Zane's Birth Story

Today Zane is one month old. Happy one month birthday little man!

Just one month ago today Zac and I were at the hospital passing the time until our Zane made his big entrance into the world. We are so thankful to have him in our lives.

I've had a few requests to write a post about my labor and delivery story. It's a post that I've been meaning to write but for some reason has taken me longer than I expected. It was such an incredible experience and while the memory was very vivid in the first few days, I'm beginning to lose the details with each passing day. (I'm pretty sure that's Mother Nature's way of seeing to it that we have another baby. Just kidding!) Thankfully I have Zac to fill in the gaps of my memory. 

I'm sure this won't be a post for everyone. No worries to those of you reading; I won't be getting too into detail about everything. Still, a labor and delivery story might not be your cup of tea. So for those of you who are not interested in today's post, stay tuned. Other posts are soon to come that are a little more fun and filled with pictures of our Zane.

For those of you who stuck around to read Zane's birth story...here we go!

We made the decision on Monday May 13th that we were done waiting for Zane to arrive and that induction would be our next step. After talking to our doctor, we set up a date for induction and knew that we would meet our son on Wednesday May 15th. On Tuesday I went in to see my doctor for my final prenatal appoinment and to fill out a consent form for the induction. After my physical check up was complete the doctor said that I was dilated to 4cm so it was possible that my body might decide to go into labor on it's own before we were scheduled to go in to the hospital. I was excited to hear that my body had already done so much work on it's own at home without feeling too uncomfortable. Zac and I were both excited that whether Zane decided to come on his own or not we would only have one more day until we got to hold him.

Our doctor told us that we were scheduled to go to the hospital at 7:30am. He also said that we were the last ones in the books so it was possible that we would receive a call pushing back our appointment if the ward got too busy and there were no rooms available. Even if we got in a little later Wednesday would still be our day which was good news to us. Zac and I spent the rest of our Baby Eve getting last minute things together, making sure that we had everything ready to take to the hospital, and getting arrangements made for our dog Jim since we were sure to be gone for at least a day if not more. We filled our family and close friends in on what was going on and attempted to get to bed early as we knew the next day was going to be a long day.

I had an incredibly difficult time sleeping that night. I kept thinking about what was to come. Being a first time mom I really had no idea what to expect exactly so my mind wandered. I was also just so excited to finally hold the little man that's been kicking around inside of me for these last nine months. I wanted to see his face and kiss his little forehead.

It took a while, but I finally got to sleep. At 4:30 in the morning I was woken up by the phone ringing. The charge nurse from the hospital was calling to let me know that (as predicted by our doctor) things were a bit busy in the hospital that morning and our scheduled appointment needed to be pushed back. The nurse apologized for the inconvenience and asked that instead of heading in to the hospital we should call her back at 8:00am.

Getting back to sleep after that was just impossible. I closed my eyes but sleep wouldn't come. Before I knew it the sky was getting lighter outside and the alarm I had set for our originally scheduled appointment, was going off. I decided to just go ahead and get out of bed. I had a bowl of cereal and went through our bags to make sure that we had everything together to head to the hospital. Zac awoke shortly after, got dressed, and looked crazy excited for the day ahead.

At 8:00 I called the charge nurse back to see when we should head into the hospital and was given the news that we could check in at 8:30. We packed up the car, said goodbye to our pup Jim, and headed to the hospital. Zac had a smile that stretched from ear to ear. While I too was excited, I was also anxious, nervous, scared, etc.. I really had no idea what to expect and the only reference that I had for childbirth were the stories that I had heard from friends and family.

When we got to the hospital we went up to the maternity ward to check in. After filling out paperwork we found out the unfortunate news that there were a few unexpected delays and our room was not yet ready. We went down to the maternity waiting room to hang out and wait for the charge nurse to call us when our room was ready.

By the time we got the call and headed up to our room it was almost 10:30. It was three and a half hours after our originally scheduled appointment. Though the nurses were apologetic for the wait, I wasn't upset. Like I said before, my nerves had gotten to me and although I was excited, I was also a bit scared as well.

