Why Cloth Diapers

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Lately I have been feeling the pressure to explain our decision to cloth diaper and I figured why not just blog about it? Please hear me when I say this isn't a post about why YOU SHOULD cloth diaper but more why we have chosen this as a family.

Some of the comments we have received lately are listed below with my responses. A lot of the reactions I have received are pure curiosity or well meaning concern for my time and energy, but some border on judgement. While I have a lot of friends who cloth diaper all but one of them live somewhere besides Belton, 'Merica so I can understand the curiosity and disbelief that we would be attempting to take on such a "monumental task" as one person put it.

"You're going to have a diaper service right? It's so much extra work"

• No, that actually negates the entire cost saving reason for doing cloth diapers. I'll just wash them at home. I'm already going to be doing laundry what is one more load? I have a feeling I won't be sleeping much anyways.

"What do you do with the poop??"

• Their poop won't be anything but sour milk for awhile, so we will wash it, and then when it's not just the sour milk I will either rinse it in the sink or flush it down the toilet. I have recently discovered they make flushable liners too which I will definitely be using. When this question is asked in combination with a disgusted face I have to restrain myself from asking "What do you do with your poop?"

"Ew.... you're going to put poop in your washing machine??" 

• See above. Also, how is this any different than when a child has a blow out and you soak their clothing in the sink or just wash it in the washing machine... that is poop in the machine, is it not?

"What about when you go out in public?"

• They make these neat things called wet bags that you can put the cloth diapers in until you get home to put them in the washer. Seriously, I think they are really cool. It's like a portable diaper genie. The best way I can relate it to disposable diapers is it's about the same as when a kid in disposable diapers soils themselves and you have to put their clothes in a plastic grocery bag, except these are designed specifically to keep the moisture and the smell in, and I would be using it daily instead of on occasion.

"Can you not afford regular diapers?" 

• I'm actually not even sure how to approach this one, and it's more common than you might think. We made the choice for me to stay home this next year which obviously makes money tight, and we most certainly could afford regular diapers, but why would we do that when it's an easy way to cut money out of our budget and use it for something else, like the occasional date night or gas money to go see the grandparents :) 

So.... WHY are WE choosing to do this extra work?

IT SAVES SO MUCH MONEY... This is our number one reason for doing cloth diapers. After doing all the research, for us it just seemed like the best decision. With twins on the way and switching from two incomes to one, money will be tight. Cloth diapering will allow us to save anywhere between $5,000 and $7,000 over the next two years. While that seems like a large margin it really just depends on brand of diaper, length of time in diapers, and number of succeeding children. One of the best things about cloth diapers is that I can reuse them with future kids, or resell them for about 50% of the original cost. In fact I have built our initial diaper "stash" for $180. I also recently discovered I can make my own cloth diapers which cuts down on the cost of cloth diapers saving us more money. Just to give you an idea, I can make diapers for anywhere between $5-7 that retail for $15-20. So in summary, this really just seemed like an easy way to cut our already tight budget. If you don't believe me... check out the cloth diaper calculator (there are plenty out there I just found this one easy to customize and fill in). This guy also has a really great post on the cost saving glory of using cloth versus disposable.

It's good for the environment... honestly this factor is more of a perk than a reason for us. We don't recycle, we occasionally compost, and I wouldn't claim to be the "greenest" house on the block. Yes, with cloth diapers you do use more water, but when I'm already running 3-4 loads per week, adding one more doesn't compare to putting 2x as many diapers into landfills. I have done the math, and with two newborns we would go through about 24 diapers per day changing every two hours, and that's not counting the occasional blow out.

**side note: I would love to recycle but since we technically live in the county and not city limits there currently is not a service for recycling that picks up at our address, as for compost I chalk that up to my laziness. I have yet to find a way to compost that doesn't bring a million fruit flies into the house or require me walking to the back corner of the yard every time I want to dump it. I'm open to suggestions on all fronts, as I would love to do more of both.

Cloth diapers are good for the baby... I have a lot of friends who cloth diaper and they were helpful in providing me with good reasons to cloth diaper. One of them being their testimonials on how great they held in leaks and blow outs. I started researching cloth diapers to present the idea to my husband and I kept finding testimonials on how great they were for babies' skin. Less rashes, less blow outs, natural materials/fibers, the list goes on. I think disposables are perfectly safe, and I am not against using them chemicals and all, but less rashes and less blowouts sounded pretty good to me.


LAST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY It's our choice... Just like anything else with parenting, it's a personal choice. I'm not a granola mom or into new age parenting, BUT I'm not going to judge people who are. I don't plan on putting my children on an all organic diet or preventing them from having fast food or sugar until they are teenagers, but I would like to be able to afford to put them through college and if we can benefit baby and bank account at the same time, it sounds like a win/win to me!

