I felt it move last night! I sat up to get a drink of water and I sort of slouched over. The baby gave me a solid couple of nudges, as if to say "hey, sit up straight! give me some room in here!" So amazing... it's only the size of an apple and already is the boss of me.
(Notice my attempts to stay gender neutral. I can't wait to find out, but my midwife has still not gotten back to me about an ultrasound appointment in a couple of weeks).
It is so insane that I am already 15 weeks... in 5 weeks I will be HALFWAY THROUGH MY PREGNANCY. My sister was visiting for spring break last week, we made three bibs and a whole bunch of cloth wipes. My mom knitted a really nice brown, soft, wool hat. I told her to try and knit a couple of kitty ears to sew on the top (I know, it's pretty trendy, but probably the cutest trend of all time). My next project is to try and make a diaper cover. The only part I'm nervous about is the elastic, I have never used it in sewing before. As soon as I find out the sex I can start sewing clothing. I will try and get some photos up soon.
I've been trying to research attachment parenting groups in the area... it looks like they have pretty large memberships (100+ members) but scattered interest in monthly meetings. I keep hearing that my best bet is a La Leche League meeting, which is cool but I want to wait until I am a bit more pregnant before going to that. I'm really nervous that I will show up to the meeting place and find that my local chapter doesn't exist anymore. COME ON BREAST FEEDIN MOMMAS don't let me down.
The 14 month old I watch has a terrible cold. Her mom took her to the pediatrician and this woman totally man-handled her. I mean the poor baby is sick and scared, and she is being physically forced to go through the exam at top speed, crying and protesting the whole time. Her mom emailed me to ask if I knew of any attachment-parenting-friendly pediatricians in the area... I don't, of course, I haven't started my research in that area yet since all of my newborn care will be handled by my midwife. I'm going to send out the question to the homeschooler's list serv my mom is on, since a lot of those families are AP.
I have been thinking about names for the baby... I really like James Lucca and Clara Liffey but I don't want to look into the eyes of my baby and say "yikes, this is no Clara!". I want to have more options. Rosalind has always been my other girl's name, and our other boy's name is Rumi (apparently we are into L's and R's), but I want MORE choices! My friend Sam said her last baby was 6 months old before she finally named him (she wanted to name him Rowen but the dad hated the name, they finally settled on Owen). I kind of like the idea of giving it some time. But I also like the idea of being sure of my choice!!
YAY MOVEMENT!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had started going to LLL meetings earlier in my pregnancy because I feel like I would have had more time to make friends(although I HAVE made friends in the short time I've been going) and solidify my non-family breastfeeding support group.
Plus, if you're nervous about showing up to a LLL meeting to find that group doesn't exist anymore, and you go early, it'll give you time to find out if the next closest group still meets or not.
And sewing with elastic was intimidating to me the first time I used it. The thing you have to remember is to stretch it a LOT while you're sewing and to know your zig-zag stitch. I haven't sewn any covers besides fleece covers(they don't use elastic but the legs and waist cuffs use the general idea of stretching the fabric a little while sewing to get a stretchy cuff) so I don't have any tips one sewing elastic into covers, but sewing it into a diaper that has more than one layer is easy, especially if you just sew a casing where you want your elastic, put the end of the elastic onto a safety pin and close the pin, then thread the pin through the casing, pull it out the other end of the casing, sew the elastic down on that end back stitching to reinforce, then pull the other end a little to stretch it(not too much though or it won't stretch at all once you've sewn it down) and then tack that end down the same as the other. Cut excess elastic. It sounds complicated but isn't. I've found that's the easiest way to do elastic for diapers.
The pattern I have for a cover is two layers (terry cloth inside, fleece outside), and they make it look pretty easy in the instructions. I just don't want to make the whole darn diaper and then ruin it at that step. I guess I can take some scraps and practice a little first. I have made gathers before, which I think is a lot trickier.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't that sound a little bulky to you?? Terry cloth, fleece, and then the insert as well? The pattern also has instructions for an "all-in-one" but that seemed even MORE bulky because it called for FIVE LAYERS of terry cloth in the crotch area. There has got to be a better way. I'm thinking that an all-in-one will be the best option for ECing, since it comes off so quickly.
I think I will go ahead and attend the next LLL meeting, that's a good idea.
If it's the Rita's Rump Pocket pattern, don't worry, it's not going to be as bulky as you think. And it depends on what you use as your insert as well...and how many inserts you use. But cloth in general is gonna be more bulky than disposables. I'm just so used to the bulk that nothing really phases me anymore. lol
ReplyDeleteAnd let me tell you, based on a few terry cloth postpartum pads I made recently, you'll be surprised at how thin just 5 layers of terry is. My pads are like 8 layers thick: 6 terry & 2 flannel and they aren't thick at all. I was surprised by just how thin they were because I was expecting it to be THICK THICK THICK based on the thickness of the terry cloth I was using!
It's not Rita's, it's one my mom picked out from a fabric store.
ReplyDeleteIs there something more absorbent than terry to use? I just can't imagine a sewing machine handling that much bulk. The all-in-ones you buy at the store aren't that bulky, what material are they made of? Cotton?
Crap, I hadn't thought about postpartum stuff yet!!
If you're concerned about the sewing machine handling the bulk, you could always use hemp jersey. It's thin and hemp is EXTREMELY absorbent.
ReplyDeleteThe AIOs in stores, it depends. I have some AIOs that have microfiber(which is very absorbent but it's polyester so it's not a natural fiber fabric) as the core absorbent layers and I have some with cotton sherpa(which I LOVE; it is also very absorbent but is on the bulkier side but you could probably get away with a few less layers if you use cotton sherpa) as the absorbent layers and there are also hemp AIOs and cotton AIOs and bamboo AIOs.