okay... I will look back at pictures of the stacks of tiny folded laundry and laugh (or cry) at how much free time I once had.

This was at the beginning when I started pulling out the tiny little moose clothes. SO CUTE!

I have been working on a cloth diaper post, or two, and I expect to have it up sometime next week. I'm not expecting to have a full nursery post up until after there is a baby to show off the space MTV Cribs style (literally) but I'll make sure to include a few early sneak peeks before D-Day, which as of yesterday is less than a month away!