Spin-Off Blog

Hi everyone,
I've decided to create a second blog, with a more descriptive URL. Come check it out:

http://berryberryquitecontrary.blogspot.com/

I'll be switching over to that blog and will no longer be publishing any posts on this blog. I originally created this one to keep family and friends updated with my pregnancy news and feel that a fresh blog will keep me inspired to write posts about our daily lives and happenings. Please bear with me while I set up the new blog and get it just right.

Feel free to come back to this URL any time to look at the pictures or read the archived posts!

Rebecca

Jam and Wine

I've just spent the morning (and most of the afternoon) processing apples and peaches. It's my first attempt at making wine at home. I'm making an apple wine, from a combination of two recipes: one from my friend Chad, aka Evil Wizard, and one from the internet. I'm also trying my hand at some peach freezer jam.

The apples I'm using for the wine are from a combination of places: 98% of the apples came from the apple tree in my front yard. The rest is supplemented by 6 large gala apples from the grocery store that I had knocking around. So far I've chopped and cored the apples, over 30 cups worth, and mashed them a bit in my primary fermenting pail. I've added one pound of raisins and poured about 6 or 7 litres of boiling water over it all. Now the pail is covered and will sit for 24 hours before adding all of the other ingredients. 5or 6 days from now I'll mash the apples more and then strain them out, and add water to make 20 litres. After that I rack the wine after 3 weeks and then add some sugar. I want a slightly sweet wine, not a dry one.

As for the peach freezer jam, my friend gave me 4 packets of no-cook reduced-sugar freezer jam gelling powder. Each packet, along with the fruit and sugar, makes 4.5 cups of delicious freezer jam. It was super easy to make and I now have 4 full jars in my freezer, and one in my fridge. I had enough left over to spoon over a bowl of vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Next: I'll can some pears and make another batch of peach freezer jam. I can't wait for local tomatoes!

Sustainable Living

There is an unclaimed, unharvested apple tree out front of my townhouse. It is left unharvested because other residents in my amazing community think they're CRAB APPLES (and for some reason think crab apples aren't useable)! I've since disabused them of that notion but they're still too lazy to do anything with them, so the pleasure is all mine. Last week I made a super tasty apple crumble. Yum! Tomorrow we'll gather about 32 cups worth, as I've gotten some good advice on how to make a lovely wine. I'm not looking forward to the collection so much but I'm sure that the feeling of self satisfaction I'll feel in a year when I first drink some will be overwhelming. Maybe not quite so overwhelming as if I had planted the tree myself, but there you go.
I had the fine fortune of coming across some really inexpensive mason jars on Kijiji.com, in the 250mL and 1L sizes. I have enough jars now to make several each of strawberry freezer jam, salsa, and some corn relish in the small size as well as almost 20 large jars of canned peaches, pears, and tomatoes. I can't wait!
The thought of eventually raising chickens, growing our own produce and eating in-season fruits and veggies is exciting. I look forward to the day when I open the door of my house and walk out into my garden, walking between the rows of beans, tomatoes, peas, carrots, potatoes, corn, beets, and peppers. Then I'll walk among the fruit trees: cherry, apple, pear, and peach. I'll weed my strawberry patch and then feed my chickens and let them out into the garden to free-range. The goats will greet me and follow me around looking for treats.
During all of this, Delilah will be learning, along with me, how to build a sustainable, ecologically responsible lifestyle. I hope that eventually our society will learn that the way we have built it (driven by consumerist lifestyle) is not sustainable and must come to an end. Commuting in and of itself is destroying our planet, global relations, and our health. Buying grapefruit that come from Africa? Frozen vegetables from China? WHY?!? Seems kind of ridiculous to me, considering North American, not to mention Canadian, farmers could grow all of these things, if they weren't so consumed with the idea of growing corn for E85 fuel. Grow food, not fuel! Alternate methods of transportation are the answer, NOT alternate sources of fuel. But who am I to convince people? Perhaps it's just as well that we'll exit the city gracefully and live happily ever after on our oh so satisfying homestead.

How Time Flies

Delilah is 3 months old today! I can't believe it, the time is flying by..yet, at the same time, seems to be going so slowly. Every day I wake up and look at her and thank the gods that my beautiful girl is healthy and here to share the world with us. She wakes up with a smile on her face, full of enthusiasm for the day ahead. She's such a joy.