I got changed into the hospital gown and it was time to get started. The charge nurse left and the labor nurse arrived shortly after to make sure that I was settled and comfortable before she started to begin the tests. She drew blood, and put in an IV. I'm not a fan of needles so these were less than fun for me but as I considered what was going to happen to me by the end of this hospital visit, I figured it wasn't that bad. I had tested positive for Beta Strep during tests at one of my final prenatal visits. To make sure that the bacteria didn't cause an infection in Zane as he passed through the birth canal, I had to receive antibiotics through an IV as well.  

By the time that I was all changed and set up in bed with the IV it was just about noon. The nurse informed me that I wouldn't be able to eat anything from here on out. I also couldn't drink any water. It was ice chips or nothing. This was quite disappointing as I was already hungry and knew that there were still hours to go until the big event. Poor Zac was also pretty hungry since he hadn't had a decent breakfast before we left the house. He was going to head down to the cafeteria to eat so that he wouldn't be eating in front of me but I asked that he bring the food to the room. Even though I couldn't eat, I didn't want to be alone in the room for very long.

At one o'clock, my doctor arrived to check on my progress. It turned out that I was already five centimeters without any drugs started to speed up my labor. Chances are, Zane would have been born either that day or the next had we not induced. Since my water had not yet broken on it's own, the next step was for my doctor to break my water and get things moving along. The nurse insisted on showing my every tool that was going to be used. I appreciated that she wanted me to be comfortable and know what was going on however I don't do very well with hospitals and things that go along with hospital visits so showing me these things did not make me feel better. While having my water broken was not painful, it was definitely a strange experience. I immediately wanted to take a shower. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible and I was left to deal with the wetness for a while until it was time to change the pad on the bed.

Once that was over, the nurse began the pitocin drip to get my labor going even faster and I started to feel contractions. They weren't intense or really painful. Instead they were just uncomforable. The nurse asked me if I wanted pain medication or if I was going to go drug free. I have much respect for women who have a natural birth plan but for me I knew that I would be getting medication. I have a low pain tolerance and couldn't imagine going through the process without some assistance. The nurse said that she would check with the anesthesiologist about getting me an epidural as soon as possible. Because of the amount of c-sections that were scheduled that day, the anesthesiologist for the maternity ward was pretty booked up. As I was already dilated to 5 centimeters and the anesthesiologist was held up in other deliveries, the labor nurse informed me that I might not be able to get an epidural in time. I cannot explain the panic that rushed over me with this news. The thought of going through this without a little pain relief was scary and not something I hadn't mentally prepared myself for.

The nurse offered Fentinyl, a temporary pain reliever, as an alternative option. She explained that this option would only last a few hours but that I could get more of it later if I needed it. I figured that some pain relief was better than no pain relief so I agreed to go ahead with this option. This was a decision that I would soon regret. Once the drug was administered I was out of it. It hit me like a huge wave and completely changed the way my entire body felt. It seemed like the room was spinning and my whole body felt heavy. I told Zac right away that I didn't like it, but there really wasn't anything that we could do about it. I just had to wait for it to start to wear off. I spent a good twenty minutes with my eyes shut because although it only helped me mildly, it seemed to be the one thing that worked. At least it distracted me from the uncomfortable feeling of my contractions.

Soon after I was given the Fentinyl the labor nurse came in with good news. An anesthesiologist from the surgical ward was available to come up and administer epidurals to patients in the maternity ward. While I was relieved to find out that I would be able to get an epidural in time, I was nervous that my body might react to it as it had to the Fentinyl. I didn't want to have to go through that again. Just after two o'clock the anesthesiologist arrived. The nurse had warned me that the pain from receiving the epidural would be the worst of it. (She was wrong.) I was a bit nervous, quite sleep deprived, and was holding in the emotions of the whole day so by the time the anesthesiologist was all set up, I was in tears. The anticipation of the needle was far worse than the needle itself. The anesthesiologist was very good. I felt close to nothing as he administered the epidural. It didn't take long for the medication to begin to work. My legs felt warm and heavy and I felt no pain or dizziness. Zac asked me how I felt and then laughed as I responded, "I feel cozy". The nurse was happy to see that although my legs were numb I still had the ability to move them. 

