Week 32, here I come.. says the notification from my pregnancy app. Can't believe we are here for the last haul of this pregnancy. 8 weeks to go, at the most!
The past weekend J said, "I can't believe, the four of us are going to be home full time for atleast 14 days straight after the delivery!" And I found myself thinking, four? J, my mom who will be visiting to help us and myself.. who else?
OH! The baby, ofcourse! (We still do not have name for him, so he is still just baby. )
A mini panic attack sets in.. like it has a few time over the past two months.. the realization that we are going to have a little one living with us, full time, not visiting, not for a few hours like my nieces or nephews, not even for a few days.. but for ever.. 24 - 7.. and I am the main person who is going to be responsible for his everything.. feeding, cleaning, soothing.. everything! EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!
After the overwhelming feeling subsides, I usually follow up by going into the action mode. I go ahead and order the cloth diapers and covers as we had discussed, or rather I have insisted after learning that regular disposable diapers take 500+ years to degrade in a landfill and one kid generates about a ton of disposable diaper waste till they are potty trained!
We place the order. I spend the rest of the weekend watching cloth diapering videos.
As it turns out, for our diapering system we are going to have
After that, we will have to do
And (yep, it does not end there), I am hoping that I can start potty training my kid like they do in India.. I have seen it a few times with my own younger brother and cousins, and neighbors kids growing up. According to my grandmother, you can hold a baby as young as a month old over a sink, sprinkle some cold water on his/her feet which makes them pee, and pair it with the pee sound like 'Shhh'.. and soon they learn the association between the sound and action of peeing and learn to hold the pee atleast for a while..
Also, I remember growing up, uncles and aunties joking about weird faces babies make before they want to poop or pee, which can be taken as cues to bring them to the toilet. Ofcouse, back then, there were no absorbent diapers, and it was essential to know these cues if you yourself wanted to stay dry, or they would soil over you..
But right now, all of this sounds nothing but overwhelming! So the normal doctor of philosophy within me goes online to do more research, and I came across this quote by Pursuing Titus 2, who has done the Western version of the same thing called Elimination Communication with her young ones, which makes me instantly feel better:
"If I were unable to walk myself to the bathroom, I know I would much rather have someone take me than put me in a diaper and change me at their convenience (like I did with my first three children). That’s a big thing that keeps me going on this strange path. I’m treating my baby the way I would like to be treated myself."
So true for a little little life that can't walk or even talk for himself, that I am bringing into this world because I want to be a mom!
Get geared up Pallavi, you singed up for it. Now, you have to do your part!
The past weekend J said, "I can't believe, the four of us are going to be home full time for atleast 14 days straight after the delivery!" And I found myself thinking, four? J, my mom who will be visiting to help us and myself.. who else?
OH! The baby, ofcourse! (We still do not have name for him, so he is still just baby. )
A mini panic attack sets in.. like it has a few time over the past two months.. the realization that we are going to have a little one living with us, full time, not visiting, not for a few hours like my nieces or nephews, not even for a few days.. but for ever.. 24 - 7.. and I am the main person who is going to be responsible for his everything.. feeding, cleaning, soothing.. everything! EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!
After the overwhelming feeling subsides, I usually follow up by going into the action mode. I go ahead and order the cloth diapers and covers as we had discussed, or rather I have insisted after learning that regular disposable diapers take 500+ years to degrade in a landfill and one kid generates about a ton of disposable diaper waste till they are potty trained!
We place the order. I spend the rest of the weekend watching cloth diapering videos.
As it turns out, for our diapering system we are going to have
- Diaper covers
- Diapers/diaper inserts
- Diaper liner, which catch the solid portion of the poop and which can be flushed away in the toilet
- Flushable wipes
- Changing pad
- One large diaper bag/pail to hold the soiled liners
- One medium size diaper bag/pail to hold soiled covers
- A small tub to hold one soiled diaper-liner combo near the changing station till we are done changing the baby
- Special soap like Charlie soap
- And possibly a drying rack to dry the covers, and liners if we decide to do that.
After that, we will have to do
- The liner-laundry every two or at the most three days,
- With one cold rinse cycle.
- Followed by one full wash and rinse cycle with detergent with hot water.
- Again followed by one cold rinse cycle.
- The liners need to dry on high heat or in the sun.
- And a separate cold wash and rinse with detergent cycle on the covers.
- The covers need to be dried on low heat or on drying rack.
And (yep, it does not end there), I am hoping that I can start potty training my kid like they do in India.. I have seen it a few times with my own younger brother and cousins, and neighbors kids growing up. According to my grandmother, you can hold a baby as young as a month old over a sink, sprinkle some cold water on his/her feet which makes them pee, and pair it with the pee sound like 'Shhh'.. and soon they learn the association between the sound and action of peeing and learn to hold the pee atleast for a while..
Also, I remember growing up, uncles and aunties joking about weird faces babies make before they want to poop or pee, which can be taken as cues to bring them to the toilet. Ofcouse, back then, there were no absorbent diapers, and it was essential to know these cues if you yourself wanted to stay dry, or they would soil over you..
But right now, all of this sounds nothing but overwhelming! So the normal doctor of philosophy within me goes online to do more research, and I came across this quote by Pursuing Titus 2, who has done the Western version of the same thing called Elimination Communication with her young ones, which makes me instantly feel better:
"If I were unable to walk myself to the bathroom, I know I would much rather have someone take me than put me in a diaper and change me at their convenience (like I did with my first three children). That’s a big thing that keeps me going on this strange path. I’m treating my baby the way I would like to be treated myself."
So true for a little little life that can't walk or even talk for himself, that I am bringing into this world because I want to be a mom!
Get geared up Pallavi, you singed up for it. Now, you have to do your part!
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