Speaking of her being a joy, I have a hard time with people who ask me, "is she a good baby?" ... um, ALL babies are good, aren't they? I mean, it's not like babies are in the habit of knocking over liquor stores! "Oh, you mean, she's good because she's not crying all the time? That's because she has all her needs met BEFORE she has to resort to crying! I wear her in her carrier when we're out (or Ben does), she has a clean diaper, she's fed as soon as she starts showing me cues she's hungry, and she's HAPPY! Why would she cry?" Ok, she cries when she's overtired, but that's another story. Sometimes I wanna cry when I'm tired, too!

As more and more time goes on, I'm left to ponder what I'll do when it's time to go back to work. Yes, officially I am going back. Unofficially, there's no way in hell I'm going to leave Delilah to someone else to raise while I go to slave for a few bucks...especially since child care would eat over half of my income, anyway...so what's the point? I can't see it happening. So I guess I'll have to find some other way to make some sort of income, at least what I make on maternity leave, and stay home to raise our baby.

Staying home to raise your own child... how novel! I think more people should do it. I think it's very affordable, if you don't have an excessive lifestyle (2 cars, 400 thousand dollar house, dining out all the time, etc). I believe you can be very happy with less STUFF. A smaller house, one (or no) car, home cooked meals, perhaps even growing your own food, all these things are attainable, and reasonable. It amazes me, the consumerism disease that is killing our society. But that's another discussion for another day.

Some day (soon, I hope!) we will have our "Semi-Self Sufficient Hobby Farm". The sooner the better. I want chickens (for eggs), goats (at least two), maybe a cow...a huge vegetable garden, and a fruit garden..apple and peach trees, raspberries, strawberries...I dream of the day where we could grow most of our own food. Spring chickens and broiler hens will supply us with chicken meat, we will likely outsource our beef and grains but could we do everything else ourselves? I think it's doable. Now we just need to find the house in the country with a little property and build the outbuildings for the animals. Can you picture me and Delilah, going out into the yard each day to care for chickens and goats and to tend the garden? I can't wait.

Howling at the Moon

So Delilah has decidedly begun to respond to the world around her...tonight she mimicked me with her coo that sounds like howling. Unfortunately we only captured the second episode on video, which isn't quite as obvious (poor hiccupy baby!) But it's still funny!




Today we visited Ingersoll and saw Boppie and Nini. We got lots of pictures!

Every Girl Needs Macy's

Delilah loves to meet new people, especially when they come bearing gifts!! She ESPECIALLY loves it when the gifts are clothes from MACY'S!!!

Today Delilah met her Great Grandma and Great Aunt Linda. It was cool seeing 4 generations all in one spot. We took lots of pictures (I promise we'll get some of these ones printed!)

I've also made a folder with all of the pics we have of Delilah since birth. I have to photshop some of them and then I'll be getting them printed.

At Delilah's 2 month doctor visit (her first and last well-baby visit), she weighed 11 lbs 15 oz. She's doing really well, and I can't believe how big she's getting. It seems like yesterday we were in the hospital with a newborn.

Delilah Eve Hohner-graphic details

Well.
The major events:
-woke Thursday May 8th 2008 at 1:00 AM with timeable cramps
-thought my water had broken early (an issue) so went into midwives and had a test that "confirmed" it, so I was on a time limit to start active labour (contractions 5 minutes apart or less, or 4 cm dilation) within 6 hours or I'd be induced (NOT cool)
-found out my midwife, and my backup midwife were both at births so I'd be getting Sam (YAY!)
-she performed a stretch and sweep that actually broke my water and started active labour around 11 PM
-130 AM May 9th, called Sam back (she'd gone home for a couple hours sleep) as I was in active labour
-my blood pressure was up and baby's heartrate was high (not good)
-I developed a temperature (also not good)
-the heater in the birthing tub didn't work (picture Ben and midwife dumping buckets of boiling water into tub and bailing out cold water)
-contractions that were coming on top of one another but not dilated enough to push, for what seemed like hours
THEN:
-midwife concerned with continued high blood pressure, temp, and baby's high heartrate, combined with my lack of progress and eventual swelling of cervix, which then led to my contractions STOPPING (REALLY not good)
-midwife telling us we had to transfer to hospital, me to rest and get my blood pressure down, and take an epidural
-we got to hospital at just after 6 AM, and baby was so low that I could feel her pressing down, what a feeling....
-epidural (by that time I was thankful for it, trust me, but upset that I had to have it started, plus a catheter, what joy
-midwife Marie arrived
-there was still a lip of the cervix left so the OB on call, Dr Murencic, came in and helped push it under the baby's head so she could proceed down
-pushing...pushing...pushing...
-more pushing...
-constant beeping from the fetal monitor
-baby's heartrate was still high, and my blood pressure didn't go down as they anticipated, since epidurals will often cause a drop in blood pressure
-meconium appeared in amniotic fluid so midwives concerned even more, and we're told the baby will be intubated and deep suctioned immediately after birth to prevent chemical pneumonia in the event she had aspirated meconium
-OB notified of what was going on
-we were told that I had to deliver the baby ASAP but I couldn't get her past the pubic bone, even with help, so the next option to prevent C section, we were told, was forceps (I was picturing all the horrible things that can go wrong, let alone the tearing and/or episiotomy involved
-transferred to delivery room, more like a surgical suite than anything, with big padded stirrups and everything - cold, bright, and very intimidating and scary

