reusable nappies

Here’s Darwin in his reusable nappy. We bought Flip nappies which consist of an insert and a a cover. They fit from birth to potty by adjusting the poppers on the wrap to suit your baby. The wrap is waterproof on the inside but nice material on the outside so they don’t feel like plastic pants (actually I’ve never felt plastic pants)! You can add a stay-dry insert (made from microfibre and fleece) or an organic cotton insert and then a disposable liner on top (to catch the poo). They work really well on Darwin and don’t feel too bulky. We do have a few pooey leaks occasionally but we did with diposable nappies too. Breastfed poo is pretty runny and can go eveywhere whatever nappy one wears. Yes it involves more washing but we eventually save money and feel good about not throwing away heaps of used nappies.

I’m not overly keen on gender stereotyping but we purchased blue and green wraps and gave the pink ones a miss.

If you decide to use “real nappies” check with your local council to see if they run an incentive as many do. Chester council offered £25 cashback on reusable nappy purchases or 1 Month free nappy laundry service (worth £45).

Filed Under my life | Leave a Comment by emma on 09-03-2010

first bus sink to a new low

Bristol mother ordered off bus for breastfeeding her baby

into a thoroughly unpleasant experience

I’ve had a long standing hatred of this company. Their fares are over-priced, their buses late (or non-existent) and their bus drivers are often rude. This story beggars belief. I’ve never understood why a breastfeeding woman could be deemed as offensive yet magazines like Nuts and Zoo with breasts out are freely on display. Woman walking round in skimpy outfits aren’t arrested for indecency yet when a mother feeds her child discreetly she gets penalised. Breasts are made for feeding!

EDIT: Stupid woman made it up, sorry First Bus. Though I still hate you.

Filed Under news | Leave a Comment by emma on 25-02-2010

birth of baby Darwin

My labour didn’t quite go as I planned. My waters broke on 11th December but no contractions followed so 24 hours later I was induced in hospital. On Saturday 12th December I was booked in at 7.30am and Darwin was born at 11.33pm weighing 8lb 5 1/2 oz. I hoped to rely on just gas and air but the contractions proved so painful I was begging for an epidural, which was topped up many times. I wasn’t allowed to eat anything all day due to being a “higher risk” of needing a c-section due to the induction so felt weak. The labour felt pretty traumatic, most of it was a horrible blur as I was pushing for hours. Darwin wasn’t in the best position and I ended up having an episitomy and he was delivered by forceps. Everything I had tried to avoid! Seeing him and holding him for the first time was amazing. I breastfed him immediately after he was born. Mr C had to leave the hospital at 4am (men aren’t allowed up the the ward at nightime) to a frozen over car. I felt very lonely on the ward, left to look after a baby and having no clue and being exhausted. I ended staying 3 nights, Darwin was sleepy and had problems latching on.

Once home we were dogged by feeding problems as Darwin remained sleepy and wasn’t feeding well. A midwife came round and tested him for jaundice which proved positive. Darwin had lost 12% of his birthweight, (anything under 10% is ok) due to not feeding properly. Darwin was admitted to hospital and spent a night in a phototherapy unit. It was so sad seeing him in there with his little sunglasses on as he kept thrashing about. He also had multiple heel prick tests (blood tests) and a canula (the drip) in his hand. Neither of which he liked and was horrible to see.

Back home, a few days later Darwin was weighed again by a health visitor and now had lost 15% of his birthweight. I felt so distraught feeling so guilty about his weightloss. Darwin was re-admitted to hospital and he was de-hydrated. A feeding plan was implemented which consisted of every 3 hours skin to skin contact (me and him as naked as possible having a good cuddle), trying to breastfeed him which didn’t often work so expressing my milk and then bottle feeding him that. By the time that was all done and his nappy changed I was left with 1 hour of sleep before the process was started again. I also wasn’t producing enough milk and I refused to top up with formula milk so I was given donor breast milk. We stayed in a couple of nights this time; Christmas was fast approaching.