What about you? Any parenting choice you made early on that you felt like you had to defend or justify?

Second Trimester Recap

For those of you who unfamiliar with the trimester breakdown - don't be ashamed I just googled it myself - 0-13 weeks is the first, 14-26 is the second and 27 - DELIVERY is the the third. I also keep hearing about this elusive 4th trimester aka the after child birth mess that is your postpartum body... however, I refuse to dive further into that until it gets here, call it denial if you want, I call it ignorant bliss.

I understand now why some people refer to the second trimester as the golden period, but I prefer to call it "the calm before the storm..." Overall my second trimester has been pretty easy. My bump turned into a belly pretty quickly, and even though some of the third trimester symptoms started sneaking in around week 23 for the most part I have felt pretty great. I wouldn't say my energy ever really came back but I learned to function on less than 5 hours of sleep (which I assume will come in handy later) and I've gotten used to my nightly restroom breaks.

Symptoms: heartburn, kankles, the return of morning nausea, and nightly leg cramps. The first leg cramp I actually woke up screaming, but I have since taken a less dramatic approach. In fact I've become such a pro at flexing my foot I don't even have to get out of bed to stretch the cramp. Still no stretch marks, but I feel them coming.

 Cravings: chocolate milkshakes, ice cream, candy, fruit and really anything sweet. This is big for me since I am not normally a sweet eater. I may or may not have inhaled a cupcake in two bites at a teacher appreciation softball game. Surprisingly I passed my first glucose test but will have to take another one in a few weeks. 

Aversions: Pickles, Raw Meat, anything with a really strong odor

Things I miss: Margaritas & cold beer, standing up without help, bending over, seeing my toes.

Special happenings: My second pregnant ER visit when I contracted whatever 24 hour bug was going around the school. Let's just say vomiting and pregnant not fun. Especially when you can't really get up and down off the floor on your own. Selling our boat and paying down some debt so I can stay home next year.

All of the doctor appointments in the 2nd trimester were fairly routine - I love getting to see the boys every time we go. I will definitely be going through sonogram withdrawals with my next pregnancy.  

I have to say the coolest thing about the second trimester is feeling the babies move. They have become so active and in just a matter of weeks the movement went from faint flutters to full blown kicks and flips. The best way I can describe the feeling is that it's like having fish swimming around in your belly. 

Below is a progression of belly pics - I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself only missing one week. Sorry week 23, I was having too much fun in Colorado to take bump pics.

14 Weeks

 

Still sleeping on the couch for this week, pretty hard to get comfortable anywhere else.  Also first sonogram with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist where we learned the boys were Di, Di.

15 Weeks

16 Weeks

17 Weeks

Busy week for mama, wrapping up the swim season with Regionals in Rockwall. 1st stay in a hotel while pregnant... not going to lie, best nights sleep of the entire pregnancy.

18 Weeks

 

Switching over to maternity clothes full time this week, lots of flutters from the babies.

19 Weeks 

Gender Reveal party where we found out we are having two BOYS - photo from the target dressing room trying to pick out a new dress.

20 weeks

 Date night to celebrate selling the boat and paying off most of our debt! WHOOP!

21 Weeks

22 Weeks

 

Texas weather decided to be indecisive, and freezing! Back to maternity sweaters. This was also taken a few days before the dreaded stomach bug hit!

 24 Weeks

 

Favorite non-maternity dress - going back to school after a not long enough Spring Break

25 Weeks

26 Weeks

The boys definitely had a growth spurt between week 25 & 26! 

I feel like they double in size every week.

Pregnancy Confirmation

After discovering my pregnancy via an at home test my doctor mentioned that I would need to have my pregnancy confirmed and bring that information to my first appointment. Their suggestion was to  head over to the local pregnancy center to get a clinical confirmation. Before you start asking why I didn't just go to my regular doctor, I didn't have one and my really awesome OBGYN didn't feel like they could squeeze me in. So, I called our local pregnancy center and headed over one day during my conference period.

Now, let me start by telling you I had very few expectations going into this. I had heard of places like Hope Pregnancy Center over the years. Always volunteer opportunities through my youth group etc. What I did not realize was that I was walking into the Christian version of planned parenthood. Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing place that I fully support, but I felt guilty for using their free service when I could have easily gone to a regular doctor and paid for my visit.

I began to feel awkward when filling out my welcome form but I just kept telling myself, you'll be in and out in no time just pee on the stick and have them sign on the dotted line. WRONG. I could tell by the form you fill out that this center caters to a certain demographic and I was not their usual customer for multiple reasons. 