-Dr Murencic is an AMAZING OB - when he came in the room I said, "please don't cut me" and he said "Oh no, I don't do that"...he told me when to push, when NOT to push, and used the forceps oh so gently to just guide the baby's head under my pubic bone
-as the head was coming under, I felt a "POP" and a weird sensation in my tailbone, but didn't think anything of it
-what seemed like HOURS later, and many contractions, her head was out!! Ben had tears in his eyes as he watched...
-finally, after several more contractions, and many pushes, at 11:11 AM on May 9th, 2008, our baby was born!! Ben announced the sex - a GIRL!! And I said, "Delilah Eve!" and they whisked her away (Ben yelled., "I'm going with her!" and followed)
-the looks on everyone's face as they saw how HUGE she was
-I delivered the placenta, looked like a large liver
-I had a tiny tear, one stitch (thank goodness, man I must have good skin), to fit a 35.5 cm head AND forceps...
-I remember Sam saying "You worked for every inch of her!"
-the OB came back in after inspecting her (I still hadn't seen or held her, at this point), and said that he'd let Ben tell me how much she weighed..so I figured she had to be huge
-turns out she cried before they could intubate her, so they just suctioned her nose out and got her to cry a lot to get the meconium out
-her Apgar scores were 9/10 at 1 minute and 10/10 at 5 minutes-wow!
-finally she came back into the room in Ben's arms, all wrapped up and with a hat on - the most beautiful baby in the world, and he told me she was 9 lbs 4 oz!! She was 20.5" long.
-I got wheeled back into the birthing room, and held my daughter for the first time
-Delilah nursed for the first time, at 1140ish
-I got transferred up to my room on the mothers and babies floor
-when the epidural wore off completely I realized what the "pop" had been - my tailbone had been broken again (which has caused agonizing pain in the weeks since her birth)
-later that day I had a massive hemorrhage which would eventually lead to my receiving a blood transfusion several days later
-several horrifyingly painful obstetric procedures were performed on me to ensure no blood clots remained in my uterus
-my blood pressure remained high
-Delilah was perfect and healthy but I had to remain in hospital until Sunday morning (Ben stayed the whole time, of course), Happy Mothers Day to me! Release!
-my blood pressure still remained high so I was put on medication to lower it
-Ben was off work but had to go back Thursday so my Mom came Thursday morning and ended up taking me back to the hospital to get 2 units of blood to bring up my hemoglobin levels, which had dropped to 68 (should be a minimum of 115-120)

BUT
-Delilah is beautiful and healthy, and I'm getting there
-I'm already down to my pre-pregnancy weight

38 weeks 4 days

Today we had another midwife appointment. I had one last week, too, the "home visit", where the midwife comes to your house and checks things out to make sure everything is ready/appropriate for a home birth. No biggie.

There isn't much to tell. We had our pregnancy pics taken on Sunday (Thanks Tish!) and should have them sometime soon.

I've been having cramps off and on since Saturday night, but nothing that could be considered consistent. Jennifer, our midwife, says that since they're more constant than intermittent, it could be getting close. I hope so. These cramps suck. I consider that I'd rather have the baby than 3 more weeks of cramps. Seriously. Besides, I want a beer and a deli sandwich.

