Organically Growing

The offical blog of HappyGreenBaby.com

Go Cloth Diapers! March 31, 2009

Filed under: Eco-Friendly Diapering — happygreenbaby @ 5:39 pm

Our midwifery group gives the option for families to do our monthly/bi-monthly appointments in a group format called, Centering. Despite the occasionally slow-moving class, overall, it’s a pretty cool thing, because you spend 2 hours with a room full of other first-time parents who typically have the same questions/concerns/issues as me, so I feel slightly less crazy.

Last night, we were talking about diapers and it came out that 3 of the 9 couples in our group are planning to use “alternative” diapering! I’m the only one using BumGenius and going “full cloth” but two other couples were planning to use gDiapers. One woman even had the brilliant idea to use prefold diapers as the inserts in her gDiaper pants, instead of the flushable inserts you can buy. Ingenious! I love that idea! She said a preemie sized prefold diaper will fit perfectly in the size small gDiaper.

She is also going to be using cloth wipes … like us. I think it’s great progress in the world of cloth diapering to hear such stories!

For our cloth wipes, I’m using Bamboosa’s silky soft Bamboo Washcloths with the following mixture in my consignment store wipes warmer:

2 or 3 drops tea tree oil
1 TB Little Twig unscented baby wash
Water

Viola. Sweet-smelling, warm wipes that can be washed and refilled whenever I do diaper duty.

 

Off To a Wrong Start with The Right Start March 30, 2009

Filed under: Fitness, Green Nursery — happygreenbaby @ 5:06 pm

We’ve been wavering on whether or not to buy a stroller for the few months of baby’s life. I know we’ll want to have a stroller eventually, but Marc is all about the “baby wearing” movement (without even knowing it!). He wants to wear the Organic Ergo Carrier we got for Christmas, and I’m looking forward to putting him in the sling for easy breastfeeding in public. The stroller seems like more hassle that it would be worth at this point.

But then there are the Stroller Fit classes that I’m already counting the days until I can start going. And there’s the plan that Marc and I will run the Seattle Half Marathon in November … making a jogger-type stroller a necessity. So, I started shopping around. There aren’t many eco-friendly options of strollers. Baby Planet offers a line of strollers that benefit the Wildlife Conservation Society, and they have a really nice recycling program, but they didn’t have a one of the “all terrain” varieties that I was looking for. I opted to go with the Phil & Ted’s Sport Buggy.  At $450, it’s an investment for sure. But, it is one of the only strollers I’ve found that accommodates a second child with only buying a second seat. If we decide to give baby a sibling at some point, we wont’ have to buy an entirely different stroller. Plus, it’s one of the few jogger-type that accommodate a newborn without a car seat adapter.

I happened to find one of the highly coveted Phil & Ted’s on sale at TheRightStart.com on sale for $385. I decided to pull the trigger. Then immediately had buyer’s remorse. I placed the order last Thursday evening. I called the customer service line at The Right Start Friday morning. No one answered. There was no option to leave a message. I called back every hour for the entire day – same story. I emailed customer service to ask that my order be cancelled. No response. I emailed again.

On Monday I received a shipping confirmation. I tried to call again. And again. I emailed again. And again. 4 days and not a single ounce of customer service was extended to me. When I finally did hear back from customer service, via email, in response to my cancellation request they said, “I’m sorry we were unable to cancel your order.” End of story. No, “we apologize … we’ll recall the shipment” … nothing. It also turns out that I was charged $35 in sales tax, because there was a store in Seattle … which has since been closed. When I told the customer service rep about this, she simply stated that she would not refund the sales tax. Even though they do not have a presence in my state anymore, they are still going to steal sales tax from me. Super.

I exchanged a couple more emails with the customer service representative over the next two days about how disappointed I was with their service. The response? We are going through layoffs, and I’m the only customer service person so there will be delays in my responses. Still, no apology, no offers to remedy the situation … nothing.

