As old fashion as it sounds, I decided before Ariana was born that I wanted to venture in to the world of cloth diapering. I had been exposed to the cloth diapers (otherwise known as CD in my new world) from my Doula instructor back in June 2009 when I first found out I was expecting. After doing some research, I found that modern cloth diapers are not only MUCH easier to use than than "old fashion" pin and rubber pants from my days as a baby, but they were also MUCH cuter! There was a whole world of fancy prints, cute characters and bright colors I could choose from. I liked to shop for clothes, it wasn't hard to believe that I would be in to CDing.
Surprisingly, Hooman was very supportive of my strange request to CD our daughter even though we not only used disposables with Grayson, but he was STILL wearing pull-ups at night! He was on board with trying it out and didn't seem to mind that I was the only one of my friends who was going to attempt this.
As far as finding actual stores to buy from, it was slim pickings, even her in the liberal San Francisco Bay Area. I did finally come across the Nurture Center in Lafayette which happened to be where I met my doula, Deanna, for Grayson's birth. I returned home with my very first (of many) CD purchases. Six Bum Genius (BG) All-in-One (AIO) One-Size (OS), and six BG Pocket OS. Pocket means I stuff an insert into the inside of the diaper. AIO means there is no stuffing, the insert is already a part of the diaper. Both type of diapers are waterproof and require NO additional cover to keep baby dry.
Now, I will tell you... if there had been many other choices of CD's at the nurture center, I may have lost my mind, because the options for CD are somewhat endless, and we all know how I am with making up my mind! Needless to say, BG's were the only brand they sold, which have proven to be the 5 star diapers in the CD world so far.
I had to wait till she fit in to any of the diapers, but after 6 weeks of disposables, she finally fits them! So, here we are, 4 days in to starting to CD, and so far... I LOVE IT!!!!
I was worried I wouldn't like it, and the initial investment would be a big waste. Now I'm just worried all the cute styles are going to break the bank! Poor Hooman!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Happy Persian New Year
Today is Persian New Year. Although Hooman is at the deli working, me Grayson and Ariana plan on spending this first day of spring outdoors. I gave Ariana a warm bath and put her in her new clothes (not too difficult, all of her clothes are new), and Grayson and I are also on our new clothes. Since the weather has been in the upper 70's low 80's, I think a day at the park will be perfect!
To all our Persian family and friends, Happy New Year!
To all our Persian family and friends, Happy New Year!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Happy one month birthday baby girl!
Ariana has arrived!!!
Although this post comes late, as most of my posts often do, I figured it was about time to give all the wonderful details of my little princesses arrival.
I started the previous week out with some stronger than usual Braxton Hicks contractions. On Friday, February 6th, the BH were lasting 10-15 minutes without letting up. Although I knew they were not real labor contractions, I called labor and delivery to ask their advice. They were concerned about the baby since the contractions were in fact lasting so long and advised me to come in to l&d immediately. I was actually told by my midwife that she felt I was in active labor since I was already progressing to 3cm and contractions were 3 minutes apart, lasting 2-3 minutes. I, however, was convinced she was wrong and told her I would be going home until I really felt as though I were in labor. Well... good thing I listened to my instincts and left, because by the next morning I was not having any contractions at all! Matter of fact, contractions didn't start again until the following Wednesday night.
I started feeling the same BH contractions as the prior week. They were lasting 5-10 minutes long and I really couldn't time them at all since they seemed to be running together. I wasn't convinced that I was really in labor, so at 11pm I went for a brisk walk around our neighborhood, even though Hooman was begging me not to! By the time I came back I thought all contractions had stopped and we would be having a peacful evening. Shortly after I finally felt my first labor contraction and was able to start timing them. They started about 3-5 minutes apart. I was able to talk through the contractions, but found I was even more relaxed in our jet tub listening to my HypnoBabies MP3's. Grayson, unfortunately, had come down with a bad cold, and was waking up every half hour or so and didn't want anyone other than his mommy. It started to get difficult to go to him and relax the way I really wanted to, so around 2:00am Thursday, February 11th, I called my mom and told her to make the drive from Modesto so Hooman and I could get to l&d. Although I wasn't really ready to leave the house, I really wanted to take advantage of the natural birthing room at Kaiser Walnut Creek that offered a jet tub, and as of that moment it was still available. My mom made it in no time at all and Hooman and I gather our belongings and headed to the hospital for our final delivery!
By the time I made it to triage around 3:30am, I felt like labor was slowing down and continued to pace the halls waiting for the nurse to come check me. When the triage nurse, Nicole, finally checked me, she said I was 7cm and that she would get me to room 7 (the room with the tub) immediately.