Tick Tock - 37 weeks and 3 days

Wow - a month has passed already since my last post. In that time, I've developed Irritable Uterus, my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome just about drove me nuts, my feet lost their bones, AND I left work earlier than planned for my mat leave.

As for the Irritable Uterus (I.U.), now that I'm "term" (able to have the baby at home, safely), it doesn't provide much of an issue other than terrible discomfort to me. But oh well. It was the reason I left work 2 weeks earlier than planned. I.U. can cause pre-term labour. Basically, any physical activity or prolonged sitting or my jeans digging into my belly causes my entire uterus to contract painfully - for hours. So it's like a contraction. AND I get Braxton Hicks contractions on TOP of this. Yay.

As for the being "term" part, for anyone not familiar with pregnancy issues, a pregnancy is considered to last 37 to 42 weeks, since doctors are stupid and can't quite figure out how long a baby needs to be in there (answer: FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES). So, having said that, a woman is "allowed" to home birth anytime after midnight on the first day of her 37th week of pregnancy, which for me, was Saturday morning. Yippee!! I'm in the clear, no threat of a forced hospital delivery (gak), etc etc. I can officially go into labour at any time now. Preferably before 42 weeks and one day, since at that point they'll be pressing me to be induced (not a good thing).

Today I picked up the birthing tub and all the supplies we'll need for the home birth, so we're all set, on this end. Ben set up the tub in the spare room, so all we'll need to do once labour starts is put in the plastic sheet (to keep it sanitary for next person), and fill it. That's a relief.

We have a ton of onesies now, for 0-3 and 3-6 months size, and a few in sizes bigger than that. We have absolutely no "clothes" for those sizes, other than the sweaters I've made. Not sure how that's gonna work, but I'm sure we'll not have the baby in any clothes for the first little while, since it will be summer, and it's a baby, for jeepers sake. Everything else, we have, thanks to family and friends' shower gifts (thanks everyone!) and purchases we've made. The only item we've yet to buy is the monitor off our registry. We'll likely pick that up later this week.

Ben starts his new job tomorrow, should be interesting. I guess him being laid off the day before he had his appendix removed was a good thing..upward and onward!

As for actual pregnancy news, I've had some signs of pre-labour (trust me, you don't want to know), and have it on authority that I'll be having this baby sometime in the next few weeks (snide laugh inserted here) but I feel it likely won't be that long. I could be wrong. We'll see. Ben wants me to "wait" until the weekend. I'm not sure the kiddo will agree, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Sorry to everyone who is awaiting an updated pregnancy pic, but we just keep forgetting. On Wednesday night we're having official professional pregnancy pics taken by Tisha Johnson of Intrigue Photography. I'm not sure what her copyright preferences are, but if I'm allowed, I'll put up one of those as soon as I can. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until Ben and I take more pics.

Appendix? Who needs it? 33 Weeks and Counting.

Hello everyone.

Wow-check out how huge I am! I don't feel this big! And I still have (about) 7 weeks left!

There have been quite a few interesting occurrences in the last week or so. Starting off with me waking up with Carpel Tunnel Syndrome in my left hand and then developing it in my right-apparently this happens often during pregnancy? The extra fluid and swelling - and boy are my hands ever swollen - puts pressure on the nerves etc and causes the pain/tingling/loss of mobility and strength. What fun. I found that the exercises I found online have been helping with the mobility/pain in my left hand, but my right hand still suffers from tingling and numbness. It sucks bad. I can only hope it goes away after Fred is born. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

The next major issue: Ben developing appendicitis and having surgery on Saturday to remove a piece of his body...what a nice way to enjoy a baby shower - Ben texted me about an hour before my family baby shower was to begin, to let me know the ultrasound had showed appendicitis and he would be having surgery that day to remove it. Now, I immediately wanted to cancel the shower, but there were several people coming from out of town to attend. And we had no idea WHEN the surgery would take place (turns out they took him shortly after 5 pm). So I put on a (mostly) happy face, bad cold and all, and tried to enjoy the shower. Immediately after the last guest had left, I took off to the hospital and made it about 5 minutes before they took him up.
I was seriously worried. Any number of things can go wrong during surgery. Add to that fact that Ben had never been admitted to a hospital before, let alone had surgery, I was scared. But everything turned out ok, and around 8 pm they wheeled him by on a stretcher on the way to his room (so much for the surgeon coming to talk to us). He was ensconced in a room on the surgical floor and fought the anesthesia for several hours (he lost) and ended up sleeping, off and on, until about 1130. He woke up for quite a while then, and was taking it like a trooper. I ended up leaving the hospital shortly after midnight (thanks for the ride, Lindsey!) and went home to a very lonely bed - the first time we've been apart since our wedding.