Christmas and New Year was an absolute blur of sleep deprivation. I had to keep up the feeding routine and set my alarm in the night to keep up. We were loaned a breast pump by the hospital and given a batch of donor milk. Life revolved around this routine and we became obsessed with how many ml of milk he was taking. After a few weeks his latching on got better and he was gaining weight well. I now feed Darwin “on demand” which is roughly 3 hourly but I make plenty of milk now so the expressing and donor top ups have been done away with. With his jaundice gone (the sleepiness being a problem of this) I don’t have to set my alarm in the night, Darwin soon lets me know these days when he is hungry! I still have sleep deprivation, now we can’t get him to sleep very long throughout the night. Still it’s early days (he’s nearly 10 weeks old now) so it’s not uncommon at this stage for babies to have their night and days mixed uo. Nowadays he’s gaining weight well and feels hefty. I feel proud that we got though the tough times and I managed to breastfeed him.

Still, I’d like some sleep please.

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Sleepy boy

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Darwin playing on his jungle gym with a big smile

Filed Under cute, my life | 2 Comments by emma on 19-02-2010

broken

This wordpress was broken for a while and clever hubby has just fixed it, hurray. It seemed the amazon media manager plug-in had broken it so has been removed. I’m sure you will all sorely miss knowing what I’m reading! Since I last posted I gave birth to our son. A full report on his cuteness and photos to follow.

Filed Under my life | 2 Comments by emma on 07-02-2010

gorgeous free printable calendar

A print a day has this cute matryoshka free printable calendar.

Filed Under cute, crafty, cool, pretty | 1 Comment by emma on 07-12-2009

36 weeks pregnant

A couple of weeks ago I saw the midwife for a routine appointment and she measured my fundal height (how big your uterus is, gives an indication of baby development and size). I was measuring 3 weeks ahead so she booked me into the day unit at the hospital for monitoring. I had scan and it turns out I have too much amniotic fluid, a condition called polyhydramnios. This in itself is not the end of the world but means I have to be monitored more as different factors can cause it, some serious, some not. I had a test for gestational diabetes which I passed and a growth scan to see what baby was up to. He seems to be healthy in there but his tummy is a bit large and the sonographer called him a chubby chops! She pointed out that he has hair on the scan. It was lovely to see him again looking like a big “real” baby.

I’ve had regular appointments at the day unit to test my blood pressure which has seem to have shot up - I have pregnancy induced hypertension. They have to keep a close eye on this in case I develop pre-eclampsia which can be super scary.

Last weekend I had a bit of a scare as they found protein in my urine which is an indication of pre-eclampsia and I was admitted to the hospital for a 24hour urine monitoring (there’s no glamour in being pregnant). I had to record everything I drank and collect all my wee in a plastic bottle, nice. I was also having my blood pressure and temperature checked every few hours. I was lonely and bored and a bit teary. I’d only gone into the the day unit thinking I was going to have a few checks and suddenly I was on the ward with other ladies who had just given birth! I was most surreal to be eating dinner with new mums and their tiny babies. You never leave you child alone so if you don’t have a visitor you can wheel your baby about in a cot/trolley. I was let out Saturday afternoon and subsequently didn’t have any more protein in my wee (dipstick tests can give a false reading if becomes contaminated with umm something else lol don’t want to give tmi!).

Basically I have high blood pressure and my life revolves around being pregnant at the moment. I have a problem with acid reflux also and trying to get to a decent night’s sleep is impossible. Still I’m so looking forward to meeting our son it will all be worth it. I must say that the staff at The Countess of Chester hospital are great and I’m being well looked after.

Filed Under my life | 2 Comments by emma on 04-12-2009

pregnancy links

8 ways to determine your baby’s position in the womb right now

10 things I wish I’d known before I became a mum

Baby and bump forum - an excellent forum for everyone from trying to conceive right through to raising children

Arm’s Reach - co-sleeping without the worry

Lizzie’s Real Nappies - reusable nappies

Cheeky Baby Wipes -a hassle free washable cloth Kit that’ll do your bit for the environment and save you money

Sleepy Wrap - a lovely way to wear your baby. My friend has kindly bought me one of these and I’m so looking forward to using it.