After I turned in my form, I met with a counselor, a very sweet woman, who asked me lots of personal questions and was surprised to have someone in her office who was excited about their pregnancy. In fact because I often don't pick up on social cues and I joked about how it must be a new thing for them to have someone who is actually excited about being pregnant. She did not find that funny... I have to admit though, the counseling part of my visit was not as awkward as I anticipated, the counselor prayed with me and shared her struggles with infertility, and asked that God bring me peace no matter the result of the test. I felt extremely supported and loved by this stranger and for that I give Hope Pregnancy 5 stars. If I was experiencing an unwanted pregnancy I would have wanted to visit with her. 

The actual confirmation was the most awkward part of my visit, if you have ever taken a clinical pregnancy test, you know that you actually have to use a dropper to put your urine from the cup into the reader thingy... I'm obviously using all the correct terminology here. Let me just say, it's weird enough to be doing a pseudo science experiment with your pee, but to have someone you met 5 minutes ago staring at you while you do it? Not something I'd like to repeat in the future.

After what felt like the longest 30 seconds of my life, the test confirmed I was indeed pregnant! I squealed and hugged the counselor, although judging by her stiff reaction I'm not sure she was expecting that, nor was it protocol. 

The counselor then took me on a tour of their center, including a room where new moms can come and "shop" for what they need for their baby. She gave me the information on parenting classes etc, and handed me a blanket from Project Linus, a charity that donates blankets to children in need (for more info on that charity click the link above). I almost didn't want to take the free blanket - again the guilt complex - but I thought, I can just pass it on to someone in need, and like I mentioned before this was the sweetest woman and I didn't want to offend her by refusing the clinic's generosity.  After leaving with my folder of information and a happy heart I decided I would be doing two things, getting a regular physician and looking into volunteering at the center in the future.
If you want more information on donating to or volunteering for Hope Pregnancy Centers you can visit their website here. 

Gender Reveal

(more pictures and video below)

If you have been keeping up with the blog you know we are welcoming two baby boys this summer. I was originally very opposed to finding out gender and I would be the last person you would expect to have a gender reveal party. Our friends Will and Michelle called dibs on hosting the gender reveal if I changed my mind but I assured them that wouldn't be happening.

THAT BEING SAID - I totally caved on all fronts. You might think I gave in to the massive amount of peer pressure but it really wasn't anyone who convinced me to find out gender or have a party. It was that first ultrasound around 14 weeks when I saw the sweet little faces of our babies on the big screen - they weren't gummy bears anymore but tiny little humans. Ben wasn't even at this appointment just me and the doctor. Something clicked when I saw them and I just had to know. I met Ben for lunch afterward and before we could even sit down I blurted out that I wanted to know what we were having. Once he recovered from shock, Ben was overjoyed that I changed my mind since he was not on board with the "not finding out" plan from the start. Once we decided to find out, we needed to decide how. Finding out in the hospital room just didn't seem that exciting or fun to either one of us. We already got to experience the sweet surprise of having twins, just the two of us at the hospital alone, and we wanted to be able to share the gender reveal with our family and close friends. It seemed pretty improbable to gather family and friends in the ultrasound room so we decided to take the Lynch family up on their generous offer. 

I have to say - I have only attended one of these parties that wasn't mine and at both parties I have been so touched by how sweet that moment is when you find out. It is so nice to share in such a special moment with close friends and family. So if you are on the fence, I highly recommend the gender reveal party. It takes something that is normally announced via social media and brings it back to a personal and intimate level.

To say I was surprised by the reveal would be an understatement. Complete shock is more like it - I never thought in a million years we would be having two boys and I could not be happier. 

Thank you Will & Michelle for hosting such an amazing party, thank you Heather for all the great pictures and thank you to everyone who was able to share this special day with us - especially those on face time!

Will's mom actually makes these cookies... they are AH-mazing

Me and the littlest Lynch

The girls

Going on 11 years of friendship with these two!

College Roomie <3 p="">

Hilary!

 About to open the boxes...

Told you, complete shock and joy!

The Burnett Family

The Worrell Family

You can watch the whole thing below, we were lucky to have this video to share with out of town family and those who couldn't join in face time. Our boys will be so loved and I cannot wait for them to meet their amazing family!

Life REALLY Changes Part Two

Part one of this story is here.

Fast forward from the Urgent Care restroom to the Scott & White Emergency Room. This is the last place on earth I want to be 8 weeks pregnant on a Friday night but yet here we are, waiting in a room full of sick people at the height of flu season.

