The Bump Chronicles- week 24

The belly (and myself) seem to have gone through a growth spurt recently. It all looks the same from my perspective but my clothes care to disagree. A button down shirt that I wore less than 2 weeks ago threatened to become a dangerous weapon against somebody’s eye today, same with several bras that now feel like medieval torture devices. It looks like I have to hit the outlets again for some maternity clothes… again. I’m doing good in the casual department as I have several bump friendly dresses and skirts but I need to do something about work as I’m running out of professional looking clothes without a peekaboo bump.

Of course I wrote the first sentence before seeing this week’s bump photo, I guess baby Fox is indeed growing faster than it seems from my weird angle…

So I made the mistake of commenting of Facebook about my quest for cloth diapers. An old friend I haven’t seen in years felt compelled to accuse me of being “too hippie” and too environmentalist to be considering using cloth diapers.

This is the same person that put on a giant dolphin head hat next to me to march against the FTAA with Greenpeace and the Green Party in Miami in 2003 ( funny old picture here). I admit that the environment plays a big role in researching this route but the factors of cost savings and safety play a big role as well. I don’t want all sorts of artificial chemicals and poisons being in direct contact with baby’s bum all of the time (tons of info about that on the web but a basic article can be found here). Again, like with everything else, no judgment towards parents that prefer disposables, it’s just not my first, second, or third choice and if I end up having to use them I’ll probably hunt down the most natural/organic product I can find.

I’m hoping that we will be able to avoid disposable diapers all together but that will primarily depend on 2 factors. a) our ability to get a washing machine by then and b) daycare. It’s easy to work around A but since I will be going back to work and most daycare centers are anti-cloth that is a big factor to consider.

Thankfully the “Florida Administrative Code of Child Care Standards” does not forbid the use of cloth diapers, on the contrary, it gives instructions on how to handle them so the key is to find a daycare provider that is open minded enough as they can’t use the “it’s against the state’s rules” excuse in Florida. But before I jump ahead to daycare hunting I still need to pick a cloth diaper.

I’m very interested in pre-folds but also like the convenience of AIO with pocket diapers falling somewhere in the middle. Now it is a matter of weighing pros and cons such as efficiency, leakage, cost, etc. There is a cheap and very good option but the fact that it has a polyester liner bothers me, I prefer an organic cotton or hemp alternative first, but that’s just my hippie self. The Bumgenius 3.0 organic is the only diaper that I have consistently seen good field reviews from and several moms I know strongly recommend and although it’s pricier than pre-folds it would be easier on a baysitter. Right now I’m leaning towards a combination of pre-folds (specially in the newborn stage) and AIOs.

The OCD in me is actually creating a comparison table of the different options with their pros and cons, I hope that sometime in the coming weeks I can just glance at that table and make a decision.

It will ultimately depend on what we can afford to get. Although cloth diapers are cheaper overall, the bulk of the expense is in the upfront cost, but it does make me feel good that 1 large purchase will last all the way through potty training and can be either sold, traded, given away or used for possible future babies.

I just hope that I can decide soon as it will be easier to buy a couple per month for the next several months than having to buy a whole set at once later in the summer.

Meanwhile I’m hoping that I recover from the latest case of the sniffles soon. I don’t know if it’s a cold or just a bad allergy. I go from breathing freely to being so congested my head hurts in less than 30 seconds and alternate throughout the whole day and night. We’re supposed to go to Orlando/Disney this weekend, don’t need to have the reduced oxygen intake further slow me down at a time where my stamina is not at its peak to begin with, plus the Rudolph nose look goes so well with pregnancy glow… not!