Add to all of this: I was developing a NASTY cold/flu virus from Thursday morning on. Thank goodness it didn't get too bad until Sunday, but man, when it hit, it hit hard. I've been out for the count-fever, headache, sinus pain, coughing, congestion, runny nose, earache, you name it, I have it. I've been off work these last two days and still feel terrible. I've developed the fever in the last 24 hours - I hope it's not pneumonia or sinus infection, I really want to avoid antibiotics. I'll keep monitoring the fever and go from there.

As for baby stuff, we got some really nice stuff from my family. In addition to tons of onesies and sleeper (please, NO MORE SLEEPERS OR ONESIES), we got two awesome diaper bags, lots of small sized pre-fold diapers, a baby gate, the coolest bath toy storage system EVER, and lots more. We also got some cash to help us out with purchases in the future. Thanks everyone!
Anyone coming to upcoming baby showers should check out our registry lists at Toys R Us (look under 40485155 or Rebecca Maclary) and Cheeky Monkey (look under Rebecca MacLary) for ideas-all the stuff we need is on those lists.

I've been cutting out cloth wipes and started sewing them this afternoon - I got thru three of them before my headache kiboshed that plan. Oh well, at least they're started now. I also cut out the outside pieces for several more diapers in newborn and small sizes. I think I've got those pretty much covered, for up to 15 pounds, anyway. We still need diapers for over 15 pounds. Either pre-folds, fitteds, or pockets. See our registry lists if you want to help out.

Thanks!
Rebecca, Ben, and Fred

Midwife Update-30 weeks

Ok, so it's been forever since I posted. We've had a busy couple of months (moved) and now things should settle back to normal.

I just had my 30 week midwife appointment yesterday afternoon. Things went well-the baby is head down (YAY) and anterior (YAY) so everything looks good on that front. HR was about 144. I'm measuring at about 31 weeks, which is ok, since my first ultrasound actually places my EDD at May 13, not 17.

I haven't taken any preg pictures lately, we should get on that. I'm a lot bigger than last time. But it's still all baby, so I'm ok with that. The bending over part sucks now. Ben does my shoes up for me (what a nice husband) and I thank him for that.

I've set up my sewing machine in the basement with the computers and am still hard at work crocheting things. I've added several items to the baby's wardrobe so I'll have to take some pics.

I have a baby shower coming up, the family one, on March 29th. It's at our new place, for lack of location in London, but Lindsey is gonna run it (yay Lindsey!). Should be good times. I am hoping people will actually USE the baby registry that we spent hours completing - it lists all the stuff we NEED and want. Especially since there are so many things that we DON'T want.

I've added some things to my unacceptable list, too: plastic toys (can we say leaching chemicals?) and things from China. Which pretty much rules out WalMart, but I think that's the point...once the babe is older and having birthdays, holidays, etc, we'll enforce the no plastic toys no stuff from China rule. I hope people believe me when I say we'll just throw out the gift or give it away rather than give it to our child, so maybe people will actually make thoughtful, conscientious decisions when it comes to buying toys. I'd rather he/she get a nice homemade gift, or a book, or whatever....but maybe that's asking too much?

Baby Update-24 weeks 4 days

There has been a whole lotta movement going on lately. It's now gotten to the point where some punches or kicks are so hard that you can see my belly move. It's quite extraordinary. Tyler isn't impressed, though. She was on my lap today and there was a particularly hard kick that actually moved Ty's ear. She freaked out, barking. It was kinda humorous.

I've finally finished my shorties soaker, in a nice kelly green. It was made from a purchased pattern and I LOVE IT!!!! I'm gonna see if I can adapt the pattern to make longies out of it.

Ben and I have decided we don't want much pink and blue stuff. All the yarn I've bought so far has been dark green, blacks, reds, nice cobalt blues, and maroons. Some browns, too. I'll be making some t-shirts, likely in black, and khaki greens, to go with all the nice wool I've been turning into soakers. It's unlikely the baby will be wearing much else other than shorties, soaker wraps, and longies with t-shirts.