Once my epidural was complete, the nurse checked me once more before seting me up with a catheter and replacing my IV bag. I was now dilated 7 centimeters. The nurse was surprised with my progress and predicted that if I continued to progress this quickly, that I would be ready to push by five o'clock. This was exciting news to hear. She also predicted that it would take me about two hours of pushing to bring Zane into this world. This was less exciting news. Two hours of pushing seemed like a very long time.

It wasn't long after this that the labor nurse returned to the room to tell us that we needed to decrease my pitocin and slow down my labor. It turned out that my doctor was finishing up business day at his practice and wouldn't be able to be there in time for me to start pushing. While I was disappointed that we would have to wait longer to get started, I felt nothing due to the epidural, so I was fine with slowing things down. Zac and I had nothing to do but watch television and wait for until we could speed things up again. For a little while I closed my eyes, though I was still unable to sleep.

The labor nurse told us that she would probably be gone before I started to push because shift change was quickly approaching. Sure enough, the change up happened just before it was time to get things rolling.

The evening labor nurse arrived, checked all of my machines and then told me that it was time to start pushing. So, about seven hours after we started to speed up my labor, this was it. I got myself prepared and hoped that it would all be done within an hour instead of two like the first nurse had predicted.

The first few sets of pushes I didn't feel like I was doing anything. The nurse said that with each push Zane was moving closer but during the break between each set he seemed to slowly move back. The nurse had me turn from my back to my left side to push. Being on my side felt much more comfortable than being on my back and I appreciated the change of position. I alternated from my side to my back every few sets of pushing. Rather than pushing in sets of three, I started to push in sets of four to see if I could get Zane moving in the right direction. I continued to do so until it was all over.

I had always wondered how women knew when to push and I quickly learned. The doctor had ordered that before I start pushing that my epidural be turned down so that I could feel my contractions. He explained to me during his afternoon visit that this was important for me to know when to push. Right before I started to push, my epidural had finally worn down to half  and I was starting to feel contractions. The sensation started off slow and then peaked before tapering off. They didn't last for long but I was grateful that I didn't have to go through hours of feeling that way while I labored. Unfortunately, the epidural had only worn off on my left side leaving my right side still numb. Feeling contractions only on my left side was odd but I figured that it was better than feeling them all over. More painful and uncomfortable than the contractions was my back pain. The contractions were bearable, but the lower back pain was intense and wouldn't go away.

Before I knew it, the sky outside had darkened and the clock revealed that I had already been pushing for an hour. I was starting to sweat and my hair was sticking to my forehead and neck. Thankfully, I had packed hair ties and bobby pins in my bag and Zac was there to grab these items for me so that I could pin my hair back. After a few more sets of pushing I began to feel really worn out. The nurse reached over and placed an oxygen mask over my face. This did not go over well with me. The mask made me feel trapped and I pulled and tugged until I freed my face from it. The nurse apologized but suggested that I breathe with the mask in between pushing. I honestly couldn't tell the difference but I'm guessing that it helped.

By this time, my doctor had arrived and came in once or twice to see how I was doing and check on my progress. At the time I was so focused on my contractions that continued to get more and more intense that I wasn't paying much attention to anything else including what was going on in the room around me. Zac told me later that the nurse and doctor seemed a little concerned. Apparently, every time I pushed, Zane's heartrate was decreasing more than the doctor felt comfortable with. Once I stopped pushing, his heartrate would shoot back up. They wanted Zane to get out as soon as possible. All that I noticed was that my doctor had put on gloves and was getting himself set at the end of the bed. I felt a weight lifted because I knew that this meant that it was almost over. I could do this.

