Finally the day came when little Seb arrived into the world. I really know now that you cannot be prepared 100% for labour and in the end you just have to go with it. I can say for sure that it wasn't what I expected even though I was sure I had the right tools to use to help distract me from the pain – in the end those tools were almost irrelevant. Thank goodness for my support team my fantastic partner and my wonderful mum, without them I would not have lasted as long as I did – it was a life changing event that is for sure.
So now the real adventure starts and I have begun to explore the different options in nappies in the first few days of Seb's life. I took to the hospital the disposable nappies I had purchased awhile ago from an eco shop. They are the bamboo brand which I found out later from Kim at Chris's dial a nappy that they are no better than a standard nappy in the sense of being more environmentally friendly as they generally have the same amount of non-biodegradable material in them as a standard nappy. But I thought “I have them I may as well use them”. The hospital used cloth nappies but they were different from the ones I had purchased. They were thinner and not terry toweling material. When folded in the kite fold they fitted nicely around my baby and over the top the hospital would use plastic snibs.
When I got home I started to use the cloth nappies I had. I found that the terry toweling nappies are quite bulky and hard to use with the baby beehind pants that I had purchased. So I am now using the terry toweling nappies with the pilchers I purchased from Big W. They work pretty well except that they make my child look like a frozen chicken from the waste down as they are so bulky!
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| The Kite Fold |
The microfiber nappies that I purchased are a little difficult to fold into the kite fold as they are not square but a rectangle. I am folding them in the kite fold and they are a little out of shape but they are better to use with the baby beehind pants as they are more compact. Either way I use the nappies I am finding that they hold a lot of moisture close to Seb's body and so at night he goes for longer periods with a wet nappy next to his bottom increasing the risk of nappy rash, which thankfully I haven't experienced so far.
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| The Kite Fold |
One thing that I didn't count on was how I would feel after giving birth and I have to say that this is probably the biggest obstacle to using cloth nappies. I did heaps of reading about the birth and birthing skills to be prepared on the day but I neglected to read up about how I would feel after the birth. Some of the midwives at the hospital would mention certain things like “you may feel feverish when your milk comes in”. Well can I just say that this was a major understatement! My milk coming in felt like I had been hit by a truck!
Feeling pretty sore and recovering from the marathon of birth with a million hormones racing around my body I was faced with breast feeding and nappy changing every 2 to 3 hours. Thank god for my mum! In the first week and a half she has soaked and washed every nappy that Sebastian used. She fed us and cleaned for us and I could just focus on sleep and feeding. My house is immaculate and I'm a little worried that it will deteriorate into a chaotic mess when she leaves. But at least she has given me the time to explore and use cloth nappies the way I wanted to and not only that she has done all the washing with grace and ease. I am forever eternally grateful to her!
So today I have ordered 2 weehugger nappy pants with 40 biodegradable inserts. Over the last week I have almost used all the disposable bamboo nappies that I purchased and the Eenee compostable disposable nappy sample pack that I also purchased a while ago. The Eenees are great! They work just like a normal disposable nappy and using the velcro belt that comes with them to do them up isn't too difficult. If I could start again from Seb's birth I would definitely use the disposable compostable Eenee nappies while I was recovering from birth. You really need a stress free option at this stage and disposables really are the way to go. However saying that I haven't used the nappy pants with the disposable inserts yet so they could be just as good. I will let you know in my next post how I get along with them.
As I have only used 4 compostable disposable nappies I have put these into my compost to degrade. The ammonia in the wee should help break them down and activate my compost a bit more.
Anyway I must dash, little Seb is waking up ready for his next meal...
Eco mum :)
What a great start to the new life you have created :) Your mum must of been a angel. Re your cloth nappy choices - I found the only ones that worked for me where purchased from Myer. I actually still have one, that I use for a clean cloth, and this is going back 18 years. I believe it was the driglow brand. Good luck and give your new boy and hug from all of us.
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