Unexpected Beginnings

Of course we met the usual opposition from every one we knew. Remarks like “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into!” or “Have you even thought about how hard that will be?” were among many that we heard, but that didn’t stop us. We purchased our pre-folds and covers and began preparing for our baby. In order to ensure that my experience was successful, I bought newborn prefolds and pro-wraps. I felt confident that I was going to be a cloth diaper master from day one.

Things have a way of not working out the way you think they will, and sadly, that was the case for me. My birthing experience was the exact opposite from what I wanted. I wanted a completely natural delivery, but what I got was a transverse baby who would not budge, and a complicated c-section followed by over medication. And then on top of that, I had severe allergic reactions to all of the medicine and depression. I guess when your pediatrician says "Oh, you're the girl who reacted to all those medications! You were the talk of the hospital," at your baby's six month checkup, you know that things probably did not go according to plan. Needless to say, it was not the ideal situation that I had so naievely desired and dreamed of.

When we came home from the hospital I was so overwhelmed with the new role of motherhood and adjusting to nursing that I couldn’t even think about using the cloth diapers. I had no idea how to fold the prefolds and I was so afraid of somehow hurting her. Even though I had spent countless hours researching detergents, folds, different diapers, and covers, I was not prepared for actually using them. One day when I was feeling particularly overwhelmed I just burst into tears. Later that day I said to my husband amid a flood of tears “I’m so stupid. I can’t believe that I thought that I could actually do this. I can’t believe that I wasted all of our money on these diapers and I can’t use them”. He calmly said “Liz, don’t even worry about it. I’ll use the cloth diapers and you can use disposables until you’re ready”.

And that’s what he did. He looked up on-line how to fold prefolds and began using them at every diaper change. He tried different folds until he found the one that he liked. He washed the diapers, made the wipe solution, used cloth wipes; he did everything. Then when our baby was 1 month old, I felt well enough and brave enough to give them a try myself. He taught me how to use the Snappi and fold the prefolds. I can honestly say that if it weren’t for my husband I would be using disposables right now and I would be so disappointed in myself.