Friday, January 31, 2014
Cloth Diapering
I've finally decided to make the switch to cloth. It's been a long hard decision for me. I've had the desire to do it for about 3 years, but had some speed bumps along the way. I started trying to cloth diaper when Derek was born. I bought some at Costco and thought I would give it a try, it was a bust. They leaked and after a week or 2, the elastic started breaking down on me. I gave up and decided I needed to do a lot more research before I tried it again. I talked to a lot of moms that used cloth. I searched a lot of blogs, but I didn't do much about it until a few months ago Derek started getting horrible diaper rashes. Huggies changed their diapers to Huggies Plus and he was just having some terrible reactions to those diapers. I changed brands and it got better for a while, but we were still struggling with it. We still are actually. I decided to order a couple of BumGenius 4.0 diapers to try. I don't have a lot of money and spending $17 ea was hard to swallow. But the good news was that I liked them! I took the next few months to use up the diapers I already had stocked and save some more money before ordering some more. I've now had Derek in cloth for a solid week and he's doing great. His rash is healing up and he is more aware of when he's wet, so I'm hoping this will encourage him to get potty trained. I'm not rushing him on that one. I definitely learned my lesson with Jacob in that department, so we're taking potty training easy. Not to mention I have a newborn so potty training is pretty low on my priority list. I'm planning to switch Ellie to cloth as well. I'm really happy that El and Derek can both were the same diapers, that's awesome. I'm just waiting for her to get a little bit bigger. Maybe a few weeks, we'll see. I had my dad install a diaper sprayer on the toilet yesterday, but I haven't had a chance to try it out. I expect it will make poopy diapers a lot easier. So far so good!
Christmas 2013
We had a nice quiet Christmas this year. Obviously with a 10 day old baby, we weren't in the mood for a crazy Christmas. My mom was here Christmas Eve then flew to Cali to spend Christmas with my dad. Jacob ripped through his gifts in record time, Derek was only interested in 1 or 2. Miss Ellie slept through the entire deal. We had fun throughout the season.
We had a snow day!
We made a gingerbread house. Once Derek found out that it was sugar that we were playing with, all he did was lick the decorations before putting them on.
We all got to go to Jacob's Kindergarten Christmas program. That was the cutest thing. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to go since I was due to have Ellie any day, but we made it!
We had the Winn Family Christmas Party! Here's a picture of the kids with their Great-Grandma & Grandpa Ray.
Then of course Christmas Day. Filled with gifts and lazing around.
We had a snow day!
Baby Ellie
I just realized today that I haven't updated the blog in a while. Completely slipped my mind, but then again with all that's happened in the last few months, that's expected. First things first!! Welcome to our family Ellie!
Eliana Joyce Workman was born December 15, 2013 at 6:56 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. She is a sweet little thing and we are so excited to have her in our little family. We had a whirlwind of a birth, one I'm not excited to do again. Here's the story...
About 2:30 AM I lost my plug. Gross. I was hopeful that meant the baby was going to come that day. Around 5 AM, my contractions started coming consistently at 10 minutes apart. I had been having inconsistent contractions for a month, so this was new. At my doctor's appointment 2 days before I was measuring at 3.5 cm and 80% dilated. I was scheduled to be induced on the 19th if she hadn't come by then. Back to Sunday...I called my mom around 7:30 because I didn't want her to go to church and not be able to get a hold of her if I needed to go to the hospital. I had no idea if this would be a fast labor or if it would be days still. She came down anyway to spend the day with us. There was no way I was going to church only to have my water break in public....not happening. Dustin and I took several walks around the neighborhood to get the contractions to pick up and I was putting Clary Sage on my ankles to speed things up. Around 2 PM I had the contractions about 5 minutes apart, but I was not feeling any pain at all. It was just uncomfortable tightening, but not pain. I figured we better go into the hospital and get checked, the worst that could happen was they send me home. We got our stuff together and got