We arrived at the ER around 7:00 and were led to a little room to "check in" the woman taking my vitals was very reassuring that I should not be worried and that everything was probably fine. This did nothing to ease my fear. We were finally called at 10:30 to head back. Longest 3 and half hours of my life. Luckily the waiting room of an ER provides an endless amount of people watching and hilarity so we were entertained. There really should be a reality show about ER waiting rooms I think it would be a hit.

Once we were in the room I was able to relax a little bit more and at least lay down for awhile. Two doctors came in with an ultrasound machine and they were both about Ben's age so that made it a little more enjoyable as they were joking around with us and talking college football. I still find it very surreal when I go to any doctor or hospital and the people walking around are my age or younger. Anyways, they had me describe my fall and I swear they were both holding back laughter (who can blame them... people at school still make sure to tell me if there is a wet floor anywhere within a 50 ft radius of me).

After my saga they had me lie down and the Doctor began observing the resident doing the ultrasound. I could not see the screen but Ben could all I could see was the reaction of their faces as they scanned my belly.  I swear that minute they were checking felt like an hour and then I heard the most amazing words "We have a heartbeat... oh a strong one at that!" cue huge sigh of relief and lots of relieved laughter at all my worry. 

After finding the heartbeat the doctor instructed the resident to check the other side of my belly for a more complete view and then all of a sudden silence. Keep in mind, I still cannot see the ultrasound machine so I have no idea why there is silence. Again felt like an hour until someone, me, finally spoke and said "Um, guys, why is it so quiet? did we celebrate too early? I thought heartbeat meant all is good? Don't tell me that fall actually caused damage... pregnant lady here, can't see the screen..." The doctor took a minute to wipe the shock of his face and responded and this conversation followed:

Dr: "Um yeah, all is good, definitely no need to um, worry, but how much time do y'all have this evening?" 

Me: "Evening? It's 10:45 on a Friday night, any plans we had are long gone... is everything okay?"

Dr: "Yeah I just think maybe we need to to do an internal ultrasound,  I mean I'm not a baby doctor or anything but... um..." cue very long pause...

Me: "Don't tell me there's more than one of them in there or something..."

Dr: "Yeah, well like I said... I mean I'm not a baby doctor but how do you feel about twins??"

Ben (who had been literally silent and staring in disbelief at the machine) exclaimed: "I KNEW THAT IS WHAT I WAS SEEING?"

Me: "What the??? Can I please look at the machine??"

Finally they turned the ultrasound machine so I could see our little gummy bears (I swear all babies look like gummy bears until at least 14 weeks) and low and behold two little babies. There they were. We couldn't contain our laughter at this point. How did we go from "You may have some trouble conceiving...." to "I'm pregnant!" to "We're having twins!"  The doctor did caution us that we shouldn't get too excited and buy a new house or anything because and I quote, "There is still time for one of them to eat the other one." I can't make this stuff up.

Luckily we did not have to go up to the maternity floor and wait for an internal ultrasound because they were able to find both heartbeats and measure each baby. Not a baby doctor reassured us that even though this isn't his regular gig he felt confident that there were two healthy babies growing inside.

After a quick discharge we headed to the car and sat in silence until we got to the Wendy's drive-thru. This was followed by more laughter and more "How on earth....?"  It's so hard to describe in words the emotions I felt in that moment when I found out there were two babies growing inside me. I think I went from shock to joy and back about 20 times and fear that was definitely present. Needless to say, as soon as we got home my entire pinterest board changed and I immediately switched into twin mom mode.

To say we are blessed is an understatement. I am so grateful that we did not have to go through what so many couples do to conceive and that up to this point we have had a happy and healthy pregnancy. Our prayers have been answered ten fold and I know God has something special in store for our little ones. And yes there are still two - no cannibals in the Burnett family.

Unfortunately the machine at the ER was unable to print a picture of the little gummy bears but a week later at our regular OB appointment we were sent home with this little memento. Twin A on the right has always been very active and Twin B on the left still to this day remains in the fetal position kicking and moving only when bothered.

Life REALLY Changes Part One

November 2nd changed our family of 2 forever - You can read more about that here.

But the first week of December ... that changed our family of 2 in even more ways than we could imagine. It started a rainy Thursday at work. I had a parent meeting that I was definitely not looking forward to which would eventually end with me in a puddle of hormonal tears.  The funny thing about early pregnancy is you have all these symptoms but can't really explain your crazy to anyone until you hit the safe zone of 12 weeks. The collective "I knew it!" from my students when we finally announced our news was hilarious, turns out I wasn't as good at hiding it as I thought.

