Pregnant?

[Rachel]

Some friends of mine used re-usable nappies for their daughter. I thought they were just a square of terry-cloth which you had to fold and then pin, which would be a bit of a pain. But they're just as easy to use as the disposable ones now - they had velcro.

Obviously you have to wash them, but with a nappy bucket to soak them while waiting for enough to have a load and enough spares, it didn't seem much more hassle. It looks like with a baby in the house, the washing machine is almost constantly on anyway...

[Jaelle]

I've been looking at those Rachel - it's as confusing as pushchairs :shock: Need to speak to my sister tonight for help :?

[Rhian]

Originally Posted by Robell

We were all set to use re-usable nappies before our little bundle of joy arrived. The idea, like so many one has during pregnancy, went right out the window when baby arrived. Life is too short, and you will have more than enough to cope with without adding extra chores, like washing nappies.

That's just our personal experience of course, but I guarantee that a lot of ideas you currently have about what you'll do when baby comes, will be unceremoniously cast aside when the reality of your situation hits!

Oh yes, we're pretty prepared for that! Fairly wedded to the nappies thing though - we do generally try and live a 'green' lifestyle. A friend at work who uses reusables with his son insists they're as easy as disposables and he doesn't understand why everyone doesn't use them!

There are a million different types though, we haven't made any decision on that yet. The Nappy Lady site is really good - you fill in a questionnaire and they email you an individual response advising on what types of nappy would best suit you.

[serenity]

Originally Posted by Rhian

I do know that anything from 37 weeks is 'full-term' (ie the baby is fully grown) - I'm not finishing work till 37 weeks so that could be interesting if he decides to be early. We're hoping for 4 days late though - a Halloween baby :twisted:

I was hoping for one of those - my kids never want to come out, so I hoped my daughter would delay enough to come on the 31st, unfortunately she decided to be the worst of the lot and appeared on the 4/11, a whole 11 days late ( and I was looking a lot like :evil: )

[Rhian]

Originally Posted by serenity

I was hoping for one of those - my kids never want to come out, so I hoped my daughter would delay enough to come on the 31st, unfortunately she decided to be the worst of the lot and appeared on the 4/11, a whole 11 days late ( and I was looking a lot like :evil: )

Agh no! I am actually worried in case he's very late - my husband works in retail so his time off has to be very carefully booked months in advance and can't be changed. I have visions of him being on paternity leave while I'm sitting around feeling huge, and then having to go back to work immediately after the birth leaving me with the baby!

[Andrew.poole]

Congratz guys!!

Only advice I can offer now that Sprog #1 is 2 years old, and Sprog #2 is approaching 6 months, is stay calm and dont panic!

Easier said than done, I know but try to take the time to enjoy it, for example, the whole buggy/travel system choosing.
(We had great fun road testing various brands in Mothercare until we picked the one we liked).

We started to get a bit nervy as we ploughed through the conflicting books, web sites and advice from parents, untill we realised that all you can do is see what happens when they arrive and see what works best.

As it is, half the things that seemed to be best for #1 arent so good for #2, so its a constant learning thing.

Also, the Mrs joined the local NCT with #1, and that was really usefull as it covered pretty much everything leading up to the Birth, and she has a good circle of friends from it, all with very similar aged sprogs.

[Dragondrawers]

Having had the original butterball turkey (11lb 5oz) he arrived on due date and was more than healthy!

Nappies, as much as we all want to be environmentally friendly the reusable terry nappies of modern times are quite frankly, pants. Thirty years ago they were a massive square that soaked everything up and were great, now they are shaped and thin. We stuck with them for about 6 days, by which time Boy Blunder was miserable, wet constantly and my mum and hubby never stopped washing. I had gone back into hospital without him by then and mum swapped to disposables, less environmentally friendly but more baby friendly. Swallow your eco pride girls, go for chuck outs. You can of course separate them and flush away the core which will help, but the outer will still have to go in the bin.

[darrenmdr1]

If I recall the GREAT NAPPY DEBATE from the days of yore, you were very much pro reusabale nappies Rhian. Will be interesting to see how you do on that front. As Robell said, be prepared to cast away your good intentions. I do hope you manage to stick to your guns, but if all your good intentions do fall by the wayside, then don't feel guilty and just as importantly don't let others make you feel guilty. As long as you are all healthy and happy, then everything else is secondary.
.

EDIT
Oh Crikey Yes NCT sales look up NCT, save a bleeding fortune.

[em]

I had no idea there were so many mums-to-be on here at the moment

congratulations to you all

[Jaelle]

I'm wanting to use washables as a money saver too - I'm going to be on SMP, so will be losing about £1000 a month - if I buy the nappies now when we have the money, then hopefully the weekly shop will be fairly stable post-birth *crosses fingers*

My sister used to make her own washables :shock:

I've already had a huge bag of clothes from Freecycle & scour the bulletin daily, plus many friends have offered us things too