I spent over $425 with this company and they couldn’t even bear to be friendly to me. I am tempted to refuse the UPS shipment today and send it back … but given the crappy service I have already received, I’m not sure they would refund my money! There is a reason The Right Start is laying people off … they obviously do not value customer service or providing people with a valuable shopping experience. I’m not one to rant and rave about poor shopping experiences, but this one was exceptionally bad and I would HIGHLY suggest that no one try to order online from this company … they are not equipped to do a good job or serve your needs.

 

Labor Motivation March 28, 2009

Filed under: Natural Labor & Delivery — happygreenbaby @ 10:23 pm

Several years ago, I went on an all-women’s cycling retreat in Napa with a group called Women’s Quest. I thought I was going to spend the week drinking wine and cruising through the countryside … which we did, but we also faced incredible physical and mental challenges – cycling some of the toughest terrain I have ever encountered (even since!). I met a lot of wonderful women on the trip, many of whom I stay in touch with today, and learned a lot about how much I can accomplish.

One of the motivation techniques we learned to use at the camp is simply saying “yes.” Many of us had the word taped to our bike handlebars, so when the hill was too steep and all we could do was drop our heads and crank on – that’s what we saw. A simple, but powerful reminder that yes … you can do it!

With this in mind, I asked my 6-year old neice Maddy to make a sign for me to post in the labor room. A reminder that I have the strength to do this, and the love of my family supporting me, even though they are far away. Here’s what she made:

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Sleepless in Seattle March 27, 2009

Filed under: organic pregnancy — happygreenbaby @ 10:11 pm

One thing I have not had an issue with in the last 9 months is sleeping through the night. Sure, I’ve had my share of restless hours here and there, thinking about work and the incredible baby growing inside my belly … but I haven’t fallen victim to the pains, trouble breathing and involved pillow arrangements in order to get comfortable each night.

That is, until the last few weeks, when my bladder (and baby’s fists against the bladder) has started to show me what it’s going to be like to be waking up every 2 hours with a newborn. Up and down … every time I roll over (which is more like heaving myself over at this point), I wake every so slightly to realize that I have to go to the bathroom. Again.

The good news is that I’m having no problem falling back to sleep after the bathroom break, and Marc appears to go un-stirred. Here’s hoping it goes so smoothly with late night feedings and diaper changes!

 

The Diaper Drawer March 26, 2009

Filed under: Eco-Friendly Diapering, Green Nursery — happygreenbaby @ 10:11 pm

I just had to share because Marc’s enthusiasm for my recent reorganization of the cloth diaper drawer was, shall we say … lacking the luster I would have hoped for.

All our cloth diapers are stuffed with their inserts and have a Tushies flushable liner neatly laid in the middle. Bamboosa Bamboo washcloths are folded up alongside additional liners and inserts.

I give the drawer a week after the baby is born before it turns into complete disarray.

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Our Green Diapering Decision(s) March 24, 2009

Filed under: Eco-Friendly Diapering — happygreenbaby @ 8:09 pm

One topic I have yet to really post about is the diaper dilemma. That is not to say I haven’t spent a considerable amount of time researching, ordering various products from websites and pinging friends for their opinions. HappyGreenBaby.com’s has a good Getting Started section on Cloth Diapering 101. Here’s what we’ve decided to go with:

It’s probably a no-brainer that we’re going the cloth diapering route. I know a lot of my friends/family/birthing classmates are probably balking at this decision right now. But, I think the vast majority of people just aren’t educated on modern cloth diapering (no more pins, prefolds or toxic diaper services). Or, maybe I’m being naive, but I think if we start with cloth diapers and don’t know any different, we’ll be good to go.

So, I’ve stocked the top drawer of our changing table with several styles of cloth diapers to get us started experimenting with what is going to work best for our baby and our lifestyle.