The contractions during the last few sets of pushing were the most intense. I knew that each push was one less push that I would have to do and this is what kept me motivated. Then came the most intense pain that I have ever felt in my life. (Zac told me later that because the doctor was concerned with getting Zane out, he assisted me on that push by using both hands to reach in a bit and pull out Zane's head.) After that pain came the greatest feeling of relief and the words that I had been waiting to hear, "Just one more push!". I pulled together all of my strength, gave one final push and then, after two hours of pushing, there he was. A perfect, tiny person.

I stared at him in disbelief and was awakened by his scream. I looked over at Zac who was smiling from ear to ear. After pulling out the camera and getting some video of Zane in all of his newborn glory, it was time for the nurses to take Zane away and get him all cleaned up. Zac leaned over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. Let me just say that when your husband looks at you with tears in his eyes and whispers "You're my hero" in your ear before giving you a kiss, well that's just not something you'll ever forget.

Two Week Update

Week two went by even more quickly than week one! I don't know how that's even possible. I guess time flies when you're having fun. Life has definitely changed since Zane came in this world and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it's been.

{Our little piano man.}

This week began with Zane going to the doctor for his one week checkup, a weigh in, and his circumcison. We were thrilled to discover that his growth was right on track. After the scare that he was losing weight, it was a huge sigh of relief to discover that everything was okay. We are still weaning Zane off of his formula supplements and are thankfully almost done with formula all together. Our little guy is down to one bottle feeding a day which is his 11pm feeding. This has actually been working out pretty perfectly the last few days. I feed him at 9pm and then head straight to bed, leaving Zac to feed him a bottle at 11pm. His next feeding isn't until 2am which gives me about four and a half hours to sleep. (Since Zac is already back to work I let him sleep during the middle of the night feedings.)That chunk of time is so wonderful! I try to nap with Zane throughout the day but it doesn't happen often so being able to catch up on sleep a little bit is incredibly important.

{Our Little Tough Guy}

Zane's circumcision went very well. The doctor and nurse were surprised that he slept right through it. The rest of that afternoon and the days to follow, he slept pretty well. Zac and I had prepared ourselves for a miserable little man and were all set to hear some screaming, but Zane took it like a little champ. Diaper changes were the only time that we heard a peep out of him. Putting Vaseline on his wound was less than fun the first few days but once it started to heal a bit, he didn't mind that either. We think that we got pretty lucky with the way that Zane handled the whole thing. From what we had heard from other people, those few days following the procedure could have really been miserable.

{Big Yawn}

Just a few days ago, Zane's umbilical stump fell off. (Looks like our boy has an innie.) Since his little mister seemed to be healed pretty well from his procedure, we were all set to start cloth diapering full time again. It came just in time, too because we were just about to use the last disposable diaper we had left from the hospital. The pack of 40 diapers that we were given only lasted about three and a half days. At that rate we'd be buying two packs of diapers a week. We decided to check the price of the diapers while we were picking up some items at Target and found that they wer $10 a pack. Needless to say, the cost of those diapers were going to add up pretty quickly if we had decided to use disposable diapers exclusively.

For the last few days we've been able to try out all of the diapers in our newborn stash. The prefolds are, surprisingly, much easier to use than we had anticipated and are quite absorbant. For anyone who is considering cloth diapering and is on a tight budget, I highly recommend starting out with prefolds. For just under $70 we purchased 24 newborn prefolds and 3 covers. Considering that you'd easily spend more than this in four weeks of disposable diapering, it's probably the most economical cloth diapering option.

{My sleeping boys.}

Zane found his voice this week and started to get a bit fussy. Before this he had been quite content and we didn't hear much out of him (with the exception of outfit change time). We quickly discovered that Zane was going through his first little growth spurt and just needed to be fed more often. I was feeding our little guy every two hours after the time that he finished eating. Now I feed him every two hours from the time he starts eating. Zane nurses for about 30-45 minutes, so by the time he's done I have just over an hour until I feed him again. I'd be lying if I said that this feeding routine hasn't left me feeling a bit exhausted, but our Zaney boy is content and well fed and that's all that matters. Plus I love the time that I get to spend with my boy. The way he holds his hands while he eats melts my heart.

