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We are having a baby soon. I think I am almost ready to be done being pregnant. I still love it most of the time, love having this little baby bundled up inside me. But more often these past several days I think... This will be over soon, and I am good with that. Usually that thought happens when I am out of breath from simply having a conversation, getting jabbed in the ribs repeatedly by teeny feet, feeling utterly exhausted physically and mentally, or am on my 3rd or 4th attempt to get up out of the bed in the morning (really--it takes a lot of skill and planning to do that!).
Jon and I had a conversation last night about what are the top 3 things that need to happen before the baby gets here, and what things we would like to happen before baby. It was nice to get that perspective. There are lots of things on the would like to list--finishing some sewing/decorating projects, completing our registry purchases, Jon graduating (ha!), spending more quality time just the 2 of us, getting life insurance, setting up the guest room, etc. The essentials list seems pretty manageable compared to that list: 1. Get the car seat in the car 2. Make sure we have enough clothes for baby once we arrive home and 3. Buy diapers.
Which leads me to... our decision to cloth diaper. Yikes you are thinking. These hippie birthing center people really are crazy! It has been a long (7 month?) decision process of deciding about diapering. Most people trying to talk us out of it talk about the gross factor, and sometimes the inconvenience factor. My thoughts in general about diapers are as follows: disposable diapers = gross. Cloth diapers = gross. I see a lot of nasty diapers on a daily basis, and those disposable ones don't make things any less so. The way I see it, becoming a parent means you will see a lot of poop, smell a lot of poop, touch a lot of poop. The diaper doesn't really seem to make a difference. I see blow outs up baby's backs with disposables, and at least with cloth you can get the really fancy kind that hold everything in the diaper, or get the cheapies and fold them just right to hold in the blow outs. And the smell factor is something that can be controlled if you just get a good wet bag to hold the diapers in until you wash them... or so the cloth diapering advocates claim...
My biggest concern is the convenience factor, which I think will be doable. Especially when compared to buying enormous boxes of diapers every few weeks (to put in perspective, I dread the shopping day when I have to restock on toilet paper, garbage bags, cleaning supplies, etc... I hate having those big things in my cart that drive up my weekly grocery cost and then I have to lug them to the car and then into my house... hey we all have our peeves). It seems that these days cloth diapering is not what it used to be. There are lots of ways now that makes things a little easier, and while never quite overcoming the gross factor, the benefits seem to outweigh the cons to us. Especially when thinking about cost and environmental impact. Not to mention they are better for Baby Buck's little behind.
So we need to buy some diapers. We will of course buy a huge box of disposable Newborn diapers for at first (meconium permanently stains cloth). And Mom has already stocked us with a few packages of size 1 to have on hand for later. We will definitely be using those whenever we travel, and to stick in the diaper bag just in case.
One of the things I love about blogging is that there is this permanent, public document of our lives at this time. I think often about our babies growing up and being able to read these posts. I especially love thinking of Baby B reading this one ha!... Little one, you don't even know all the decisions we are thinking through to prepare for your arrival! Hopefully you will thank us later for protecting that little bum of yours! We LOVE you and can't wait to see your sweet little face and cute little booty :)
