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Even though I have yet to decide whether to post new entries other than photos on this blog, I do want to share my review of 2 eco-friendly diaper brands discussed previously, the gDiapers and Nature Babycare.

For a couple of reasons, the gDiapers did not work for us at all.

1. They leak easily if you do not fit the insert just right.

2. It seems that you need as almost as many gDiaper pants as you do per diaper insert due to leakage and staining issues. I only had 2 pairs and found myself constantly hand washing them after each use.

On the other hand, Nature Babycare diapers are awesome. This product has less impact on our environment and all the convenience of traditional disposables. Their sizes do tend to run on the small side so beware when buying in bulk. I order them from www.diapers.com, which is a great site for other baby stuff, not to mention that they ship items supa fast!

Born June 11th, 2008 at 2:18 am

Let the Waiting Game begin…

My cervix has dilated to 1cm now – so what the heck does that mean?
It merely tells my OB that I’m in a good place if she needs to induce me if I go a week past my due date without any action.

Ideally, I want to leave the decision up to junebug but sure hope he makes his move soon!!!!

Speaking for myself, I’d like to avoid being induced if possible, and so here’s my back-up plan.

Supposedly, there’s a restaurant here in L.A. that serves a salad that causes women to go into labor 24 hrs after consumption. Something in the dressing, they say. Not a fool-proof plan but infinitely more appealing than having pitocin running through my veins.

Before I make the journey to the other side, I’d like to mention of all the pregnancy books out there, I found these 3 titles to be most relevant:

Mayo Clinic Guide to A Healthy Pregnancy

Very informative, organized chapters – a great reference manual to have around when a burning question jolts you out of sleep at 4AM. This book is almost like having your OB around 24/7, and best of all, it won’t make you feel bad by pointing out your swollen ankles.

The Giirlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy by Vicki Iovine

And on the other side of the spectrum..when you’re in the mood for something tart and fruity to lighten things up a bit. My favorite chapter is “What to Take to the Hospital”.

The Parents’ Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents by William C. Martin

I get bored just by looking at the covers of most parenting books out there – they either come off as self-righteous, pages crammed with dense text, or too cutesy to be taken seriously.

So imagine my relief when I found this lovely little book at Barnes and Noble.

I wholeheartedly recommend giving this book as a gift to anyone who’s a new parent or parent-to-be. You don’t need to have a buddhist background or even a desire to own one in order to gain an enlightening perspective into the tricky world of child-parent relationships.

Just when I thought the nursery was nearly completed, I tested out the bedding for the bassinet and found out that it doesn’t fit!!!! Golly. When I called the manufacturer they said some of the mattresses were cut too short, and were very prompt to quell my anxieties by shipping out a replacement set to me.

The other surprising bit of news came to me during this week’s doc appt – my OB will be MIA next weekend for her sister in law’s wedding…so to prevent preterm labor, she advised me to drink lots of water and stay off the hiking trails. But just in case, her OB will be on stand by. My hunch tells me that junebug will likely be late than early – then again it’s really anyone’s guess at this point. I definitely feel the pull of gravity as I walk the walk. If only I had a nice tub to soak in….that sounds heavenly right now.

The breast pump arrived yesterday and I swear this is the weekend that I’m going to pack my hospital bag.

Good bye May. Hello June!

I was inspired by a tree wall mural that I saw on a fellow blogger’s site and thought it would be fun to do something similar for the wall above the baby’s dresser/changing table. So I enlisted my hubby’s help on this project, which took about a week to plan and execute.

The wall mural unintentionally turned out looking like a jungle, quite an appropriate theme for the space that serves as our living room, Joe’s office, and one half of a nursery.

Joe thinks it’s too complicated while I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. The paint color turned out darker than expected (I was aiming for a pale blue). We were originally going to paint the dots on the anise flowers but then I switched to making paper cut-outs so colors and shapes could be easily modified. I have to stop obsessing about it. It’s too distracting. Maybe we’ll let junebug decide.

What do you think?

My advice is to buy wall decals that you can re-stick painlessly over and over again.

This was some week…kinda like the freaky weather we’ve been having…right now it feels like February. I love it.

Joe lost his cell phone a few days ago so now he’s got a loaner from our carrier until his new one gets here. Maybe it’s just me but I find that buying a phone from your phone carrier is almost as stressful as buying a car at a dealership.

Alas, not a pregnancy would go by without some Fedex drama. This one involved the baby’s dresser, which finally arrived but then took a bit more time and screws than your Stratosfarklippen to put together.

We finished up our childbirth classes today at Birth and Beyond. Some key points:

1. Take a walk during early labor, resist the urge to crawl in bed.
2. Try to eat before you get to the hospital because of liability issues.
3. Make sure you don’t get the epidural too early.
4. Bring your ipod.

Liz, our teacher, is also a R.N. over at St. Johns, and it would be cool to see her familar face in a scary, unfamilar world.

As for the rest of the holiday weekend, we’re going to work on the wall mural and see the latest Indy installment.

Pregnancy is quite an ordeal to go through alone. But unlike most women, I’m very lucky to be friends with a pregnant grape. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve found this little lady. It’s nice to have someone to share this experience with.

The Pregnant Grape with her mate

It’s been over 3 months since the last Junebug sighting so naturally we were psyched for this week’s doctor appt.

Our excitement quickly turned to frustration as JB did his best to not cooperate during the ultrasound, shielding his hand over his chubby face the entire time (guess he takes after his mom in that respect, hehe).

Otherwise, everything is on sched, says the doctor. He’s in the head-down position, weighing in at 6.3 lbs. At this point, the books say that he’s gaining about an ounce/day. Then I get slightly dizzy when it hits me that I have less than a month left to go. My mom tells I was her smallest baby, clocking in at 8.3 lbs. My sister, the middle child, was a little over 9 lbs and my brother somewhere in between.

By the way, I found out what’s been nudging me these past couple of weeks – his small yet all powerful tushie!

Nature babycare makes biodegradable and disposable diapers that I’m going to try in addition to the gDiapers.

The reviews that I’ve read so far have been mostly positive, though there have been a few complaints about the fit.

And cost-wise, they’re not much more than conventional disposables. I’ll report back in a few months on how well they work. Hopefully, the polar ice caps have not all but melted by then.