Zac has today off from work and we will be spending it together. Our morning started out with a walk to a nearby park. The day has been absolutely beautiful! Zane got his first bath in his bath sling, got all lotioned up, and is looking quite handsome. As you can see from the picture below, our tiny baby is still swimming in a lot of his 'newborn' sized clothes. We took a trip to Target today to pick up a few more outfits for him. They are still a little big but he'll grow into them soon.

As for my postpartum week two, things are still going great. (Read about postpartum week one here.) I'm feeling better and better with each passing day. The walks around the neighborhood and today's walk to the park have helped. I get my circulation going and the vitamin D is a plus. I'm down 18lbs now since giving birth to Zane. From what I've heard from my mama friends, the first 20lbs seem to just melt off but everything after that takes a bit of work. I've started to use an app called My Fitness Pal again. It was the app that I used a while back when I was working out and trying to get in shape. Back then I used it to count calories and make sure that I wasn't overeating. This time around I'm using it to make sure that I'm taking in enough calories. I know that breastfeeding can burn anywhere from 300-500 calories a day which is something that I can track using the My Fitness Pal app. By taking note of this I can be sure to make up for those calories later. Breastfeeding requires you to eat a little more and definitely drink a lot more liquids (which is something I've always had a hard time with). I feel better being able to keep track of my daily intake. I'll focus more on losing the baby weight once I get the okay from my doctor to work out again.

So what does week three have in store for us? Well, this weekend Zac's family will be coming into town for Sarah's baby shower. This will be the first time that Zac's parents, his sister Sarah as well as her husband Donnie and her son Grayson will be seeing Zane. It should be an exciting weekend!

He's Here!

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you've already seen the picture and know our news!

Our Zane has arrived and we couldn't be happier!

Our little man made his grand entrance on Wednesday May 15th at 9:24pm after 8 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing. He weighed 6 lbs. 11oz. and measured 20 in. long. We were discharged from the hospital last night just before Zane turned 24 hours old and are now all happily at home.  

Keep an eye out for posts about Zane's birth story, our experience cloth diapering a newborn in the hospital, and Zane's first weekly postpartum update. For now, Zac and I are soaking up everything baby and learning our little guy's likes and dislikes. I can't get enough of his little face.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for all of the "congratulations" messages, phone calls, and texts. Your love, support, and excitement has meant so much to us. We appreciate all of you and can't wait for Zane to meet the wonderful people we have in our lives.

I feel so blessed for my little family and am unbelievably grateful for my amazing husband. who took such great care of me during my labor and delivery and who is so incredible with Zane....but more on all of that later.

Baby-Eve

Yesterday I officially hit 39 weeks. I had cramps the night before and felt a few in the morning when I woke up. By 9:30am they had gone away and Zac and I decided it was time to call the doctor's office to set up induction. (Read about our decision to induce here.) Our next weekly appointment was scheduled for tomorrow, May 15th. Now this will be our little Zane's birthday.

The receptionist at the office spoke with our doctor to confirm that we were able to be induced. Once she got the okay, she asked us to come in on Tuesday (today) to sign a consent form. We also received a call from our doctor a little later letting us know when to head to the hospital. Though we are scheduled for an early arrival time we are actually the last appointment on the books for the morning. For that reason, the doctor warned us that it might be possible that the hospital won't have a room ready at our appointed time. He told us not to be surprised if we get a call early on pushing our appointment to a later hour. Even if this happens he assured us that Wednesday will be our day.

So today is our last day without baby. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that tomorrow we'll be parents and that our family and lives will be forever changed. It doesn't seem that long ago that we had just found out about baby, seen a little profile image on the ultrasound screen for the first time, and discovered that we were going to have a son.