If it seems like this pregnancy picture makes me look SMALLER than the previous one, I think you're right. Can't explain it, other than maybe I've lost some fat. Cuz the baby is certainly getting bigger. Or maybe it's just that the clothes make me look smaller, who knows.

Midwife Appointment: 23 weeks 4 days

"I have no idea what it is, but I think it's a girl."

Wow. Isn't that profound? That was in the report by the radiologist regarding my ultrasound results. I assume that it was one of those "I don't see a penis so it's a girl" guesses. Likely highly inaccurate...I figure he has about a 50% chance of being right...so no pink crap, please.

That all said and done, the results also showed a healthy baby, with good spinal cord, heart, brain, etc. Everything looks normal.

Not much else to report.

Diapers, Covers and Soakers... Oh My

Keeping up with my obsessive compulsive, driven bent towards being way too ambitious for my own good, I've made one diaper per night, up until Saturday. Then I started crocheting wool "soakers" to put over top the non-waterproof, fitted diapers.

I've improved greatly since my first fleece diaper. See pics.

The green swirly one I made with leftover flannel from my body pillow pillowcase. Inside it is 100% cotton t-shirt material with a microfibre soaker insert. It is size newborn.

The denim one is made from jeans, with a red cotton t-shirt interior, and a microfibre insert. It looks AMAZING!

Practice makes perfect. I've ordered 10 Yds of a waterproof poly urethane laminate material to use so I can make covers and waterproof diapers.

I figure I'll save about 75% of the cost by making them myself. And it's fun! Who knew?

Half Naked Pregnancy Photo

So: a lot of people who haven't seen me in a while have no idea how big I'm getting. So Ben thought it would be a good idea to take pictures every so often to have a "digital keepsake" of my belly's development thru the last part of the pregnancy.

An old public school friend, Tisha Johnson, works at Carmen's Foto Source (hope I spelled that right) in Ingersoll and runs her own business, Intrigue Photography. Anyway, she takes AMAZING photos. See some:

http://www.freewebs.com/intriguephotography/

Tisha has offered to take pregnancy photos of me. We'll do that later, when I'm hugely pregnant. For now, we'll stick with the once-every few weeks-photos to keep everyone updated.

So here I am, at 22 weeks, 5 days.

My First Attempt at Cloth Diapers

Last night I made my first cloth diaper! As you can see in the pictures, it's VERY rough. I used a nice purple fleece for the outside, a waterproof layer attached to that, and a grey microfleece inside piece that will be a "stay dry" layer. There's a pocket in between the waterproof piece and the grey piece where a microfibre "soaker" stuffer will go.

The diaper is fairly thick but won't require a cover. It's supposed to be a size "little", fitting a baby 10-22 lbs. We'll see!

I'll be experimenting with different patterns and different styles of nappies: I'm about to start a cotton one that will have the soaker sewn inside. This one will require a cover, which I was researching today: I've decided to go back to the old fashioned "wool soaker" style. The name "soaker" is a misnomer in this case: the point is that the wool remains mostly waterproof-it repels as much water as possible, but is able to absorb 30% if it's weight in water and still remain dry. The trick is to keep it "lanolized"-now where to find lanolin in London?

I picked up some nice soft 100% wool yarn tonight. I got a nice silvery purple skein, a medium green one (like grass), and some white which I will dye using sugar free Kool-Aid. Interesting.
The nice thing about wool soakers is that they're easy to make, last forever, if you care for them properly, and look nice. AND they're all natural. Even better.

22 Weeks 4 Days - Making Diapers

Last night I cut out 12 Newborn sized layers of flannel to use as the outer layer (the side you see) of my new diapers. It's a lovely medium green with darker green swirls. I had the flannel left over from my first sewing project, a body pillow sized pillowcase. I had about 1.5 m left of 45" wide fabric.
I had figured to use the waterproof material from a waterproof sheet that I've had for a while but no longer use as the inner layer of the diapers - but the ladies on my diaper making yahoo group had told me it's likely vinyl, which will crack and dry out after repeated launderings. I COULD use it to make waterproof covers and hand wash them and air dry to get maximum life from them. Maybe I'll do that, there's no point in wasting the material.