So back to December, I had to take the long way to the office that day because my normal route was blocked off. This meant walking through the student breezeway and unfortunately on rainy days these areas get a lot of foot traffic from wet shoes.  Seeing as how I already have no balance or coordination it makes perfect sense that I would try to hop over the wet spots the custodians were mopping on the floor in said breezeway. Okay maybe it doesn't make sense but at the time it seemed the quickest way to get through the mine field of puddles and slippery floor. WRONG - after about two successful hops and one "BE careful!" from the custodian my foot went out from under me and I landed smack on my left side hip/shoulder.

Both custodians rushed to my aide and one screamed "OH NO SHE'S PREGNANT" - keep in mind I had not really told anyone at work besides my immediate supervisors and a few close friends of our news so how she knew I will never know but after that the secret was pretty much out. So much for waiting until 12 weeks. This same sweet custodian still monitors where I walk to this day.

I shook it off not thinking much of it - I was only 8 weeks pregnant and there shouldn't be any reason to worry right? I headed to my parent meeting trying to regain my composure on the way and hide my limp from the gigantic bruise I could already feel forming on my left hip. The parent meeting went well and I left feeling much more confident than before, but still limping.

The next day a very well meaning member of our faculty found me in the counselor's office and insisted that I fill out a workman's comp claim and get checked out for my fall (in case you were wondering news travels pretty quick in the halls of a high school). As someone who is used to falling, walking into desks, tripping over air etc... I didn't really think anything of it but considering my "condition" I figured it couldn't hurt to get checked out and maybe even get an early sonogram!

I filled out the paperwork for my "incident" that afternoon and headed to urgent care after work. I was relieved to see no line at all because we were expecting a few friends for dinner that evening, however when I got to the counter as soon as I mentioned "pregnant" the woman held up her hands. "We can't see you here" she said very matter of fact. Eventually after many questions and a heightened sense of fear on my part, she and the doctor explained that all pregnant falls have to go to the ER and have an ultrasound to verify the health of the fetus. As excited as I was about the ultrasound (we had yet to see the baby or hear a heartbeat) the thought of the ER terrified me. That just sounded way more serious than I could handle.

I asked to use their bathroom and then immediately called Ben. I also called our friends and cancelled dinner, then had a good 2 minute cry/prayer session in preparation for our visit to the emergency room - all before leaving the urgent care bathroom. I'm not sure why I was so dramatic... maybe it was all the internet reading I had done (new mom tip: DO NOT google anything. EVER.) but I was a complete nervous wreck about the whole thing. Up until they mentioned the emergency room I had been very calm about the whole "falling while pregnant" situation but now it seemed real - I mean if the nurse at the urgent care thought it was serious, shouldn't I?

Best. News. Ever.

The day was November 2nd. Ben had a soccer game and I chose to sleep in while avoiding all and I mean ALL responsibilities.  This was my first real break from coaching and grading in over a month so therefore I prescribed myself a long day of rest and catching up on my DVR.

On this seemingly normal Sunday I realized I was missing a very important monthly visitor.  Given that October is THE most stressful month of my year I didn't think much of the absence. I walked/ran to the bathroom, only to discover that I was out of tests. I COULD have waited for Ben to return from his important day of corralling small children on the soccer field but I decided against being lazy and going to the store myself.

I begrudgingly changed out of my lounge wear and headed to HEB, with a pit stop at Starbucks for my first peppermint mocha of the season. The red cups were back and I planned to have one in hand before taking my 11th negative pregnancy test of a very long year.

I called Ben on the way to the store and he made me promise not to lock myself in the bathroom to take the test (as I was accustomed to doing) and to wait until he got home so we could read the results together. Luckily for him the line at Starbucks was long so he actually beat me home.

I kid you not, I waited 28 minutes for that peppermint and it was worth it. By the time I made it to HEB and bought no less than 8 tests - Ben met me at home. I took the test handed it off to Ben to wait for the results. While the test counted down, I decided to busy myself cleaning the kitchen.

Shock and disbelief do not even begin to describe how I felt when I looked at that test. I actually thought the chances of the test being defective were higher than it being correct. I kept asking Ben "Why doesn't it say Not it's supposed to say NOT pregnant." Needless to say I took about 4 more of those test that day.

I'm not even sure how to describe the wave of emotion that came over me at that moment. I felt shocked, excited and terrified all at the same time. Shocked that just two weeks before this we were being told by my doctor it may be awhile before this moment ever happened and now to be here staring at the "pregnant". Excited because this dream we had was coming true and so many prayers were being answered. Terrified because well, our little life as we knew it was about to change, and you may not know this about me but change is not my favorite thing. Little did we know... this was only the beginning of the shock, joy and fear.