A Cloth Diaper Addict Is Born.

I am going to cloth diaper my baby when he arrives in September. I have been scouring the internet for the last few months. I have been reading and asking questions on message boards, reading everything I can on websites that sell cloth diapers and most recently (because I just discovered them) following cloth diaper blogs.

On these sites they all have a common thread among the moms that use cloth diapers. Everyone is an addict!

Once you start buying and using cloth diapers, it is all you want to do. I can see that I have been hooked and am now one of the newest converts to the fluffy side of life.

There are so many choices: colors, textures, systems, brands. At first it is overwhelming, particularly because everyone has a different opinion on the best systems (Pockets, All in Ones, Prefolds, Flats, Hybrid ...) and on the best brands (Kissaluvs, Bum Genius, Bummis, G diapers, GroVia ...).

But to a cloth diaper addict, these choices just feed the obsession. You want to try everything. You want one in every color. You want to continuously add to your "stash". (Which in itself, is a very telling word.)

In my case, however, this is all intensified. I cannot try my diapers, I cannot see which one I like until my baby is born. In three more months! So if money were unlimited I would just keep buying and buying. But of course it's not and if I happen to win the lottery, I think my husband would have something to say if I spent it all on something to cover the baby's butt.

But what a cute butt that would be...

Glucose Test Completed

So now I am much more informed as to how a glucose test works.

The glucose test consists of drinking a bottle of very sweet orange juice and then sitting in a room for one hour. You must give a urine sample during this time and at the end of the hour you have the blood test. It is much less complicated than I thought. I thought they would check my blood many times during the hour, but it is only once. So it’s not too bad.

I didn’t even have to wait to speak with anyone. I guess it’s because you see a technician not a doctor so the technicians are not as busy.

I do not have my results, however. The nurse said my OB would call me in the next couple days if there is a problem, i.e. If I have gestational diabetes. If there is no problem then he will just talk to me at my next appointment. For me that is in 4 weeks time since I just had one yesterday. I am going to call him to ask, however, if I haven't heard from him by Tuesday next week. You never know, results can get lost.

I also had to have a vaccination (WinRho) because my blood type is A negative. My husband is A+ so I needed a vaccine now and another at the birth if my baby is RH positive. It is to prevent my body from developing antibodies that will attack my next baby when I'm pregnant.

The glucose test only took one hour but I had to wait around for them to confirm my blood group and then give me the medication. Then I had to bring it to another floor to the Day Clinic to have a nurse give me the vaccination. Then I had to wait 15 minutes to make sure I didn't have a reaction to the vaccine.

In total, I was there for THREE hours. It was a beautiful afternoon here too. Nothing like spending it waiting around in a stinky, germy hospital.

Oh well, at least it is done and now I just have to wait for the results...

Glucose Test Today

I am headed to the hospital for a glucose test to see if I have Gestational Diabetes. I have very little idea on what the test entails. I do know that every pregnant woman must get check for it during their pregnancy. I always thought it would be earlier though. I am over 6 and 1/2 months pregnant now. If I had diabetes, wouldn't it be better if I knew right away? But maybe it doesn't show up until six months or so.

I am under the impression that it is going to take a long time to do the test. Just waiting for the test will probably take an hour or so. I live in Quebec, Canada and unless you are dying you wait a minimum of one hour to see a doctor (even if you have an appointment).

I heard and/or read that you have to drink really sweet juice and then you sit there and they check your insulin levels regularly for a specific period of time (maybe one or two hours). It's to determine how your insulin levels react to the sugar, I think.

I had my regular doctor's appointment yesterday and he gave me a paper to take to the hospital for the glucose test & a blood test. But he didn't tell me ANYTHING about the actual test. So frustrating. I was in & out of his office in 8 minutes.

The sugar levels were high in my urine yesterday too, so I'm a little worried. He asked if the sample I brought was after fasting. I told him that is was the first urine of the day. Until just now I assumed that the levels were high because I was fasting but that doesn't really make sense. They would be higher after eating, right?

Oh great, so if the sugar levels were higher after not eating then maybe my insulin is not regulating itself. I'm glad I'm getting this checked today. I really wish my OB would have explained any of this to me...

Anyway, I will go to the hospital armed with a book and maybe my laptop to finally have this test. I really hope I don't have diabetes, I do not want to have to give up sugar or take needles everyday. I don't even know how gestational diabetes would effect my baby.
Hopefully, I won't have to find out...

Thirteen Weeks to Go

I am 27 weeks pregnant today. I am due around September 12th or 15th 2010. One ultrasound said the 15th and the next said 12th. But who knows, the baby will come whenever he feels like it. Oh ya, and it's a BOY!

Boys are so rare in my family. I am one of three girls and between my two sisters, I have three nieces. So when I found out I was pregnant, I automatically assumed I was having a girl. I know intellectually that it is the man that determines the sex of a baby but it has always been assumed that women in my family cannot have or carry boys. (Old wives' tale, I know.)

The day I found out my baby was a boy I was shocked:

The ultrasound tech was doing all kinds of measurements of the baby's organs and bones. I could follow most of it and then at one point she was looking at an area and I had no idea what part of the body it was. When I asked, she laughed and said "it's the baby's sex." Up until this point I was trying to be patient with everything she had to do but I was dying to know for sure what I was having. When she said that I was stunned, she was looking at it for what seemed like forever and she hadn't told us yet!! "What is it?!" I asked.

"Well you see, this is one leg, this is another and here is a third."

It took a moment for this to sink in, my husband and I were both silent. Then when we realized what she was saying we started laughing. "It's a boy, there is a boy in there? Are you sure?"

She checked twice and sure enough, the little penis was there again. She even printed a picture, as proof I guess.

So much for mother's intuition! I was sure I was having a girl, I even had dreams of holding my baby girl in my arms and feeding her.

I am having a baby boy in approximately three months and I am so excited. I hope you follow me through all the excitement and stress of the coming months and beyond.

It's sure to be an adventure, especially since I have never even changed a boy's diaper...