After hearing from the doctor yesterday, Zac and I spent the afternoon going over our list of last minute to-dos. There were a few things that we needed to pick up for Zane (a few newborn onesies, some hand mittens, a travel size spray bottle for his wipes solution, etc.), I needed a few things to make postpartum recovery a little more comfortable, and I wanted to get the house as clean as I could.

Today, Zac and I are enjoying our "Baby Eve" by having a chill day at home together. This Sunday Zac pulled out a "game night" slip from his Sunday jar and he opted to use it today. We're turning on the air conditioner, grabbing a bunch of goodies for lunch, pulling out the games, and throwing on some tv show for a marathon day. Nothing fancy, just the two of us at home together, being unproductive.

So unless Zane decides to come today or our appointment gets pushed back, at this time tomorrow we'll be in the hospital getting ready to meet our son.

 

Wish us luck!

Cloth Diapering Part 2: Our Stash

In yesterday's post you read all about why Zac and I chose to go the cloth diaper route and how we learned about what we would need to get started. Today let's take a look at the stash.

Zane's cloth diapering stash lives in the top drawer of his dresser. Rather than buy a separate changing table we've opted to just use the top of his dresser as his changing station. We have ordered a changing pad and are just waiting for it to arrive (hopefully before Zane does).

On top of the dresser we have a wipes warmer for our cloth wipes. Our cloth wipe stash is made up of about 50 baby washcloths. We placed 7 or so wipes in our travel case which lives in our diaper bag (check out what's in our diaper bag here), there are roughly 30 wipes that fit in our warmer, and the rest are stored away in the middle drawer of the dresser.

I have folded the washcloths in a way that they can be pulled out of the warmer just like disposable wipes. For now the warmer is turned off and the wipes remain dry. Once Zane arrives I'll soak the wipes in a solution of water and baby bathwash and plug in the warmer. I didn't want to risk the wipes beginning to smell if left sitting in the warmer for too long without use. After Zane is born we'll cycle through the wipes regularly and none will be left sitting for long periods of time.

Next to the wipes is where we keep the coconut oil. Most diaper rash ointments are thick and creamy and can leave a build up on the cloth. Over time this can impact the absorbancy and decrease the lifetime of your diapers. After doing some research we discovered that one of the best natural replacements for diaper rash cream is coconut oil. We learned that it is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and quite moisturizing. In addition, it washes away cleanly without leaving a residue on the diapers or baby's bottom. Even if you are using disposable diapers, coconut oil is a great diaper cream alternative. I picked up this 14oz bottle at Whole Foods for $5.99.

Right by the dresser is where we'll be storing all of the diapers when they're...used. We picked up a garbage pail with a lid at Target for $12. It fits the space, is discreet, and should keep any smells that might occur contained. We lined the garbage can with a diaper pail liner from Planet Wise that we ordered from Amazon (here). The pail liner fits just as a garbage bag would. The inside of the bag is waterproof so it will prevent any moisture from leaking out into the pail or allowing odor to creep out. We'll likely be doing laundry every other day so we have a second Planet Wise bag in blue to alternate and keep things fresh. (The Planet Wise bags are washable so when laundry time comes the whole bag and its contents can be thrown in the wash.)

One thing that we thought was super important to have as part of our cloth diaper supply stash was a diaper sprayer. We got the BumGenius diaper sprayer (found here on Amazon) and Zac hooked it up to our guest bathroom toilet. The process only took a few minutes and the tool doesn't alter how the toilet functions. The sprayer will come in handy when we have to deal with diapers that aren't just wet. One quick spray to the diapers and we can transfer the mess to the toilet, flush, and be done with it. This will help prevent a buildup of odor in our diaper pail and make washing the diapers a little easier as staining will be less likely. Even if we had decided to use disposable diapers I think we would have gotten the diaper sprayer. I mean, who wants poop hanging out in a diaper pail or garbage can in their house? No thanks.

Now on to the diapers! Let's begin with the newborn stash shall we.