to the hospital by 3. The nurses checked me and at that time I was 5 cm dilated. That meant I was not going home. I got checked and and monitored until about 5 PM. I hadn't progressed any further at that point, so I agreed to have some Pitocin to kick things up a bit. Still not having any pain, I chatted with the nurses and didn't even think about starting my Hypnobirthing....BIG mistake. An hour later, they increased my pitocin and I was doing fine. Not for long though, within 20 minutes I was starting to hurt. I tried to get into my relaxation, but the contractions were coming too close together and I couldn't concentrate. Dustin tried putting oils on my back, but I couldn't concentrate on that either. All I could think was to try and get into a more comfortable position. The nurse was there trying to help me move around but nothing helped. About 6:40 I asked for the epidural, she sent for him immediately. Then they decided to check me, I was at a 7 cm! I thought, oh good! I can still get the epidural! Get him in here fast! Then my water broke like a minute later and everything started burning. I could feel the baby coming down and I knew she was coming whether I pushed or not. I started yelling at this point I think. The epidural guy was standing at my bed when the nurse said, we better check her again. I was completely dilated. I started arguing with the nurse, "I need the epidural, I can't do this without the epidural" and she argued back that I indeed could do it and she would help me. Ellie was born about 5 minutes later. My doctor completely missed the birth by about 3 minutes. They didn't have time to drop the bed down or put me in stirrups, Dustin grabbed one leg and the nurse the other and out she came. Holy cow, it was fast. I was pretty out of it the whole time. I got the shakes really bad after she was born, my doctor said it was from adrenaline. So yeah, no drugs, no hypnobirthing, no essential oils, just me and nature. I'm not entirely convinced I want to repeat the whole experience, but I have to say that the recovery was so much better without having drugs in my system. Ellie's face was bruised from the birth, as was my tailbone. I also had a 1st degree tear, which wasn't too bad. A plus...it was FAST. Any longer of a labor and I'm sure I would have died (not likely, but it sure FELT that way). I felt like my whole body was fighting itself, it was insane. Ellie's face was so swollen at first, I didn't recognize her. She didn't look like my boys at all that first day. That changed of course once her swelling went down, but I was so confused by it at first.
I loved having her in my room. I sat and stared at her for hours. Nursing was tough at first, but it always is so I expected that. She had jaundice for the first week or so. She slept like an angel when she was next to me, only this week has she started sleeping well in the bassinet (she's almost 7 weeks now). She likes to settle down with a pacifier, but never keeps it long. When she's mad, she is LOUD. Wowzer. I also think she sounds like a kazoo, but I think that's just me. She is smiling at me now and loves to stare at her brothers and daddy. They are pretty crazy, so that's understandable.
I worried about the boys' reaction to her. Not as much with Jacob, I knew he was old enough to understand what was going on. But I really worried about Derek. Jacob loved her from the get go. He loves to kiss her and hold her and talk to her. It took Derek about a week to get used to her. Now he'll touch her and say "baby sister" which is just adorable, I need to try and get a video of that. Derek will also say "Mama hold baby" or "baby crying" even when she's asleep. He's doing better now though.
I didn't have any trouble adjusting to 2 kids, but 3 has been interesting. It's been harder since Derek is still a baby himself. He's not napping as well as he used to which makes him cranky. I didn't have any postpartum weirdness this time around. I really think that was from putting Balance on myself everyday. I didn't worry about much and I felt good for the most part. Jacob has been a great helper, he runs and grabs things for me and plays with Derek.
These are some pictures we had taken when Ellie was 5 weeks old. I am completely in love with getting this girl dressed, it's so fun. I also had a few pictures taken of her in her blessing dress.
Eliana Joyce Workman was born December 15, 2013 at 6:56 PM. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. She is a sweet little thing and we are so excited to have her in our little family. We had a whirlwind of a birth, one I'm not excited to do again. Here's the story...
