There’s not a whole lot of actual baby news. This was on off week for doctor’s appointments, so I don’t really have any news regarding due dates or the bigger than expected baby. I’m counting down the days until I’m done teaching. Due to construction this year, my office is on one side of campus and I teach on the other side. This walk is getting really old.
Teaching was even more tiring than usual this week because I had a horrible week of insomnia as well. About the time my restless legs got better, I started battling extreme itchiness. It would come and go, but was always horrible at night. Finally I figured out after several days of not sleeping that anything with fragrance or dye was making me break out (lotion, body wash, laundry detergent, etc). We tend to buy mostly hypoallergenic products anyway, but even my very benign cocoa butter cream makes me break out at this point.
My major accomplishment this week was making lists and stocking up on must have baby gear. As I type this, our newborn “fluff” supplies are on their first wash.* (Unbleached cotton has to be washed and dried about 6-8 times before it reaches maximum absorbency.) I didn’t buy all of Bumgenius diapers yet because they likely won’t even fit at birth and we won’t have to have that system up and going until the baby goes to daycare at 2-3 months. For now we are going with prefolds and diaper covers.
I ordered all of our newborn supplies from Pinstripes and Polkadots because I could pick them up in town. Sarah at Pinstripes and Polkadots was so helpful. She had everything ready to go in less than 24 hours (definitely something to keep in mind if we get in any diapering jams that can’t wait on UPS). When I went by to pick up all of the diapers, she let me come in and check out the showroom (generally only open for special events as they are primarily a web only business).
While I was there, I asked what she knew about local daycares and cloth diapers. I’m glad I asked. Apparently, any daycare that receives state or federal funds (which most do), has to accept cloth diapers. She only knew of one private daycare in town that refused cloth and we weren’t planning on using that daycare anyway. I actually have the name of a woman who has an in-home daycare (and has worked with cloth before) a couple of blocks from our house that I am planning on calling next week.
At this point we have diapers, clothes, and breastfeeding supplies ready to go, so I’m feeling much better about being ready. I still have to set up appointments to interview pediatricians, but almost everything else could wait until after the baby is born if it had too.
*cloth diapers are often referred to as “baby fluff”