*Disclaimer: I took all of these pictures with my phone so unfortunately the quality isn't fantastic.The diaper colors are much more vibrant in person.*

The first part of our newborn stash consists of prefolds. We have 24 newborn size prefolds by OsoCozy  (found here) and two Snappis (ordered from Kelly's Closet). When the prefolds first arrived I thought they seemed a little thin but they quilted up pretty nicely after I prepped them.

     

To go along with the prefolds we have 5 diaper covers.

Three of these are newborn size covers by Rumparooz. These covers have an adjustable rise and can fit babies from 4-12lbs. In the photo below and to the right you can see how size can vary.

The other 2 covers are by Thirsties. As you can see these covers also have adjustable sizes though they fit babies 6-18lbs. They also come in adorable prints! 

Blackbird:

Hoot:

In addition to the prefolds and covers we wanted to try out some all in one newborn diapers. In our stash we have 6 Lil Joey diapers made by Rumparooz (2 in Bermuda, 2 in Peacock, and 2 in Platinum). Like the Rumparooz covers, these diapers can fit infants from 4-12lbs.



The inside of these diapers are super soft and thick. The inner gusset should catch any mess and prevent leakage.

My favorite feature of the Lil Joeys is the snap down for the umbilical stump. Little Zane won't have to worry about any umbilical irritation with this diaper.

For the sake of trying out another brand, we also have a newborn all in one diaper by Grovia in the print Bicycles. The size range should fit anywhere from 5-12lbs.

This diaper is made from cotton and hemp and it's inner is sewn in.

We purchased a box of biodegradeable diaper liners as well. Meconium (the first newborn poops) can be quite dark and sticky. Though they should wash out of the diapers just fine, many people recommend using diaper liners just to make washing a little easier and prevent staining as much as possible. (It's also been suggested that we'll go back to using these when we first introduce baby to solid foods.) The diaper liners are free of chemicals and flushable  and we don't anticipate using very many of them. In fact we'll probably have this box for more than one baby.

The very first cloth diaper purchase we made was a set of 10 BumGenius 4.0 one size pocket diapers. (A huge thank you to my management staff at work for the gift card that allowed us to only pay an $0.11 difference for these diapers!) Originally we thought that these would be the only diapers that we would need. Being one size they are said to fit babies from birth to potty training. More specifically their size range is 8-35lbs. (Colors from right, top to bottom: 2 in Grasshopper, 1 in Ribbit, 1 in Twilight, 1 in Moonbeam, 1 in Noodle, 2 in White, 1 in Butternut, 1 in Sassy.)

BumGenius is a great brand and we've heard lots of wonderful things about their products. They come in some really nice colors and they seem pretty durable. Having a diaper that can last your child for as long as these can is a huge bonus.

One thing that we noticed however when we bought the diapers was that in order to accomodate a baby for the range that they do, these diapers are a bit bigger than newborn sized diapers. Looking online at reviews and other people's experiences I saw a trend that many parents didn't start using the one size diapers on their babies until weeks after birth. Since we wanted to be able to cloth diaper Zane from day one we thought that it would be a wise decision to get some newborn diapers to make sure that we had something that would fit his tush right away. (Here's a comparison of a Bumgenius one size diaper next to a Bumgenius newborn size diaper.)

Though Zane won't be wearing them right away, we're still pretty excited about the Bumgenius diapers. After looking into different style diapers we chose the pocket style because we learned that the drying time could be cut down from the all in one diapers as the inside of the diaper can be removed. Also, the pocket allows us to add more inserts into the diaper to increase absorbancy. This diaper comes with two different inserts: a smaller insert that will fit the diaper when it is set to the newborn size and a larger insert for when it is at it's toddler setting. The inserts can even be combined for a greater absorbancy.

Similar to the newborn diapers, we wanted to get a few different diapers from different brands because we aren't sure what will work for our little guy. We would hate to have a full stash of one kind of diaper only to discover that they don't fit him well, aren't as absorbant as we need them to be, or have leaks or blowouts.