  • Bum Genius All-In-One (AIO) Diapers x 10, Size Small
    The AIO style is incredibly similar to a regular disposable diaper, with the absorbent cotton insert sewn right into the diaper. It also has a pocket to layer in an extra liner for over nights. I’ve noticed already in pre-washing that these take a bit of time to dry.
  • Bum Genius One-Size Pocket Diaper x 5
    These seem to be a bit bulkier than the size Small AIO, but the adjustable sizing means they’ll be good for “in between” stages when I have to order a new size of the AIO. Pocket styling means I can layer in thicker absorbent pads when I need to. And they wash/dry a lot faster if we get in a pinch
  • Variety of other pocket diapers from SwaddleBees & Happy Heinys x 5
    Same general styles at the Bum Genius, but just wanted to try out some different fits.
  • gDiapers x 4 size Small
    These are a “hybrid” type of diaper with a washable cover and flushable/compostable liner. I thought these would be good for times when we’re heading out to dinner, traveling or whatever. I can see needing to pick up a few more covers, but started small just to make sure we like the way they perform. We can put the pee diapers in our Yard Waste composting trash, which is pretty cool.

Right now we have a total of 24 diapers, which means doing laundry every other day – which is pretty good! Most manufacturers recommend washing cloth diapers every other day to ensure they don’t get stained or stinky.

I will also say that I have laid in a supply of Newborn sized Earth’s Best and Seventh Generation “green” disposable diapers for the few couple weeks. I am a little worried that the cloth diapers will be too big to accommodate his umbilical “stump” right away … and we’ll also be dealing with circumcision healing stuff … so the disposables might be easier to use in the beginning days.

Bum Genius One Size Pocket Diaper

Bum Genius One Size Pocket Diaper

 

Full Term Tuesday! March 24, 2009

Filed under: Uncategorized — happygreenbaby @ 1:56 pm

My 37th week starts today!

For anyone not familiar with the “week” system of counting fetal development (took me about 6 months to get used to it) that means this baby boy is considered “full term” and would be happily delivered by our midwives whenever he wants to come now. While it’s still 3 weeks until my “official” due date, he is fully developed and good to go.

Now the waiting starts.

 

More On Organic Crib Bedding March 23, 2009

Filed under: Eco-Friendly Fabrics, Green Nursery — happygreenbaby @ 9:30 am

After many (many) weeks of research, we opted for the Naturpedic 2 in 1 Organic Cotton Crib Mattress, and dressed the crib in Pixel Organics’ Organic Cotton Lions, Tigers & Kitties crib set … but that’s not all I wound up buying for our green crib set-up.

Because we decided to invest so heavily in the mattress, I wanted to be confident that this little beauty was going to last for years to come – which means I invested, also, in an organic cotton flannel mattress protector: basically a thick, absorbent fitted crib sheet that protects the mattress from dust, dirt, mites and leaky diapers. In my frenzy, I also picked up an organic merino wool puddle pad, which is a flat sheet of highly water-resistant wool that (theoretically) goes between the crib sheet and mattress protector.

After I got the mattress protector and crib sheet on the mattress and squeezed it down into place in the crib, I decided perhaps the puddle pad was over-kill. Probably could have gone with either the protector or the puddle pad.

But, that doesn’t mean the organic wool puddle pad is going to waste away in a drawer! There are a lot of great uses for this:

  1. Cover for changing table
  2. Blanket for indoor/outdoor adventuring/changing
  3. Can use it for mattress protection while fitted protector is in the wash
  4. Adult mattress protection

Let me clarify on #4 here: No, Marc isn’t a bed wetter … but as we get closer to delivery date, the more paranoid I’m getting about my water breaking in public. Many books say that if you’re water breaks while you’re laying down, it “gushes” more … making for a bit of a mess if I’m in bed! So, I figure why not employ the  use of the puddle pad to protect our sweet memory foam bed in the meantime?

 

I love my belly March 22, 2009

Filed under: Pregnancy Belly Pictures — happygreenbaby @ 12:00 am

It’s big, it’s nearly perfectly round and it sometimes gets in the way when I’m trying to pass by people’s chairs in a crowded restaurant, but I love this belly. I’m going to really miss it when baby boy is born in 3 weeks (give or take).

36. 1/2 week belly

36. 1/2 week belly

 

A 9-Month Pregnant Woman Should Not Be … March 20, 2009

Filed under: organic pregnancy — happygreenbaby @ 7:38 pm

Getting a new photograph taken for her driver’s license.

The DMV is just no good at capturing that “pregnancy glow”