When I made it to the room, I got my antibiotics and within an hour or so was in the tub. Again, I felt as though labor was slowing down, so I opted to have the CNM break my water to progress things along. She broke my water at 6:25am. For the first hour after that, labor still seemed slow and COMPLETELY manageable... then, everything changed. Around 7:30am I started having extremely intense contractions that would not let up or subside in between each other. I was barely able to catch my breath. Getting up to go to the bathroom proved to be a bad decision and I thought I was going to faint from the intensity of the contractions. I climbed back in to bed and contemplated what I wanted to do. I knew an epidural was not in my birth plan, but I just couldn't see how I would last any longer in this roller coaster of pain. I called my mom around 8:30am and told her to get to the hospital. Five minutes later I finally asked the nurse for a shot of pain medicine. She gave me Fentynal in my IV and I thought it would be my miracle drug. Boy, was I wrong! It did give me a break between contractions, but I still was shaking through them and barely able to breath or relax. Then, 10 minutes later I asked if I could push. About 5 pushes later and Ariana came screaming in to this world at 8:46am. She is just beautiful! She had less hair and lighter hair than Grayson did when he was born, and boy did she have a set of lungs on her!
Ariana Sheida Hamzeh
Thursday, February 11, 2010
8:46am PST
7lbs, 7ozs, 19 3/4 inches
Although this post comes late, as most of my posts often do, I figured it was about time to give all the wonderful details of my little princesses arrival.
I started the previous week out with some stronger than usual Braxton Hicks contractions. On Friday, February 6th, the BH were lasting 10-15 minutes without letting up. Although I knew they were not real labor contractions, I called labor and delivery to ask their advice. They were concerned about the baby since the contractions were in fact lasting so long and advised me to come in to l&d immediately. I was actually told by my midwife that she felt I was in active labor since I was already progressing to 3cm and contractions were 3 minutes apart, lasting 2-3 minutes. I, however, was convinced she was wrong and told her I would be going home until I really felt as though I were in labor. Well... good thing I listened to my instincts and left, because by the next morning I was not having any contractions at all! Matter of fact, contractions didn't start again until the following Wednesday night.
I started feeling the same BH contractions as the prior week. They were lasting 5-10 minutes long and I really couldn't time them at all since they seemed to be running together. I wasn't convinced that I was really in labor, so at 11pm I went for a brisk walk around our neighborhood, even though Hooman was begging me not to! By the time I came back I thought all contractions had stopped and we would be having a peacful evening. Shortly after I finally felt my first labor contraction and was able to start timing them. They started about 3-5 minutes apart. I was able to talk through the contractions, but found I was even more relaxed in our jet tub listening to my HypnoBabies MP3's. Grayson, unfortunately, had come down with a bad cold, and was waking up every half hour or so and didn't want anyone other than his mommy. It started to get difficult to go to him and relax the way I really wanted to, so around 2:00am Thursday, February 11th, I called my mom and told her to make the drive from Modesto so Hooman and I could get to l&d. Although I wasn't really ready to leave the house, I really wanted to take advantage of the natural birthing room at Kaiser Walnut Creek that offered a jet tub, and as of that moment it was still available. My mom made it in no time at all and Hooman and I gather our belongings and headed to the hospital for our final delivery!
By the time I made it to triage around 3:30am, I felt like labor was slowing down and continued to pace the halls waiting for the nurse to come check me. When the triage nurse, Nicole, finally checked me, she said I was 7cm and that she would get me to room 7 (the room with the tub) immediately.
When I made it to the room, I got my antibiotics and within an hour or so was in the tub. Again, I felt as though labor was slowing down, so I opted to have the CNM break my water to progress things along. She broke my water at 6:25am. For the first hour after that, labor still seemed slow and COMPLETELY manageable... then, everything changed. Around 7:30am I started having extremely intense contractions that would not let up or subside in between each other. I was barely able to catch my breath. Getting up to go to the bathroom proved to be a bad decision and I thought I was going to faint from the intensity of the contractions. I climbed back in to bed and contemplated what I wanted to do. I knew an epidural was not in my birth plan, but I just couldn't see how I would last any longer in this roller coaster of pain. I called my mom around 8:30am and told her to get to the hospital. Five minutes later I finally asked the nurse for a shot of pain medicine. She gave me Fentynal in my IV and I thought it would be my miracle drug. Boy, was I wrong! It did give me a break between contractions, but I still was shaking through them and barely able to breath or relax. Then, 10 minutes later I asked if I could push. About 5 pushes later and Ariana came screaming in to this world at 8:46am. She is just beautiful! She had less hair and lighter hair than Grayson did when he was born, and boy did she have a set of lungs on her!
Ariana Sheida Hamzeh
Thursday, February 11, 2010
8:46am PST
7lbs, 7ozs, 19 3/4 inches
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