8 Good Examples of What Happens When Geeks Have Children

If you laughed at this borrowed photo, you’ve got some more laughs coming! Meanwhile, I’ve just gotta make one of those iPod onesies for Miss Sunshine, who should be here in the wider world with us this time next month!

I had two babies in diapers before I was 20. The hospital sent #2 home with several boxes of a nifty new product called “Pampers.” Disposable diapers the baby uses once before they go to the landfill to take up space for 500 years! I thought they were totally cool. Until I got home and tried to fit them on my newborn boy-child.

Perhaps first time mothers don’t know this, but there’s a difference between girl babies and boy babies. My girl had ample hips and chubby legs, never had a problem fitting diapers – cloth or disposables – on her. My boy’s little bottom end came to a point. No hips, spindly legs, and a pee mechanism that didn’t care which way it was pointed. This was before disposable manufacturers figured out that the gaping gaps around the legs weren’t particularly good at catching any of the products diapers traditionally are meant to catch and hold. My boy peed straight out of the leg hole more often than he ever caught the “super-absorbant” part. And he had diarrhea for 3 straight months…

So despite my initial reaction to the idea of disposable diapers, I quickly learned they were useless and went back to old fashioned cloth diapers. Which, despite having poked enough holes in my fingers to donate blood at the Red Cross, actually did work for the purpose diapers were invented to address.

We were too poor for a diaper service, so I washed my own (sometimes in the sink because we didn’t have a washing machine and couldn’t always afford the laundromat) and hung them out to dry in the sun. Which answers the question I see asked a lot in diaper discussions about retained odors in cloth diapers even after washing. A little fresh air and sunshine works wonders, and the UV actually kills any leftover microorganisms (which can contribute greatly to diaper rash).

So as I’m finishing up my projects for pregnant daughter #2 and collecting odds and ends she doesn’t have yet from my local Freecycle Network, I’m also considering buying her some newfangled cloth diapers, wool covers and a nice soaking pail. I’ve been surfing to see what’s up since last we had a newborn in-house. I already knew that cloth diapers are certifiably more “Green” than disposables, and I knew they’re actually better for the baby’s sensitive skin. There are issues to consider – not the least of which is that day cares generally REQUIRE disposables for convenience – so here’s some of the information I’ve found…

Did you know that disposable diapers on plastic take 500 years to biodegrade? That according to the EPA, 20 billion disposable diapers were dumped into landfills in the US last year, creating 3.5 million tons of waste? That’s 10,000 tons – 20 million pounds – per day!

Cloth diapers are healthier for babies. Disposables come complete with chemicals associated with health problems, and increase the incidence of diaper rash – and subsequent infections – due to chemical allergies, poor air flow and longer time between changes.

Cloth diapers laundered at home (my daughter works from home) can save a parent between $800 and $1,600 over the 2.5 years the baby needs them. Using a diaper service is about as expensive as disposables, but many couples will choose that option based on health and environmental reasons.

Now, cloth diapers can be flat, pre-folded or all-in-one. I like prefolds best, and polyester velcro covers. The all-in-ones are easier for changing, but more difficult to clean. Six of one, half a dozen of the other, prefolds and covers still look like the best option. I was delighted to find that there’s been some nifty developments in diaper world since I left it behind, too.

I found a thing called “G-diapers” that consist of an outer shell similar to a diaper wrap, an absorbent – and FLUSHABLE – insert, and a nylon snap-in liner. They come with a “swishstick” for breaking up the disposable insert in the toilet. Of course, you have to tear the pouch open before it goes in the toilet, so you’ll be handling baby-ick just as much as you would if you just used regular cloth diapers. The trick is to soak the soiled diaper in the toilet, then hold it and rinse it thoroughly during the flush before then tossing it into the diaper pail to soak before laundering. Biggest drawback to that are husbands and older children who can’t manage to figure out there’s a diaper soaking before they use and flush the toilet. Plumbers are expensive.

Now, there is still the issue of cotton diapers and chlorine bleach, which releases dioxin. You can get unbleached cotton, but there’s also the issue of the crop itself. Fully half of the world’s pesticides are sprayed on cotton. What else is there? Why… Hemp! There are all sorts of “green” sources out there specializing in hemp diapers and associated products, as well as hemp/unbleached cotton blends and even naturally colored, organically grown cotton – I love the soft greens and blues and beige. Hemp is naturally anti-microbial and has eight times the tensile strength and four times the durability of cotton.