I watched several youtube videos for reviews on different brands and after browsing the Kelly's Closet website I ordered a Kawaii Baby one size pocket diaper. Thanks to a coupon code I used on my order I received a second Kawaii Baby diaper in a different shade of blue for free. Yay for BOGO right?! (Dark blue = Dodger Blue, Light blue = Sky Blue)

These diapers are also pocket style, come with two inserts and just like the Bumgenius diapers have a size range of 8-35lbs. (The photo above left shows the size difference from the largest to smallest settings on the diaper.)

Since we already had a few diaper covers from the Thirsties brand, we thought that we would give one of their pocket diapers a try, too. We ordered this size 2 duo pocket diaper in Ocean Blue. This diaper is not a one size diaper and instead has a size range of 18-40lbs so we'll have to wait a little longer to see how it works out for Zane.

You'll notice that unlike the other pocket diapers in our collection, this diaper has an opening in both the front and the back of the diaper. This means that the inserts can be removed from either direction. I like that if the diaper is saturated in the front or back we have the option of pulling it out at the other end. This diaper comes with two inserts, one made of hemp, the other made of microfiber terrycloth that can be used on their own or snapped together for increased absorbancy.

My favorite feature about this diaper is the double gusset. This additional elastic around the legs of the diaper are sure to keep any wetness or mess from escaping.

Another very popular brand of diapers is FuzziBunz. I picked out a One Size Elite diaper in the color Mac n' Cheese. (What can I say, I'm a sucker for yellow.) Unlike the other one size diapers we ordered, the FuzziBunz diaper does not have snaps for an adjustable rise so although it's size range is the same as the other diapers we predict that Zane will start wearing this diaper later when he has a longer torso.

Another difference that we noticed when compared to the others we purchased, is that it lacks a waterproof strip at the top and bottom of the inside of the diaper. In this FuzziBunz the inner lining goes all the way to the end of the entire diaper. This might make the diaper better (what do we know!) but we are concerned that it might allow any wetness to wick all the way to Zane's clothes especially if he is a heavy wetter. Hopefully we're wrong and this won't be a problem.

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, thanks to coupon codes, we've received a free diaper with each of our three orders from Kelly's Closet. The very first free diaper we received was a BumGenius newborn diaper that arrived with our order of Lil Joey newborn diapers. Our second order came with a Grovia one size all in one diaper. The final of the free diapers was the Kawaii Baby one size pocket diaper.

The BumGenius newborn diaper we received is an all in one diaper with a velcro closure which makes it as close to a disposable diaper as you can get. You'll notice that this is the only velcro diaper in our collection. We chose snap closures over velcro for a few reasons. While velcro takes out the guess work of finding the perfect fit, snap closures seem to be more durable over time. Plus if we find it easier to open diapers with velcro closures, chances are that Zane will find it easier as well once his curious hands are strong enough to tug at his diapers.

To prevent the velcro from catching on to other diapers in the wash and creating a giant mess, there is a laundry tab sewn to the back of the diaper. Before getting tossed into the wash, the velcro closures get stuck to this tab. 

The other free diaper we received was this Grovia all in one, one size diaper in the adorable print Robots. One thing that I love about this diaper is that there are no front tabs. The snaps of the diaper are on the sides instead, giving it a very smooth front.

The inside of this diaper has two organic cotton inner layers. One is sewn in and the other has a snap making it detachable. Unlike the pocket diapers these inner pieces lay on the top of the diaper. I really like how trim this diaper is. I especially love that this diaper is $24 and we get to try it out for free. Thank you Kelly's Closet.

So there you have it. Our entire cloth diaper stash. We should have plenty to last Zane from birth to potty training with no need to purchase additional diapers. I'll definitely have to watch myself since looking at and buying diapers can be so fun. Buying more will increase our cost and defeat our main purpose of using cloth diapers in the first place.

We'll see how these diapers work out for us, if our inital predictions will be accurate, and which will turn out to be our favorites. Look for posts in the future as I will definitely be keeping everyone posted on our cloth diapering experience.

*All of these diapers can be found on Amazon and at Kelly's Closet.*