A list of worthwhile sites for baby freebies

How to swaddle a baby:

Filed Under useful | Leave a Comment by emma on 09-11-2009

goodbye to geoshities

Yahoo has shut down GeoCities! Ahh sad news. Well not really because although I look back at Geocities with fondness, they really produced cringeworthy efforts. It’s fairly easy to build a sophisticated looking webpage these days, with the advent of wordpress and blogger layouts. I certainly had an embarassing geocities webpage complete with scrolling text (oh god I actually remembered the html code for that), a visitor counter and a guestbook that no one signed. Happy days of the late 90s!

Filed Under news | 1 Comment by emma on 27-10-2009

should you use comic sans?

Filed Under funny | 2 Comments by emma on 26-10-2009

nantwich food festival + victorian fair

Last weekend we went to Nantwich’s Food Festival. There was a big marquee with lots of stalls showcasing thier wares and plenty of samples to try. Good news for a greedy person like me! I admit I sampled alot of cheese that day.

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First stop was the Vegetarian Society’s “veggie sausage fest”, lots of meat-free sausages for us to try.

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Boxfresh Organics had a lovely array of organic vegetables, including rainbow carrots and some pretty looking aubergines.

We went on a walk about eating wild food. This man is talking about plantain. It was really interesting. Make sure you know what you are picking, whose land you are on and that it’s not been urinated on by a dog before you eat anything!

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I was given a 100% vegetarian sticker which I proudly wore on my bump to show baby will be a vegetarian too.

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We wandered into the town centre where a Victorian fair was being held. Lots of stalls with people dressed up in costume. Here’s a policeman, he was handcuffing children.

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Saw this not very Victorian but gorgeous long-haired Akita. Love those bear-like paws!

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This is a very sleepy ferret.

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This is a very cross owl.

Back at home and Mr C made me a birthday cake (I’ve just turned 31). He made me a carrot cake with cream cheese topping. He doesn’t like it so I ate the majority of it haha.

Filed Under my life | 1 Comment by emma on 05-10-2009

mr penguin the tea-timer

Mr Penguin the tea-timer looks like a super cute way to brew your tea to perfection!

Mr Penguin’s beak lowers the tea bag into the hot water when the timer dial is turned. At the sound of the bell, his beak will lifts the tea bag from the water. I must get one!
Available at Amazon for $11.39.

Filed Under cute, cool | Leave a Comment by emma on 23-09-2009

how big is baby?

If you are pregnant it’s quite hard to imagine what size your baby is. If you need a visual clue then check out this from The Bump. I’m on week 25 so I have a little baby aubergine (eggplant) in me!

Filed Under my life, cool, useful | Leave a Comment by emma on 15-09-2009

if you play zelda

you will find this cartoon amusing

Filed Under funny | 1 Comment by emma on 08-09-2009

most annoying advert ever?

Doing a poo at Paul’s house:

Can’t decide which child I hate more Paul’s poo friend or the “it’s all gone, it’s all gone boy”.

Filed Under my life | Leave a Comment by emma on 04-09-2009

baby @ 20 weeks

We had an anatomy scan at 20 weeks and we are having a boy. Everything was normal, he’s healthy and a good size.

He was being a bit naughty at first and wouldn’t show one of his arms to the sonographer. I had to go to the toilet to empty my bladder in the hope he’d move (I had a chat with him and asked him to show his arm). Went back in the scan room and this time he showed his arm but bless him he did a thumbs up as if to say “look I’ve done it”! The sonographer was laughing her head off. Actually we didn’t know it was a boy until we were all done. It was like the sonographer wasn’t going to bother mentioning it unless I prompted her. Though of course the most important thing is that he’s healthy.

I went into town and celebrated by buying him the cutest pair of monkey trousers a tiny top with bears on!

By the way the photo is not him doing thumbs up as she didn’t take one of him doing that.