So that’s my plan. Granddaughter is due around this time next month, so I’d better get busy ordering!

Links:

Diaper Pin: Is Hemp Really Better?

Growing Greens Hemp Diapers

DiaperCuts: Hemp Products

eartheasy: Cloth Diapers

Cloth Diapering Pros and Cons

Mongabay: Diapers Go Green

DiaperWare: Prefolds and Flats

As my younger daughter goes forward in her pregnancy, she’s soon going to grow right out of her wardrobe. It’s inevitable, of course. In this age of anorexia, how can a woman look beautiful or capable or womanly while sporting a watermelon-size belly?

She has always been fashion conscious, won’t enjoy muu-muus or tent dresses, or any of those ridiculously ‘cutesy’ outfits with the lace or Peter Pan collars, big belly-pointing arrows, or such. And since she and her hubby are young and not rich (the way of things, I think), they don’t have much money to purchase $100 outfits that serve for three months or so and then are never worn again.

So I’m going to go shopping here with my elder daughter the Professionally Creative Thrifter and Fashion Icon, ship her a maternity “Care Package.”

She’s already gaining weight that probably won’t go away when the baby’s born – not “baby-weight.” I can’t help her with bras or underwear, as those are things she’ll want to purchase new and well-fitted. What I can find are well-tailored, sensibly fashionable, comfortable maternity clothes at a bargain price.

There are entire consignment shops that specialize in maternity wear, because women do tend to get rid of their maternity wear once they’re not pregnant anymore. The usual thrifting outlets (Catholic Charities, Goodwill, Salvation Army) also have entire maternity sections. Since designers have been producing really nice looking pantsuits, dresses and work suits, it’s not difficult to put together a very serviceable wardrobe that should get my daughter through the watermelon stages.

For work I think the tunic styles are nice. Particularly if fairly plain, and with nice open jackets over slacks or skirt. Regular fashion sense should prevail here, though I’ll bear in mind my daughter’s usual color and pattern preferences. I figure that 3 or 4 basic tunic tops, 2 mix-and-match jackets and 3 neutral skirts and pairs of slacks will serve her for such occasions through the few months.

Around the house and out and about the choices should be more casual. She’ll want some denim pants with the front stretch panels, maybe some cords and khakis as well. There are plenty of nice T-shirts with full-cut bodies that should be about a buck-fifty at Goodwill or CC. She can of course use any bulky sweaters and sweatshirts all the way through her pregnancy as casual wear. And sweat pants can fit over a pretty good belly, so I’ll be looking for some of those matched sweatsuits with matching jackets. She’ll be going through the big-belly stage from December to March, so she won’t need swimwear, tank tops or brief shorts to keep cool.

I figure we should be able to put a suitable wardrobe together for less than a hundred bucks, and it’ll make her feel much prettier than she would if she just had to make do with moo-moos, ugly stretch pants and X-large men’s T-shirts. While looking around for maternity fashions, I did notice that there are some spectacular dressy-dresses that not only look beautiful on the woman, but enable reverent belly-worship from all onlookers.

If she doesn’t have to buy the daily wear, she can splurge on one of these and make hubby take her someplace nice for a date and dancing. I highly encourage not becoming a self-conscious hermit while pregnant. Of course, that’s because I think most all pregnant women are shiningly beautiful, all the way through.

Oh, and yes, I will be sending a muu-muu or two. Just because it’ll make her smile in remembrance of our many “Muu-Muu” parties when we’d all dress in those many my Mom and sisters kept giving me every Christmas for years (I never did figure out why). Even made Grandpa wear one, he looked really silly but wore it with pride anyway.

Check out some of the advice and styles in the following, excellent resource links for how to save money on good clothes, and how to look spectacular when you most feel like a cow. Pregnant women ARE beautiful. But the wardrobe is, for most, temporary. Pass them along when you’re done, someone else will thank you kindly for it when their months of watermelon-belly loom!

Links

Inexpensive Maternity Clothing (check the internal links for great styles)

How to Find Inexpensive Maternity Clothes

How to Buy Maternity Wear

RainbowHawaii: Muu-Muus