About 2:30 AM I lost my plug. Gross. I was hopeful that meant the baby was going to come that day. Around 5 AM, my contractions started coming consistently at 10 minutes apart. I had been having inconsistent contractions for a month, so this was new. At my doctor's appointment 2 days before I was measuring at 3.5 cm and 80% dilated. I was scheduled to be induced on the 19th if she hadn't come by then. Back to Sunday...I called my mom around 7:30 because I didn't want her to go to church and not be able to get a hold of her if I needed to go to the hospital. I had no idea if this would be a fast labor or if it would be days still. She came down anyway to spend the day with us. There was no way I was going to church only to have my water break in public....not happening. Dustin and I took several walks around the neighborhood to get the contractions to pick up and I was putting Clary Sage on my ankles to speed things up. Around 2 PM I had the contractions about 5 minutes apart, but I was not feeling any pain at all. It was just uncomfortable tightening, but not pain. I figured we better go into the hospital and get checked, the worst that could happen was they send me home. We got our stuff together and got to the hospital by 3. The nurses checked me and at that time I was 5 cm dilated. That meant I was not going home. I got checked and and monitored until about 5 PM. I hadn't progressed any further at that point, so I agreed to have some Pitocin to kick things up a bit. Still not having any pain, I chatted with the nurses and didn't even think about starting my Hypnobirthing....BIG mistake. An hour later, they increased my pitocin and I was doing fine. Not for long though, within 20 minutes I was starting to hurt. I tried to get into my relaxation, but the contractions were coming too close together and I couldn't concentrate. Dustin tried putting oils on my back, but I couldn't concentrate on that either. All I could think was to try and get into a more comfortable position. The nurse was there trying to help me move around but nothing helped. About 6:40 I asked for the epidural, she sent for him immediately. Then they decided to check me, I was at a 7 cm! I thought, oh good! I can still get the epidural! Get him in here fast! Then my water broke like a minute later and everything started burning. I could feel the baby coming down and I knew she was coming whether I pushed or not. I started yelling at this point I think. The epidural guy was standing at my bed when the nurse said, we better check her again. I was completely dilated. I started arguing with the nurse, "I need the epidural, I can't do this without the epidural" and she argued back that I indeed could do it and she would help me. Ellie was born about 5 minutes later. My doctor completely missed the birth by about 3 minutes. They didn't have time to drop the bed down or put me in stirrups, Dustin grabbed one leg and the nurse the other and out she came. Holy cow, it was fast. I was pretty out of it the whole time. I got the shakes really bad after she was born, my doctor said it was from adrenaline. So yeah, no drugs, no hypnobirthing, no essential oils, just me and nature. I'm not entirely convinced I want to repeat the whole experience, but I have to say that the recovery was so much better without having drugs in my system. Ellie's face was bruised from the birth, as was my tailbone. I also had a 1st degree tear, which wasn't too bad. A plus...it was FAST. Any longer of a labor and I'm sure I would have died (not likely, but it sure FELT that way). I felt like my whole body was fighting itself, it was insane. Ellie's face was so swollen at first, I didn't recognize her. She didn't look like my boys at all that first day. That changed of course once her swelling went down, but I was so confused by it at first.
I loved having her in my room. I sat and stared at her for hours. Nursing was tough at first, but it always is so I expected that. She had jaundice for the first week or so. She slept like an angel when she was next to me, only this week has she started sleeping well in the bassinet (she's almost 7 weeks now). She likes to settle down with a pacifier, but never keeps it long. When she's mad, she is LOUD. Wowzer. I also think she sounds like a kazoo, but I think that's just me. She is smiling at me now and loves to stare at her brothers and daddy. They are pretty crazy, so that's understandable. I worried about the boys' reaction to her. Not as much with Jacob, I knew he was old enough to understand what was going on. But I really worried about Derek. Jacob loved her from the get go. He loves to kiss her and hold her and talk to her. It took Derek about a week to get used to her. Now he'll touch her and say "baby sister" which is just adorable, I need to try and get a video of that. Derek will also say "Mama hold baby" or "baby crying" even when she's asleep. He's doing better now though.
I didn't have any trouble adjusting to 2 kids, but 3 has been interesting. It's been harder since Derek is still a baby himself. He's not napping as well as he used to which makes him cranky. I didn't have any postpartum weirdness this time around. I really think that was from putting Balance on myself everyday. I didn't worry about much and I felt good for the most part. Jacob has been a great helper, he runs and grabs things for me and plays with Derek.
These are some pictures we had taken when Ellie was 5 weeks old. I am completely in love with getting this girl dressed, it's so fun. I also had a few pictures taken of her in her blessing dress.
We are so happy to have this beautiful girl join our family! She is so sweet and perfect!
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