I'll have to check out FabricLand. I called yesterday but the lady had no idea what I was talking about when I said I wanted PUL (polyurethane laminate)-she looked and came back with a "hospital grade barrier cloth"-likely vinyl-that costs $20/a metre. No thanks. I'll order PUL online!

A lady at Scouts has some PUL left, a metre or two. She's going to look for it and bring it to Scouts next week. I'm impatient to start NOW.

22 Weeks 3 Days

So last night I decided that "**dammit**, I can make my own diapers!" Mom bought me a sewing machine for Christmas. I can knit, crochet, chainmaille, run a traffic trial, fire a gun, chase down criminals...I can make my own cloth diapers!!

So-having decided THAT, I might as well make my own cloth wipes too!

I've deleted most of the baby washcloths off of the registry list cuz I figure I can just make them. Instead, I'm asking for MICROFIBRE towels, you know, the ones you can get at the dollar store. I'll use them for the soaker inserts for inside the diaper (they hold the pee)-apparently they are among the best for overnight use, with no leaks.

I'll keep everyone posted on my progress. I'll even give a few away (for a trial period) so I can work out any kinks before actually needing them for myself. Lucky Misha, Donna, and Ashley!

My first ever blog

These ultrasound pics were taken on Jan 8, 2008 at 21 weeks 3 days.
We wanted to find out the sex, however the little scamp kept it's legs crossed the entire time. The ultrasound tech said that the radiologist MIGHT be able to make a guess...my next midwife appointment is on Wednesday the 16th (I think) so we might find out more.

The heart rate at the ultrasound was just over 160 bpm. Now, before everyone goes running off into the sunset yelling "it's a girl!", I want to let you know that at our last midwife appointment it was only in the 130's. And heart rates fluctuate depending on age of baby, etc. Also, the "using the heart rate to determine sex" wives tale is just that: it was disproven 20 years ago as an accurate method of determining sex.

As for me, I'm feeling fine, and have started to really show. I'm OBVIOUSLY pregnant now, even to strangers. I'm not as tired as I was a few months ago, and have a reasonably ok appetite (could be better). I have an aversion to pretty much all meat items, except ground beef and bacon. I'm loving fruits and vegetables, which is probably a good thing. And the smell of honey nut cheerios makes me gag-forget eating them!

Ben and I went on Friday night to Toys R Us and made up our baby registry. They have a huge baby section in the back corner of the store, and things are pretty reasonably priced. They had almost everything we'll need (their clothes selection is a little iffy). We put over 50 items on the registry list, with everything from washcloths to a rocking chair. For anyone who wants to know, our registry # is 40485155. You can go to the Toys R Us website and click the Baby Registry link and type in our # in order to see what we've put on it. Just a reminder, if you DO decide to buy something from it, PLEASE check the registry in-store before purchasing, and make sure the cashier knows that it's for our registry so he/she can remove it from our list. I'm unsure of their return policy without receipt, and we don't want to end up with needless duplicates (like the 3 coffee makers we got for wedding gifts!)

A notice to anyone planning on buying us diapers or wipes or any baby bath care (Johnson and Johnson), soothers, or any baby formula products---DON'T! We will be using cloth diapers and wipes. I plan on making my own wipe solution and baby bath products. Did you know that Johnson and Johnson products rate the HIGHEST in toxicity when it comes to carcinogenic ingredients? No thanks. As for soothers, we have a couple but plan on TRYING to avoid using them. I will be nursing so have no need for formula.

If you're curious about the type of cloth diaper we will be using, please go to the cheeky monkey website and search for cloth diapers. We will be using a couple different kinds, all in the "All-in-One" or "pocket diapers" section. Feel free to get us one or two of those, in any colour! We plan on using the ones that are one-size-fits-all type, so they will last from newborn to potty training size. Talk about economical! It may seem expensive ($24-28 each, which adds up to around $800), but when you figure it out, we'll need about 30 diapers for the whole time the baby will be diapered, compared to the approximately $2000 worth for disposables. In addition, we'll be able to re-use the diapers for another child, or sell them. Not to mention we will be RESPONSIBLY reducing the amount of diapers going to landfills-4 MILLION disposable diapers a DAY go to landfills in Canada. Talk about gross. Also, did you know that solid waste is supposed to be put into the toilet before throwing out disposable diapers? How many people do that? Not many, I'd think. So our landfills are full of untreated human waste. Tasty.